They gave up on 50: at the ski tournament in Komi, everything was decided in tenths of a second

Classic marathons were held in Vylgort (Komi Republic) as part of the Russian Ski Championships. The races turned out to be eventful, and the finish of the men's race turned out to be really dramatic. The gap between Sergey Ardyshev and Savely Korostylev was only 0.2 seconds. Three skiers competed for the women's victory, but at the finish, luck was on the side of Elizaveta Maslakova, who fell twice during the race. Read more about the results of the competitions in Komi in the Izvestia article.

Women's blockage

The women's marathon began with a massive blockage: in the sixth minute of the race, several girls could not cope with a sharp turn on the descent and fell, knocking down their rivals. Some were unlucky: they damaged their inventory. But, according to the senior coach of the Russian national team, Yuri Borodavko, the incident did not cause serious consequences.

Tatiana Sorina set the pace for a long time on the course: after the 15 km cutoff, she was second, after 25 and 35 km, she was first. The Olympic champion dragged the peloton for most of the 50-kilometer distance, but she did not have enough strength at the finish line — in the end, Tatiana got only third place. It was a disappointment for the athlete: after the finish, she admitted that she had entered the track with the intention of winning, but she was exhausted in the last few stretches — her calf muscle and triceps cramped. Daria Kaneva was able to beat her already at the finish line.

Elizaveta Maslakova became the winner: her triumph turned out to be truly long-suffering. Due to a bureaucratic error, the skier was not initially on the start list. She herself admitted that she felt bad the day before and even thought about refusing to participate. The problems did not end at the race either: Maslakova became one of the victims in the rubble, and fell twice in total. At the same time, Elizabeth stayed close to the leaders throughout the race and turned on powerfully already on the last climb — she left it first and held the lead at the finish line.

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"I was very afraid of this race, I was worried, I hardly slept all night and the next morning I thought about giving up altogether," Maslakova said on Match TV. — I managed to sleep for three hours at most. I was shaking, I wasn't in the start protocol in the evening, I was nervous. But I took off, got into two blocks. On the second descent, I fell very hard, and they fell on me. I thought, "Should I finish it already?" Then I caught up with the band, and we kind of slowed down a bit. I had a task to get there.

This is the first 50-kilometer women's marathon in the history of the Russian Championships after we agreed with the international trend of equalizing distances. Also, for various reasons, several leaders of the current season did not start — Natalia Terentyeva, Daria Nepryaeva, Anastasia Kuleshova, Ekaterina Smirnova and Arina Kalicheva.

Snatched the victory

The main intrigue before the men's race was Alexander Bolshunov's condition. Two days before the start, Yuri Borodavko said that the skier had back problems, and Alexander would make a decision about the performance closer to the start of the marathon. Even after Bolshunov was included in the starting protocol, the coach was not sure about his participation.

— Alexander is training. I can't say yet whether he will run a marathon or not. He's getting ready. He has a desire. I know that the administrators have included it in the application. They will decide how it will actually be," Borodavko told the Sport—Express.

As a result, Bolshunov started, but he came fifth and in the final meters of the race was far from the fight for medals. He went into the climb before the finish line in a group with the leaders, but could not keep up with their pace.

—We expected a much better performance from Alexander," Yuri Borodavko emphasized to Izvestia. — It's a pity, but the skis failed. After changing his inventory, he felt insecure, unable to maintain his usual speed. The disease also affected.

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It seemed that Sergey Ardashev would not be able to interfere in the fight for medals either: on the rise, he lagged behind Savely Korostelev and Ilya Semikov, who were working hard alternately, but he powerfully entered the last corner and dealt with his rivals at the finish line. Korostelev, who was in the lead, said after the race that he hadn't even seen his opponent when he reached the finish line, and also shared his disappointment — he was determined to win. Champion Ardashev also commented on the outcome of the marathon.

— Now the haters will say that I am a "backpack," Ardashev said on Match TV. —Well, a backpack, so what?" It doesn't matter how you ran the race, whether you came out ahead or not. The first thirty was very difficult, the skis didn't work well. In general, I was lagging behind from the descent, I just had to endure from behind. And then I changed my shoes and realized that the skis were working well and everything would be decided at the finish line. I walked at a comfortable pace. It's a very cool race.

The final starts of the Russian Championship will be held in April. Two more marathons are waiting for athletes in the Murmansk region, but now in free style. On April 12, the girls will start the 50-kilometer race in Apatity, the next day the men will have to overcome 70 km in Monchegorsk.