Debut run-in: how was the international season for our skiers?

Russian skiers Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryaeva completed their international performances this season by participating in the marathon in Holmenkollen. They failed to reach the podium: our athletes were in the leading group for most of the race, but they could not keep up with the pace of their stellar rivals. Norwegian ex-biathlete Einar Hedegaart took the men's gold. Frida Carlsson of Sweden won the women's competition by a huge margin. Despite this local setback, on the whole, the starts of the two admitted Russians in the international arena deserve respect.

Alypov gave Indirect a solid "five"

Before the trip to Norway, Savely and Daria had perhaps the best races of their careers at foreign starts: Korostelev took bronze in the cut in Lahti, Finland, and Nepryaeva became the fourth. Our skiers miss the World Cup finals in the USA, so it was important to show the maximum at the royal mass start in Holmenkollen - the fans were hoping for a bright final chord.

Although, even despite the absence of Johannes Klebo (the multiple Olympic champion missed the stage due to a concussion, which he received when falling in the sprint in Drammen), it was hard to believe in the success of the Russian. The Norwegians are too good, who over the past four years have never given medals to their rivals in the March marathons. Indirect wasn't easy either. Her previous 50 km mass start at the Olympics ended in disqualification due to an error when changing equipment. She finished that race on someone else's skis only 11th.

The fog created an additional problem for skiers. It was so thick that it was almost impossible to see the riders from some angles. Nevertheless, the athletes themselves coped well with the distance. Savely spent the first laps in the leading group — he was in the top 15 participants with minimal lag behind the leader. Then he rose higher, stood second behind Martin Nuenget, and even managed to polidate a little.

Two laps before the finish, Korostelev, along with most of his rivals, changed skis. This was taken advantage of by Iver Andersen, who changed his shoes after the second lap. He ran into a breakaway for more than 10 seconds and disappeared into the fog quite quickly, so that the skiers in the peloton did not even immediately realize that someone was missing in their group.

Savely, who was surrounded by Norwegians, kept up the pace for quite a long time and continued to fight for high places. For the French, from whom experts expected serious results, something went wrong: only Victor Lovera was in the top ten, while his compatriots, including Mathis Delauge, were far behind.

Unfortunately, on the final lap, Savely still caught a gap and began to fall behind. The inhospitable Norwegians soon ousted Lovera from the top eight, after which they caught up with Iver and rushed forward to share places on the podium. As a result, Hedegaart won the Holmenkollen gold on the first attempt. Harald Amundsen and Nuenget took the silver and bronze of the race. Korostelev finished tenth with a gap of 1 minute 24.2 seconds.

"The Norwegians always perform well in Holmenkollen, they have their own achievements," Ivan Alypov, Olympic medalist in cross—country skiing, told Izvestia. — If you remove the Norwegians, then Savely will be the second. Good result, especially for the first time.

The women's race turned out to be especially interesting because of the combined format: the girls entered the track just 45 minutes after the men. During this time, Korostelev and company managed to complete only two out of six laps. The skiers made a strong start and soon caught up with some of the lagging participants in the men's race: the guys either had to stop and skip the entire peloton of girls, or continue moving in the "flower garden".

Daria clung to the top 10. She confidently stayed in the leading group, tried not to let the competitors go far, adding 3-4 bonus points to her piggy bank in the intervening segments. But the Russian couldn't work out the entire distance at their pace, gradually she fell behind and eventually claimed only a place in the second ten.

The main battle for silver and bronze in the women's race was between the Norwegians and the Swedes. And doubts about who would win the highest-grade medal disappeared already on the fifth lap: Frida Karlsson went into a crazy breakaway. Unexpectedly, Olympic marathon champion Ebba Andersson was out of the fight for the podium: the skier finished the mass start on the 27th line, more than six and a half minutes behind Frida. But her compatriots did not let her down and played off the remaining medals among themselves: Lynn Swan finished second, and Yonna Sundling finished third. Nepryaeva was 17th (+3.36.7).

"Everything is fine with Dasha, she didn't lose face," Ivan Alypov continued. — A decent season, with outstanding performances. Nepryaeva did well, coped with the pressure. I give her a solid five for the international season.

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Klebo is interested to see Korostelev's further progress.

In the international arena, Daria is not yet perceived as a skier who is able to challenge the favorites, but Savely seems to have such a status, especially when he won two international awards in a row — silver at the World Youth Championship and bronze at the adult World Cup. Thanks to his success in the mass start and classic butchering, our athlete attracted attention not only as the only neutral from Russia, but also as a possible competitor to Johannes Klebo and his entourage.

"Savely has made a big step forward this year, and it's interesting to watch,— the 11-time Olympic champion told NRK. — We thought that he would prove himself back in December at the World Cup in Davos, but it took him some time to get used to the new level. Now he's finally settled in. It's great, and I think he'll continue to train hard next season. It's interesting to see his further progress."

Indeed, the first attempts to compare our level with the world level sometimes caused disappointment and even despair due to the results in the sprint. But now it becomes obvious that last year's National Cup winner just needed time to adapt. It's a shame that the "crackdown" could not be completed in time for the Olympics. Well, now the level of global competition, of course, is no longer the same as at the Games. But the first medals of the Russian representative in four years became an event.

The admission of other Russians to the international arena is an important moment for Korostelev's further progress. Firstly, for the sake of success in mass starts, it is highly desirable to have teammates in the peloton. Secondly, because of one or two skiers, it is impractical to deploy a large service team, and it gives the Scandinavians an advantage in ski preparation. And finally, there is a psychological point. The longer Savely and Daria compete in isolation from other Russian skiers, the more likely they are to conflict with other Russian athletes.

And it's not just envy, but the fact that the situation of admitting some and mass banning others generally looks unhealthy, because Korostelev and Nepryaeva are now officially allowed to skip domestic starts, even at the level of the national championship and the final of the Cup of Russia, while many other Russians, including those who previously beat Savely and Daria are in the domestic arena, still stewing in their own juice.