The last stage of the World Cup in cross-country skiing before the New Year ended in Dresden.
On Sunday, competitions in the team sprint with a skating course took place, which brought the Russian team two more medals - gold and silver.
The victory was won by Alexander Bolshunov and Gleb Retivykh, and Natalya Nepryaeva and Yulia Stupak became the second.
Since this season, the International Ski Federation has undergone revolutionary changes to enhance the prestige of the team disciplines.
In previous years, they brought points only for the insignificant Cup of Nations, and the strongest skiers were interested in participating in them only at the World Championships and the Olympic Games.
But now in relay races and team sprints, you can earn points in the individual World Cup.
Even if not such serious points are played out as in individual races, they can also be important when fighting for the "Big Crystal Globe".
In the men's competition, the coaches of the Russian national team relied on Bolshunov and Retivykh, and also paired Alexander Terentyev and Artyom Maltsev.
Nominally, the first duo showed their strength in the semifinals, winning their preliminary race.
Terentyev and Maltsev could have finished the fight at this stage, but on the last of 12 laps, Briton Andrew Young presented them with an incredible gift.
The silver medalist of the individual sprint fell on the broken Dresden track and let the Russian skiers pass ahead, who finished in the fourth place they needed.
For the duo from Great Britain, which could well have been competing for medals, the competition was over.
In the final, the main threat to the Russians was represented by teams from Italy and France.
The winner of the last two skating sprints, Federico Pelligrino, played alongside Francesco de Fabiani, who had eight personal medals in his career in the World Cup, and Luca Chavana hoped to get even with Richard Jouve for his failures this season.
For the last race, Bolshunov and Retivykh chose the only correct tactics for such an inconvenient track, which the organizers provided in Dresden.
They stayed at the beginning of the peloton, avoiding confusion during the transfer of the relay, from which many athletes had already suffered.
When Bolshunov's last stage began, he created a good lead, which only Zhuv could support.
The zealous could no longer be afraid of Pelligrino.
He could only withstand the resistance of Shavan, and the best Russian sprinter did it.
The Italian duo won bronze, while Maltsev and Terentyev finished sixth.
For Russia, this victory in the team sprint was the first since February 2017, when Retivykh won together with Alexander Parfyonov.
3-2-1 🎬Release the worlds best Sprinters at Dresden World Cup 💥 # fiscrosscountrypic.twitter.com / p7SejPnQWs
- FIS Cross-Country (@FISCrossCountry) December 20, 2020
Thanks to the next gold, Bolshunov has already earned so many points that he will be the leader of the World Cup at least in the first four stages of the Tour de Ski.
Together with the Zealous, he also secured himself in the top three of the sprint standings.
Terentyev, thanks to the finish in sixth place, topped the rating of the best skiers under the age of 23.
As for the women's competitions, for them the coaches chose Natalia Nepryaeva and Yulia Stupak as the first pair.
Tatiana Sorina, who is the second in the overall standings of the World Cup, was combined with Khristina Matsokina.
Both duos did not rush things in the preliminary race and, as "dark horses", reached the final, where they had to fight primarily with skiers from Switzerland, Slovenia and the USA.
For the Russian women, the race for medals began very hard.
They didn’t think of avoiding the crowd and staying first, and the payback for this mistake came quickly.
Stupak found herself in the rubble before her second transfer of the relay, and the already overclocked Nepryaeva had to return to her partner.
Matsokina fell after the circle.
This should have been a lesson for everyone, but Sorina continued to stay in the general group and in the end, too, fell under pressure from her rivals.
Because of this, her duet stopped fighting for the podium.
Stupak, on the other hand, tried to rehabilitate herself for her fall and before the last exit of Nepryaeva gave her a very large gap for such a route.
But the gold slipped out of the hands of the Russians when Saturday's sprint winner Nadine Fendrich of Switzerland made an incredible dash to the finish line.
She bypassed Nepryaeva, leaving her and Stupak only silver.
Matsokina and Sorina finished tenth.
🎬Recap of an exciting womens Team Sprint final at Dresden World Cup 🙌 # fiscrosscountrypic.twitter.com / d8il50TozF
- FIS Cross-Country (@FISCrossCountry) December 20, 2020