Wonderful bronze of Elistratov

The last day of the World Short Track Speed ​​Skating Championship was special for the Russian athlete Semyon Elistratov.

He had already won silver and bronze on Saturday and, thanks to this result, claimed a medal in the most prestigious short track discipline - all-around.

Two years ago, he also won bronze in all individual starts and was ready to improve his result.

To do this, he only had to prove himself in the 1000 meter race and the 3000 meter super final.

Elistratov practically coped with the first task.

He made it to the finals, becoming the only athlete to take part in all decisive races in the Olympic disciplines.

For some time he was in the lead, but could not tactically outplay his rivals and finished fifth, gaining very few points in the all-around competition.

At the same time, the first and second places were taken by the Hungarian brothers Shaolin Shandor and Shaoang Liu - they were ahead of Elistratov in the all-around at the end of Saturday.

🔥 After seeing his brother Shaoang Liu 🇭🇺 winning the 500m yesterday, it's gold for Shaolin Liu 🇭🇺 in the 1000m today 🥇



Shaoang 🇭🇺 takes the silver today with bronze for Pietro Sighel 🇮🇹 # ShortTrackSkating # WorldShortTrackpic.twitter.com / qltsXME18M

- ISU Speed ​​Skating (@ISU_Speed) March 7, 2021

In the 3000-meter race, the Russian had to first of all fight the Liu brothers, but suddenly all the cards were confused by the Frenchman Sebastien Lepap.

Before the start, he claimed a medal in the all-around only on the condition that he won this race, and the rivals would lose the points they needed.

Lepap immediately joined the struggle and was able to bypass the opponents who had fled in a single group for two whole circles.

This breakthrough of the Frenchman really helped him to briefly displace Elistratov from the third line in the overall standings, but immediately brought him back in an incredible way.

When Lepap began the last round, the judges rang the bell to inform him of this.

But not all athletes from the general group knew that this signal related specifically to the Frenchman.

Shaoan Liu stopped running on the next lap, although the race was still ongoing for him.

When he realized that he had made a mistake, he was already behind Elistratov, who finished in fifth place.

Unwittingly, the Hungarian allowed the Russian to gain two extra points in the all-around standings, which were just necessary to win the second consecutive World Championship bronze.

Shaoan Liu remained in first place, his brother became the silver medalist, and Lepap, who confused his rivals with his agility, took fourth place.

Black stripe of Prosvirnova

After the second day of competition, the Russian women's short track team almost suffered a tangible loss.

Sofia Prosvirnova fell in the final of the 500 meters and not only missed the chance for a medal, but also severely hurt her shoulder.

The executive director of the Russian Skating Union, Varvara Barysheva, said that the athlete could withdraw from the remaining races, but still on Sunday she felt better and went to the start.

However, Prosvirnova continued to pursue one failure after another.

In the quarterfinals of the 1000-meter race, the Russian woman was confidently walking ahead when a little-known Slovak Alisa Porubska suddenly appeared in front of her.

In the turn, Prosvirnova touched her rival and after the finish was disqualified for this.

Of the Russians, only Ekaterina Efremenkova was able to continue the fight in this discipline, and she took sixth place.

Prosvirnova still had a chance to win a personal medal in the all-around thanks to her successful performance at 3000 meters.

The gold in it has already been secured by the Dutchwoman Suzanne Schülting, who won all three Olympic disciplines, but the Russian woman continued to claim silver or bronze, especially since it was she who was the best at the longest distance at the European Championships.

However, in the superfinal, Prosvirnova touched the Canadian's skate Courtney Saro and fell shortly before the finish line.

And in the race, and in the overall standings, she became only seventh, although more recently she rose to the podium of the equally strong European championship.

Unsuccessful relay races

The last chance to please herself at Prosvirnova was in the final of the relay, but in it the black streak of the athlete from St. Petersburg continued.

This race promised the Russians at least a fight for silver with the French team, especially after the fall of the leader of the Italian team, Arianna Fontana.

However, nine laps before the finish, Prosvirnova fell again, and this time no one helped her.

It was too late to return to the fight, as the Italians did, and the Russian team finished fourth.

The victory was celebrated by the Dutch women led by Schülting, who set a historic achievement - not a single girl before her had ever managed to win all five gold medals at one world championship.

In the men's final, the Russian national team also fought for medals, despite the fact that Elistratov missed the decisive race.

In the middle of the race, the Russians took third place and practically guaranteed it to themselves when an Italian athlete fell down when the stage was changed.

Closer to the finish line, they even managed to bypass the Hungarian national team with the Liu brothers in the squad and win silver after the owners of the ice.

However, the joy of the medal was short-lived - it soon became clear that the Italian did not fall himself, but touched the leg of one of the Russian short trackers.

As a result, the entire team was disqualified.

It's Netherlands 🇳🇱 again!

The Dutch men secured the gold 🥇 on home soil ahead of Hungary 🇭🇺 and Italy 🇮🇹



The Dutch claimed their third World title in the Men's Relay after taking home gold in both 2014 and 2017 🔥 # ShortTrackSkatingpic.twitter.com / 3EM6RChYum

- ISU Speed ​​Skating (@ISU_Speed) March 7, 2021

President of the Russian Skating Union Alexei Kravtsov noted that he did not agree with such a decision of the judges, but he rated the final performance of the short trackers who took fifth place in the medal standings positively.

“In general, if you look at the number of medals, in principle, I think that this is a normal result, although the team could not fully show all the potential that it has.

This is a short track - somewhere we were unlucky, somewhere, I think, we were judged too harshly, for example, in the men's relay.

Sonya had an unsuccessful world championship.

We understand that she is capable of more.

But, again, given the lack of starting practice, on the whole we performed well.

There is a year ahead for which we will normally be able to prepare for the Olympic Games, "Kravtsov summed up in a conversation with RIA Novosti.