Russia (bbabo.net), - Today, the composition of the men's and women's biathlon teams that will go to the 2022 Olympics in Beijing will be announced. The last chance for athletes to jump on the bandwagon of the Olympic squad was the sixth World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany, which ended the day before.
The aftertaste after Ruhpolding this year is mixed. On the one hand, with a successful combination of circumstances, the men's team could win the right to take the maximum quota of six biathletes to Beijing. To do this, it was necessary to get into the top three countries according to the results of the last two seasons. Alas, the last hopes evaporated after the sprint race. The guys who had already accustomed us to success disappointed us. The best of the Russians, Maxim Tsvetkov, showed only the 21st result. As a result, like girls, men will go to the Olympics in the amount of five people.
On the other hand, ours finally managed to remove the curse of Ruhpolding. Traditionally, the stage here is considered the most inconvenient for the Russian team. The last time Russian biathletes took gold here was in 2011, when Olga Zaitseva won the individual race. This drought was interrupted by the relay four consisting of Karim Khalili, Daniil Serokhvostov, Alexander Loginov and Maxim Tsvetkov. Tsvetkov in the winning four is a different story. After the triumphant relay race at the 2019 World Cup in Oberhof, Maxim disappeared from the radar for three years. Illnesses, difficult set of forms - this season the 30-year-old athlete started far from the first echelons of the national biathlon, but managed to break into the national team and proved that he can be counted on, including in the relay. Although the race could end in disaster. Tsvetkov, who ran the last stage, accidentally took Khalili's sticks and managed to change them for his own literally moments before the relay was passed. It's good that the masseur of the national team Sergey Voronin was ready, who helped Tsvetkov quickly change the inventory.
- I want to say that all the guys did a great job. Here today our youth and Max worked and their experience. And, no, on the contrary, - their youth and our experience. All well done and I congratulate everyone on the victory, - even the usually serious and concentrated Loginov after the race was confused in words and joked with himself.
According to experts, it is this relay four plus the quarantined Eduard Latypov who are the most likely candidates for the Olympic team. The coaching staff was going to draw the final conclusions based on the results of the pursuit race, but it seems that the pursuit did not give fundamentally new information. A brilliant race was held by Loginov, gaining form, breaking through from the 32nd starting position to the final second. Maxim Tsvetkov performed well, leaving 21st on the track. If not for two misses in the last standing, he could be very close to the medals, but ninth place is a good result.
Maxim Tsvetkov took the wrong sticks before his stage, but managed to correct himself
Our girls did not leave Ruhpolding without medals either, taking bronze in the relay race. True, there was no luck there. The Belarusians, who were in third place, “shot themselves” at the penultimate firing line, which Kristina Reztsova took advantage of best of all, who, at the moment of passing the baton, was behind the Belarusian biathlete Anna Sola by almost a minute. Let's give credit to Christina: we expect such feats from the leader.
True, Reztsova's pursuit did not work out at all: seven misses and only 36th place. And the best of ours was Irina Kazakevich, who finished 14th.
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