Before the fifth stage of the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof, there were minor changes in the Russian national team.
Two athletes returned to the team, whom fans have not seen for a long time at such a serious competition.
One of them was Anton Babikov, who, thanks to his successful performances in the IBU Cup, got a new chance to gain a foothold in the team.
Once again, Maxim Tsvetkov was in the national team, whose return could be called forced.
The stage in Oberhof should be skipped by the team leader Eduard Latypov, who is sick with coronavirus.
At the same time, there was a danger that none of the Russians would perform in Germany at all, since the massage therapist Roman Nikitin also passed a positive test, but still they did not apply such harsh measures to the team.
The season in the Biathlon World Cup had to wait a day longer than originally planned. The competition in Oberhof was supposed to start on January 6 with the men's sprint, but the race had to be postponed due to too warm weather and heavy rain. All the more surprising was the conditions in which the first competitions of 2022 took place. A real storm with a strong wind and heavy snowfall unexpectedly hit the track.
By the time Alexander Povarnitsyn and Daniil Serokhvostov, who started under the 25th and 27th numbers, started the first shooting, only a third of the participants were able to close all the targets on the prone.
Leadership was seized by the Norwegians Sivert Bakken and Philip Andersen, who escaped the penalty loops.
The Russians failed to work just as well - they both made two mistakes, despite the fact that they ran very well on the first loop.
A little later, the World Cup leader Emilien Jacquelin from France rose to the intermediate first place with one mistake.
At the second shooting Povarnitsyn was unable to rehabilitate himself, and Serokhvostov worked as it should.
Without allowing a single misfire, he climbed to a high fifth place for himself.
At the same time, he did not limit himself to clean shooting - the 22-year-old biathlete accelerated incredibly powerfully on the last loop.
The young Russian began to bypass one rival after another, and reduced the gap from the leading Norwegian Sturla Legreid from 36 seconds after the shooting range to ten at the finish line.
Serokhvostov finished the race in an intermediate second place and remained in the top three for some time.
For an athlete whose best career result was 15th in the individual race at the Östersund stage, it was a brilliant performance.
While Serokhvostov was racing to the finish line, Alexander Loginov entered the fight.
In the absence of Latypov, he again received the informal title of leader of the national team, which he began to successfully justify.
He shot perfect on a prone and became the leader of the race.
The Russian, who was delayed in the first place, was immediately bypassed by the Russian by 8.7 seconds.
Taking into account the fact that the Frenchman soon made a mistake on the counter, Loginov had a great chance to win.
Babikov also pleased with clean shooting at the first line.
Before appearing on the shooting range, he was 34 seconds behind the fastest biathletes, but thanks to five closed targets, he was already 16 seconds from Loginov and rose to fifth place.
The first World Cup race of the year started very well for the 30-year-old athlete.
What could not be said about Karim Khalili - just one miss kicked him out of the top 40 after lying down.
Meanwhile, the most exciting moment for the Russian team began - Loginov's second shooting.
He approached her, maintaining a solid handicap in relation to Jacquelin.
With the first four shots, the Russian hit the target, but the last one offensively smeared.
After passing the penalty loop, Loginov returned to the track with a third time, yielding more than five seconds to Jacquelin and about four seconds to Legrade.
The sprint world champion immediately rushed to catch up with the leaders.
Already at the next mark, he climbed to first place and remained above the Frenchman for the entire last lap.
At the finish line they were separated by 6.5 seconds.
By that time, very few people could apply for prizes, so Loginov could accept congratulations on his fourth personal victory at the KM stages and the second in Oberhof.
Almost the only one who still had chances for a medal was Babikov.
Following the prone, he also went through the stand cleanly, becoming one of the five athletes who closed all the targets in this race.
The Russian climbed to an intermediate fourth place, just 3.7 seconds behind Loginov.
Babikov's move is still not as good as other leaders of the world biathlon.
On the last lap, he tried to fight Legrade for bronze, but ended up finishing fifth.
A little later, the German Roman Res displaced Babikov to the sixth line, and Serokhvostov to the eighth.
Both Russians in Sunday's pursuit will lose less than half a minute to Loginov, so they will still have a chance to take away a medal from Oberhof.
The last of the Russians in the sprint was Tsvetkov.
His return to the World Cup, which he had been waiting for for three years, was not so successful.
To a miss on the first shooting range, he added three more on the second and ended up behind Povarnitsyn and Khalili.
Tsvetkov only managed to break into the pursuit race, in which he will start with number 52.
Alexander Loginov celebrates the 4th World Cup victory of his career in the Oberhof Sprint!
🥇🇷🇺 A. Loginov @russianbiathlon
🥈🇫🇷 @ EmilienJck @ FedFranceSki
🥉🇳🇴 SH Laegreid @NSSF_Biathlon
Watch live on https://t.co/Jw2DHhXhvq and along on the Official IBU App!
📲 pic.twitter.com/biUdmlzGjm
- BMW IBU World Cup (@IBU_WC) January 7, 2022