The team sprint at the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Championships in Tyumen was held, like the individual races a day earlier, without two Olympic champions - Natalia Nepryaeva, who fell ill with a cold, and Veronika Stepanova, who has not yet gained the necessary physical condition after the malaise.
In their absence, the main favorites were skiers from the Tyumen region Ekaterina Smirnova and Elizaveta Pantrina. Both are in great shape, which was once again confirmed the day before, winning gold and bronze cutting respectively.
At the end of the season, the FLGR decided to bring the rules for team sprints in line with the international ones. If earlier the athletes had to go to the start three times, now they decided to do without the semifinals, and to allow 15 teams that showed the best time in qualifying to race for medals. At the same time, in the prologue, the skiers start one by one, and the team results are obtained by summation. According to this scheme, competitions were held at the "Champion Heights" in Malinovka, it was also used in Tyumen.
The first result at the end of the prologue was unexpectedly shown by an unusual duet consisting of skier Alena Perevoznikova and biathlete Ekaterina Noskova. Interestingly, Alena began her career in biathlon, but since 2015 she has been competing exclusively in cross-country skiing. And Ekaterina, having taken 21st place in the individual race for 10 km the day before, fulfilled the standard of the master of sports of the country.
It was these two representatives of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug who became the authors of almost the main sensation in the final of the team sprint.
The girls joined the fight for leadership from the very first stage, and on the second gear Noskova rushed first, ahead of Pantrina by 0.5 seconds. Smirnova and Perevoznikova at the third stage broke away from the pursuers, practically removing questions about who would get the gold and silver medals. Yulia Stupak tried to get the runaways on the next shift and even played more than five seconds behind, but Komi's team, in which she played with Olga Tsareva, this was enough only for bronze.
The "golden" showdown was supposed to arrange Noskova and Pantrina, but the representative of the biathlon tour did not have enough strength to resist the skier on the last lap. The Tyumen athlete went to the distance with an advantage of one and a half seconds, increased it with each kilometer and finished in proud solitude.
According to Pantrina, it was not a surprise for her that Noskova became the main rival at the distance.
"I knew she could fight. We were together at the training camp in Sochi, and Katya beat me on short accelerations. But in the last stage, I went from the very start and worked until the finish, so it turned out to be such a huge gap. At the end, I was no longer walking at full strength, "said Elizaveta after the finish.
Noskova, in turn, was incredibly happy with the silver medal. According to her, this result for many was a surprise and from this it is "even sweeter." The athlete admitted that her mood was influenced by the statement of the president of the FLGR Elena Vyalbe. The three-time Olympic champion said the day before that she did not like the performance of the biathlete in the individual race "by movements".
"That's her opinion. Of course, it was a bit of a shame. Perhaps her words yesterday motivated me a little. Today I was maximally collected, charged and showed what I am capable of, "said Ekaterina.
No less exciting was the men's race, the unconditional favorites of which were Alexander Terentyev and Alexander Bolshunov. The first two stages were quite calm: the athletes walked in a fairly dense group, looking at each other and not trying to break the group. Bolshunov was the first to escape in the third stage. He tried to create a gap on the last climb before passing the baton. Only Ivan Gorbunov from Tatarstan, who reached the pass of the baton 1.9 seconds later, could hold on to him.
However, Terentyev could not support the breakthrough of the three-time Olympic champion and allowed first Anton Timashov to come to him, and then another group of pursuers. As a result, the representative of the second team of Tatarstan, Sergey Ardashev, unexpectedly rushed into the final climb, behind whom both Timashov and Terentyev could barely hold.
A group of six athletes replaced it in a three-second interval, and Bolshunov had to start all over again at the last stage. However, the pupil of Yuri Borodavko turned on the merciless regime and rushed sweepingly for the next gold. At first, his pace was supported by two more - Gorbunov and Belov, but if Ivan kept up with Alexander for a while, then Evgeny hopelessly fell behind and tried not to miss the bronze.
According to Bolshunov, it was quite difficult for him to qualify, but by the decisive race he managed to rest and gain strength. At the same time, he admitted that he and his partner did not even discuss the tactics for the race, since both are not in optimal shape.
"Today during the prologue it was very difficult. Even in the warm-up, I felt tired. Qualifying ran without emotion, lost a lot for the sprint. But there was an hour, I managed to recover, and in the final I felt much better. Not great, but it's enough to win. And even today the skis rolled perfectly, "Bolshunov said on the air of Match TV after the finish.