Golden debut: how Terentyev ran away from Klebo and won the sprint at the first stage of KM cross-country skiing

Terentyev selected for Beijing

As part of the Russian men's national team, on the eve of the first stage of the World Cup in cross-country skiing, a replacement took place: instead of the sick Evgeny Belov, Alexander Bessmertnykh was announced. As the coach of the national team Sergey Turyshev noted, the skier is slightly ill and will be ready to perform in Lillehammer in early December. However, these changes are affecting the squad in distance racing, and the tournament began on Friday with a classic style sprint.

On the one hand, the men's qualification was joyful, on the other hand, it was exciting for the Russians. Five domestic skiers made their way to the quarterfinals at once. Moreover, young Alexander Terentyev showed the best time. The 22-year-old was 1.7 seconds ahead of Johannes Klebo. However, he was not the only one who bypassed the three-time Olympic championship. One tenth ahead of the formidable Norwegian Frenchman Richard Juve.

I had to worry about Gleb Zetivykh. The Russian started at the beginning and quickly fell back to the thirtieth position - the last qualifying place. He was lucky: the athletes who went on the track later could not get around the Russian. In the quarterfinals, the World Championship medalist got into one race with Alexander Bolshunov and Sergei Ustyugov. Domestic skiers started confidently, but the ending decided everything. The distance of the sprint in the Arm ends with a long climb, on which, in fact, the winner is determined. Ustyugov looked very good on it at first, the two-time world champion came out on top. And then, as Sergei said after the finish, he did not have enough strength for the last straight.

“Initially, I wanted to run in the back and then jump out at the finish line, but we skied well and ended up in front, so I decided to try to break away on the rise.

But at the very top they ran out of strength.

There are two more distance races ahead.

I hope we will be able to find a competitive tone in them, ”the athlete said in an interview with Match TV.

Ustyugov eventually finished fifth.

Alexander Bolshunov did not go further.

According to Elena Vyalbe, President of the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Federation, the winner of the Big Crystal Globe has already shown a better result than was expected of him.

“For Sasha, it is already good to get into the top thirty, because in training he has not yet started speed work.

Our task today is to support the athlete, to calm him down.

He is used to not just running, but winning.

I'm sure Bolshunov is very upset now, ”the specialist noted.

Gleb Retivykh was lucky again in the quarterfinals. He finished third, but made it to the next stage of the competition as a lucky loser. Terentyev looked much more confident in his quarterfinals. From the very beginning, the Russian took the lead at a distance, on the last climb he added more and with a large margin rolled out to the finish line, making a good claim to win.

The semi-final with Terentyev's participation was more like a decisive race in terms of names.

In the company with Alexander were Juve, Klebo, Erik Walnes and Paul Goldberg, who showed high results in qualifying.

Tactics came to the fore.

The Norwegians pushed Terentyev back at the beginning of the race, but on the last rise, the athlete was able to jump out onto the free track.

Klebo, on the contrary, found himself behind Juve.

The Frenchman deliberately blocked the way for the Norwegian and did not allow him to demonstrate the finishing spurt.

This turned out to be in the hands of the Russian, who eventually became the second, losing only to Valnes.

As for the Zealous, Gleb's luck is over.

He became the fourth in his race and then thanks to the fall of two Swedes.

But the speeds in the second semi-final turned out to be much lower, so Klebo and Zhuv became the lucky losers.

The final race with the participation of the formidable Norwegian and Terentyev turned out to be even brighter than the previous one. The Russian skated from the start onto the track first, but on the descent he was immediately hushed up by his rivals. There was a tactical struggle, the skiers moved along the distance frankly slowly. Klebo decided to take advantage of this, making an unexpected leap on a small hill and on the last rise, the Olympic champion left with a decent margin. Terentyev was in fifth position, but on the rise, Alexander did not just catch up with the Norwegian - the Russian went into the lead and confidently finished first. After the race, he admitted that he did not think about the holoto, first of all he wanted to get into the top three.

“I am very happy to win in such a difficult situation.

The strongest rivals were already in the semifinals and it was good that we managed to unhook two of them.

The last climb?

We looked at the Norwegians and trained, learned to beat them.

After the finish, I immediately congratulated the coach Yuri Borodavko on his birthday, he managed to joke that today he decided not to present a tie, "Terentyev said.

Elena Vyalbe, in turn, said that thanks to this result, Alexander was selected for the team at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

“I am sure that this is our future,” the specialist noted.

Russians out of the final

The women's qualification passed without surprises.

Four Russian skiers were selected in the top thirty: Natalya Nepryaeva, Yulia Stupak, Tatyana Sorina and Anastasia Faleeva.

After the first race, the girls admitted: while at the distance they are experiencing discomfort.

The body has not yet realized that the competition has begun.

In the quarterfinals, Faleeva and Sorina finished the fight.

And if for 21-year-old Anastasia just getting into the top thirty was a good result, then Tatyana's physical condition causes some concern on the eve of distance races.

Nepryaeva and Stupak quietly made it to the semifinals, but then the girls had a problem.

Natalia in her race started unsuccessfully, being behind her rivals, she did not manage to get ahead, and at the finish climb, the Russian woman lagged behind even more.

At the same time, the athlete herself noted that she physically felt comfortable at a distance and lost the race precisely tactically.

Stupak, on the contrary, preferred to leave the start in the first position in the semifinals.

But, as it turned out, in vain.

On the penultimate descent, her rivals passed her, and on the decisive climb she lagged behind even more, eventually finishing fifth.

Swede Maya Dahlqvist won the sprint.

According to Vyalbe, the lack of Russian girls in the final has objective reasons.

“Somewhere there was a fuss, like Julia did, moving from one ski track to another.

Nepryaeva rested on the athletes standing in front of her on the descent.

Sorina is not the same physically yet.

But we have done a great job, this is only the first start, ”the specialist noted.

On Saturday, Russian skiers will test their strength in individual races in classic style.