The last start of Eliseev and the referee scandal with Burtasova: how the Russians became the second in the "Christmas Race"

The 20th anniversary "Christmas Race" turned out to be completely different from its predecessors.

From the football stadium in Gelsenkirchen, the competition moved to Ruhpolding, where, after the New Year, the sixth World Cup stage of the season will be held.

The move was triggered by another wave of coronavirus in Germany, which made it impossible for spectators to come to the stands.

But the event itself was not banned, and ten pairs of athletes from nine countries gathered in one of the most important biathlon venues to compete again in the mass start and pursuit.

Despite the fact that everyone is now primarily concerned with the Olympics, which is just over a month away, the "Christmas Race" brought together many famous participants, almost all of whom compete in the World Cup.

The exception this year was the Russian national team.

The duo united Matvey Eliseev and Evgenia Burtasova (nee Pavlova), who started the season at the IBU Cup.

Such a choice of participants was simply explained - the last time it was they who celebrated the victory, so as the reigning champions deserved the right to defend the title.

At the same time, for Eliseev, the performance in Ruhpolding was supposed to be the last one for several months in advance.

After the organizers included him in the list of participants, the 28-year-old athlete announced a career suspension.

He stated that he was forced to do so due to health problems.

Instead of a trip to the Olympics, he will prepare for the March Russian championship, and the "Christmas Race", thus, could become his last international start.

Ruhpolding did not welcome the athletes very hospitably - on the day of the competition it started raining, and the athletes had to go to the start under umbrellas. When the mass start began, Burtasova almost fell on the wet track. She then missed on a bench that cost her a 75 meter penalty loop. Many made mistakes in the first shooting, and Ukrainian Julia Dzhima, who played in tandem with Dmitry Pidruchny, managed to close all the targets.

Eliseev came seventh to his first firing line. He did not run too fast relative to his competitors, but he shot excellently and won back one position. Burtasova returned to the fight 20 seconds away from the German duo Janin Hettich - Erik Lesser and turned on the speed to return to the shooting range for the third. There was a chance to rise even higher, but the Russian woman again left one target open. Russia began to compete for bronze with Ukraine and Italy, for which the most stellar duet, represented by Dorothea Wierer and Lucas Hofer, performed.

Lesser held the lead by shooting. Austrian Felix Lightner, who was chasing him, made three mistakes on the stand, and the next three teams had the opportunity to fight for silver. Eliseev did not disappoint and worked cleanly. Together with him, Hofer distinguished himself. Together they set off in pursuit of the German, but he managed to run away already 22 seconds ahead. Hettich also did not let anyone near her - the owners of the track were shooting too well. But Wierer and Burtasova did not lag behind in this component. On the third attempt, the Russian woman still avoided the penalty loop.

When Eliseev returned to the distance, he immediately caught up with Hofer, and then closed the next five targets before him. At that moment, the Russian did not at all resemble an athlete exhausted by various troubles, but at least a quite worthy candidate for the main team. Burtasova's shooting was not perfect. When again there was a chance to bypass Wierer, who made a mistake, the Russian woman went into two penalties. Because of this, even the Austrians had to skip ahead. Eliseev had to pull out the team again. At the same time, it was already unrealistic to get Hettich and Lesser - they both did not allow a single misfire in the mass start.

Hofer and Lightner literally invited the pursuers to second place - they made five penalties for two. Pidruchny also did not close one target, catching up on the penultimate lap of Eliseev. But the Russian did not escape the penalty loop either. He returned to the track at the same time as the Ukrainian and could have competed for second place, but he did not - there was still a more valuable graze ahead. In it, the national teams of Russia and Ukraine were supposed to start 38 seconds after the German biathletes.

However, Burtasova and Pidruchnaya started the race much earlier - the judges made a mistake with the time of their start. The athletes immediately rushed in pursuit of Hettich, and the German woman, even with clean shooting, was forced to admit her rivals. By the time Lesser went to the first leg, the three teams were already almost equal, and there was very little left to dislodge the German from the first place, but for this it was necessary to maintain accuracy. Pidruchny made four misses at once on his first bench, Eliseev did not close one target. The Russians remained in the top three, but the unmistakable Lightner dived ahead, passing the baton to Lisa Theresa Hauser second.

The judges nevertheless admitted their mistake and detained Pidruchnaya and Burtasova when changing the stage.

Because of this, the Russian woman, although she remained in third place, already felt the approach of the Finnish Marie Eder.

While Hauser was catching up and bypassing Hettich, Burtasova could no longer control herself.

Two misses of the athlete threw the Russian duo to sixth place.

Fortunately, no one canceled the mistakes of competitors.

Thanks to them, Burtasova and Eliseev returned to the fight for third place, which was to be waged with the Czechs Marketa Davidova and Michal Krchmar, and then for the second.

This was especially helped by Hettich, who missed as many as three times in her last shooting, while the Russian and Czechs were clean.

There were about 12 seconds between Krchmar and Eliseev in the final loop, and it was not easy to recoup such a gap.

But luck smiled at the Russians again - the Czech went to two penalty loops, and the Russian biathlete, after long heals, hit all the targets.

Eliseev grabbed the opportunity to finish with silver and did not miss it.

The victory was celebrated by the Austrians, for whom it was the first success in 12 years at the "Christmas Race" after the gold medal of Christoph Zumann in a pair with German Katya Wilhelm.