A ruling deprived Latypov of gold again! Spectacular sprint at the Russian Championship
Tatyana Postnikova September 16, 2023, 14:30 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Eduard closed the gap as best he could, but lost two seconds to Peter Paschenko.
The Russian Summer Championship has started in Tyumen. The competition program opened with sprints. Among the men, Piotr Pashchenko won without problems, among the women, Elizaveta Kaplina won in a dramatic fight. The first few races of the tournament were really interesting!
“I endured the last round”
Almost all of the country’s best biathletes participated in the men’s sprint. Unfortunately, Alexander Povarnitsyn and Vasily Tomshin withdrew due to illness before the start.
The main fight of the race was between Latypov, Babikov and Pashchenko. Peter passed both stages brilliantly and showed good speed, which secured him gold. Latypov tried to intervene in Pashchenko’s idyll, but a mistake in the first corner ruined Eduard’s entire race and again deprived him of gold. On the last lap, Kamyshly’s buffalo showed incredible speed, reducing his gap by 15.6 seconds (!), but unfortunately, Latypov did not have enough distance to catch up with Paschenko. The result is second place at 2.3 seconds.
“In the prone shot I underperformed a little, I was a little rushed with the shot, but I liked the rest of the race,” Latypov said. – Today there was a good competition, Peter was great, he shot cleanly, he covered the distance quite strongly, so it was impossible to make mistakes to overtake him.
I tried to pass Peter on the last lap, but it didn’t work. It is clear that he could have worked harder somewhere, but in the second part of the circle, where the main work occurs, there was no one especially to guide me. I seemed to understand that he was regaining his rhythm, but he wasn’t that fast because my condition wasn’t all that good and I held on for the last lap.”
Not even a perfect shot could save Latypov at the Commonwealth Cup:
Latypov took the last shot, but lost. And Babikov took bronze in the end!
Babikov could also compete for first place in the sprint. Anton shot perfectly, but his speed disappointed him a little. If after the first milestone the difference between Pashchenko and the Bashkir biathlete was only 3.5 seconds, after the second milestone it was already 12 seconds. In the end, Anton placed third, losing to Peter by 21.1 seconds.
For the rest of the team, the race was not so smooth. Only Evgeniy Garanichev managed to finish in the top ten; With a perfect shot he lost 1 minute and 16.8 seconds to the leader. Alexander Loginov, who had health problems, finished in 21st place (+2:07.0) with one penalty, and Daniil Serokhvostov, who had recovered from illness, finished in 24th place (+2:15.4) with four penalties . Matvey Eliseev, Maxim Tsvetkov and Karim Khalili finished the race in the top ten.
“I still took victory from Nastya”
The women’s race turned out to be more dramatic: there was a real fight for each place in the top five. For a long time the first position was occupied by Anastasia Goreeva, who started in the first group. The Muscovite made a mistake, but her excellent speed allowed her to take the lead. Goreeva was eventually deprived of gold by Elizaveta Kaplina, who started in the top ten. The biathlete from Khanty-Mansiysk lost Anastasia by 1.7 seconds!
“A failure is a negative point for the race score,” Kaplina explained, smiling. – From the first meters away it seemed to me that I walked very well with my feet, it was easy for me. In the third lap, of course, I had to try not to let go of this medal, and in the last meters I still snatched the victory from Nastyukha Goreeva. So I am happy with today’s race, especially since it is my first personal medal at the Russian Summer Championships.”
The fight for the last place on the podium was no less intense. First Tamara Derbusheva took bronze, then Victoria Slivko closed the top 3. Both athletes made a mistake, but the speed of the Tyumen woman was slightly faster than her opponent. At the end of the race, Irina Kazakevich made a splash in the top three. The athlete from Sverdlovsk made two mistakes, but thanks to her excellent footwork she beat Victoria by as much as 5.1 seconds.
It is not the first time that Kazakevich surprises even with a missed shot:
Unusual surprise for Kazakevich in the first race of the season: he won the sprint with three penalties
Other collections also gave good results. Natalya Gerbulova (+1:10.4) completed the top 6 with two penalties. Among the top ten were Anastasia Shevchenko, Larisa Kuklina and Ulyana Nigmatullina, who returned from maternity leave. Things were worse for the other biathletes. Natalia Shevchenko finished 14th, Ekaterina Noskova – 18th.
Kristina Reztsova, who ran her first race after giving birth, was 22nd with two penalties. The representative of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region lost to the leader by 2 minutes and 23.8 seconds. And Svetlana Mironova, who missed last season, took only 35th place. With two penalties she lost 3 minutes and 14.1 seconds.
Tomorrow, September 17, relay races will be held in Tyumen. The men’s race will start at 9:00 Moscow time, and the women’s race at 12:00.
