Mironova's fourth place and Norway's gold double: what are the memories of the pursuits at the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof

Breakthrough Mironova and the duel of the Norwegians

In the pursuit at the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof, Russian biathletes were expected to, if not medals, then at least get into the top ten.

As a result of the sprint, four athletes from Russia entered the top 25 at once, and Evgenia Pavlova got the right to take part in the flower ceremony.

She did not make a single mistake on two shooting ranges and finished sixth, just under a minute losing to the leader - Norwegian Tiril Eckhoff.

However, Pavlova did not succeed in repeating her result.

At the very first shooting range, the recognized shooter made one mistake, and at the second did not close two targets at once.

Taking into account more than average travel (+27.6 seconds behind the leader after two laps), it was difficult to count on high places.

Subsequently, Evgenia pulled herself together and worked cleanly in the first stance, but already in the second she crossed out all the chances of getting into the top twenty.

As a result, with six penalties Pavlova finished only 31st.

In total, her compatriot Irina Kazakevich, who started 56th, was in six positions.

Larisa Kuklina and Ulyana Kaisheva, although they avoided failure, were hardly satisfied with their performance in the pursuit.

The first did not close four targets and finished only 25th, and the second was able to be content with 19th place.

The main heroine of the day among the Russians was Svetlana Mironova, who finished the race in fourth place.

The athlete had only two penalties and showed the seventh move, only 13 seconds behind the leader in this component.

For Mironova, this result can be called good.

Especially in light of the fact that shooting was traditionally considered one of the weaknesses of the biathlete.

Svetlana performed rather unevenly in individual races with four firing lines, and so far her main achievement in the pursuit was 11th place at the World Cup in Hochfilzen in the 2019/20 season.

At the same time, in the same competitive year in the sprint, she became third in Hochfilzen and fourth in Annecy.

The best in the pursuit this time was Marthe Olsby Royseland.

The World Cup leader started fifth and was over 52 seconds behind Eckhoff, but showed both perfect shooting and the best move.

Nevertheless, even this was not enough to displace the compatriot from the first line.

Although she provided enough chances.

First, Eckhoff missed on the second prone, and then added a mistake on the standing.

The girls left the firing line with a difference of 3.1 seconds and covered the rest of the distance in a tight fight, but Tiril nevertheless turned out to be faster in the finish line.

Lisa Teresa Hauser became the third with a large lag.

The pedestal of the Norwegians and the failure of the Russians

In the men's pursuit, the Norwegians' advantage was even more tangible.

Throughout the race, only Scandinavian athletes fought for medals, with the only difference that after the third shooting line, Johannes Boe dropped out of the dispute for the awards.

The current winner of the Big Crystal Globe and the winner of the sprint hit only one target out of five and in the end did not even make it into the top five.

With seven penalties, he was only eighth, and he was 46.1 seconds behind the triumphant.

In the absence of Johannes, three other representatives of the Norwegian national team competed for gold.

Until the last shooting, Tarjei Bo was at the head of the peloton, but in the final stance he also could not cope with his nerves and fired three unsuccessful shots at once, which dropped him to the third line.

Johannes Dale responded with two penalties to finish second, with Sturla Holm Legrade winning.

The 23-year-old biathlete made only one mistake and won his fourth individual race in the World Cup.

Previously, he excelled in the individual race at Kontiolahti and won the sprint and pursuit at Hochfilzen.

As for the Russians, none of the athletes was able to bring this race into their asset.

The closest to success was Alexander Loginov, who, although not distinguished by high speed, for the time being was unmistakable at the shooting range.

But the ideal performance on the prone was replaced by two misses on the rack, and the last one was made in the trademark manner - the last shot.

As a result, Loginov not only missed the chance to compete for a place in the top 10, but also ended up behind Eliseev - 17th.

He not only had a slight advantage over his compatriot at the start, but was also a little faster.

So, Matvey did not close one more target, but at the same time won by almost two seconds.

The two-time European champion finished 16th for the second best result of the season.

He climbed higher only in the sprint in Kontiolahti (14th).

The performance of the rest of the Russians was even less successful.

Latypov, Streltsov and Garanichev missed five times and did not even make it into the top twenty.

And this is taking into account the fact that Edward started 11th and was considered the main hope of the national team.

Only Eugene was able to improve his position, but this hardly became a serious consolation for him.

The veteran of the Russian team started at the last, 60th number, but in the end became the 54th.