Chases with different outcomes: how Bolshunov "ate" Maltsev and won the team sprint, and Nepryaeva could not catch up with Pantrina

In the Arkhangelsk region, the Champions Heights tournament continued with free style team sprints, which for Russian skiers is an alternative to the World Cup.

Compared to last year, the organizers of the competition have made minor changes to the rules.

And if earlier the athletes had to go to the start three times, then this time in Malinovka they decided to remove the semi-finals in order to give the athletes more time to rest before the decisive race.

And 15 teams with the best result in qualifying were allowed to start.

Traditionally, the girls were the first to ski.

Veronika Stepanova was unexpectedly not among the participants in the preliminary stage.

As the head of the FLGR, Elena Vyalbe, explained, she has minor health problems.

“We talked on this topic with Yegor Sorin.

I think she's been on top too long.

This is overkill.

Today I saw her, she told me that she had a runny nose.

Maybe there was a premorbid condition, ”said the specialist.

The team of the Arkhangelsk region, represented by Natalya Nepryaeva and Svetlana Zaborskaya, was considered the favorite of the team race.

Although a lot, of course, depended on the partner of the Olympic champion.

In qualifying, the skier did not show the highest result, losing to her partner in a move of 16.81 seconds.

The teams from the Tyumen region and the Republic of Tatarstan were much more balanced.

Elizaveta Pantrina and Ekaterina Smirnova ran for the first, Anastasia Dotsenko and Khristina Matsokina ran for the second.

In total, they showed a significantly higher result than Nepryaeva and Zaborskaya, although it was Natalya who became the best in the qualifying round.

The girls passed the first stage as a group, but towards the end of the second stage, the top four were determined.

The company of the three listed teams was Yulia Stupak, representing the Republic of Komi.

But already on the next lap, her partner Anastasia Vlasova could not stand the pace and rolled back.

Zaborskaya, on the other hand, held on, in no way inferior to Smirnova and Matsokina. 

At her penultimate stage, Nepryaeva wanted to break away from her pursuers, but Pantrina sat on her tail and was not going to give up.

So together they went to the stadium to pass the baton.

Much was decided on the fifth lap: Smirnova still achieved her goal, creating a lead over Zaborskaya in 6.5 seconds.

This was enough for her teammate to stay on the first line and keep Nepryaeva away.

Natalya did her best, but Pantrina was inspired by the idea to beat the strongest skier in Russia at the moment and created a miracle.

“I knew that Nepryaeva could catch up with me.

But I just went from the start with all my might.

I had such an adrenaline ... Naturally, I was very surprised by this result.

I didn't think it would be like this.

I went out to fight for first place, but I knew that it would be hard.

There is Natasha.

We are very satisfied, I can’t convey emotions, ”Pantrina said on the air of Match TV.

Thus, the team of the Tyumen region took the first place, the girls from Arkhangelsk became the second, and the first team of Tatarstan closed the top three.

The men's race was no less exciting.

Although there were some surprises: not very lucky with a partner Sergei Ustyugov.

Rifat Safiullin failed his last stage, far behind the leaders.

As a result, the Olympic champion, who showed the best result in the qualification, could not get on the podium: the KhMAO team finished fourth.

And the teams of the Arkhangelsk and Tyumen regions again staged an exciting fight for the first place.

The first was represented by Alexander Terentiev and Alexander Bolshunov, the second by Ivan Yakimushkin and Artyom Maltsev.

Unlike the women's sprint, the men's breaks began only at the fourth stage out of six.

Tore the integrity of the peloton, of course, the three-time Olympic champion.

At the end of his circle, he added speed and left his rivals, bringing Terentyev five seconds of advantage over his pursuers.

However, the young skier no longer looked as fresh as at the beginning of the sprint, and could not hold the first position.

Yakimushkin not only caught up with the representative of the Arkhangelsk region, but also ran away from him by 3.5 seconds.

This handicap was not enough for Maltsev.

Bolshunov at the last stage easily caught up with him on the rise, and then on one of the descents he slipped forward.

So they finished together: San Sanych was the first, and Artyom was the second.

At the same time, the silver medalist of the team sprint noted that, perhaps, he and his partner had incorrectly distributed the stages.

“Today Vanya was just at his best, he caught the courage, at his last stage he closed a large gap.

The day before the team sprint, we thought with him how to arrange the stages, and if I had run the first stage today, he would have competed with Bolshunov for the victory, ”admitted Maltsev.

However, the race was not easy for Alexander either.

According to the leader of the national team, the state of health was not the best. 

“It was a very intriguing race: first one in front, then another, but the last stage put everything in its place.

I am glad that together with Alexander and the coach we chose the right tactics - we arranged it in stages so that today I ran the second stage.

And victory is the main thing, ”said Bolshunov. 

The top three was closed by the team from the Komi Republic, which was represented by Ilya Semikov and Ilya Poroshkin.