Alexander Loginov won his second medal at the World Championships in Anterselva. He became the bronze medalist in the pursuit, in which he started from the first position. The Russian athlete admitted that everything was going well for him until he missed at the last frontier.
“In fact, today the race was harder than yesterday. Everything went according to plan until the 18th shot, but I'm still glad about this bronze medal. This is the second award for me at this World Cup, so I hope that it will only get better. Well, or at least not worse. The victory at the World Cup did not change me a bit. She just brought me closer to home. First, I will think about the World Cup, and then I will completely switch to thoughts about the family, ”the Championship quotes Loginova.
The 28-year-old athlete said that his spouse, former biathlete Maria Kruchova, helps to cope with the pressure during the World Cup, where opponents every time remind him of the doping past.
“Once again I will say that my wife saves me in terms of negative news. She constantly sends me a video on how my daughter grows and develops. I look at my family on the phone screen, and not at the biathlon news screen. This helps to prepare for the race in the best way. I can’t tell you everything about what other support comes from my wife. There must be some secrets! But she is always very positive and tries to support me, ”Loginov said after the race.
The president of the Russian Biathlon Union, Vladimir Drachev, admitted that he was sure of Loginov’s medal in advance and expressed slight disappointment that this time only the bronze obeyed the athlete.
“As my daughter said now, this is the third place with a bit of regret, because Sasha went to gold. If not for one mistake, yesterday’s story would have been repeated, but I said in the morning that today we will go to the award ceremony. As for Loginov’s critics, it’s better not to pay any attention to them. Here I have these critics full country. But what's the use of them? They can only what to criticize, instead of helping, ”Drachev told TASS.
Loginov in the future is going to talk about the reasons that prompted him to accept an EPO seven years ago, but so far he is not ready. This was announced after the pursuit race by the head coach of the Russian national team Alexander Khovantsev. He suggested that Loginov’s guilt in that scandal might not have happened.
“I think that this was not his initiative, this is a question for the coaching staff, which was working at that time. If the trainers did not know that a person is doing some things, then this is a big question. This is a question for the doctors who worked with the team, because it is impossible to do it yourself. Plus there are charlatan trainers who did all this themselves, there were such precedents. Last year, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen had an idea to conduct a joint training - to organize a show in Ostersund with the participation of Norwegian biathletes and talk about it there. I passed this proposal to Alexander, but he said that he was not ready yet. Then he replied that he would express himself and explain when he was ripe for this, ”Khovantsev said.
Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin considers Loginov’s success “doubly enjoyable” because of the criticism faced by the Russian athlete in Anterselva.
“I am very pleased with this success. It’s very difficult against the backdrop of, let's say, not quite fair attitude towards our athletes. This is doubly pleasant, and we are doubly proud of such successes, ”said Matytsin.
Four-time Olympic champion Alexander Tikhonov also expressed the opinion that Loginov did not take doping of his own free will, and also explained why the biathlete was able to win gold and bronze at the World Championships.
“His bronze is a great success, especially in such a company. I think that even if Sashka spent the entire race without a slip, his opponents would have got it. They look fresher. Guys were born in the mountains. But the guy survived so much, so many tragedies ... He didn’t want to, he was forced to inject! I know this for sure, I can answer for my words. It’s great that Alexander Kasperovich became his personal trainer. He did all this, his merit in medals. He arrived here in 15 days and began working with Loginov. Sasha even began to smile a little. 12 years there were no medals! But Loginov solved all the issues, ”Tikhonov told Sport24.
Two-time Olympic champion Dmitry Vasiliev explained why Loginov made a mistake and could not compete for the second gold medal of the World Cup.
“He accelerated the shooting too much, a little self-confidence punished Sasha. But stayed on the podium, that's good. It is also joyful that Jacqueline punished Beau. Here everyone is happy about this. Life punishes such unworthy people; one must remain a man to the end. The boomerang returned very quickly, ”Vasiliev commented on the failure of one of Loginov’s main critics.
Jacqueline said that he was surprised by his victory and expected to see Loginov at the first step of the podium.
“This is unbelievable. After the last firing line, I thought that I would fight with Be for the second place, because Loginov would win. Then I realized: “My God, I can become a champion!” I tried to be smarter than Johannes. He was very fast at the beginning of the circle, I focused on myself. Victory is more than I expected. This is unbelievable. After the race, Johannes told me: "You have to cry, be happy." I replied: “I am shy and I don’t know what to do,” the Championship quotes the world champion from France.