Medal remainder: Russian biathlon champions titles will be played in Khanty-Mansiysk

The biathlon season in Russia is coming to an end. Our athletes have two more stops in the schedule — in Khanty-Mansiysk and Murmansk. This week in Ugra, biathletes will compete for the remaining national champion titles. Competition for medals and substantial prize money is expected to be very high. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

Favorite place

Khanty-Mansiysk is the main biathlon city in Russia. At the beginning of this season, the athletes spent more than a month in Ugra. Races were held here as part of an unofficial tournament, the MLKB Cup (International Biathlon Club League), where the winners received the highest prize money of 1 million rubles, and then the Commonwealth Cup and two stages of the Cup of Russia took place.

So, back in January, individual races were held in Demino as part of the national championship, and last week in the Tyumen region, the winners were determined in the super sprint, single-mixed, mixed relay and large mass start. Khanty-Mansiysk was entrusted to host the main part of the tournament with the most popular Olympic disciplines.

The biathlon stadium in Khanty-Mansiysk is located within the city limits. However, there are still few viewers, especially on weekdays.

"I went into the race with the attitude that it was a control training," Daniil Serokhvostov said in December after the sprint at the Yugra stage of the National Cup. — Look for yourself: there are seven people in the stands. In the control training, it's the same in principle. It doesn't feel like it's the Russian Cup.

During the season, the organizers worked on mistakes to avoid a similar situation. On weekdays, they tried to move the start of the races to the evening. On Wednesday and Thursday, men will start at 16:00 local time, and women — at 19:00. Plus, for all days there was free entrance for spectators both to the stands and to the track.

All the strongest

The Russian Championship is considered more important than the Cup of the country. Besides the fact that the champions titles will be played in Khanty-Mansiysk, the prize money is also higher here. The winner in individual races is entitled to a check for 100 thousand rubles, when the strongest in the Cup of Russia receives 70 thousand rubles.

In total, six of the best athletes in individual disciplines are awarded. The silver medalist gets 85 thousand, the bronze — 70 thousand, for the fourth place — 50 thousand, for the fifth — 40 thousand, for the sixth — 30 thousand rubles.

In the team disciplines, and classic relay races will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, the three strongest regional teams will receive cash prizes. Here, the four winners will receive 200 thousand rubles, the holders of the second place — 170 thousand, the third — 140 thousand rubles per team.

The points earned by biathletes in the individual races of the Russian Championship are counted towards the SBR rating. Starting this season, the winners of this rating will receive 1 million rubles each, and the leaders among athletes under 23 will receive 500 thousand rubles each.

Victoria Slivko is currently in the lead in the women's ranking of the SBR, and Eduard Latypov is in the men's ranking. The three-time Olympic bronze medalist skipped the Russian Championship races in Tyumen and Uvat. Latypov did not feel well at the final stage of the National Cup in Zlatoust, so he decided to take care of himself.

— I took blood tests, everything is fine. He tested for antibodies of various viruses, and it turned out that he was sick with covid either during competitions or between Belarus (the Cup of the Strongest in Raubichi) and Zlatoust. Poor health is associated with this. The reason has been found, we are trying to restore our health and prepare for the Russian Championship," Latypov explained on the Telegram channel Union of Three Biathletes.

In general, diseases are plaguing many athletes this winter. For example, at the end of the Zlatoust stage, Natalia Shevchenko, Russia's strongest biathlete, had problems last season. This prevented her from competing for the National Cup. Perhaps the busy calendar has influenced the series of illnesses this season. The Russians have many more stages and races than the participants of the World Cup. Athletes do not have time to recover. But everyone has to get together at the end of the season. It is expected that all the strongest athletes, including biathletes of the national team of Belarus, will perform in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Usually, the national championship races closed the biathlon season. Even before they were suspended from international competitions, World Cup participants came to Tyumen or Khanty-Mansiysk to compete for medals with their compatriots. However, now, as a year ago, the finish of the season will take place in Murmansk at the final stage of the Commonwealth Cup, where the leaders of the national teams of Russia and Belarus compete. The stage will be held from 3 to 6 April. The program includes single-mixed, mixed relay, sprints and mass starts. After that, athletes will finally be able to go on vacation.