The silver medal of biathlete Ekaterina Noskova in the team sprint at the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Championships made a lot of noise. Many called this success of the 27-year-old athlete a response to criticism from the president of the FLGR and the head coach of the Russian national team Elena Vyalbe, who previously said that she did not like "in movements" the performance of Noskova and another representative of a related sport, Elizaveta Kaplina, in the race from a separate start. In it, they took 21st and 33rd places, respectively. Ekaterina herself admitted that the words of the three-time Olympic champion motivated her to the race.
Well-known commentator Dmitry Guberniev, in turn, said that Vyalbe should not neglect biathletes. Moreover, in his opinion, Catherine's medal can speak of the low level of women's skiing in the country.
"If the biathlete, who first took 21st place (in the 10 km race), then goes around almost all the riders in the country, with the exception of Natalia Nepryaeva and Veronika Stepanova, maybe then we are not all right with women's skis? Maybe the federations should pay attention to the training of athletes? This is not the mute, but the loudest reproach from Katya Noskova. After all, she did not prepare for this tournament: she has the Russian championship in a week and she plays here to prepare for the most important start in Khanty-Mansiysk, "the journalist said.
After the finish, Vyalbe herself paid tribute to an athlete from a different kind and was even glad that her words to some extent spurred Noskova to a wonderful performance.
"In fact, I have never had and do not have anything against biathletes. I just don't know athletes that well... I'm not an expert (in biathlon. - RT). I thought that if they were competing without a rifle, then there must be some lightness. I didn't see that lightness. Maybe we haven't competed in a long time – this is also important. The day before I breathed, and now it's different: really the first two of her laps she flew! Of course, I was tired, it was obvious. But there is a very difficult circle here - everyone notes this, "Sport-Express quotes the president of the FLGR.
Meanwhile, ski coaches urged not to make hasty conclusions about the level of training of specialized athletes from Noskova's success. So, according to Oleg Perevoznikov, the team sprint is closest in format to biathlon: athletes pass a lap and then rest a little - almost like biathletes at a shooting range. And Noskova's explosive speed abilities have long been known: Elizaveta Pantrina told how the biathlete beat her at short distances during joint training camps.
"Therefore, there was no big surprise in the result. On such short segments, biathletes may well go on an equal footing, especially since we know that Ekaterina shows good speed in her form. But needless to say, she beat almost all the female skiers because she didn't. More correctly, some. If we were talking about a mass start, then we would watch, "the interlocutor told RT.
He also stressed that we must not forget about the contribution of Noskova's teammate, Alena Perevoznikova. It was she who created a gap of 26 seconds from third place in the final stage for herself.
"She's done a great job. The relay is not a race of one athlete, there is always a joint result, "the specialist said.
The coach of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug team Sergey Turyshev agreed with this position. He said that initially Anastasia Ignatieva was supposed to perform in tandem with Perevoznikova, but she fell ill before the Russian championship. Therefore, based on the good move shown by Noskova at the final stage of the Commonwealth Cup, it was decided to put her in this team race.
Recall that in Tyumen, Ekaterina won the sprint with one miss, ahead of her rivals, who did not allow misfires on the firing lines. But the main bet on the ski championship was not made on her.
"The main hope was for Alena, who had to do the main work and bring Katya a certain breakaway. She succeeded: she did everything possible for herself, and Catherine had only to get there and keep the second place. And given that before the final stage between the second and third place there were 26 seconds, this was already a matter of technique, "Turyshev said in a conversation with RT.
He also explained that Noskova was entrusted to run the final stage of the race, as he is "calmer."
"Usually by the finish lap everything is already decided - either you are fighting for medals, or you are overboard. I don't think there was any risk in that. When the girls showed the best result in the qualification, we already understood that the award would be accurate, the only question is what, "the specialist said.
The former athlete also stressed that he fundamentally disagrees with Guberniev's statement regarding a possible crisis in women's domestic skiing. He recalled that in the cutting Noskova showed the 21st result, and in the sprint she still could not fight on an equal footing with Elizaveta Pantrina at the last stage. In his opinion, one should neither belittle nor exaggerate the merits of the biathlete in the final result.
"If she had competed for the first place, then there would have been some truth in Guberniev's words. But we did not see this struggle, so to make such statements, in my opinion, is illiterate, "the coach said.
At the same time, he stressed that in the current season, members of the national team confirmed their high level, and athletes from the regions, as far as possible, provided them with competition. So, the same Perevoznikova in many individual skating races got into the top 6. However, this season, in his opinion, did not bring any bright discoveries.
"In my opinion, it would be more interesting if we still had international competitions. Then the girls from the national team would play there, and inside the country we would look at the nearest reserve - whether someone would have made a breakthrough or not, "the RT interlocutor summed up.