Success from "dark horses"
The last season of the Biathlon World Cup taught Russian fans that one should not expect a successful performance from domestic athletes.
Each race was given to them with great difficulty, and the team never managed to win a single medal.
However, the start of a new one in an amicable way encouraged, because at once two girls fought for awards until the last moment.
The individual race in Östersund was held in strong winds, which affected the shooting of many favorites.
So, the current owner of the Big Crystal Globe Tiril Eckhoff made five mistakes and closed the third dozen in the final protocol.
Dorothea Wierer missed four targets and finished 37th.
Marthe Reiseland and Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold made three mistakes each.
Five - Elvira Eberg, who showed the best speed at a distance.
Such failures of rivals gave a chance to Russian women, who, as a rule, do not show the best move, but are reliable at the borders.
And some really managed to take advantage of it.
For example, Ulyana Nigmatullina (nee Kaisheva) made me happy.
She went to “zero” three lines and for some time even took the lead in this segment, until she was displaced from the top by Lisa Teresa Hauser.
In the end, everything was decided at the last stand.
If a native of Udmurtia had worked cleanly, she would have won silver.
Alas, the athlete still could not hit the second target and missed the opportunity to compete for a medal.
The reigning world champion in this discipline, Marketa Davidova, won a confident victory. She entered the "zero club" and secured more than a minute lead over Hauser.
Bronze went to Denise Herrman.
The German woman, who was never famous for accurate shooting, sensationally managed to pass the race with just one miss, which was not slow to affect the result.
Finally, the Belarusian Dinara Alimbekova was just a little short of the medal.
Nigmatullina, on the other hand, was fifth in the protocol and repeated the best result in her career.
Moreover, she previously managed to close the top 5 here, in Ostersund, in the last race of last season - the mass start.
Such progress cannot but rejoice.
Finally, Christina Reztsova, who had missed the entire previous draw of the Planet Cup because of the birth of a child, surprised me in a good way.
Returning, she immediately closed the first eight.
In terms of work on the lines, she performed like a compatriot - 15 hits in a row and an offensive misfire in the final stand, which prevented her from fighting for a medal.
But even such a performance can be called great for a young mother, especially since she not only shot accurately, but also showed a good move despite the late start number.
Moreover, the daughter of the three-time Olympic champion Anfisa Chekhova showed the best result in her career on the CM in the personal race, having entered the top ten for the first time.
It is noteworthy that biathletes who trained on their own achieved success as an individual.
And Nigmatullina did emphasize that she managed to show a good result thanks to her work separately from the national team.
But the girls who trained in the national team could not please.
Svetlana Mironova was late for the start due to improper ski attachment and miraculously avoided a minute penalty.
As a result, the leader of the national team took only 25th place.
Larisa Kuklina finished 28th with three penalties, while Valeria Vasnetsova finished 44th with four penalties.
But Irina Kazakevich disappointed most of all.
The ward of Mikhail Shashilov once again failed to cope with the nerves, left ten targets out of 20 uncovered and showed the 109th result, almost 12 minutes behind Davidova.
Leadership Unexpected Failure
In general, the performance of the Russians in the male individual turned out to be encouraging. In this race, the national team was also quite a bit short of a medal. At the end of last season, many wondered if Eduard Latypov was ready to become the new leader of the national team instead of Alexander Loginov. And the first start gave a rather positive answer, because the native of Kamyshly almost broke into the top 3.
At the same time, the 27-year-old athlete began calmly enough and did not keep up with the leaders.
His tactics turned out to be absolutely correct, because the wind had increased by that time, and the favorites, like women, made a large number of mistakes.
For example, Sebastian Samuelsson, who showed an excellent move, missed six targets at once and took the final 40th place.
His compatriot Martin Ponsiluoma wrote down eight blots for himself, Frenchman Emilien Jacquelin - six, and Quentin Fillon Maillet - three.
Therefore, Latypov focused on accurate work on the lines.
True, on the very first prone he missed, but he did not allow himself this anymore, gradually improving his position.
It finally became clear that Edward was able to fight for getting into the top three after the second lying, because all opponents were imperfect.
The Russian on the final stand, as if not feeling excitement, confidently closed five targets, yielding only 12 seconds to Tarja Bo.
Alas, at the finish line, the domestic athlete was awaited by the most offensive curiosity.
Going on target, in the heat of the struggle he went to the wrong "corridor".
I had to hurry back and waste about 20 seconds on this.
“I worked very hard for the second part of the distance, the eyes from the descent were already red, everything was blurring.
I did not see the trajectory of movement and automatically descended there.
I went to the finish line and I understand that I do not see the trees, the "corridor".
Of course, I lost a lot of time, I could qualify for a medal, ”the biathlete said on Match TV.
However, even if Latypov had not made this blot, he would hardly have climbed the podium, at best exchanging his seventh place for fourth.
A confident victory was won by the owner of the Small Crystal Globe in this discipline, Sturla Holm Legrade.
Almost a minute behind him was Beo Sr.
Johannes Boe finished fifth with two line errors in the first race of the season.
Edward eventually lost more than a minute and a half to the winner.
As for other Russians, their performance was ambiguous.
Pleased with the 22-year-old debutant Daniil Serokhvostov, who left only two targets out of 20 uncovered and finished in a high 15th line.
Said Karimullah Khalili, with the same number of misses, was content with the 27th.
Matvey Eliseev frankly disappointed, who showed complete unpreparedness for the season.
With almost perfect shooting, the native of Zelenograd lost four minutes to Legrade, and the last lap was almost on foot.
While it remains to summarize, the transition to another coaching group did not benefit the athlete.
On the contrary, there were no questions about Loginov's functional readiness, but he “shot himself” at the lines, leaving six targets uncovered and showing the 53rd result.
The leader of the national team tried to work extremely quickly, but it would be more correct to wait in such weather conditions.
Finally, Evgeny Garanichev failed to cope with any of the components, settling in the 75th in the final protocol.
With such results, it will be extremely difficult for the veteran to count on a trip to the Olympic Games in Beijing.