Russia (bbabo.net), - As you know, the appetite comes in the process. After the gold relay races, we expected success in the sprint relay races as well. Moreover, all the prerequisites for this were. Especially in men.

Recall that in the team sprint, each team has two people who pass the baton to each other several times. Spectacular discipline entered the Olympic program in 2006 at the Games in Turin and immediately became a medal-intensive discipline for our guys. At all four Olympics, Russian skiers in sprint relay races found themselves on the podium. True, it did not reach the "gold" in any way.

In Beijing, it looked like it was time to overthrow the kings of the Norwegian team sprint. Two-time Olympian Alexander Bolshunov has already gained excellent form, and 22-year-old Alexander Terentyev, who has already managed to take bronze in the individual sprint in China, was paired with him. But everything was predetermined by the nuances. And they were not in our favor.

The Olympic competitions were held as follows: at first, 25 teams were divided into two semi-final races. Four of the best duets and two with the best time from among the rest went to the decisive one. Ours fell to run in the second race. The layout is initially unfavorable.

- If we ran in the first semi-final race, we could still think about the "gold", but when I saw that we were running in the second... There are 20 minutes between races. It is impossible to recover in such a time, ”Elena Vyalbe, president of the Ski Racing Federation, said later.

But it's still half the trouble. Usually, the teams that expect to reach the finals do not run at full speed in the semi-finals in order to save their strength for the decisive run. But in ours there were those who turned on the maximum speeds immediately. The rest had to make up. As a result, the race, in which the Russians participated, turned out to be much faster than the previous one.

- The whole race there was not good, - Vyalbe continued to be indignant. - Some of them started thrashing like fools. They won the first race by 18 seconds (actually 11 - approx.), this is not normal. As a result, those who twitched did not get anywhere, and the rest, although they left, but ate.

Well, the third point: our guys, with all the expectations, were not optimally prepared. And there are a number of factors at play here. Bolshunov has accumulated fatigue after previous races. Terentyev's final stage of preparation for the Olympic Games was crumpled: he even flew to Beijing later than the whole team.

But the Norwegian Eric Valnes, who had a rest for the previous two races, approached the team sprint in excellent condition and due to this he managed to impose a fight on Bolshunov, whom he opposed at his stages. Although our plan was that Bolshunov would pass the last baton to Terentyev with a backlog, and he would no longer let Johannes Klebo near him. But it didn't work.

- In this company it is very difficult to run away, especially in the mountains, - explained the coach of the men's team Yuri Borodavko. - But it was clear that fatigue had accumulated in the mountains and there was no freshness in the movements. You yourself saw that the same Iivo Niskanen has never been in the lead and has not shown everything that he can. But this is all to be expected, the athletes are not iron. They get tired too. Power sometimes runs out.

Yulia Stupak: Good bronze. I wanted to leave as a two-time Olympic champion, but after two fourth places at the world championships, it’s a sin to show off

The second place was pulled out by the Finns in the composition of Iivo Niskanen and Yoni Mäki, and ours became only the third. Perhaps this "bronze" is not so interesting for the maximalist Bolshunov, but for the 22-year-old Terentyev, as Borodavko puts it, "a good advance for confidence."

Our female duet, Natalia Nepryaeva and Yulia Stupak, did not have such bright prospects. Nevertheless, they had Swedes in their rivals, who were considered the absolute favorites of the team sprint.

But they only have silver. And the gold medals sensationally went to the German team. It was such a surprise that Julia Stupak found out about the victory of the Germans only at the awards ceremony.

“To be honest, I didn’t even know that they won,” Yulia admitted with a laugh in a conversation with reporters. - When they approached the pedestal, I asked them - are you on the second step? They answer no. Nepryaeva is like this to me: they won. And I: "Come on!" We are very happy for them, we always communicate well with them. But I thought that the Swedes won.

What prevented us from ascending to the highest step of the pedestal? Again, fatigue. And first of all psychological. Still, the victory in the relay took too many emotions.

On the other hand, the current “bronze” has every reason to rejoice. Until now, at the Olympic Games, our girls took medals in the team sprint only once, in Vancouver 2010. "Of course, it's a good bronze," Stupak agreed. "Yes, we wanted to leave as two-time Olympic champions, but after two fourth places at the world championships, it's a sin to show off."For Yulia, this Olympics has already ended. And she will leave Beijing in a good mood: "These medals cover the season, which was probably the most difficult in my career. I became an Olympic champion, how could I dream of something more?"

But Nepryaeva still has a chance to become a two-time Olympic champion. On Sunday she will run a 30 km marathon.

The day before, the marathon race, only 50 kilometers, is waiting for the men. There, Alexander Bolshunov will fight for the third "gold" of Beijing.

bbabo.Net