"Klebo stepped forward and has already done his job there."
The Russian men's national team, following the women's, won silver medals in the 4x10 km relay at the World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany.
Throughout the entire race, domestic athletes fought for the highest positions, but in the end they lost to the Norwegians in the fight for gold.
One of the heroes of the relay was Alexei Chervotkin, who ran the first stage.
From the very beginning of the distance, he took the lead and gradually increased the advantage, bringing his opponents almost a minute at the finish.
The Russian admitted that he could not hold on to other skiers, so he decided to go at his own pace.
“I don’t know how I felt ... I didn’t manage to get on the second descent second or third, so I decided to pull ... The skis worked well.
Many thanks to the service.
Then he went at his own pace.
I tried to focus on descending, pushing myself apart, then keeping the distance speed.
But all the same, in the end it covered me ... I tried to endure it ... I felt nauseous at the finish line, ”Chervotkin said on Match TV.
Following him, Ivan Yakimushkin took over the baton.
He not only failed to maintain the advantage, but also to stay in the top three.
According to the athlete, unlike Chervotkin, he had problems with his skis, which “rode like on sand,” which was especially noticeable on the ascents.
“I tried to do everything I could, but it got hard when they caught up with me so easily.
He lost all the advantage that Lyosha created in a lap and a half, although he tried his best.
I am very sorry, I am very guilty before the team.
I don’t know how to get out of this situation.
I would very much like to improve.
Maybe they'll let me start in the 50 km mass start, ”complained Yakimushkin.
Artyom Maltsev managed to improve the situation a little, but the most interesting thing awaited the fans at the last stage - the confrontation between long-time opponents Alexander Bolshunov and Johannes Klebo.
The newly minted world champion in skiathlon made attempts to break away from the Norwegian, but he did not succeed.
“I tried different options on how to get away from Klebo.
Still, this is not the kind of athlete who can be dropped by 10 km, especially if he started 30 seconds behind.
Yes, I tried it, but I realized that on the descents and on the ascents, he feels very good.
Today he could not be beaten.
Moreover, on the last descent I did not hear that he was bypassing me on the right.
Still, I thought that he would go to the left, and I will take the chance.
But he stepped forward and there he has already done his job, ”explained Bolshunov.
"The weather played a cruel joke on all athletes"
Summing up the results of the relay, the coach of the Russian national team Yuri Borodavko noted that at the moment it was difficult for him to assess why Yakimushkin had missed such a significant advantage.
At the same time, despite the missed opportunities, he was pleased with the performance of the wards.
“The relay is four stages.
We finished second, unfortunately, but before that we said that you can fight the Norwegians only if you come with a lead in front of Klebo.
It was a good first stage, but then everyone got together again.
Sasha broke away from his pursuers, and Johannes took his time to put on a show.
He's the best sprinter right now.
The second place is great, we have taken our own, ”said Borodavko.
The Olympic champion Alexander Legkov tried to explain the failure at the second stage, to whom Sergei Ustyugov informed about the problems with Yakimushkin's skis.
“Sergei just wrote me a message:“ It seems that Ivan was very heavily lifted up to zero.
This means that they went through the sandpaper harder so that there was a hold.
Maybe because of this, the skis do not glide so well.
What for?
Unclear.
Well, this is Sergey's opinion.
You need to talk to the service team.
Each athlete has his own lubricator, ”Legkov said.
At the same time, the silver medalist of Vancouver-2010 Alexander Panzhinsky noted that mistakes with lubrication were made not only by Russians, but also by their rivals.
“Today is a very valid race.
We haven't seen such relay races for a long time.
While the outcome was predictable, the storyline was exciting.
The weather has made adjustments.
It was a race between two countries.
Moreover, not only of the two countries of skiers, but also of teams of lubricators ... Unfortunately, the breakaway of Kholund in the third stage did not allow Bolshunov to wear down Klebo throughout the entire 10 km.
Alexander caught up with him only to the middle of the distance, and there it was not so far from the finish line.
Klebo followed Bolshunov and won in his own style, ”said Panzhinsky.
2005 World Champion Vasily Rochev also sided with Yakimushkin.
According to him, several factors affected the result at once: inconvenient weather conditions, an error of the service team and the inexperience of the skier.
He stressed that the silver medal is also a success for the Russian national team.
“The rivalry between Klebo and Bolshunov is a battle of the titans.
To a greater extent today, not countries competed, but two personalities.
But it was clear that Sanya was not in the same condition as at the skiathlon.
There he jumped into the rises, and if he repeated the same move today, the Norwegian would not have opposed him.
The Russian made attempts today, but, apparently, he himself understood that he would not be able to pull it off.
Klebo is handsome, he played his role, "Rochev paid tribute to the Norwegian.
As for the confrontation between Bolshunov and Klebo, experts agreed that the Russian had practically no chance after he had to win back a 35-second gap.
“If Sasha had been given some ground in front of Klebo, he could have cut Klebo off at a distance.
And catching up, catching up and then running away is unrealistic.
Plus the track is softish.
I hope he has enough strength for fifty dollars.
The second place is great.
It's great that we are fighting.
We tried, we were in the fight.
It turned out how it turned out ”, - noted the silver medalist of Sochi-2014 Alexander Bessmertnykh.
The bronze medalist of the 2001 World Championship Sergei Kryanin agreed with his opinion.
He stressed that Bolshunov did everything that depended on him, but at the moment Klebo is the best sprinter on the planet, so his rivals have no chance at this distance.
“The first stage gave me confidence, but the second one reduced everything.
While Sasha was catching up, he spent his strength, he was not enough for the last spurt.
But we know that Klebo is the best at finishing acceleration at the moment.
Nevertheless, congratulations to our guys!
An excellent result and a great race.
I think it will go down in history, ”said Kryanin.
At the same time, the 2013 world champion Alexei Petukhov suggested that the Russian team could still fight for gold.
In his opinion, in such a race, everything was predictably decided in the last kilometers, where Bolshunov did not have enough lightness.
“Plus the weather played a cruel joke on all the athletes.
It was evident how difficult it was for everyone, and the race turned out to be unpredictable, everything changed after each stage.
Chervotkin created such a gap ... This is a historic race for him.
I don’t remember anyone creating such a gap, ”said Petukhov.
At the same time, multiple Olympic champion Anfisa Reztsova added that the result was influenced not only by Klebo's physical strength, but also by the right tactics.
“Today Klebo proved that our guys still need to think somehow, to turn on their heads, and not only to take them by force ... I won't say that this is a show, just a Norwegian - a real tactician, he is such a guy, it is peculiar to him.
And Sasha should have assumed that this would happen, but he thought: "Oh, yes, I will do everything now."
Probably, he hoped for a Russian maybe ... But it's okay, silver is not a loss, it is also a victory in general, ”Sport24 quotes Reztsova.