"We worked hard for four with a plus": the Russians were left without medals in the mixed relay at the KM stage in Oberhof

The mixed relay at the fifth stage of the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof for Russia did not go into the overall standings of the Nations Cup, so it was decided to put an experimental squad on it. The race was attended by Maxim Tsvetkov, Alexander Povarnitsyn, Irina Kazakevich and Valeria Vasnetsova. As the senior coach of the men's team, Yuri Kaminsky, explained, this time it was planned to look at the nearest reserve.

“The mixed relay does not solve anything, because we have a marginal result there - last year's first place. And in the single mixed, the best place is eighth, and we want to come close to the Germans and Swedes at the expense of it. We give the opportunity to the guys who did not start in the relay races to show themselves. We want to check them in order to understand what we can count on in the relay in the future. We gave Serokhvostov enough opportunities. He will run the baton in Ruhpolding, and there we will check him again, ”Kaminsky said on Match TV.

Unlike the Russians, the rest of the teams put up their optimal composition for the race. Tarjei Boe ran for the Norwegians at the first stage, Sebastian Samuelsson ran for the Swedes. However, in such a company, Tsvetkov, who had just returned to the team from the IBU Cup, was not lost. On the first lap, the Russian chose not to sit behind the backs of his rivals, but to take the leading position in the peloton. The biathlete was the first to start shooting from a prone position, however, it did not work out cleanly, despite the calm. Maxim needed two additional rounds, so he went sixth in the second round, 11.6 seconds behind Be. However, on the counter the Norwegian was no longer so accurate. The Scandinavian made two mistakes and allowed the first to leave the stadium for the Belarusian Nikita Lobastov. Tsvetkov closed all targets and went to the third round among the leaders.The shooting turned out to be a failure for Samuelsson. The Swede went to two penalty loops, throwing his team far back.

At a distance, Beo quickly overtook the Belarusian, but could not run away from Tsvetkov. As a result, Povarnitsyn went to the second stage together with the brother of the Norwegian Johannes. The rival decided to break away from the Russian already on the first lap. He rolled out to the stadium alone. The shooting for the owner of the Big Crystal Globe went smoothly. He needed one extra round, while the Russian got it wrong twice. Thus, Povarnitsyn's lag after the firing line only increased. At the same time, Belarus Anton Smolsky, who shot cleanly, pulled himself up to him. Close by, ten seconds away, was the German Benedict Doll.

At a distance, Boe only strengthened his advantage - even with one mistake on the stand, he left the firing line with a handicap of 29.1 seconds from Smolsky, who did not need additional cartridges.

Alexander continued to fight.

He shot more slowly, but made no mistakes.

However, at the distance, Povarnitsyn “stood up”: the lag of the Russian from Johannes almost doubled, from 35 seconds to 65.3 during the transfer of the relay.

The domestic athlete was also bypassed by Doll.

As Alexander said after the race, on the second lap his legs came together, and he could not do anything about it.

Irina Kazakevich played for Russia at the third stage. She carried out the first shooting confidently, reaching the third position. The athlete also looked good on the move, not losing at all to the Norwegian Ingrid Tandrevold and the Belarusian Dinara Alimbekova. However, she once again failed to work out the stance cleanly. Two additional rounds made it possible for the rivals not only to get closer, but to bypass the Russian woman at the shooting range. On the last lap, she went fifth, letting Italian Dorothea Wierer and German Vanessa Voigt go ahead. Before the last stage, the Czech Republic and France also had chances for bronze. Norway and Belarus were ahead with a great advantage.

Valeria Vasnetsova went the distance in a large company of rivals.

On the bench, she missed once, and on the stand made two misses.

This was used by the Frenchwoman Julia Simon and the German Vanessa Hinz, who had previously left the shooting range.

In the fight for bronze medals on the last loop, Valeria had to play 13 seconds and not let other rivals pass, which turned out to be a difficult task.

Vasnetsova was overtaken by the Swede Elvira Eberg, who managed to catch up with the leaders, despite her team's three penalty loops.

The biathletes beat Hinz together, but the Frenchwoman's advantage was too great.

Simon ended up being third.

And at the finish line, Vasnetsova bypassed Eberg.

Norway, as expected, won the relay.

At the last stage, Martha Reiseland did not give the Belarusian Anna Sole the opportunity to get close to herself, making only one mistake on the last shooting range.

The two-time Olympic champion Dmitry Vasiliev positively assessed the results of the race for Russian athletes.

In his opinion, Tsvetkov deserves to go to Beijing for the Olympic Games.

“It was nice to see the experimental lineup.

I was worried about the girls, they are not in the best shape.

But Vasnetsova is great.

If it were not for the additional cartridges, it would have been possible to climb into the top three ... Tsvetkov is super.

He showed all his best qualities.

With two additional rounds, he caught up with Bo.

I think that coaches should seriously think about taking him to the Olympics.

At least just for the sake of the relay.

Max is very good ", - quotes Vasiliev" Championship ".

In turn, the former head of the Russian Biathlon Union, Vladimir Drachev, awarded the 4+ relay to the national team: “Ours are great.

We did a good job.

It is clear that no one was surprised, the composition is not the strongest.

But they didn’t let me down, and that’s already nice. ”