Russia (bbabo.net), - The Beijing Winter Olympics are entering the homestretch. We are talking about the brightest recent successes of our athletes.
Skiers remain earners of "gold" for our team. After the "gold" of Alexander Bolshunov, the silver medals of Denis Spitsov and Natalya Nepryaeva in the skiathlon, another "silver" of Bolshunov in the classic race with a separate start for 15 km and "bronze" in the sprint of Alexander Terentyev followed. Well, relay races became the culmination of the dominance of domestic skis.
First, the girls Yulia Stupak, Natalya Nepryaeva, Tatyana Sorina and Veronika Stepanova won a confident victory. For men, the golden quartet included Alexei Chervotkin, Alexander Bolshunov, Denis Spitsov and Sergei Ustyugov. The most controversial candidate in this four was Ustyugov, who failed the sprint, "the start of his entire career." But the coaches gave him a chance to rehabilitate and guessed it. By the final stage, where Sergei was confronted by the formidable Norwegian Johannes Klebo, the advantage of our team over the pursuers was already about 40 seconds. Ustyugov increased this gap by more than a minute and crossed the finish line like a king, with a flag in his hands. All this happened under the snow that fell down the wall, but we agree with Alexander Bolshunov: "the more difficult the conditions, the better for us."
The crazy dance of the President of the Russian Ski Racing Federation Elena Vyalbe spoke most eloquently about the absolute exclusivity of the moment at the awards ceremony.
After the race, Bolshunov called China his second home, but we are waiting, so to speak, for the continuation of the banquet. The ski program also includes team sprints and marathon races. Everywhere we have the right to count on replenishment of the medal stock.
The biathlon team optimistically opened the Olympics by taking bronze in the mixed relay, but in individual races ours fell into some kind of stupor. Yet broke through in the men's pursuit. "Bronze" was taken by Eduard Latypov, he went to a distance of 11th, but excellent shooting allowed him to climb the podium.
But Latypov was clearly not happy with his second "bronze" in the 4x7.5 km relay. In the first three stages, Karim Khalili, Alexander Loginov and Maxim Tsvetkov created a solid advantage over their competitors. Latypov was the first to approach the last shooting, having a minute to spare. But he faltered: misses, two penalty loops. The victory is lost, the Norwegians won, we are only third.
The last time the Russian dance duo won the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin. Then Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov won. And of course, their coach Alexander Zhulin. In Beijing 2022, Zhulin led another pair to the medal - Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapova, who finished second. But their "silver" is also a big victory, considering how hard the athletes went to get on the podium.
In cross-country skiing, Russia took three golds and three silvers, plus one bronze
Katsalapov, by the way, already knew what Olympic success was. At the Sochi Games in 2014, he took the team "gold" and personal "bronze" in a duet with Elena Ilinykh. But this, as Nikita himself says, was like in another life. He created a new story with Victoria Sinitsina. It took two Olympic cycles to get back into the elite. But, in spite of everything, they became world champions, and European champions, and Beijing Olympic champions in the team, and silver medalists in the individual tournament.
The World Cup will take place in March. Our guys have it in their plans. You just have to remember that Nikita will have to solve a long-standing back problem that has been bothering him a lot this season. Our couple even withdrew from the competition. Perhaps an operation is due. So Vika's tears at the awards ceremony are not only joy, happiness, but also devastation, fatigue.
Our team has already won two medals in short track. Semyon Yelistratov won bronze at his favorite distance of 1500 m. In it, he became the bronze medalist of Pyeongchang 2018, the world champion in 2015, and the bronze winner of the 2021 World Cup. And 21-year-old Konstantin Ivliev won silver in the 500m. And he himself is pleased, and his parents, who at the age of six put him on skates, pleased him. Konstantin's mother is the European short track champion in the women's relay in 2004 and 2006. Dad - championships, ex-coach of the national team.
On the classic speed skating oval, Angelina Golikova's bronze medal (500 m) was supplemented with a silver medal in the men's team pursuit. Daniil Aldoshkin, Sergey Trofimov and Ruslan Zakharov distinguished themselves.
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