Finishing spurts of Stepanova and Ustyugov: Russian skiers won gold and silver in relay races at the KM stage

The second stage of the World Cup in cross-country skiing did not start very well for the Russian national team. In the sprint and “cut-ups”, the national team did not sensationally win a single medal. The competition program in Lillehammer ended with two relay races, in which our athletes simply had to climb the podium.

This primarily concerned men. Their powerful selection of participants made it possible to form two equal fours at once. At the same time, not all the strongest found a place in the first one. For example, Sergey Ustyugov unexpectedly became the last finisher. He was accompanied by Alexander Terentyev, Ilya Semikov and Artyom Maltsev. The first was Alexei Chervotkin, Alexander Bolshunov, Denis Spitsov and Ivan Yakimushkin. Of course, two almost equal teams and the owners were presented without any problems. Actually, the main struggle for getting on the podium should have developed between them and the Russians.

And already at the first classical stage, the four strongest teams outlined their claims. Chervotkin was among the leaders throughout almost the entire stage, who had shown himself well the day before in the "cut" and became the fourth. Alexei still had strength for the relay, because he literally dragged the pursuers on him. Closer to the end of the starting stage, a group of seven skiers went into the lead, among whom, of course, were the Russians and the Norwegians. And already on the last climb, the young Terentyev, who won the sprint in the Hand, loudly declared himself. After sitting behind the backs of rivals, he went on the attack and as a result showed the second time, losing only to Eric Valnes. The third is Paul Golberg, and the fourth is Chervotkin.

In the second and third stages, as a rule, the strongest try to escape from their pursuers.

This time it turned out the other way around.

The excellent classroom teacher Iivo Niskanen quickly caught up with the fugitives.

Francesco de Fabiani, who worked with the group of Marcus Kramer before the start of the season, also looked great.

The Italian brought a few more opponents on his shoulders, and the first four turned into an eight again.

Only closer to the finish line Bolshunov took the lead and began to work seriously to break away.

Unfortunately, Semikov did not support the acceleration, who began to lag behind along with Martin Lövström Nuenget.

But Niskanen did not have any problems.

Finn easily kept the speed of the Russian, and shortly before the transfer of the relay he took the lead.

Even Emil Iversen, who was 11.9 seconds behind, turned out to be unable to fight them.

Next, Spitsov entered the battle, who, as expected, threw off the shoulders of not the fastest Finn Remi Lindholm. But the winner of the "butchery" Simen Hegstad Kruger, together with Hans Christer Holund and Maltsev, began to actively reduce the gap with the Russian. Not a trace remained at the 17.5 km mark. Nevertheless, Spitsov continued to lead for a long time and dragged his pursuers on him, until at one moment he began to call others with gestures to take the first line. The Norwegians took advantage of this opportunity, trying to organize a spurt in the final ascent. However, the Russians not only supported him, but also seized the initiative. The first to pass the baton was Spitsov, who was 0.6 seconds ahead of Kruger, 0.9 - Maltsev and 1.3 - Kholund.

Thus, the strongest was to be determined by Ustyugov, Yakimushkin, Johannes Hösflot Klebo and Harald Estberg Amundsen. The Russians are located at the head and tail of the leading group. Ivan set the pace, and Sergei did not allow the Norwegians to relax. In this arrangement, they went through almost the entire stage. One could expect that domestic skiers, together with Amundsen, would try to unhook Klebo, but this did not happen. No one was in a hurry to raise the pace, keeping strength for the last kilometers.

Unfortunately, the current owner of the Big Crystal Globe turned out to be the strongest at the finish, as expected despite all the problems.

Nevertheless, it should be noted Ustyugov, who almost bypassed the Scandinavian in range, losing only 0.2 seconds.

Yakimushkin, who spent a lot of effort at a distance, could not cope with Amundsen.

So, nominally, the second relay team in Russia took silver, and the first was left with nothing.

Later, the Olympic champion Alexander Legkov, commenting on the race live on Match TV, quoted the head of the FLGR Elena Vyalbe.

According to her, the compositions were specially shuffled, and the competing athletes started at the same stages in order to understand how they would behave in such a situation.

To summarize, the idea worked completely, and domestic skiers almost took two sets of awards.

Women were initially less likely to win medals.

Firstly, they cannot boast of such a strong line-up as men.

Therefore, the formation of two full-fledged fours was out of the question.

The second, represented by Yana Kirpichenko, Anastasia Faleeva, Anastasia Rygalina and Maria Istomina, did not claim serious results.

Yes, and the first had staffing problems.

So, the company of Yulia Stupak, Natalya Nepryaeva and Tatyana Sorina was a young 20-year-old debutante of this discipline Veronika Stepanova.

However, she not only did not weaken the team, but did everything to run the relay at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

In general, all the girls completed their task with an A-plus.

From the very beginning, Stupak, in the role of a striker, was in the group of leaders and did not lag behind, especially since she had no recognized stars in her rivals.

For the time being, Kirpichenko was also close by.

However, the final serious climb put Yana out of the game.

She lagged far behind her opponents and could not cope with their acceleration.

On the first transfer of the relay, five skiers came to almost the same legs.

Stupak showed the fourth result, behind the German Katharina Hennig by 1.3 seconds and less than a second behind the Norwegian Tiril Udnes Veng and the Swedish Emma Ribom.

Kirpichenko lost to the leader for more than 20 seconds.

But Nepryaeva got very serious opponents - the winner of the "cutting" Frida Karlsson and two-time World Cup winner Heidi Veng.

But Natalia did not get lost in such a company, but, on the contrary, headed the group.

And closer to the transfer of the relay, the big three managed to unhook Anna Küllönen.

The Finns did not apply for medals anymore.

Sorina had to fight Ebba Andersson and Teresa Johaug altogether.

Tatiana competed with the latter on equal terms in Saturday's "cut-up".

The Russian woman kept behind the Norwegian for three laps and only in the last, when the Scandinavian finished, lost a lot to the favorites.

On Sunday, Sorina, too, at first sat behind the fast skiers. She tactically competently distributed forces according to distance and did not seek to run away ahead of time into the lead. But the Swede and the Norwegian were spending energy, who alternately replaced each other at the head of the leading group. The Russian woman dealt with her competitors closer to the finish line. First, she bypassed Andersson on the descent, and then ran away from Johaug on the uphill. As a result, Stepanova was the first to receive the baton, albeit with a minimal lead over her rivals.

Then the fans with bated breath began to watch how the debutante Stepanova would prove herself.

At first, the reason for the experience did arise.

The trio began so slowly that Victoria Karl almost caught up with them, bringing with them a whole group of pursuers.

But the German woman, who started powerfully, closer to the middle of the distance, was exhausted and refused to fight.

But Stepanova played cat and mouse with opponents.

For obvious reasons, no one wanted to go forward, keeping strength for the finishing spurt.

Helene Marie Fossesholm was in the lead for 2.5 km.

She also took a long leap forward.

At first it seemed that the rivals would not be able to cope with him.

But Veronica managed to catch on to Moa Olsson, and then bypass her.

The Norwegian spent too much energy trying to escape from her pursuers and didn't look her best on the last kilometer.

But the Russian woman, having calculated everything correctly, literally flew out from behind her rivals before returning to the stadium and organized a magnificent finish spurt.

The opponents could no longer support him and had to fight only for the second line.

And the Russian women's team, which unsuccessfully started the new season of the World Cup, won in many ways an unexpected victory in the relay.

Moreover, she became the first for the team at the KM stages in 17 years.

And it was possible to go down in history thanks to the 20-year-old debutante Stepanova, who at her stage dealt with much more experienced and eminent rivals.