Hope for Mironova
Domestic fans started Thursday with good news.
In the first stage of the IBU Cup in Arber, Germany, the Russians took the entire podium in the sprint.
Tatiana Akimova, who recently returned to the sport, won, followed by Valeria Vasnetsova and Anastasia Shevchenko.
After such a cheerful start to the day, biathlon fans placed certain expectations on those compatriots who sprinted at the World Cup in Oberhof.
However, on the eve of the race, quite disturbing news came from the location of the national team.
On Thursday afternoon, the IBU announced two positive tests for coronavirus in Russians.
At the same time, as noted, the disease did not affect the athletes.
The IBU has conducted further SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests for event participants at the BMW IBU World Cup in Oberhof, Germany.
Four people tested positive.
The affected teams are from Russia (2), Japan and one official.
No athletes are affected.
[1/2] pic.twitter.com/waWaQJGNmh
- IBU (@biathlonworld) January 14, 2021
Later, the SBR explained that the virus was detected in the coach of the women's team Nikolai Zagursky and serviceman Roman Virolainen.
Both were quarantined for ten days.
The coach of the national team Valery Polkhovsky also remains on it.
The first of the Russians was to start Larisa Kuklina (ninth number).
33rd went to the distance of Evgenia Pavlova, 38th - Irina Kazakevich.
But the main hopes for a medal were associated with Svetlana Mironova, who gained a good progress at the beginning of the year.
In the previous stage, she took gold in the mixed relay, and also stopped one step away from the podium in the pursuit.
This time, the coaches assigned her to a later starting group, apparently hoping that in the evening in Oberhof it would get colder and the track would “glaze over”.
Another champion of the mixed relay Ulyana Kaisheva started 67th, and Ekaterina Noskova - 91st.
For her, this race was the first in the KM in almost four years.
Five misses Kazakevich on the rack
Unfortunately, the race was unsuccessful for the Russians from the very beginning.
Kuklina not only did not start too quickly, but also missed the fourth round at the first shooting range.
Her lag behind Julia Schweiger, who was in the lead at that time, was at once more than half a minute.
The miracle did not happen in the future.
Kuklina was more and more inferior to her rivals at a distance, and left another target uncovered on the stand.
As a result, Larisa lost more than a minute even to Schweiger at the finish line.
Probably, the unexpected trip to the Russian Cup in Tchaikovsky at the end of 2020 also affected the athlete.
Pavlova demonstrated a similar result.
She also had two penalties, ending up 1: 50.7 behind the victorious Tiril Eckhoff.
Kazakevich, on the other hand, gave the fans a reason for optimism, having worked perfectly when shooting while prone.
But even this did not help her climb into the top 10 of the final protocol in this segment.
And on the counter, the young athlete made five mistakes, losing the chance to fight even for cup points.
Foreign athletes also made mistakes at the firing lines: the wind that evening confused many plans.
So, Julia Simon left four targets uncovered on the bench.
Denise Herrmann had three penalties and World Cup overall leader Martha Røisland had two.
Finally, sisters Hannah and Elvira Oeberg made one mistake.
It is not surprising that in such a race, athletes who coped with the shooting in an exemplary manner received a chance to take high places.
Among them was Dorothea Wierer.
The two-time winner of the Big Crystal Globe is not having a very successful season, and the silver in the sprint in Oberhof will help her improve her position in total.
Experienced Lisa Teresa Hauser continues to delight Austrian biathlon fans.
She managed to continue the bronze streak at Oberhof.
A week ago, the 27-year-old finished third in the sprint and pursuit, and has now repeated that result.
However, even biathletes with perfect shooting could not oppose anything to Tiril Eckhoff, who made a mistake while lying down.
The Norwegian is clearly pissed off at herself after failing to stand up in the solo mixed relay last weekend.
Then she managed to go to three penalties, thereby depriving Norway of victory.
Tiril was eager to rehabilitate herself in front of the fans, and she succeeded.
After leaving the second line, Eckhoff fought with Wierer, but in the last kilometers Dorothea began to lag behind, which left the second.
The Norwegian won the sixth victory in the personal race this season.
At the same time, Røisland, who finished eighth, retained her leadership in the overall World Cup (543 points).
However, Eckhoff reduced the gap with her compatriot to 17 points.
She's starting off just the way she did last week in the sprint!
@TirilEckhoff takes the lead after the prone 👍 # OBE21https: //t.co/bk5aBBso9Qpic.twitter.com/y3Yh931m0W
- IBU World Cup (@IBU_WC) January 14, 2021
Russian fans kept hope for a successful performance by Mironova.
However, from the very first check marks, it became obvious that the coaching staff did not get it right with Svetlana's starting group.
Moving on a noticeably broken track was not easy for her, although this did not affect the athlete's work on the bench.
She hit all five targets, but was 22.6 seconds behind Eckhoff.
In the future, the lag only increased, and on the approach to the second line was more than half a minute.
Successful shooting left the Russian woman with a chance of at least getting into the top 10.
Alas, this time Mironova did not cope with the wind, leaving two targets uncovered.
Unsuccessful work on the stand did not allow the athlete to rise above the 21st place in the final protocol (+1: 14.3).
Ulyana Kaisheva became the best of the Russians, having a mistake in the first line and showing the 19th result (+1: 11.5).
To some extent, she managed to please Noskov.
Although she made three mistakes, she showed quite good speed relative to her teammates.
As a result, Ekaterina closed the top 50 (+1: 59.0).