The second race of the Biathlon World Cup in Hochfilzen was the men's sprint.

The Russians performed unsuccessfully again - the best result was shown by Alexander Loginov, who closed the top twenty.

Race winner Johannes Dale of Norway covered the distance 85 seconds faster than the 2020 world champion.

The stage in Hochfilzen was the first in the current season in which the Russian men's team was supposed to perform as the nominally strongest line-up.

First of all, the fans were waiting for the return of Evgeny Garanichev.

He was in good shape before the start of the season, but missed all previous races due to coronavirus restrictions.

As a result of the rotation, Said Karimulla Khalili, who won two races in the Russian Cup, also joined the team.

Finally, Anton Babikov had to return to his level, having unsuccessfully performed in Kontiolahti due to quarantine.

In the Friday sprint, they all had to wait for their start.

One of the first to start the race was Alexander Loginov and Matvey Eliseev, and they had to focus on the results of Sebastian Samuelsson.

The Swede, who ranks second in the overall World Cup, ran the first round well and did not make mistakes in the first shooting.

Due to the wind, he became one of the few who eventually closed all the targets.

Eliseev did not manage to pass the prone in the same way, but after the penalty loop he lost only 22 seconds to Samuelsson, that is, he showed almost the same speed as the Olympic champion at a distance.

Loginov was also not perfect in shooting, but slower than his teammate.

After lying down, he lost 31 seconds to the Swede.

Soon, the gap from the first place increased even more, when Samuelsson's time at the intermediate cut-off was improved by the Slovenian Jakov Fak by 0.9 seconds.

Eduard Latypov could well bypass him.

Of all the Russians, he accelerated the best and was only four seconds behind the leader before the first firing line.

But he also had to go to the penalty loop.

Latypov returned to the track already 15th, slightly surpassing the time of Eliseev.

At the same time Matvey was shooting while standing and again failed to close all five targets, although with perfect accuracy he could well have argued for hitting the top ten - he allowed the move.

Loginov for the first time in the season was able to cleanly work on the stand, but at the control mark he won only four seconds over Eliseev.

In general, the Russians did not experience big problems at the shooting range.

Latypov rehabilitated himself on a problematic stand for himself and surpassed Loginov's time by seven seconds.

Babikov on the bench was not only accurate, but also fast - he was only eight seconds behind Fak, but he drove himself and was already exhausted on the second lap.

This led to two misses on the next line and a fall out of the points zone.

Garanichev was able to avoid mistakes at all, but he shot very carefully, but he was not ready for the race functionally - at the finish Eugene lost even to the Swede Martin Ponsiluome, who made three misses.

At a distance, none of the Russian biathletes could prove themselves.

Although at first both Latypov and Eliseev seemed competitive, by the end of the race this impression was dispelled when new characters appeared on the track.

Samuelsson, who fired accurately, was easily bypassed by the Norwegian Johannes Boe and the Frenchman Fabienne Claude, who sent one cartridge into the “milk”.

And their compatriots Johannes Dale and Kenten Fillon Maillet closed all targets and were completely unattainable.

As a result, Dale won and, like the Belarusian Dinara Alimbekova a few hours earlier, won his first personal medal in a career at the highest level, and immediately a gold one.

Fillon Maillet and Claude brought the French team silver and bronze.

For the first time this season, Beo Jr. did not make it to the podium, but continues to comfortably lead the overall World Cup standings.

Loginov and Latypov took 20th and 21st places, losing a little less than one and a half minutes to Dala.

Moreover, even with clean shooting, they would not pretend to get into the flower ceremony.

Garanichev is on the 29th line, Eliseev lost three positions to him.

Babikov managed to qualify for the pursuit, but will start fourth from the end.

For Khalili, the first race of the season in the World Cup was the worst - with three penalties and a mediocre move, he was only 71st.

The record non-medal series of Russian biathletes in KM increased to 29 races, to which the head coach of the national team Valery Polkhovsky said: “Anti-record?

Well, what can you do.

As for today we are ready, so we are performing. "

“There is progress.

Last time the best was 33rd place, now it is 20th.

It can be seen that the team has not yet scattered.

I think there is no need to panic, "he added on the air of Match TV.

It's a day for maiden victories - Johannes Dale takes the Hochfilzen sprint!

🥳



🥇 Johannes Dale @ NSSF_Biathlon🇳🇴


🥈 @ quentinfillon @ FedFranceSki 🇫🇷


🥉 @ fabien_claude1 @ FedFranceSki 🇫🇷



Watch all the action from Hochfilzen live on https://t.co/bk5aBBso9Qpic.twitter.comBhlm0m

- IBU World Cup (@IBU_WC) December 11, 2020