The Russian national biathlon team had an unsuccessful start at the World Championships in Pokljuka.
The team consisting of Alexander Loginov, Eduard Latypov, Svetlana Mironova and Ulyana Kasheva took ninth place.
The last time Russian athletes were so low was at the main start of the season in 2018 at the Pyeongchang Olympics, when they also formally performed not as biathletes for their national team, but as neutral athletes.
Loginov and Kaisheva did not comment on the results of the race.
The sprint world champion warned in advance that he would not communicate with journalists until the end of the competition.
Latypov noted that he himself did not expect from himself three misses on the bench, because of which he had to lose a lot of time at the shooting range.
He also said that recently the weather conditions in Slovenia have changed, and this was the reason for the drop in his speed on the last lap.
“The reasons for the misses?
I fired the first shot accurately, I was confident that everything could be continued in the same rhythm, but I made mistakes.
Then he calmly finished off with dopami, but still lost a lot of time.
This is not what I expected of myself, of course.
I coped with the counter, but still it's not the case.
The form during the preparation was good, and now in principle too.
But the weather conditions are a little difficult, this was not the case before.
The humidity here is 100%, it is hard to breathe, and the pulse is much higher than it was before.
It was hard to add on the state of health on the last loop.
I don’t know, my muscles were just stiff and I couldn’t give a strong finish anymore, ”Latypov said on Match TV.
The final result of the Russian team was strongly influenced by two penalty loops, which Mironova earned in her second shooting.
After the finish, the athlete apologized for her mistakes, which cost the team the fight for medals.
“Today was a very tough race, I did not expect such a state.
Of course, first of all, I want to apologize to the team, to the fans for the fact that we got such a stance with two circles.
This is a rather tricky approach.
When I fired five shots, then, as often happens, re-restoration began.
The rifle did not stop in displacement at all, so I could not close two targets with additional cartridges, ”Mironova explained her shooting.
She also complained about the excessive stress she experienced during the last days before the World Cup and about the too difficult track.
“We ran a test race here and everything was fine.
But I think that the control pace was lower than today, and that's why it happened ... For four days I experienced a lot of tension, which I could not get rid of.
I think that after the first race this tension will go away.
Affected by the wait for the race and two weeks off.
We went through acclimatization here at the camp for two weeks, but here is a difficult track, and today everyone was covered very strongly, ”Mironova said.
The head coach of the Russian national team, Valery Polkhovsky, stood up for the protection of his charges, and especially Mironova.
He noted that the tournament has just begun, and one failure does not mean that other races will also go badly.
“Of course, the result is not exactly what we expected.
From the first stage, somehow it did not work out ... I cannot say any complaints to the guys, they worked.
The distance was hard enough, there was fresh snow, so we had to turn on maximum speeds.
Apparently, somewhere not everything worked out ... Two penalties for Mironova?
This is biathlon where this can happen.
Of course, we support Svetlana.
The tournament has just begun, in my memory there were many world championships, which we started without medals, but ended quite successfully.
As an example, I will give the 2003 World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk.
So let's not jump to conclusions.
We will draw conclusions and prepare further for the races, ”the specialist promised.
Polkhovsky noted that on the eve the biathletes did not give reason to doubt their readiness for the World Championship, and during the relay they tried to show character.
This, according to the coach, gives reason to hope for the best in the next starts.
“Yesterday at training everything was calm.
And Sveta Mironova worked well, and so did all the other guys.
With desire, with pleasure.
This is the biathlon world championship.
He always makes his own adjustments ... The guys fought.
I cannot reproach them for not fighting.
And what is the reason, we will figure it out.
We will analyze the race without any panic and will continue to fight, "said Polkhovsky.
Finally, he said that the coaching staff had not yet decided on the composition for the men's sprint, which will be the next race at the World Championship.
The competition will be held on February 12, and the national team will be able to submit an application on the evening of the 11th.