The final stage of the Russian Biathlon Cup in Tchaikovsky continued with the men's sprint.

Almost all the leaders came to the start of the race, with the exception of Alexander Loginov, who is still worried about health problems.

According to coach Sergei Bashkirov, the athlete should not be expected to compete in the next two weeks, but it is likely that he will appear at the Commonwealth Cup in March.

The leader of the sprint standings before the decisive start was Karim Khalili.

Daniil Serokhvostov was 12 points behind him, while Alexander Povarnitsyn was 26 points behind.

Only Alexander managed without mistakes at the first firing line, and the competitors missed once.

Khalili also almost made a second miss, hitting the last shot in the envelope.

Fortunately for him, the target still closed.

Serokhvostov successfully compensated for a miss with a move, although he was far from his best speed: at the training camp in Sochi, he was slightly ill and has recently been training not at full strength.

Nevertheless, Daniil came to the second shooting as a leader, ahead of Alexei Vagin and Matvey Eliseev, who did without misfires on the prone.

At the turn, he hit all the targets and then finished with the best result at that time.

Khalili, who followed behind, was not perfect on the stand, and as a result lost to his colleague on the national team quite decently - 28.6 seconds.

But Povarnitsyn failed to take advantage of the chance: he missed twice on the standing, and with his feet he was unable to compete with Karim.

But Eduard Latypov that day was almost flawless.

He started at the end, under the 62nd number, and had the opportunity to focus on the time of his opponents.

The three-time bronze medalist of the 2022 Games demonstrated the best acceleration and rushed to the prone, beating Serokhvostov by 14.9 seconds.

Shooting failed a little, but Eduard also overcame the penalty 150 meters in the blink of an eye and still left the distance as a leader.

The Bashkir sportsman did not flinch even on the stand, closing all the targets.

After that, almost the only intrigue of the race was how much Latypov would eventually “bring” to Serokhvostov at the finish line and with what advantage he would go to the pursuit race the next day.

As a result, he surpassed Daniel's time by 38.5 seconds.

“I'm glad for this victory.

I wanted to say thank you to the coaches and servicers - the skis worked perfectly today.

This is our overall result.

Today, the move is good, and one miss in such a race is a good result.

Well-being allows you to fight and win with good shooting, ”said the athlete on Match TV.

This day was not without surprises.

Ilnaz Mukhamedzyanov, who started after Latypov, who had not had enough stars from the sky in the season before, unexpectedly snatched the bronze, pushing Khalili to fourth position - and this with two misses on the rack and eighth intermediate place.

The last lap, a native of Izhevsk, passed at cruising speed, outstripped Karim by 5.6 seconds and for some time even questioned his victory in the sprint standings.

After a careful calculation of points, it turned out that Khalili had surpassed Serokhvostov in the ranking by only one point.

However, the conquest of a small crystal globe did not brighten up the biathlete's bitterness from a not-too-successful performance.

“First of all, I am now worried about my form, my condition.

I want to recover, return to my normal level.

Before the season, we worked a little wrong, so for almost the entire winter I could not show my usual speed, ”Karim shared after the awards ceremony.

Mukhamedzyanov, on the contrary, was extremely pleased with his bronze.

Commenting on getting on the podium, he noted with a smile that the service group had done a good job, as the skis were running just fine.

“The condition also allowed [to run fast], so everything worked out.

After two misfires, he did not give up.

In any scenario, I try to give all the best to the maximum, not paying attention to any mistakes.

I just worked in my own mode, and the distance coaches suggested how I was going, ”said the biathlete, who trains in the same group with Latypov with Yuri Kaminsky, after the finish.

Serokhvostov, in turn, complained about illnesses that do not allow him to gain optimal shape.

He admitted that in his current state he could not beat Latypov even if he missed twice.

Daniil compared his colleague with the Norwegian biathlete Johannes Boe, who, in the absence of the Russians, has already won five gold medals at the World Championships in Oberhof.

Three times he excelled in individual races - in the sprint, "individual" and pursuit - and won two more victories in the mixed relay and single mixed.

“I would not say that it was a duel with Latypov.

This is one-sided football.

At the Russian level, this is our Johannes Boe.

I got sick in the mountains and did not train.

I practically rested all the time after Raubichi.

In this state, taking second place is a very good result, ”the Championship quotes the athlete.

Latypov admitted that he was pleased with such an assessment.

He also emphasized that he is trying to show stable results in order to be on the alert and return to the international level in excellent shape.

“It is difficult to assess this moment, because we do not compete there, but inside there is confidence that we could fight for medals at the World Championships,” Metaratings quoted the athlete as saying.