Snow rails: how Nepryaeva and Korostylev started the Tour de Ski

The results of our skiers at the second international start after their return were not as good as at the first one, but it was stupid to wait for a breakthrough right away. The ski world has festively opened the 20th anniversary stage of the Tour de Ski, a specific altitude competition through which Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryaeva can prepare for the Olympics. There was no breakthrough in the opening skate sprint of the tour. The Russians did not qualify, remaining outside the top 30. Daria was only 0.85 seconds short, and Savely was 49th. About what this means and what the prospects are in the next week and a half of the tour, see the Izvestia article.

Glorious traditions

Many ski racing fans are waiting for the end of December, not only because of the New Year holidays, but also because of the start of the legendary multi-day Tour de Ski. This year, this grandiose sporting event celebrates its 20th anniversary, but that's not why special attention is focused on the tour. Now, exactly three years later, Russian skiers have returned to the prestigious Alpine series.

Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryaeva were the first from the national team to have the opportunity to compete at international competitions. Our athletes made their World Cup debut two weeks ago in Davos, Switzerland, where they won Olympic quotas for Russia in all individual disciplines. Now the skiers have set about conquering a new height for themselves — a multi-day ski race, in which the athlete is required to show versatility. He must demonstrate successful results in speed skating and in the classics, in sprints, and in distance races. And even show off your ski-climbing skills on the final mountain.

The final time the Russian representatives participated in the Tour de Ski was back in the 2021/22 season, when our athletes showed excellent results. Natalia Nepryaeva (now Terentyeva) then became the first Russian skier who managed to win a multi-day race. The Russians managed to return to the legendary tour only after three seasons of absence, as the suspension relief appeared only now.

In the meantime, we are frankly far from such results, and there are objective reasons for this.

Generals and rehearsal: what to expect from Korostelev and Nepryaeva at the Tour de Ski

The Italian multi-day race will bring together almost all the main stars of the world of skiing, and it will not be easy for Russians to claim high places.

Russians are progressing

Of course, it is strange to call the 34th and 49th places for Russian skiers a successful result. There were probably a lot of people who really believed that we would "rip everyone up" after admission. However, the descent to earth had already taken place in the mountainous Davos two weeks ago. After that, the Russians stayed in the mountains, adapted to the altitude and snow, and worked on faster descents, which turned out to be very important at the international level.

But it's presumptuous to expect high results from us in a sprint. For several years, completely different sprints have been running in Russia — almost a minute longer (at the parallel stage of the Cup of Russia in Kirovo-Chepetsk, the distance has already been shortened). The distance layout is completely different, the requirements and profiles of the trails are different. And the competition and density in international sprints is incredible. As Alexander Panzhinsky, the silver medalist of the 2010 Olympics, aptly noted, if you expect success, then in distance racing.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Yes, even mathematically. Korostelev won back three positions compared to the sprint in Davos, Nepryaeva — five. In the case of Savely, two weeks ago, 2.83 seconds separated him from 30th place, now 2.54. In the women's sprint, Daria was missing 0.85 seconds before reaching the playoffs, which is decent by the standards of the 1.4 km distance. But we managed to reset the 0.2 second lag compared to the previous start.

The world has moved on

Of course, it's unpleasant to see the Spaniard and Andorra ahead, but now you can only forget about the cap-making and just follow this slow progressive progress, no matter how mocking all these wagering figures may sound. The athletes themselves spoke about all the problems with adaptation and the departure of world sports during the isolation period.

On the other hand, there's nothing to celebrate either. Korostelev does not celebrate either.

— I was dissatisfied with myself. Everything seemed to be fine in training here. Maybe a small glitch played a role here after Davos, but this is our analytical moment," he told Okko.

As for the results in general, they are absolutely predictable for men and predictable for women. Klebo even secured gold in the sprint with one lift at the finish line, while the Norwegians had the entire podium (only Swiss Grond tried to fight, and Pellegrino did not even make it to the finals). In the women's event, Norway also won a landslide victory — Schistad beat Germany's Ridzek and Sweden's Dahlqvist. But here I must say that the main sprinter in the world, Jonna Sundling, is skipping the tour for strategic reasons, and another strong Swede, Lynn Svan, withdrew the day before due to a leg injury.

Already on December 29, a 10-kilometer classic style cutting is waiting for us in Toblakh. If the Russians took places in the top 25 there in the first attempt, you can count on the top 15 or twenty. You can forget about the competition for high places — not falling into the top 30 in the sprint means an extra minute in the general classification. We need to consider these starts as a run—in to the Olympics in Italy and, more broadly, the return of the Russians.