The success of Ushkina leaving for Romania and two failures of Loginov: how the Russian biathlon championship started in Khanty-Mansiysk

Breakthrough of the future citizen of Romania

Natalya Ushkina became the main heroine of the first two days of the Russian Biathlon Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk.

She won gold and silver, despite the fact that she is neither in the main national team of the country, nor in the reserve one.

The 24-year-old athlete achieved her main career success right before leaving for Romania, for which she will play from next season.

Before the current championship of the country, Ushkina was barely known to a wide circle of fans.

In 2015, she became the silver medalist in the relay world youth championship, and a year later she won the individual race as part of the IBU Junior Cup.

However, a year later, Ushkina ceased to be called up to the national team and did not participate in international competitions.

As a result, for the sake of continuing her sports career, she decided to change her citizenship and move to Romania.

But at her last Russian championship, an athlete from Mordovia immediately created a sensation.

In the sprint, she did not make a single mistake and took second place, losing only to Evgenia Pavlova, who was just as accurate and 19.7 seconds faster.

Irina Kazakevich showed the third result with one penalty loop.

One of the leaders of the Russian national team, Svetlana Mironova, became only 11th, and Olga Podchufarova, who refused the idea of ​​playing for Slovenia this year, finished 26th.

Having beaten almost all compatriots, Ushkina said that she would still not refuse the opportunity to play for Romania, since she has a real prospect of going to the Olympic Games in Beijing.

“The result became high only this year, I didn’t perform like that last year.

And in this there was a breakthrough.

That year, I was invited to the Romanian team, and the documents were processed throughout the season.

The Russian Biathlon Union has already calmly let me go.

Will I stay if I get an offer I can't refuse?

No, I have already decided that I will go there.

All contracts will be decided in May.

This was all done before the Olympics.

I don’t regret that I made such a decision, ”Ushkina told Match TV.

In the SBR, after such an unexpected result, the athletes said that they now regret her transfer to another national team.

According to Anatoly Kuzmichev, a member of the organization's council, Ushkina will have more prospects in Romania.

“Of course, Natalia's departure will be a serious loss for our team.

But what to do?

Two years ago, sisters Elena and Irina Kruchinkin left us, who are now playing for Belarus.

Now Ushkina is going to leave, because she is not even taken to the reserve squad of the Russian national team.

Therefore, people are looking for where to go.

She has more prospects in Romania, she will participate in the World Cup, and will go to the Olympics next year.

I think that she will be the first number of the Romanian national team, "RIA Novosti quotes Kuzmichev.

The next day in the pursuit race, Ushkina presented another surprise.

After Pavlova refused to participate, she actually started first.

The athlete from Mordovia missed Larisa Kuklina after a miss on the second prone, but then regained the lead when she made a mistake on the last line.

Kuklina finished second, Ulyana Kaisheva became third, and Mironova, due to seven misses, dropped even lower and finished the race 14th.

After Ushkina's victory over the entire Russian team, President of the RBU Viktor Maygurov said that the athlete's transfer to Romania may not yet take place.

He noted that the last word rests with the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which has recently tightened the rules for changing sports citizenship.

“Given the current IBU rules, it will be very difficult to agree on a transition from one country to another.

She understands that in another country, with not very much competition, she has much more chances to participate in competitions of the highest level, but I am not yet sure that the IBU will agree on her transition.

If earlier it was enough to get a passport and agree on the transition with the federation, now you need to prove the need to move to another country, "TASS quotes Maygurov.

Loginov's six misses and Suchilov's disqualification

The men's competition at the Russian championship was also rich in events.

The victory in the sprint was won by Matvey Eliseev, who was almost prevented by several circumstances at once.

He forgot the leg numbers and was forced to go in search of them right before the start, and then broke the clip during the race.

He had to wait for the judges to hand over the new equipment and lost a few valuable seconds because of this.

But in the end, Eliseev, who celebrated his 28th birthday on this day, was able to show the best time with one mistake.

In less than five seconds, he beat Maxim Tsvetkov.

The world champion in the relay, who has not played in the Russian national team for two years, passed both lines without mistakes.

This silver medal could now help him return to the team in the Olympic season.

Third place was taken by Eduard Latypov, who made one misfire while lying down.

Alexander Loginov's sprint did not work out - three misses threw him to the end of the top ten.

Karim Khalili entered only one penalty loop, but took 17th place.

After the race, he complained about the terrible condition of the skis, because of which he lost almost a minute and a half to Eliseev.

In the pursuit race, Latypov and Eliseev led the fight for gold.

On the first three lines, they made two mistakes, but they came to the final shooting together and simultaneously closed all the targets.

On the last lap, Eduard attacked and won 13 seconds against Matvey.

After the finish, he paid tribute to the winner of the race.

Latypov noted that he initially tuned in for a tough fight.

“At the fourth line I watched Matvey shoot.

I realized that there will be a cut on the last lap.

Let's watch each other, because the third athlete is far enough away.

It was necessary to work out the tactics already.

I chose the site that is easiest for me to take off.

Matvey is a very strong athlete, he can resist and endure.

In flat areas, it is very strong.

I perfectly understood and knew it.

Leaving for the last lap, I didn't think it would be easy, ”said Latypov.

Tsvetkov claimed the third place for a long time, but his mistake at the fourth line allowed Semyon Suchilov to come out ahead.

However, he did not become a bronze medalist - after the race, the athlete was disqualified for leaving the shooting range with a cartridge in the clip.

Tsvetkov rose from fourth position to third, but did not accept the award due to him - at the award ceremony he refused to wear a medal, and then gave it to Suchilov.

If Khalili was able to rehabilitate a little in the pursuit and rise to ninth place, then Loginova suffered an even greater failure.

He made six misses, and at the last line he was able to close only one target at all.

As a result, the leader of the Russian national team won only 16th place, taking into account the disqualification of Suchilov.