Less than two weeks left before the start of the new biathlon season.

Russian athletes have begun the final stage of preparation: based on the results of control starts in Tyumen and Khanty-Mansiysk, the composition of the national team for the first stages of international competitions was determined.

The Biathlon Union of Russia wanted to conduct the selection as honestly and transparently as possible.

However, the dissatisfied still remained.

Reztsova doubted the honesty of the selection

The girls' test starts were hot and emotional.

Places in the Russian national team for the World Cup were booked in advance only for Svetlana Mironova and Ulyana Nigmatullina (Kaisheva), who, at the end of last season, were in the top 20 of the world ranking.

The rest of the coaching staff headed by Mikhail Shashilov was determined by the results of the sprint and mass start in Tyumen.

The girls who have already selected took part in them.

On Monday, the first place in the sprint was shared by Larisa Kuklina and Mironova: both biathletes showed a time of 20 minutes and 8 seconds.

At the same time, Svetlana made one mistake.

Immediately after the end of the race, three-time Olympic champion Anfisa Reztsova expressed doubts about the honesty of the competition.

Her daughter Christina finished with one penalty, only fifth.

“We talked literally the day before yesterday, she felt normal.

It is very strange that she lost to the winners for more than 20 seconds.

Perhaps some kind of timing manipulation.

Maybe it is so convenient for Shashilov that his girls are the first?

<…> In the Russian championship, Christina goes to the World Cup by train.

And now they want to unfasten it.

What kind of chaos is this?

Give me free rein, I would have “shot” Shashilov myself.

I wouldn't miss here.

Honestly, ”said the former athlete in an interview with RIA Novosti.

Two-time Olympic champion Dmitry Vasiliev disagreed with his colleague.

In his opinion, no one faked the results, but the specialist was disappointed with the results of Anastasia Shevchenko and Irina Kazakevich, who took 14th and 15th places, respectively.

“The carte blanches given to them did not justify themselves.

The pre-voiced line-ups surprised me even then.

It is not clear what to do with this.

At the same time, Reztsova showed herself well, Goreeva walked well with her feet.

It is not entirely correct to form a team for test starts.

There are some athletes who perform well in Russia, but get lost abroad.

I'm talking about the same Porshnev and Povarnitsyn, ”said Vasiliev.

Sports commentator Dmitry Guberniev stood up for Kazakevich.

“Irina froze her hands at -10, and hence the blunders!

I will come to biathlon and tell our athletes and coaches that this is a winter sport, ”the host wrote on his Telegram channel.

Guberniev also recommended not to pay attention to the statements of Anfisa Reztsova, who, according to him, is often in an inadequate state.

The Olympic champion, in turn, could not resist and attacked the journalist in response.

“Inadequate is his permanent state in life.

This is the opinion not only of me, but also of many biathlon fans.

Dmitry talks too much.

He goes into questions that do not concern him in any way.

Very often, it is in vain that it goes deeply into the personal life of athletes and for some reason delves into it, "- the former biathlete was indignant in an interview with Sport-Express.

Kazakevich with ten penalties in the team

For verbal skirmishes in Tyumen there was a mass start.

In the race on the first lap, she fell and damaged Derbushev's rifle.

The athlete eventually finished fifth, and Evgenia Burtasova celebrated the victory, but this was not enough for her to reserve a place in the team.

In the final list of the Russian women's national team, in addition to Mironova and Nigmatullina, by the decision of the coaching staff, as a result, Kuklina, Reztsova, Valery Vasnetsova and Kazakevich were included.

The first three did not raise any questions from anyone - according to the results of two races, they became the best.

Kazakevich also made five mistakes in the mass start, finishing 10th.

As the coach of the women's national team Nikolai Zagursky explained, the biathlete's numerous blunders can be attributed to psychological pressure.

“This is the only explanation.

At sighting this morning, it was clear that she was just shaking.

The day before, Mikhail Viktorovich (Shashilov -

RT

) had a conversation with her.

But both days Irina was very excited, ”said the Match TV specialist.

According to the President of the Russian Biathlon Union Viktor Maigurov, Kazakevich's appearance in the main squad was caused by a combination of different factors and no one had any questions about the decision voiced by the coaches.

“Irina is not the best shooter, but she has experience.

We must take into account that she can prove herself, ”the Olympic medalist said.

In turn, Anfisa Reztsova rejoiced when she saw her daughter in the final list.

At the same time, she did not change her opinion about the senior coach of the women's team and was surprised to appear in the composition of Kazakevich.

“There have been debates about Christina until today.

Even after the first race, they wanted to send her to the IBU Cup.

And today she confirmed that she is one of the strongest.

Fortunately, not only Shashilov determines the composition.

I just have a question for the coaching staff - we take 10th and 15th places in the selection for the World Cup.

What is it like?

It is wrong that she is driving instead of a girl who has become the fifth or sixth, ”said the Olympic champion.

Unlike Reztsova, ex-president of the RBU Vladimir Drachev praised the composition of the women's team.

According to the expert, these are the best athletes in Russia today.

“Yes, the coaches change their places sometimes, but in general everything is fine here.

I think we should completely trust Shashilov.

Yes, he has an interest in taking his own, but first of all he looks at those with whom he prepared himself.

Still, he is the coach of the Russian national team and he knows his athletes thoroughly, ”said the specialist.

Povarnitsyna did not let the IBU in

Control starts for men took place in Khanty-Mansiysk.

They were used to determine the last athlete who will go to the World Cup in Östersund.

As the coach of the Russian men's national team Maksim Maksimov said, all biathletes during the races were in equal conditions: one service team was engaged in skiing, using the same option for preparing equipment for all.

“I’m not saying that we don’t trust the athletes.

But we had cases in qualifying competitions when some participants wanted to improve gliding.

At the test starts, they tried to exclude such a situation.

If someone's equipment itself differs in structure and due to this, the course along the distance is better, this is the merit of the athlete himself that he has a good pair of skis, ”the specialist noted in an interview with the SBR press service.

The best result in the sprint and mass start was shown by 27-year-old Alexander Povarnitsyn, finishing second twice.

It was planned that he would become the sixth member of the team and join Alexander Loginov, Eduard Latypov, Matvey Eliseev, Evgeny Garanichev and Karim Khalili, who had already fulfilled the selection criteria.

However, the International Biathlon Union on Tuesday did not allow the Russian to participate in the first stages of the World Cup due to the lack of qualifying points.

The athlete has not competed in an IBU competition since December 2019.

As a result, 22-year-old Daniil Serokhvostov will go to conquer Östersund.

Following the results of two races in Khanty-Mansiysk, he showed the third result, behind Povarnitsyn and Nikita Porshnev.

The main plus of the young biathlete is high speed.

But the shooting is still lame.

Nevertheless, according to Drachev, taking Daniel to the World Cup is the right decision.

“Better to let Serokhvostov take 60th place now, and in 2-3 months he will become tenth.

The guy will still grow, progress.

Otherwise, in the end we will reach the point where we finish our career without starting it, ”said the former president of the RBU.