Medal Application: Latypov finished fourth in the sprint at the KM biathlon stage in Ostersund

The hopeful performance of men

Before the start of the season, many fans wondered if Eduard Latypov could become the new leader of the Russian national team.

And the first races demonstrated that the biathlete is not only capable of this, but already is.

At the first stage in Östersund, he almost got into the flower ceremony of the individual, having curiously confused the target at the finish line, and at the second he stopped a step away from the medal in the sprint.

And we are not talking about a hypothetical fight for awards, when the athlete is initially much inferior to the favorites, but a real fight.

The podium eluded the native of Grodno at the very last moment.

Perfect shooting helped him climb to fourth place.

Surprisingly, Latypov for the first time in his career worked to zero in the personal race of the World Cup.

Unfortunately, functionally Edward is still inferior to the leading rivals.

By comparison, Emilien Jacquelin, who missed part of preseason with a wrist injury, was eight seconds ahead of him with one penalty.

After leaving the second line, the domestic athlete lost five, but failed to come close.

“There was a serious condition ..., I couldn't add.

I squeezed out of myself that I could, but I understand, so far I can’t overcome the bar where I have to go.

It is not possible to reach 100%, there is an internal limiter.

Plus, it was cold today, and the muscles did not feel comfortable, "Latypov complained on Match TV.

Not only Jacquelin was able to get ahead of him.

Once again, an incredible move was demonstrated by Sebastian Samuelsson, who, even with a mistake, effortlessly passed Emilien by 18 seconds.

Moreover, from the second line, he went out almost on the same feet with the opponent, but on the last lap he came off by as much as 15. For the Swede, this is the second victory in three races of the current season of the Planet Cup.

Well, for the Russian national team, the denouement came closer to the finish line, when another Frenchman, Kenten Fillon Maillet, joined the fight.

He worked perfectly on the bench, and came to the rack, having a chance to win.

A miss by the last patron seemed to open the way for the Russian to the medal.

Alas, the opponent quickly went through the penalty loop and was almost not inferior to Latypov.

And in the final part of the distance, he confidently broke away from him and, as a result, improved the competitor's time by five seconds.

The second result among the Russians was shown by Alexander Loginov, who “kicked” at the level of a partner in the national team, but made an uncharacteristic blunder while lying down.

But the world champion unexpectedly passed the stand without any problems.

He ended up in 13th place, 55.9 seconds behind Samuelsson.

Of course, close attention was focused on Vasily Tomshin and Alexander Povarnitsyn, who joined the team at the beginning of the week.

They replaced Matvey Eliseev and Evgeny Garanichev, who failed the starting stage and went to the IBU Cup.

In general, the newcomers coped with their task.

Povarnitsyn, who initially qualified for the World Cup, misfired on a bench, but finished the sprint in the top 30.

But the biathlete's move left much to be desired.

In terms of pure speed, he became the worst in the national team, losing to Latypov, who surpassed the rest, in the region of 35 seconds.

Debutant Tomshin started much faster and after perfect work on a bench even claimed to be in the top 20.

Alas, two uncovered targets on the stand pushed him back to 39th place.

At least Vasily managed to score cup points and get into the pursuit race.

But Daniil Serokhvostov did not cope with this task.

The young athlete, who showed himself brightly at the starting stage of the CM, made four misfires at once and took 74th place.

Now the coaching staff will have to make a difficult decision - who to put in the Saturday relay.

The presence of Latypov and Loginov is beyond doubt.

Quite possibly?

Said Karimullah Khalili, who has a little more experience, will get there.

The Muscovite does not yet shine and, in particular, he only became 33rd in the sprint, but he must cope with his task.

But the last name of the participant is extremely difficult to guess.

Serokhvostov had good chances, but Thursday's failure gave Yuri Kaminsky a reason to bet on Tomshin or Povarnitsyn.

Discouraging results for women

It was very interesting to watch the Russian biathletes, especially since Ulyana Nigmatullina and Kristina Reztsova pleasantly surprised at the first stage, breaking into the top 10 of the individual race.

Domestic fans expected a good result from them on Thursday as well.

The performance of Svetlana Mironova and Irina Kazakevich, who failed their debut, also aroused interest.

Following the example of Garanichev and Eliseev, they could well have gone to the IBU Cup, but the coaching staff of the women's team, headed by Mikhail Shashilov, decided not to make any changes to the roster until the new year.

Thus, the girls had the opportunity to prove their necessity for the national team.

Nigmatullina was the first from the national team to go to the start.

Unfortunately, the first round again became a stumbling block for the athlete from Udmurtia.

She came to the bench with a solid lag and, in addition, made a mistake.

After that, it turned out to be extremely difficult to get out of the depths of the protocol.

The second and especially the third laps Ulyana ran much faster and worked cleanly on the rack.

But she did not manage to rise above the 29th place.

Reztsova, on the other hand, started briskly and arrived at the first line in one leg with such rivals as Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Denise Herrman, but did not close one target and left the line with a 40-second lag behind the leader. On the stand, Christina made another mistake and lost the last opportunity to fight for getting into the top ten. Nevertheless, the young mother finished 27th and the best move among compatriots, 51.5 seconds back from Elvira Oeberg.

If Nigmatullina and Reztsova turned out to be imperfect at the first line, then Mironova and Kazakevich made blots at the second. Svetlana was especially upset. She splendidly covered two-thirds of the distance and walked up to the rack with real chances for a flower ceremony. The native of the Tomsk region sent four cartridges right on target, but before the fifth shot she wavered and eventually misfired. However, the final lap showed that even with clean shooting, it would be difficult for a 27-year-old biathlete to fight for a medal. If she left the rack with a lag of 50.3 seconds from Oeberg Jr., then at the finish she lost more than a minute to the Swede.

But Irina was pleasantly pleased.

The young athlete, who made a total of 14 misses at the first stage, started under the late 107th number and for the time being fully coped with the mission entrusted to her.

To the trademark high speed, she managed to add the perfect lying job.

As a result, Kazakevich was in a real fight for the top 5.

Alas, on the counter the carriage turned back into a pumpkin, and two misfires lowered the medalist of the World Junior Championship to the middle of his fifties.

Larisa Kuklina is a little higher, at 43rd position.

An experienced biathlete did not close just one target, but again did not flash with a move, becoming the worst in this indicator in the national team.

Finally, Valeria Vasnetsova, with two inaccuracies, showed only 63rd result and did not get into the pursuit.

But who was not equal in speed in the sprint was the hostess of the competition Elvira Eberg. She demonstrated an excellent move at the first stage, and on Thursday left no chances for her opponents, 20.5 seconds ahead of her closest pursuer Anna Solu. As a result, the Swede nearly won with two open targets. Only experienced Lisa Teresa Hauser, who became the second in an individual last week, prevented her from doing this. Unlike her rival, the representative of Austria worked cleanly on the lines and was ahead of the Scandinavian by 12.5 seconds.

The third, unexpectedly, was Sola, who took bronze in this event at the World Championship in Pokljuka in winter.

This time, the most offensive shot on the counter prevented her from winning.

Another Belarusian Dinara Alimbekova pleased the fans.

She finished fourth in a row for the third time in a row, a step away from the podium and in the overall standings of the World Cup missed Hauser to clean first place.