Glorious Victoria: Slivko has collected a full set of Czech Republic biathlon awards
Traditional Izhevsk Rifle biathlon competitions were held in the capital of Udmurtia. For many years, this start has been considered one of the most important for our athletes. This time, biathletes came to Izhevsk to compete for the titles of champions of Russia. The competition program included three races — an individual, a single mixed relay and a large mass start. The main characters of the Czech Republic were the highly experienced Victoria Slivko and Eduard Latypov.
Based on experience
The Russian championship started with the biathlon classics — an individual race for 20 km for men and 15 km for women, respectively. As a rule, the winner in this race is the one who shoots well, because for each miss, a whole minute is added to the total time of the athletes.
The men did not manage to show clean shooting. The race was won by Eduard Latypov, who made one miss in four shooting segments, but even so, he still brought more than a minute to his closest pursuer. Alexander Kornev was second, with two uncovered targets left on his account. However, in order to win the race, Kornev needed to shoot completely without mistakes. Ilnaz Mukhamedzyanov was on the third line in the final report with identical shooting performance.
One of the losers of this start was Kirill Bazhin, who is highly rated in every race. The representative of the Sverdlovsk region was the leader after three firing lines. Bazhin failed to cope with the fourth shooting: he made three mistakes at once, which threw him far from the top three winners.
Victoria Slivko, who has been the leader of Russian biathlon for many seasons, won the women's race. However, her advantage was not as impressive as Latypov's. Natalia Shevchenko, the closest pursuer, was left behind by only four tenths of a second. The stumbling block for the representative of the Sverdlovsk region was the last shot. The former skier has already failed to regain the lost seconds on the course. The third was Tamara Derbusheva, who shot as accurately as her friends. However, Mikhail Shashilov's ward failed to show off her speed: her gap at the finish line was almost a minute.
Kristina Reztsova, who showed good form in December 2025, on the contrary, showed impressive speed, but could not cope with shooting. There were three mistakes in the athlete's passivity, which, of course, could not be discussed about the fight for medals. Anastasia Khalili, another strong biathlete, did not manage to finish at all.: she withdrew from the race for health reasons.
It is also worth noting Anastasia Tomshina, nee Batmanova, who took the high fourth position. If Nastya hadn't missed at the last turn, she would have been third. She pays special attention to herself for the reason that the athlete performs after the birth of her daughter.
Excessive self-confidence
On January 10, the second day of the competition, a bright single mixed relay race was held in Izhevsk. It was enough to look at the impressive starting protocol, which this time included 30 teams. Considering that the very type of program is considered fast and dynamic, the fight was very interesting for everyone.
Even before the start of the race, Daniil Serokhvostov decided to become the headliner, saying on Match TV that the fate of the gold had already been decided: the medal would go to his tandem with Victoria Metelei, so everyone else could only fight for second and third places.
It would seem that Serokhvostov was right, because during the first transfer of the relay, his team was on the first line. However, thanks to Victoria's efforts. Daniil himself failed to hold the lead: he himself passed the baton only in fourth position, being located twenty seconds from the leader. And after the second stage, the Tyumen team took the first place, which was raised to this position largely due to good shooting by Mikhail Burundukov.
Most of the intrigue was brought to the race by the third stage, after the second shooting of which the fight was the most intense for the entire distance: seven teams settled down ten seconds before the final stage, so all the showdowns were on the shoulders of the men. The team of the Sverdlovsk region, represented by Natalia Shevchenko and Kirill Bazhin, passed the baton as the leader. Thanks to the efforts of Victoria Metel, the KhMAO team still remained in the fight for gold.
Serokhvostov again failed to maintain his partner's pace. At the very first shooting of the final stage, the biathlete went to the penalty area. The Sverdlovsk team was still the leader: Kirill Bazhin, together with Rustam Kayumov, went to the penultimate race lap with a 9.5-second lead over his pursuers.
The fact that these two athletes will compete for the gold medal became clear after the final shooting. Kayumov held the firing line to zero, but Bazhin hooked one additional cartridge — however, this did not lead to a large gap in the biathlete. Natalia Shevchenko's replacement turned out to be the strongest, who retained the first place after passing the baton. The second was the Moscow Region team consisting of Zyryanova and Kayumov, and the Tyumen team consisting of Slivko and Burundukov took the third place. The self-confident Serokhvostov nullified all his partner's efforts and finished only in seventh position.
The first personal
On Sunday, January 11, the Russian championship ended with big races with a mass start. This format is not represented in the World Cup, and at the World Cup and Olympic Games. The essence of this race is that from 31 to 60 athletes take part in the start. For this reason, the leading thirty overcomes the first lap idly, but the second half of the starting protocol conducts the first firing line. After the second round, the situation is the opposite.
The fair sex were the first to compete for their medals. After the first firing line, Irina Shakleina became the leader, who, unlike her main rivals, conducted her shooting after the first round. However, the Belarusian did not manage to repeat this result at the second shooting cutoff. Kristina Reztsova, who claimed the highest places at the end of the mass start, also made a mistake this time.
Thus, the top three were determined after the second milestone: Metelya, Slivko and Tomshina immediately looked apart, who did not make a single mistake. The closest pursuers were Grigorieva and Zyryanova, who also shot at zero, but lost with their feet. Natalia Shevchenko also failed to register a clean shooting: after two firing lines, lying down, she had two misses.
The third shooting did not bring global changes in the composition of the leaders. All three worked quickly and cleanly, so they continued their joint struggle for victory. Both Reztsova and Shevchenko still had chances to catch up with the leaders in front of the counter, but they failed to make mistakes again.
The three leaders who had already formed could not get away from the last shooting, as only two Viktoria, Metelya and Slivko, who went to the finish line in such a reliable tandem, were able to shoot cleanly here. Tomshina, in turn, made only one misfire, which allowed her to retain third place and win the bronze medal at the Russian championships.
At the finish round, Victoria Metelya turned out to be the strongest, who got even for her team's failure in the single-mix. The Ugra representative accelerated in the second part of the lap, which Slivko could no longer handle. As a result, Metelya took her first personal gold of the Russian championship from Izhevsk, and Slivko collected a full set of medals: personal gold and silver, in addition to which there is a team bronze.
For men, the intrigue — who will be part of the top three winners — remained until the leaders crossed the finish line. If everything was obvious with gold almost immediately after the final firing line, then the fight for silver and bronze unfolded between four biathletes at once.
The winner of the big mass start was Savely Konovalov, who, as he himself admitted, shot four firing lines cleanly for the first time in his career. Actually, shooting at zero and good skiing allowed the young representative of the Sverdlovsk region to become the owner of a personal gold award. Savely came to the finish line with enough advantage to finish beautifully with the flag of his region. Kirill Bazhin became the second on the final lap, who scored a double for the Sverdlovsk region in this race. The third was Karim Khalili, who was able to fend off his pursuers.
To be fair, it's worth noting that we couldn't see the strongest Belarusian athletes at this Russian championship. The thing is that they are preparing for the Commonwealth Cup stage, which will be held in Raubichi. Our guys will be able to compete with each other again on January 16, when the third stage of the Cup of Russia will begin in Demino.
As for the entry of Russians onto the world stage, unlike skiers, the situation regarding the admission of biathletes to international competitions has not moved forward. The IBU refused to consider the claim in an expedited manner, so we definitely won't see our athletes at the Olympic Games. However, in the case of a CAS decision in favor of Russia, there are still ghostly starts to see the strongest biathletes of our national team at the last stages of the World Cup. But unfortunately, we don't have much hope for anything.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
