On Tuesday, biathletes distributed medals in individual races at the Spartakiad of the Strongest. The weather in Zlatoust was kind to the athletes: the severe frost subsided. However, weather forecasters promised light snow as the day progressed, which could affect the speed of the distance. Therefore, the importance of accurate shooting became even more tangible. After all, for each mistake the athletes were given a minute penalty.
The men were the first to take the race. Moreover, many leaders chose the last starting numbers. According to some experts, this was very reckless, since it is more difficult to run on a broken track. Ilnaz Mukhamedzyanov decided to stand out and risked going into the race second. However, this did not help the representative of Udmurtia very much - he made two mistakes at the shooting range and ended up only sixth. However, compared to the sprint and pursuit, in which he finished 37th and 15th, the athlete should have been satisfied.
The creator of the main sensation was Evgeniy Sidorov, who has only made it to the podium once this season. The 26-year-old athlete was second in the sprint at the Russian Cup stage in Khanty-Mansiysk. Only he and Anton Smolsky managed to hit all 20 targets. By the way, Evgeniy has shown such accurate shooting for the second race in a row.
Moreover, there were some incidents at the shooting range. Finding himself at the stadium for the second time, Sidorov confused the prone position and the standing position, so he had to change the position from which to shoot. Because of this hitch, he lost precious seconds. However, Smolsky in Zlatoust is not yet performing so powerfully, and this loss did not affect the final result. It was the Russian who became the first.
“The track is difficult, it’s still snowing. We went out to exercise, the weather was good, without snow. It's hard to choose skis. Servicemen have been trying for a long time to find a lubricant that will work well. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or not, after the sprint we consulted with the coach and decided to work as we did at the training camp - not to aim, not to invent anything. It happened the day before yesterday. Today I did the same. Confused prone and stance? I rode the whole circle and thought about how to shoot just as quickly and clearly at the second prone shooting. It stuck in my head. I forgot that I have to shoot while standing,” Sidorov said on Match TV.
Of course, Smolsky was dissatisfied with his result. The Belarusian is used to competing in speed at domestic competitions only with Eduard Latypov. And in Zlatoust he loses not only to the leader of the Russian team.
“I’m happy with the shooting. The ride was better than in previous races. This is due to the weather, it was warmer, the body works better, the skis roll more pleasantly and softly. I’m glad that I was able to work on the line and the distance. But I still have a condition that does not allow me to push myself to the maximum and give everything I have,” lamented the biathlete who won silver.
Latypov does not experience any health problems in Zlatoust. He has already won two gold medals. However, the hat-trick had to be postponed for a while. This is due to three mistakes. However, even with them, the athlete was only 50.7 seconds behind the leader and took fifth place.
The fight for bronze took place between Vasily Tomshin and Daniil Serokhvostov. The representative of St. Petersburg missed one target on the fourth shooting range and went into the final lap with an advantage of 10.4 seconds over his opponent, who had previously made two mistakes.
The native of Barnaul could easily make up this gap: on the track at the beginning of the distance he looked stronger. However, Serohvostov did not have enough strength for the last kilometers.
“Today was a hard day, bad for me. It was difficult on the track, I couldn’t make up those seconds. I don’t know how I handled the ending, I seemed to be going strong, but I still lost, so I’m upset. A combination of factors, incomprehensible fatigue, no strength. I tried to start strong, but apparently it was in vain. On the fourth and fifth laps I was riding on the horns, it was hard. The snow was probably more of a hindrance for us, who were running in the last group, because everyone was walking in the same rut. When you overtake on the plain, on a slope where it’s not groomed, your skis simply don’t move, you spend more energy trying to overtake four people than following them and sitting out. There were guys there who were slower than me,” Serokhvostov explained.
Anton Babikov and Alexander Povarnitsyn, who missed the first two races due to illness, failed to prove themselves. They looked good at the distance, but two and one miss respectively did not allow them to fight for medals. Until the last moment, Karim Khalili was vying for a place in the top three, but he made an offensive mistake in the second stance.
Among women, Victoria Slivko demonstrates incredible stability. The biathlete won her third personal medal at the Spartakiad on Tuesday. With one miss on the rack, she took bronze.
“Where does this form come from? My summer season also started convincingly and coolly, but an illness that happened before the roll-in prevented me. After the illness, I pulled through, believed in myself, others believed in me, first of all, Andrei Viktorovich Padin. I was very upset and thought that this season would be terribly bad for me. It’s hard to accept these unsuccessful races after last season I was in the top 6 almost all the time,” said Slivko.
Natalia Shevchenko won gold with an advantage of 23.2 seconds over second place. The former skier also failed to shoot to zero, but she looked very good at the distance, so the minute penalty did not affect the final result. Moreover, according to the athlete, she did not run at the maximum of her physical capabilities.
“I walked four laps with a lot of reserve, I just tried to go technically, powerfully and not focus on shooting. But still thoughts pop into my head before the final frontier. You understand that you need to shoot cleanly, a strong desire apparently interferes with this. Still, I’m very happy that it was in such a race that I managed to win gold,” the biathlete noted.
The only girl from the top ten who hit all 20 targets was Anastasia Shevchenko, the sister of the winner’s husband. She entered the last lap with a gap of only 3.1 seconds behind the leader. However, she fought on the ski track not with her brother’s wife, but with Slivko’s result. As a result, Mikhail Shashilov’s student managed to retain silver.
Irina Kazakevich did not fully cope with the work on the firing lines. However, she took fifth place with three missed targets. Ekaterina Noskova finished the race one step away from the podium. However, even with two misses, she lost a lot of ground to the winner.
Anastasia Goreeva, who won two bronze medals at the Spartakiad, had an unexpectedly bad race. On Tuesday, she made seven penalties and was content with 37th place. Tamara Derbusheva, who previously led the Russian Cup, is also disappointing with her results. She clearly arrived in Zlatoust out of shape and this time earned a six-minute penalty.
So far, Ulyana Nigmatullina and Kristina Reztsova, who returned from maternity leave, cannot reach the previous level. And if the first one has obvious problems with speed, then the second one again has poor shooting. Dinara Alimbekova-Smolskaya ran her first race after the birth of her baby, and with two penalties she remained 21st.
“I made some annoying mistakes, went downwind, although I made an amendment, I didn’t do a good job. When will I be 100% ready? I would like to believe that at the Russian Championship in Tyumen. I don’t have plans to train much, since I’m still feeding the baby,” the Belarusian admitted.