Derbusheva’s rate of fire, Povarnitsyn’s breakthrough and Latypov’s mistakes: how the biathletes’ super pursuits in the Czech Republic in Izhevsk went

Rate of fire Derbusheva

In Izhevsk, after a day of rest, the Russian biathlon championship resumed.

This time the audience was waiting for one of the new types of programs - super pursuit.

Its difference from the usual pursuit is in the length of the distance.

Girls run only 6 km, and men - 7.5.

At the same time, four firing lines are preserved.

And the start order is determined in the qualification, which is two times shorter, and takes place on the same day in the morning.

This type of program decided to skip Larisa Kuklina, who won the individual race the day before.

As a result, in women, Anastasia Egorova showed the best result during the qualifying round, but the gap between her pursuers was minimal.

Six more athletes are located 18 seconds from the leader.

They all came to bed almost at the same time.

Tamara Derbusheva closed five targets faster than her rivals: she was the first to run away from the stadium.

However, not only the representative of the Sverdlovsk region turned out to be accurate.

Irina Kazakevich, Ekaterina Noskova, Natalya Gerbulova and Anastasia Batmanova also overcame the firing line without fail.

On the lap, which is very short in the super pursuit, it is difficult to make a significant reserve in time, so the five almost simultaneously ended up on the second prone.

Derbusheva was again impeccable, and her rivals got nervous.

Only Batmanova shot to zero.

As a result, the biathletes went to the track together.

Much was decided by the first stance, on which Tamara showed excellent speed and accuracy.

She closed all the targets before Anastasia finished the preparation, spending 24.5 seconds on everything.

Because of the excitement that the opponent was running away, or because of the wind that was walking around the stadium, Batmanova made two misses at once.

But other biathletes were also wrong.

Therefore, the representative of the Sakhalin region retained second place, but the gap from Derbusheva grew to 37 seconds.

Tamara still gave a chance to catch up with herself, having missed the very first shot on the last rack.

But the pursuers did not use it.

Batmanova missed three times and thus deprived herself of the chance to win a medal.

And for silver, a struggle unfolded between Kazakevich, Noskova and Gerbulova.

Irina, being a strong skier, ran away from her rivals long before the stadium and calmly alone, like Derbusheva, crossed the finish line.

Ekaterina and Natalia, in turn, put up a real battle on the last straight.

As a result, they crossed the finish line at the same time, and the judges did not determine the best one with the help of technology, preferring to put both on the third step of the podium.

The girls were so happy with the decision of the organizers that they even burst into tears, hugging each other.

“To be honest, this is the first time in my sports career.

As the saying goes, good will always prevail.

I didn't expect such an outcome.

I just said that I wanted Katya to be third.

She is my friend, and I already have a medal.

And in the end we have two medals today.

How is that at all?

It’s very cool, even cooler that my friend got the second medal, ”Gerbulova admitted after the race.

And Irina Kazakevich was glad that the super pursuit was finally over.

As the athlete explained, it is very difficult to go to the start twice a day, and even with a short period of time.

“The race itself is also very intense, on a short, fast lap.

There have never been so many people on the Izhevsk Rifle as there are now.

Fans stand for 200-300 meters.

I am very pleased that so many people came to cheer for us.

I think all the girls and guys like it, ”Irina drew attention.

Duel Povarnitsyn and Smolsky

No less interesting was the super pursuit for men.

Here everyone was looking forward to the fight between Anton Smolsky and Eduard Latypov, who were the first to go the distance with an interval of six seconds. 

At the first firing line, the Russian won the duel.

He closed all the targets, while the Belarusian missed twice.

However, the bronze medalist of the Games in Beijing took aim for so long that the lag of the representative of the union state after passing the penalty loops was only 20 seconds.

Latypov's second bed was no longer so perfect.

The athlete did not hit once.

However, the backlog created at a distance allowed him to leave the stadium first again.

Although Smolsky approached the Russian by 6 seconds.

He was followed by Alexander Povarnitsyn, who managed to rise from 11th place.

For the biathlete, the qualification was not the best, he made a mistake twice on the rack.

But in super pursuit he showed excellent accuracy.

Also in the group of pursuers were Karim Khalili, Ivan Kolotov and Mikhail Burundukov.

The stand again exposed all Latypov's problems with shooting.

The biathlete traditionally did not close the last target.

Due to a miss, he lost the advantage over his rivals, but still barely retained the lead.

Three seconds later, Khalili, who had exactly worked on the firing line, left the stadium.

And Povarnitsyn and Smolsky ran the penalty loop and were 20 seconds behind.

The last shooting put an end to the medal plans of the bronze medalist of the Games.

Eduard came to the rack at the same time as Karim, but he prepared for so long that in the end it was the opponent who started shooting first.

Khalili managed to defuse the entire clip and run away for two penalty loops, and Latypov, having made two mistakes, was still aiming at the fourth target.

It helped: all the remaining dimensions were closed.

But precious time was wasted.

He spent 43 seconds at the turn, although on average it takes about 25.

As a result, the well-aimed Smolsky and Povarnitsyn were the first to go to the last lap, and Khalili was the third, lagging behind the leaders in the same three seconds.

However, Karim failed to compete with the duet on the track.

He stayed with the bronze.

And for the gold, an interesting struggle unfolded between Anton and Alexander.

The Russian entered the last straight a little earlier.

The Belarusian jumped out from behind on a parallel track and tried to speed up, but the opponent also added and retained the first position. 

As Smolsky explained after the race, he had a chance to get around Povarnitsyn - the biathlete simply chose the wrong tactics.

“I wanted to fight at the end, but, unfortunately, only the right part of the straight line was rolled.

Everyone finished along it, apparently, and when I went out into the central corridor, I immediately stopped because there was a lot of fresh snow.

The speed was off immediately.

I had strength, it was comfortable for me to ride with Alexander, ”Smolsky told Match TV.

However, Povarnitsyn was confident in his victory, because he felt good during the race.

“Odds against Smolsky?

I gave myself 60, and he was 40. I felt that today is in order.

On the last lap, I waited for when it would be necessary to tighten and began to slowly add due to power.

I wanted to see the opponent on the rise.

And when I realized that he was not going to run ahead, I realized that I would most likely be able to carry out my plan, ”the Russian explained.

Latypov finished only fifth.

But he still has more than one chance to get on the podium.

Competitions in Izhevsk will continue on Sunday, February 26.

Biathletes will take part in the mass start.