Speed and shot: how the "Race of Champions" went down
At the beginning of 2025, the idea, which had been talked about for a long time, came to life - the unification of active skiers and biathletes at the same competitions. "Race of Champions", held in Ryazan, was the first of its kind. "Izvestia" summarizes its results.
Nostril to nostril
The competition was attended by 20 athletes from skiing and biathlon. The lineup was strong: Olympic winners and medalists. However, there was no the most titled representative of these sports - Alexander Bolshunov. The three-time Olympic champion had planned to compete in Ryazan, but the day before the start he fell ill, so he decided not to risk his health.
The competition was held on January 4-5. The first day was a qualifying day, where it was determined who would run with whom in the main race, and the second day was a mixed relay. 10 teams came to the start. At the first stage from each team ran skier 8 km, at the second - the same distance - skier, at the third relay took biathletes, who had to pass 6 km on the track with two firing lines, and closed the race biathletes.
On the eve of the relay, Anton Babikov expressed his concerns about the distribution of athletes by stages.
- I wouldn't make a relay race "skier - skier", and then we. Because this way ski speeds are a little devalued. I don't think they would make big breaks in the ski stages on the kilometer lap. And if some mistakes happened in the biathlon ones, the skiers could stretch and try to cut back. If they go mass start, the skier will bring three seconds to the skier, so what? At biathlon stages these are small lags," the biathlon world champion explained to Izvestia.
The denouement for Latypov
Approximately what Babikov was talking about came true. Skiers and skiers were winding laps in one continuous train consisting of 10 cars. Natalya Terentyeva tried to break away from the girls, but she was quickly overtaken. Skiers passed the baton all together, and the first to do it was another Olympic champion - Tatiana Sorina.
- I had the task of trying to run away," Sorina explained. - Natasha tried it. I realized it was useless because the lap is very fast. The main thing is to come in a group and try to break as much as possible.
The men's ski stage went in a similar way, although small gaps still appeared.
- The tactics changed all the time. Looked at what the girls ran in the crowd. Thought we'd probably come in the same way. And then in the course of the race, then one will pull, then the second, so I thought that it is possible at the end and myself to pull and break the whole group, - emphasized to "Izvestia" the leader of the Russian Cup in cross-country skiing Sergey Ardashev.
Three skiers
As a result, the winner was expectedly determined between biathletes. The situation changed dramatically after each firing line. The women's stage was won by the birthday girl Dinara Alimbekova, but on the men's stage her husband Anton Smolsky failed to cope with the lie, and the Belarusian-Russian team went down. Several biathletes came to the decisive rack together, but Eduard Latypov had the strongest nerves.
- It was a tense struggle, the lap was fast enough. I had to adjust both to the wind and to the situation on the line. That's why I'm just glad that the work we've been doing is going well," Latypov told Izvestia. - Is it difficult to shoot on such a course? You can adjust in any case. Yes, it's a dynamic, non-standard race. But we ran the day before, tried it, evaluated the moments, how to act on the line. Today the wind was strong, in some places it was gusting. I am satisfied that we managed to cope in such a dynamic race. It's very good.
Latypov's team (or rather Terentyev's team, because he was the captain of the four) had one symbolic difference. On the third stage former skier Natalia Shevchenko was running for her.
- We had the advantage that we had not two skiers, but three. It's a joke, of course. But I guess my skiing past helps, - said Natalia Shevchenko to Sport-Express. - Today everything turned out great. Was there any nostalgia for ski racing? No. I have already completely fallen in love with biathlon. So there is no point in going back. I don't miss it and I'm not nostalgic. Probably, I am nostalgic only for those times, for the people I trained with. But I'm not going to return to ski racing.
After the "Race of Champions" many people noted the festive atmosphere at the stadium. On the first day of the competition there were about 6 thousand spectators, on the second day - almost 7 thousand. For some skiers, who often have stages of the Cup of Russia with half-empty stands, this was a novelty.
- Two years ago we had a test run when our region hosted a Commonwealth Cup stage," Pavel Malkov, governor of the Ryazan region, told Izvestia. - It showed how popular biathlon is in Ryazan. A lot of spectators came then - even the organizers did not expect such a thing. And we are glad that now we have again hosted a serious event - the Race of Champions. The fact that it was watched from the podium by 7 thousand spectators speaks for itself. I would like to say thank you to all the organizers and athletes who arranged this holiday. We hope to organize major competitions as often as possible. And I am also glad that the Almaz Ski and Biathlon Center, where the Race of Champions was held, also hosts children and amateurs who want to maintain their health by skiing and biathlon all year round. This contributes to the development of sports in the whole region.
The roads of the representatives of the two sports diverge further. Biathletes stay in Ryazan, where from January 10 to 12 will be held a stage of the Cup of Russia, and the skiers will have the next competition in Kazan from January 16 to 19.
"Race of Champions. Relay
1. Maria Istomina, Alexander Terentyev, Natalia Shevchenko, Eduard Latypov.
2. Alena Baranova, Denis Spitsov, Anastasia Grishina, Evgeny Emerhonov.
3. Alina Pekletsova, Alexei Chervotkin, Anastasia Shevchenko, Anton Babikov.
