Five medals in Obertilliach: triumph at the IBU Cup helped Shevchenko, Tsvetkov and Babikov return to the main team

Gold medal in biathlon at the IBU Cup

Anastasia Shevchenko won her second IBU Cup victory this season - and again in the sprint.

The start of the race for the Russian woman was not very successful: despite accurate shooting, after lying down she was only ninth, behind the leader, Francis Hildebrandt, 13.9 seconds.

But on the stand, the German went to the penalty loop, and Shevchenko, having shot without misses, went the third distance, 3.5 seconds behind her compatriot Evgenia Burtasova.

And on the last loop, the IBU Cup overall leader reaffirmed her excellent functional readiness, not only winning back the gap, but also giving her teammate 8.2 seconds more.

In the end, Burtasova finished only fourth, leaving behind another Frenchwoman Paola Bothe and Norwegian Caroline Offigstad Knotten.

“Today I ran the race very well, so I'm glad.

After the second shooting, I was told that I had good chances, and on the last loop I put in my best effort, thanks to which I won.

Now my goal is the World Cup.

I want to show good results there as well, ”the IBU press service quoted Shevchenko as saying.

The bronze medal in the men's sprint was won by Maxim Tsvetkov, who made one penalty in the standing shooting and lost only 0.1 seconds in the fight for silver to Norwegian Erlend Bjönthegor.

And this despite the fact that after the first line the Russian was in the lead. 

But in the individual race, Tsvetkov fought in absentia for the podium with Anton Babikov.

Both made one mistake each in the second and third shooting, but the native of the Vologda Oblast, for whom this race was the first in three years at the international level, showed the best move and finished third.

The two-time winner of the previous stage of the IBU Cup Babikov, this time was content with the fourth position.

And the stage in Obertilliach ended with two victories in mixed relay races at once.

The domestic four consisting of Shevchenko, Tsvetkov, as well as Anastasia Goreeva and Nikita Porshnev left no chances to their rivals, finishing with a huge gap of 54.8 seconds from the closest pursuers - the Norwegian national team.

“Today our whole team has worked very, very well - not only athletes, but also servicemen,” said Tsvetkov after the finish, who was running the last, fourth stage of the relay.

- I am very glad that the leader passed [the baton] to me.

I was a little worried before shooting while lying down, but although with additional cartridges, I managed to work out cleanly and get away with a lead, and towards the rack I was already sure that I could handle the shooting. "

The final point was put by Evgenia Burtasova and Anton Babikov, who became the first in the single mixed.

“We knew that our team was really strong, but we had to concentrate on shooting, especially considering the fact that it was quite windy today.

When I saw that we had good speed on the track, I realized that we could win.

I believed in myself and in my partner, and we succeeded, ”Babikov said.

The efforts of the reservists of the Russian national team did not go unnoticed by the coaching staff, and on Sunday the RBU announced that the main characters of Obertilliach - Anastasia Shevchenko, Maxim Tsvetkov and Anton Babikov - will have a chance to prove themselves at the next stage of the World Cup, which will be held in January in Germany.

Silver in snowboarding and freestyle

Recent juniors Sofia Nadyrshina (snowboard) and Anastasia Smirnova (freestyle) shone brightly at the adult level at the end of last winter season, having won gold medals at the world championships in their disciplines, and now they continue to show good results in the Olympic year.

So, last weekend, 18-year-old Nadyrshina took second place in the parallel giant slalom at the World Cup in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

She reached the final with the second result, but lost to the Olympic champion in snowboarding and alpine skiing Czech Esther Ledetskaya.

This is the second consecutive World Cup podium for the native of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: a week earlier she won gold in Magnitogorsk.

Thanks to this, Nadyrshina went on New Year's holidays as the leader of the World Cup in giant slalom.

“This is me standing on the podium in Italy.

Second place at the World Cup.

Now home to celebrate the New Year, and then into battle, ”the snowboarder wrote on Instagram. 

Anastasia Smirnova scored a silver medal at the World Cup, which was held in the French Alpe d'Huez.

In the final of the doubles mogul, she lost to Australian Jakara Anthony, who had already won gold in singles the day before.

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Publication from Nadyrshina Sofiya (@ nadyrshina.s)

Bronze in bobsled and skeleton

The fifth stage of the World Cup in skeleton in Altenberg left the leaders of the national team Alexander Tretyakov and Elena Nikitina without medals, but brought the bronze medal to Yulia Kanakina. For the 26-year-old native of Krasnoyarsk, this is the second podium of the World Cup stages in her career, and in 2019 she became the third on the same track in Altenberg. This time, the Russian woman had a chance to rise higher - after the first race, she took second place, but an unsuccessful second attempt threw her back. As a result, Kanakina lost to the winner, German Tina Hermann, by 0.42 seconds.

Another bronze of the German stage was brought by bobsledders in the fours' competition.

The crew of Rostislav Gaityukevich, which included Mikhail Mordasov, Pavel Travkin and Aleksey Laptev, lost 0.35 seconds on the aggregate of two attempts to the winners, the German quartet led by two-time Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich.

Moreover, in the second race, Gaityukevich showed the best time among all the participants, but the Russians were summed up by the first descent, according to the results of which they were only fifth.