Silver on a birthday and the best race in their careers: how Latypov and Kaisheva shone in mass starts at the KM biathlon stage

Successful performance of Russian women during a storm

Carrying out mass starts in the framework of the final stage of the Biathlon World Cup in Östersund was under a big question until the last moment.

The wind, which had already noticeably interfered with the athletes the day before, only intensified on Sunday.

Gusts in the stadium even tore off the billboards.

Cancellation of races in such conditions would be a logical step.

However, it would have deprived the fans of the incredible intrigue in the fight for the Big Crystal Globe in men, because before the final day of the Sturla competition, Holm Legrade and Johannes Boe were practically on par.

As a result, the mass starts took place, but were postponed to a later time.

However, the shooting actually turned into a lottery.

In women, such a bright struggle was not expected, since Tiril Eckhoff had guaranteed herself the World Cup in advance.

She also won the Small Crystal Globe in sprints and pursuit.

But in the standings of mass starts, the Norwegian was only fourth, 11 points behind the leading Julie Simon.

Of the Russians, only Svetlana Mironova and Ulyana Kaisheva got the right to start on Sunday.

Looking ahead, in the end, both performed quite well.

However, the situation at a distance changed dramatically after each firing line.

And if on the bench the biathletes still coped with the wind, then on the counter they made one mistake after another.

After the first half of the race, Ukrainian Julia Dzhima, who closed all ten targets, was in the lead, and Marketa Davidova, Dorothea Wierer, Franziska Preuss and Anna Sola were located nearby.

The Russians made two mistakes.

In the future, everyone experienced serious problems.

Jim, a Czech and a German made four misfires, a Belarusian - three, an Italian - two.

But Mironova - only one, immediately moved to sixth place and joined the fight for medals.

Kaisheva missed one more time and closed the top ten.

Dinara Alimbekova took the lead and managed to shoot accurately.

The last stand changed the balance of power again.

Wierer spent more than two minutes at the turn, trying to wait out the gust of wind, but still made three mistakes and ended up finishing only 26th.

Alimbekova also left three targets uncovered and seemed to say goodbye to her dream of medals.

But everyone else missed a lot, and therefore the Belarusian managed to return the leader after three penalty loops.

Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold moved up to second place with only five penalties in total, and Lena Hecky took third.

Russians are also located nearby.

Kaisheva, with one misfire at the last line, was fifth, 12 seconds behind the third position, and Mironova, with two, was tenth.

Unfortunately, Ulyana did not manage to compete for a medal.

Preuss had an excellent last loop and easily passed Hecky.

The domestic athlete retained the fifth place and demonstrated the best career result in the WC.

Mironova, however, managed to rise to the eighth line.

In the struggle for victory, Tandrevold easily outstripped Alimbekova, who ran six penalties, and not only won the individual race on the CM for the first time in her career, but also won the Small Crystal Globe at the last moment.

Eckhoff, with eight penalties, was only seventh, while her compatriot Marthe Olsbu Røisland, who finished second in the total, was 29th with ten.

But the already mentioned Simon shot the worst of all.

The Frenchwoman managed not to close 15 targets at once and failed to maintain the lead in the struggle for the Small Crystal Globe.

Finish with a medal for the national biathlon

In the men's mass start, Russia was represented by Matvey Eliseev, Eduard Latypov and Evgeny Garanichev.

Alexander Loginov at the last moment refused to participate in the race due to health problems.

Towards evening, the wind in Östersund subsided somewhat, although it remained strong enough, and the athletes had the opportunity to work on the lines in not such extreme conditions.

However, Johannes Boe made a mistake on the first prone and allowed Legrade to get around him.

Cope with the shooting and Latypov with Garanichev, while Eliseev went to the penalty loop.

And after the second line, Eduard, who had perfectly shot, who turned 27 on the day of the race, came out on top at all.

More than ten seconds he was inferior to the Swiss Benjamin Weger and almost half a minute - Johannes Dale.

As for the other Johannes, he made another mistake and dropped to 16th place.

But Legrade also made a mistake and went eighth.

Garanichev, who also shot perfectly, was in sixth place.

Latypov's move could not but rejoice, but an unloved stance was waiting for him ahead.

Unfortunately, the Russian did not work out for sure.

He left two targets open at once and went to the penalty loops.

And Antonin Guigonna and Benedict Doll, who made only one mistake, unexpectedly took the lead.

Edward returned to the distance third, but soon allowed himself to be bypassed by Beo junior.

This time the Scandinavian shot accurately and was ahead of Legrade by only one position.

The fight for the Big Crystal Globe has reached its peak.

And at the last turn, the wind made adjustments to the final distribution of seats.

Guigonne and Doll got into a strong rush and made four and three penalties, respectively.

Latypov miraculously closed all the targets and returned to first place.

6.5 seconds away from him was Simon Detjeux, and 12.3 seconds away - Bo Jr., who finally broke away from Legrade.

Knowing Edward's good speed on the last loop, it seemed that he would be able to win, but the domestic biathlete allowed the Frenchman to catch up with him, and then to get around.

But the tired Norwegian could no longer compete with the Russian.

Thus, Child won, and Latypov, for the first time in his career, climbed into the top three in the personal KM race and made himself an excellent birthday present.

Finally, Johannes Boe won the World Cup for the third time in a row.

And his older brother Tarjei took the Small Crystal Globe in the mass start standings.

Legrade is forced to settle for similar awards in individual races and pursuits.

As for the other Russians, Eliseev finished 17th with three penalties, and Garanichev finished 21st with four.

At the same time, Eugene made all his misfires on the racks.