Round of standings: will Korostelev be able to win the Youth World Cup

The Youth Ski World Championship started in Lillehammer, Norway, on March 2. For the first time in four years, a Russian athlete will compete for medals in it — Savely Korostelev will compete in the mass start. After that, he will go to the World Cup in Finland, which will be his final this season.

One race

At the World Youth Championships, medals are awarded to skiers, biathletes and ski jumpers in two age categories: under 20 and under 23. Competitions are held every season. This is the last opportunity for Savely to compete in this tournament. He will turn 23 this November, but Daria Nepryaeva, who also has a neutral status, will be 24 in May.

We will probably see Korostelev in only one race— the mass start on March 5. Other disciplines have inconvenient schedules. On Sunday, March 1, Savely ran the skiathlon at the World Cup in Falun. Therefore, he would not have had enough time to rest before the sprint on Tuesday. And the World Youth Championships will be held on the same day as the start of the World Cup in the Finnish Hand (March 7-14), where Savely plans to participate in all four races.

"I'm in my last junior year,— Korostelev emphasized to Izvestia. — I want to try to compete for medals. If possible, I will update the regalia of 2022. Dasha [Nepryaeva] is already "old". Therefore, she immediately goes to Lahti. I will also join the team in Finland after Lillehammer.

Is it worth it for Korostelev's sake. Maybe one race trip to Lillehammer? Definitely worth it. Firstly, an athlete who was close to the podium at the Olympics has a very high chance of winning a medal and even gold at the World Youth Championships. Why not get some good emotions, take the first awards of the international season and remind yourself what it feels like? Secondly, there are not many available launches for Savely in Europe. He has four more World Cup races in Finland on his calendar.

The international season will close with a stage in the American Lake Placid, where there will be no Russians due to an expensive trip to the United States. In a conversation with the media, the president of the Russian Ski Federation, Elena Vyalbe, noted that a trip to the United States is too expensive, and since Korostelev and Nepryaeva are not fighting for victory in the overall World Cup standings, there is no point in it.

Recall that Savely is in 13th place in the overall World Cup standings. Martin Nuenget, the 2026 Olympic champion, stands very close to him in the ranking. Daria is in 21st place in the overall standings.

On four and five: Korostelev and Nepryaeva are approaching KM medals

They are most successful in skiathlon, but they are not friends with sprints.

Remember 2022

For Savely, this will be the third World Youth Championship in his career. He made his World Cup debut in 2021 in Lahti, Finland, at the age of 18 (junior category) due to his victory in the qualifying race. However, he was not ready for the speeds of his rivals, who were one or two years older than him. Savely did not bring any medals from that tournament.

But he collected more awards than others a year later, at the World Championships in Ligne, Norway. The 2022 junior tournament began with a 30-kilometer mass start, in which the Russians took the first four places. Korostelev took silver in that race, losing to Alexander Ivshin. Afterwards, he confessed that he was thinking about finishing hand in hand, as Alexander Bolshunov, Alexey Chervotkin and Denis Spitsov did at the Youth World Cup in 2017.

He added two more gold pieces to this silver. At first, together with Nikita Denisov, Alexander Ivshin and Nikita Rodionov, the Russians left no chance for anyone in the relay, and then Savely won his first personal victory at the World Cup — in the classic 10 km race.

At that World Cup, you could meet a lot of athletes who are well-known now. In the juniors, his current friend at the World Cup, Italian Elia Barp, fought with Savely. Daria Nepryaeva took her gold in the women's 5-kilometer race, and also won silver in the relay, where the current leader of the Cup of Russia, Evgenia Krupitskaya, also ran.

There were also many familiar faces among the under-23 skiers, including Olympic champion Veronika Stepanova, who was content with only two bronze medals. Natalia Shevchenko, one of the leaders of Russian biathlon, also holds the third place in the Youth Ski World Cup. In 2022, she competed under the name of Mekryukova and won a medal in the sprint.

It is also worth noting that the 2022 Youth World Cup was held from February 22 to 27. In those days, news began to appear about the suspension of our athletes from competitions. Therefore, the awards won by the juniors in Norway at that time are the last for Russian skiers in the international arena. Now Savely can close this circle and win our first medal after his suspension.

The 2026 Junior World Ski Championships
Start schedule for male skiers under 23 years of age

Tuesday, March 3
12:00 — sprint, free style, qualification
14:30 — sprint, free style, finals

Thursday, March 5th
14:30 — 20 km, mass start, free style

Saturday, March 7th
11:30 — 10 km, cutting, classic style

Sunday, March 8th
14:00 — 4x5 km mixed relay