The program of the Spartakiad of the strongest in cross-country skiing continued in Tyumen with a freestyle team sprint. Based on the results of qualification, 15 teams consisting of two people each made it to the finals for men and women. Each athlete had to complete three laps.
In the women's competition, the duet of Veronica Stepanova and Maria Istomina was considered the clear favorite. The Olympic champion showed the day before that in 7.5 km she is capable of winning more than 50 seconds from her rivals. However, this time there was no need to perform such feats. Although the season leader still had to worry at the first stage. On one of the bends of the track, her partner broke her pole and lost several seconds while the trainers handed her a new one.
As a result, Istomina fell back from the leading group to 14th position, and at the stadium she was tenth, 4.6 seconds behind the first Tatyana Sorina, who was paired with Elizaveta Pantrina.
However, Veronica quickly corrected the situation by leading the peloton. But this time Evgenia Krupitskaya had problems when passing the baton. The athlete from St. Petersburg was third, but her teammate Anastasia Faleeva left the distance with a noticeable lag behind the main group, which included five skiers.
Istomina’s next stage was relatively calm. The girls continued to stick together, but already on the fourth lap Stepanova made a breakthrough and was 4.9 seconds ahead of her rivals by the time the relay was handed over. True, Maria could not maintain the existing advantage: she was nevertheless overtaken by Sorina and Anastasia Dotsenko. Moreover, it was Tatyana who was the first to pass the baton to Pantrina, but at that moment the girls again had problems with the stick. Lisa was quickly given another one, and she rushed to catch up with Stepanova and Daria Nepryaeva, without even trying to put the strap on her hand.
On the track, Veronica easily escaped her rivals and finished with a huge advantage for a sprint - 9.4 seconds. But for second place there was a struggle, the winner of which, despite the stick, was Pantrina. The representative of the Tyumen region was the first to roll into the stadium and calmly won the battle for silver. Nepryaeva and Dotsenko, who competed for the Republic of Tatarstan, took bronze.
At the same time, according to Elizaveta, if not for problems with equipment, she could have tried to compete with Stepanova for gold.
“I accelerated incorrectly, so the stick was broken. It was an experience for me. Next time I will know how to accelerate. I also ran a whole circle without wearing a trap, just holding a stick. It’s harder this way, there’s a risk of losing it, it might fall out. I had such adrenaline, I wanted to show my maximum. If the stick hadn’t broken, maybe we would have competed for first place,” Pantrina said on Match TV.
At the finish line, Veronica, in turn, thanked Istomina for quickly coping with the problems at the first stage. At the same time, the Olympic champion did not like running in the cold. The thermometer on Wednesday showed -22 °C, and the sprint distance was even shortened because of this.
“I am very happy with my partner. Despite the broken stick, she managed everything. It was very difficult to run today. Before the start, I didn’t understand why the race was even being held in such weather, so I was a little indignant at first,” admitted Stepanova.
In the men's team sprint, Savely Korostelev and Alexander Bolshunov planned to take revenge for their failure the day before. In the relay, the Arkhangelsk region remained only seventh: San Sanych was unable to make up a three-minute gap.
And the duo did it quite easily. The race followed a similar scenario to the girls, only without broken poles. At the fourth stage, the three-time Olympic champion waited for the right moment and began to accelerate, which none of the opponents supported, and Korostelev went into his last lap with a margin of 3.1 seconds. At the same time, unlike Istomina, Savely not only retained the existing advantage, but also slightly increased it. So it was not difficult for Bolshunov to maintain his leadership and bring the region its second gold of the day.
“In fact, Savely and I didn’t even communicate before the start, just a little. I say: “We need to make a couple of movements.” He said that he understood everything. We didn't even agree. What’s most interesting is that everything was done the way we wanted. I'm glad we had the race today. Transfers always have a bad effect. There will still be time to recover before the “fifty kopecks”,” Bolshunov noted.
For silver, a real battle unfolded between Ivan Gorbunov and Yegor Mitroshin, to whom Sergei Ardashev and Konstantin Tiunov, respectively, passed the baton almost simultaneously at the last stage.
The winner of this duel was determined only at the finish, although Mitroshin made an attempt to beat his opponent on one of the climbs. But the gliding on the neighboring ski track did not have its effect. As a result, the athlete remained behind his opponent, wasting his energy in vain. However, there were enough of them to switch on on the last straight and still get around Gorbunov. At the same time, according to Yegor, good lubrication helped him win silver.
“At the first stage, I roughly understood how someone’s inventory worked. There was a tactic to work towards the finish by rolling out. And so it happened. My skis glide better than Vanya's. At the finish line, all that remained was to do everything to the maximum,” noted a representative of the Moscow team.
Meanwhile, Bolshunov became the first four-time winner of the Spartakiad. Stepanova still has one less gold.