The Sprinter's Tale: how was the Russian Biathlon Championship in Tyumen?

The biathlon season in Russia has reached its climax: awards have been awarded as part of the national championship, which is also attended by athletes from Belarus. The winners of the individual race awards were determined back in January in Demino. Biathletes came to Tyumen to compete for the top 3 in the super sprint and relay races. Such a stretched format looks controversial, but nevertheless the results are already written into history. For more information about the Russian championship and its results, see the Izvestia article.

Dynamic supersprint

In Russia, this type of program has somehow taken root, unlike competitions at the international level. The essence of the race is that a 4.5 km prologue is held first, from which the first 30 places go to the final (7.5 km). In qualifying, biathletes run with an interval between each other and two firing ranges, and the decisive part takes place from the general start, where everyone shoots four times.

Among the men, Karim Khalili, Alexander Kornev and Alexey Vagin became the leaders in the prologue. In the final, Kornev accelerated powerfully, but "shot himself" at the very first firing line, missing four times. In this case, it was possible to say goodbye to the medals right away. Anton Babikov was in the lead. Besides him, Kirill Bazhin, Alexander Loginov, Rustam Kayumov, Dmitry Abashev and Belarusian Pavel Belko performed well on the bench.

Babikov went perfectly to the second line, and then turned into the penalty area. Bazhin took over the first position from the world champion. Due to the mistake of Babikov and others, the Sverdlovsk resident managed to make a decent lead for such a dynamic race — 13 seconds. Unfortunately, Kirill lost his advantage a little, but another sniper shooting helped.

As a result, Bazhin finished first without missing a beat. Belarusian Ilya Avseenko unexpectedly took the second place, and Babikov took the third. Despite this, the final result was as follows: Bazhin, Babikov, Kayumov. Belarusians are awarded, but they cannot officially become medalists of the Russian championship.

The Russian Championship. Super Sprint Men

1. Kirill Bazhin — 18.41,3 (0)
2. Ilya Avseenko (Belarus) — 7.9 (2)
3. Anton Babikov — 8,8 (3)
4. Rustam Kayumov — 12.8 (2)
5. Anton Smolsky (Belarus) — 16.4 (5).

Belarusian Anna Sola became the best female qualifier. Polina Plyusnina and Tamara Derbusheva finished behind her. In the super sprint finals, Sola was also in the lead, but before the first firing line. Then Anastasia Khalili came to the fore. Belarusian Dinara Smolskaya lost three seconds to her, and Plyusnina lost four. Before the second shooting, Khalili broke away from her rivals, but two misses on the bench seriously complicated her race. Taking advantage of her opponent's mistakes, Sola again topped the intermediate table, but Smolskaya and Plyusnina did not let her go far.

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At the Cup of the strongest athletes of Russia and Belarus, our women's team performed perfectly, but in the men's team we can note only Halili

There was a denouement at the counter: Sola missed twice! Plyusnina also couldn't cope with her nerves. And only Smolskaya managed to shoot perfectly. The Belarusian ran forward as fast as she could while her rivals were running penalty rounds, and at the final shooting range she didn't give her competitors a single chance. Dinara finished first with the flag of Belarus, and Derbusheva was second after her. The third place went to Elizaveta Kaplina. According to the regulations, Derbusheva became the champion of Russia. Kaplina got the silver, and Julia Scheller took the bronze.

The Russian Championship. A supersprint. Women

1. Dinara Smolskaya (Belarus) — 20.48,9 (1)
2. Tamara Derbusheva — 4.2 (1)
3. Elizaveta Kaplina — 9.7 (2)
4. Julia Scheller — 12.7 (1)
5. Polina Plyusnina — 24.8 (4)

The perfect duo

The single mixed relay turned out to be no less intense. At the first stage, Dinara Smolskaya took off from the start and was able to escape from her rivals. However, problems arose on the couch, so Tamara Derbusheva came forward. The pursuers stayed behind her until the first firing line, and then she and Kristina Reztsova, due to their cool work on the counter, made an 11-second reserve.

Kirill Bazhin, representing the same team as Derbusheva, and Kirill Streltsov lost a little to their pursuers before lying down, but accurate shooting helped restore balance. Dmitry Abashev was 12 seconds behind them, but he couldn't get any closer. After the stand, he completely gave the third position to Denis Irodov.

The issue with the champions of the single-mix disappeared at the next layup, where Bazhin proved himself to be a real sniper. While Streltsov was indignant and solved problems with the sight, the gap from Sverdlovsk reached 14.5 seconds. After the stand, nothing changed globally: Bazhin raced to the finish line with an advantage of 33 seconds. There were no applicants for Streltsov's silver, but several biathletes scored for the bronze. Anton Smolsky, Alexander Kornev, Pavel Belko — the first showed himself the best. And yet, according to the same rules of the tournament, bronze officially did not go to Belarusians, but to Kalinin's tandem. / Kornev, who finished only in fifth place.

The Russian Championship. Single mix

1. Tamara Derbusheva — Kirill Bazhin (Sverdlovsk Region — 1) — 37.02,9 (0+1)
2. Kristina Reztsova — Kirill Streltsov (Moscow Region — 2) — 28,8 (0+9)
3. Dinara Smolskaya — Anton Smolsky (Belarus-1) — 39,5 (1+11)
4. Anna Sola — Pavel Belko (Belarus-3) — 54,1 (2+7)
5. Lyubov Kalinina — Alexander Kornev (Volga Federal District) — 1.08,8 (0+12)

The triumph of Belarusians

In the mixed relay, the last set of medals was awarded at the stage in Tyumen. Traditionally, the girls started first: after lying down, Kristina Reztsova led the race. In a couple of seconds, Belarusian Ksenia Vorobey and Tamara Derbusheva secured her place. Reztsova and Derbusheva broke away from the stand, and due to high-quality work at the turn, they were able to run even further ahead. Before the transfer, Vorobey finished with a gap of 44 seconds from Reztsova.

Then Anastasia Khalili, who appeared instead of Kristina, was able to turn the 2 seconds gap from second place into 14. On the bench, Svetlana Mironova narrowed her gap, but no more. Belarusian Anna Sola remained at her side, going to the third position alone.

Mironova was seriously inferior to Khalili with her move, even accurate shooting did not save her. After the stand, Svetlana was already 44 seconds away from Anastasia. Sola was even further away from Khalili — 1 minute and 10 seconds.

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Kirill Bazhin had a hard time on the third stage. Mironova was so tired that Sola almost caught up with her when passing the baton. He was together with the representative of Belarus Maxim Vorobyov a minute away from Denis Irodov.

Irodov gave his rivals a chance to catch up, as he missed three times. Despite the fact that the biathlete avoided the penalty round, time was lost. Bazhin reduced the gap to 27 seconds due to fast and accurate shooting. Sparrow had slowed down and was now walking 46 meters away from the leader.

At the second turn, Irodov again experienced difficulties, but luck was on his side. Bazhin, instead of trying to get him, went into a circle. Vorobey moved to the second position — 54 seconds from Irodov. Everything was decided at the fourth stage. Kirill Streltsov tried to keep Belarusian Pavel Belko at a distance, but he failed. If there was a gap on the couch, then Streltsov allowed his pursuers to approach him at the counter. So, they went to the last lap in tandem.

The showdown at the finish line ended with Belko's victory, but according to the rules, Streltsov still got the gold. Vasily Tomshin was able to detach Rustam Kayumov in the final kilometers of the race and finish third.

The Russian Championship. Mixed relay race

1. Belarus-1 (Ksenia Vorobey, Anna Sola, Maxim Vorobey, Pavel Belko) — 1:06.15,2 (0+9)
2. Moscow Region (Kristina Reztsova, Anastasia Khalili, Denis Irodov, Kirill Streltsov) — 0.3 (0+11)
3. Sverdlovsk Region (Tamara Derbusheva, Svetlana Mironova, Kirill Bazhin, Vasily Tomshin) — 19.3 (1+5)
4. Yamalo—Nenets Autonomous District (Antonina Kirsanova, Polina Plyusnina, Alexander Bektuganov, Rustam Kayumov) - 34.5 (0+3)
5. Tyumen region (Ulyana Nigmatullina, Elizaveta Frolova, Alexander Loginov, Mikhail Burundukov) — 1.11,1 (0+8)

Further, the competitions within the framework of the Russian championship will continue on March 19-20 in Uvat, where biathletes will run a large mass start.