Two medals in the sprint: how Bolshunov consolidated his leadership at the Tour de Ski

Alexander Bolshunov could not surpass the achievement of Sergei Ustyugov, who four years ago won five races in a row at the Tour de Ski.

His triumphal streak in the current ski race was interrupted after the same number of victories.

Sprints turned out to be impregnable for Bolshunov at the Tour de Ski -2021.

In the free race on January 1, the Russian lost to Federico Pellegrini, winning a silver medal.

Now, on January 9, Bolshunov was ahead of the Italian in the classic sprint, but was content with only bronze.

The second place was taken by the profile sprinter Gleb Retivykh, the first - by the Swede Oskar Svensson.

Nevertheless, Bolshunov further strengthened his leadership in the overall standings of "Tour".

Before the final 10 km race, uphill Alpe Cermis, he surpasses French Maurice Manific by 3 minutes and 22 seconds.

The Russians Ivan Yakimushkin (3 minutes and 27 seconds behind), Artyom Maltsev (3:27), Denis Spitsov (3:50) and Evgeny Belov (5:00) take places from third to sixth in the total.

At least the first two of them have good chances to bypass Manifika and form a purely Russian podium with Bolshunov at the end of the Tour.

At the same time, Bolshunov is the current champion of the prestigious stage race.

A year ago, the Bryansk skier overtook his compatriot Ustyugov and the Norwegian Johannes Klebo, who is not yet competing due to the situation with the coronavirus.

Zealous and Bolshunov's medals in the sprint

In the morning qualification, the future winners of the stage Bolshunov and Retivykh showed the fourth and sixth times, respectively.

The second place was unexpectedly taken by the young Alexander Terentyev.

After the performance, he admitted that this is the greatest success in his career.

In his quarterfinal race, Bolshunov lost to Svensson.

The athletes immediately broke away from the general group and did not give their rivals a chance.

It was evident that both favorites were not running at full strength.

In this race, the Russians Evgeny Belov and Alexei Chervotkin finished the fight.

But in all the rest, it was the representatives of Russia that took the lead - Terentyev, Retivykh, Ilya Semikov and Artyom Maltsev.

In the semifinals, Bolshunov was lucky: he went further as a lucky looser thanks to the best time compared to the second six.

At this stage, the owner of the yellow jersey was defeated by Svensson and the Retivykh.

The athletes were in the same sequence in the protocol of the decisive race.

Three Russians made it to the sprint finals.

The company of Bolshunov and Retivykh was made by Maltsev, who brilliantly performed in his race in the semifinals.

Now no one spared their strength.

However, the members of the Russian national team, it seemed, did not help, but more interfered with each other on the track.

From the very first meters of the distance, Bolshunov tried to break away.

Probably, he understood that it would be very difficult to compete with the profile sprinters at the finish line.

There was a feeling that the leader of the general classification was "shot" by the skis.

Bolshunov changed the track several times and, possibly, lost his pace because of this.

On the other hand, he managed to leave behind Pellegrino.

It is curious that in time the final lost only to the first race of the quarter-final, in which Svensson and Bolshunov also competed.

As the coach of the Russian national team Yuri Borodavko explained, the skis worked better for the Swedes.

Due to this, Svensson skated very well into the finish line from the descent and left first.

According to the specialist, Retivykh and Bolshunov were more focused on Pellegrino, missing the breakthrough of the Swedish skier.

Oskar Svensson 🇸🇪concludes Sweden's dream day at the 7th stage of the # tourdeski2021 with his victory in the Sprint C! # Fiscrosscountry # tourdeski 📷NordicFocus pic.twitter.com/vNSptQDHmy

- FIS Cross-Country (@FISCrossCountry) January 9, 2021

Swedish pedestal for women

In the women's part of the Tour, Russia was left without awards after two victorious races (Yulia Stupak won the graze, Natalia Nepryaeva won the mass start).

Although it all started quite encouragingly for the Russians.

Tatiana Sorina showed the second result in qualifying.

This ultimately led her to the finals.

Nepryaeva made her way there, even though her path to the main stage of the competition turned out to be very difficult.

So, she overcame the quarterfinal round only as a lucky looser.

Like the men, the top six showed the fastest time.

In the semifinals, Nepryaeva coped with the task more confidently.

Sorina, who fled with her, was wrong tactically and almost dropped out.

But Stupak finished her speech.

In the final race, Nepryaeva, literally to the finish line, retained chances of at least a bronze medal.

But the Swedish skiers did a very good job.

Lynn Swann and Maya Dahlquist, in fact, left no chances to their rivals.

Emma Ribom accelerated in the last hundred meters and passed the Russian.

As a result, in the women's sprint there was an all-female podium, and in general the day at the Tour de Ski was marked by the unconditional triumph of the Swedish national team.

According to Borodavko, Nepryaeva and Sorina, it is necessary to work a lot in technical terms, since it is impossible to lose 10-12 meters at the finish line.

The coach stated that it is not only about skis here, although they glided better among the Swedes.

In the overall standings, Stupak is 54 seconds behind American Jesse Diggins before the final race. Nepryaeva (fourth intermediate place, 1:58 behind the leader) and Sorina (fifth and 2:03) have chances for top-3.