On Saturday, the pursuit race took place as part of the fourth stage of the Biathlon World Cup in Hochfilzen.
Russian athletes have renewed their medless streak again.
Now the anti-record is 37 starts.
At the same time, only one athlete managed to get into the top twenty following the results of the pursuits.
Eliseev's accuracy and Garanichev's unsuccessful stance
The sprint race of the fourth stage of the World Cup in Hochfilzen brought the Norwegian team six medals.
The Scandinavian team could get the same amount according to the results of the pursuit on Saturday.
The Norwegians, led by Sturla Legraid and Tiril Eckhoff, had a tangible advantage over the rest of the world at the start, especially in the men's pursuit, where four athletes were the first to race.
Few of the Russians could challenge the Norwegians, but nevertheless, a certain hope could be associated with Yevgeny Garanichev.
He started at 13th 70 seconds after Legrade.
Last week he already managed to win back 15 positions in the pursuit thanks to almost perfect shooting.
Since then, the functional training of the Olympic bronze medalist should have only gotten better.
But we shouldn't forget about Alexander Loginov - he went to the start 11 seconds after Garanichev and could have gotten closer to the leaders if he showed stable and accurate shooting.
On the first lap, Garanichev did not force events and missed other biathletes, but ran at the same time as Legrade, while Loginov tried to catch up with his compatriot and reduced the gap to eight seconds.
While they were approaching the firing line, the Norwegians had already finished shooting and changed places in their leadership quartet - Johannes Boe, due to two penalties, lagged behind Sturla, Johannes Dale and Vetle Shostad Christiansen.
Garanichev managed to shoot quickly and accurately and climbed to ninth place, losing to the top three in just half a minute.
Loginov, however, made two mistakes and rolled back to the end of the third dozen.
Since winning the World Championship, he has not shown clean shooting in any race.
The second firing line did not affect the position of the leaders in any way - they all closed five targets, including Garanichev.
He worked at the turn even faster than some rivals, but he already began to lose with the move.
On the third lap he was left without companions and gradually increased the gap.
At the counter, the Norwegians finally began to give the rest of the athletes a chance.
Legrade retained the lead with one penalty, but Dale went into three penalty loops at once, and Johannes Boe limited himself to one.
Legrade's closest pursuers were Swede Martin Ponsiluoma, Christiansen and Frenchman Emilien Jacquelin.
Garanichev could also get close to this company, but with the first two shots he could not close his targets.
He dropped to 17th place and remained the best Russian, but not for long - soon Matvey Eliseev, who was accurate at all three firing lines, rose to him from 38th position.
The second stance was not as problematic for biathletes as the first.
Legrade shot perfect and fled for his second victory in Hochfilzen - his opponents were losing almost half a minute to him.
Boe and Christiansen had hoped to re-establish the Norwegian podium, but World Pursuit Champion Jacquelin pulled off impressively on the last loop to finish second, leaving the World Cup leader with another bronze.
Eliseev tried to finish the race with clean shooting and achieved his goal, but this achievement was losing its significance due to the low speed, which sent him to 18th place.
Loginov lost four positions with three misses.
Garanichev, who had problems with standing shooting, finished 25th.
Eduard Latypov spent the entire race at the end of the third ten due to two penalties and showed the 29th result.
Anton Babikov fired according to Eliseev's schedule for some time, but he also could not avoid mistakes on the stand and ended up as 37th.
Sturla Holm Laegreid doubles up and wins the first World Cup pursuit of his career!
💪😊
🥇Sturla Holm Laegreid @NSSF_Biathlon 🇳🇴
🥈 @ EmilienJck @ FedFranceSki 🇫🇷
🥉Johannes Thingnes Boe @NSSF_Biathlon 🇳🇴
You can rewatch the entire competition https://t.co/bk5aBBso9Qpic.tudlwitter.com/FX0c
- IBU World Cup (@IBU_WC) December 19, 2020
Akimova's leadership in the national team and the second Norwegian double
In the women's race, all participants from the very beginning began to catch up with the Norwegians Tiril Eckhoff, Ingrid Tandrevold and Martha Olsbu-Røiseland.
Of the Russians, Evgenia Pavlova was the closest to this trio at the start, taking 18th place in the sprint.
She walked in the first circle on the same feet with the leaders and, at least, did not allow a strong lag behind them.
After the first shooting, Pavlova was even able to climb to 13th place.
She shot clean, as did Eckhoff and Tandrevold.
On the third place went up the German Franziska Preuss, which Olsbu-Roiseland missed because of the penalty loop.
The rest of the Russians started having problems - no one could close all the targets, including Tatyana Akimova, who flashed in the sprint.
At the next shooting range, Pavlova kept behind Eckhoff, only now it was no longer a reason for pride - they both made a mistake.
But if the Norwegian remained the first, maintaining a 15-second lead, the Russian biathlete dropped to 18th place.
Further, her fall only continued - during the standing shooting, Pavlova closed only six targets out of ten and fell out of the top thirty.
As a result, Akimova became the best in the national team both in shooting and in the final result.
With two penalties, she finished 29th, even having won four positions from the start.
Pavlova dropped 15 lines.
Svetlana Mironova, Anastasia Goreeva and Ulyana Kaisheva made 14 mistakes for three and did not get into the points zone, although all of them were allowed to fight for this by starting positions.
And the Norwegian team celebrated their fourth victory in three days.
Eckhoff, after a miss at the second line, no longer made mistakes and maintained a confident lead to the finish line.
Silver and bronze went to sisters Hanna and Elvira Oeberg from Sweden - they climbed to the podium together for the second time this season.
Italian Dorothea Wierer claimed second place until the fourth line, but a miss with the last shot and a fall in the final loop threw her to fifth place.
The current owner of the Big Crystal Globe also missed Tandrevold.
Fantastic 19/20 performance from @TirilEckhoff to secure her second pursuit victory of this winter!
🇳🇴
🥇 @ TirilEckhoff @ NSSF_Biathlon
🥈 @ hannaaaoberg @ SwedenBiathlon
🥉 @ elvira_oberg @ SwedenBiathlon
You can rewatch all competitions live on https://t.co/bk5aBBso9Qpic.twitter.com/WNUFmpUUk3
- IBU World Cup (@IBU_WC) December 19, 2020