Silver series: how Bolshunov is gradually gaining form
The third stage of the Russian Cup ended in Chusovy in the mini-tour format. It was summed up in the pursuit race, where Ilya Semikov won a confident victory. He was followed by three-time Olympic champion Alexander Bolshunov, which was his second silver medal at the stage in Perm Krai and his third in the season. Biathletes competed this past weekend in Izhevsk, where a series of intriguing races took place.
Beautiful victories for Semikov and Spitsov
Bolshunov came to Chusovoy as a dark horse, as no one knew what to expect from him. Before this season, illnesses did not affect Alexander's results much, but this winter shows that he is not ironclad after all. During the two previous stages of the Russian Cup the titled skier took only one medal in the 15-kilometer skate section, in the other races he was far from the podium. He was unable to complete the whole program in Vershina Tei and instead of the closing mass start he went to Moscow for examination. It turned out that he was prevented from showing his power by the consequences of the suffered covitis. There were doubts whether he would be able to endure the whole mini-tour in Chusovy. We decided to move from race to race.
The stage opened with a 15km skate section, the same discipline in which Bolshunov took silver in Vershina Teya. In Khakassia he lost to the winner Denis Spitsov by 9.2 seconds, and this time he was 0.8 seconds behind Andrei Melnichenko. Alexander lost them and even more on the last kilometers of the distance.
- Naturally, the illness had an effect," Yuri Borodavko, the athlete's mentor, explained to Izvestia. - The ten days he spent in Moscow, we spent on testing to have accurate information. There were no active trainings. Most likely, he didn't have enough strength.
At the same time, the coach said that he sees positive dynamics in his ward and that Alexander plans to compete in all races of the mini-tour.
The skiers had a day of rest before the second race - the speed skating sprint - but Bolshunov had no time to recover: 25th place in the qualification and departure without a chance in the quarterfinals. It was as if he had fallen back again.
Meanwhile, he still had a good chance to win the mini-tour. Alexander started the paciut in the third position, 35 seconds behind the leader Andrey Melnichenko and 8 seconds behind Ilya Semikov. In the first half of the race the pre-start predictions began to justify themselves. By the 5 km mark Semikov and Bolshunov caught up with Melnichenko, who is better at the classic, and began to run away from the number one.
A large group of pursuers were a minute behind the leaders, so it quickly became clear that Ilya and Alexander would play for the win. Semikov looked like the favorite in this battle, and he justified this status. Two kilometers before the finish line he tormented Bolshunov with the frequency of his moves, and as a result the three-time Olympic champion lost his rival and gave up the fight.
Ilya finished alone, as did Alexander, who retained second place. But for the bronze medal there was a serious battle, in which nine people took part. Among them was Savely Korostelev, who collapsed at the start of the pasciut due to a broken binding. Korostelev then vented his emotions by hitting the snow with his stick in frustration, but after receiving a new ski from coach Egor Sorin, he rushed in pursuit. He was just a little bit short of a medal - he took the fourth place. The bronze medal was won by Sergei Ardashev, who is not the first time this season to win in the final showdown.
In women's competitions the winner of the mini-tour was more unexpected. At the start of the pasciut, Tatyana Sorina was leading with a 15-second advantage. At first, the Olympic champion managed to increase her lead, but on the second lap she was overtaken. The last section (8.2 km) was run by six of us, where Sorina, who had taken silver in the sprint the day before, was still seen as the favorite. However, the experienced Tatyana lost the finish tactically to her rivals, not being able to jump out from behind them in the last meters. The winner was Elizaveta Maslakova, for whom this is the first victory. Ekaterina Smirnova took silver, not only keeping her yellow leader's jersey, but also increasing her gap from her main competitors in the overall standings. Sorina, who led for most of the race, finished fourth, while Darya Nepryayeva took bronze.
Skiers will close the year 2024 at the Cup of Russia in Kirovo-Chepetsk, which will be held from December 22 to 23. The program includes only classical disciplines: 5 km sections for women and 10 km for men, as well as sprints. For the first time this season the Cup of Russia will be shown on federal TV. Before that there were only internet broadcasts.
Victories with misses
The third stage of the Russian Biathlon Cup ended with the pursuit races in Izhevsk. Both starts turned out to be exciting, and the fate of the victory in them was determined by shooting. Kirill Bazhin, who won the sprint, was the first to start, and before the debut shooting he coped with a difficult task - he did not let himself catch up with Eduard Latypov, who went to the distance seven seconds behind, but could reduce this difference by a move.
Bazhin left the first firing range with a four-second advantage, but Eduard quickly caught up with his opponent. Latypov looked better than his rival on the move - already at the 4.2km cut-off he overtook him by a second, but Kirill still didn't let his rival get away before the second "lie".
The sprint champion coped better with the shooting - he worked much faster and returned to the first line without any misses. Eduard made one mistake and let his opponent go again.
After the next firing range Bazhin's advantage increased even more - Kirill again shot cleanly and quickly, but his competitors missed one after another, creating a gap for him. After the penalty lap Latypov had already lost 55 seconds to his rival, while the others were losing more than a minute.
But then the leader started to run out of energy - Latypov took less than 10 seconds off the pace in less than a lap and before the final shooting he looked functionally fresher than Bazhin. Perhaps it had an effect - Kirill missed four times and frustratingly failed to close the gap with his last shot.
Latypov, even with two misses, was the first to go to the distance, while Bazhin let Maxim Tsvetkov, who passed the four boundaries with only one miss, pass ahead of him. Kirill was overtaken by Rustam Khalilov and Said Khalili, leaving the sprint winner in fifth place. It should be noted that for Latypov this victory was the first since November 22, when he won the sprint at the Commonwealth Cup.
The women's race started with a similar scenario: Viktoria Slivko went to the distance first and after the opening firing line she increased her advantage - if at the beginning she had only four seconds of handicap against Natalia Shevchenko, then she increased it to almost a minute. The biathlete shot slower than her competitors - Shevchenko and Kristina Rezzova, but she avoided misses and went to the track with a gap.
After the second "lie" Slivko was already 58.9 seconds ahead of Reztsova - the other girls lost even more by making misses. With her legs, Viktoria also looked no weaker than the traditionally fast Kristina, who made two penalties, and at the 5.4km cut-off she was ahead of her by a minute and six and a half seconds.
At the first rack, Slivko kept her incredible calm - she leisurely made five shots and again increased her lead thanks to her rivals' mistakes. Only Shevchenko, Irina Kazakevich and Tamara Derbusheva from the entire pursuing group finished on zero. At the distance, the girls joined Reztsova, who came out of the penalty lap - Victoria's lead was already up to one and a half minutes.
Like Bazhin on the men's side, Slivko made her first miss on the final shot - but she limited herself to one mistake and even with the penalty lap, she retained her overwhelming lead. Four athletes - Reztsova, Shevchenko, Kazakevich and Derbusheva - claimed second place. Natalia was the only one to shoot zero and ran away to silver.
Slivko finished the race relaxed - she passed the finish line with her poles off and still 48.2 seconds ahead of Shevchenko. Victoria and Natalia repeated the result of the sprint. Third was Kazakevich - she lost to the leader 1.36.6 and also went to the last straight alone.
Next on the biathletes' schedule is the stage of the Commonwealth Cup in Chaykovsky. The races will be held from December 20 to 22. The next starts in the Cup of Russia will be held in January in Ryazan.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
