At the finish line: Bolshunov won the 50 km marathon and won his fifth gold at the Spartakiad

For men, the Spartakiad of the strongest in Tyumen in cross-country skiing ended with a 50-kilometer marathon in the classical style. And it took place in far from the most comfortable conditions. At the time of the start, the thermometers showed -18 ˚С, which is why many athletes tried to warm themselves up as much as possible. Some put on balaclavas, almost completely covering their faces, others covered them with tapes, and others even put special covers on their shoes, which is not often practiced. But there were also brave men who decided to withstand the frost with almost no additional help. And one of these was the bronze medalist of the World Relay Championship, Evgeniy Belov.

“I’ll stand behind someone’s back and choose the warmer one (

). Today is truly the coldest weather. Before the start, everyone walks slowly, sleepy, reluctantly warms up, and is in no hurry. Let's see what happens... Everyone has their own plan. There is a tough fight for points between Tatarstan and Tyumen. There are bonus cut-offs. In some places the rivalry will be very lively and interesting,” the athlete said on Match TV.

Apparently, the organizers took this step to cheer up the athletes a little and make the first half of the race more spectacular and interesting. And to some extent it worked. From the very beginning, representatives of competing teams rushed forward, and it was the Tyumen team that was especially zealous. At the 6.3 km mark, Denis Spitsov was in the lead, and after 5 km, he was accompanied by “teammate” Belov at the head of the peloton, pursued by two skiers from Tatarstan - Anton Timashov and Ivan Gorbunov.

Their confrontation continued until the final bonus cutoff - 26.3 km. True, over time, Gorbunov lost ground a little, and Timashov and Sergei Zabaluev, who came to his aid, continued to fight with Spitsov and Belov. But they failed to beat both skiers from Tyumen, allowing them to take their team to the top of the overall standings at the Spartakiad.

After that, all attention turned to the fight for gold. And for a long time, Ilya Semikov was in the spotlight. Unlike many opponents, he refused to change his skis at the 30 km mark and tried to escape into the lead, thanks to which he even walked along the track in splendid isolation for some time. But he failed to gain a foothold at the top. After only five kilometers, the main group caught up with him, and then began to gradually increase the gap from the former fugitive.

But if Semikov still remained among the contenders for victory, then Ivan Yakimushkin dropped out of it. And the arrival at the stadium at the same 30th kilometer became fatal for him. According to Match TV, the Olympic silver medalist could not find his box and lost a lot of time. If at the cutoff of 28 km he lost to the leader by just over 20 seconds, then at 31.3 km it was already 1:45.9 seconds. And after that there was no longer any need to count on anything serious.

What about Bolshunov? Alexander avoided problems when replacing equipment and began to gradually indicate his presence in the main group. If before that he preferred to stay a little in the shadows, then towards the end of the race he began to take the lead more and more often. And not everyone was able to withstand its highest pace. First, Anton Timashov “fell off”, and then Sergei Ustyugov, who had been fighting on an equal footing with his counterpart for a long time.

As a result, five kilometers before the finish the number of gold seekers was reduced to 11 people. Moreover, among them were not only recognized stars of the caliber of Bolshunov, Spitsov, Alexey Chervotkin and Savely Korostelev, but also 23-year-old Dmitry Zhul, who had never previously placed in the top three in adult competitions. Alexander Ivshin was there for a long time, but less than 2 km before the finish he still fell behind.

The ending was bright. Bolshunov tried several times to deal with his opponents, but they desperately resisted, despite the difficulties. So, Korostelev was almost left without a stick, and Chervotkin even got caught on Semikov’s ski and fell into the snow. But Alexander continued to press and finally achieved his goal. Even though he was unable to escape his pursuers on the climb, he still created a small reserve on the final descent. And at the finish line he completed what he started.

“Today is another victory, very cool. You could say maximum weather conditions, the main thing was to dress correctly. I put on everything properly - thermal underwear and gloves. All dangerous places were closed. Therefore, I completed the marathon comfortably... It’s possible before, and it’s possible at the end (to break away. -

). I looked at the condition of the guys. In principle, there are still races this season, so you need a little something to spare (to win. -

). Not everyone can run everything at a high level. We start from how we feel and everything else,” said the five-time Spartakiad champion, who won the 21st race in a row.

The fate of silver was decided in the battle of three athletes. Immediately after Bolshunov, Korostelev and Semikov went down the descent, who seemed to be the main contenders for the award, but suddenly Sergei Ardashev gave a crazy dash. On the straight, he passed both of them and became second, leaving Savely in third place. And Ilya completely fell back only to fifth position - the noticeably tired native of the Komi Republic was overtaken by Konstantin Tiunov.