Biathlon sensation at Spartakiad! Evgeniy Sidorov met with the leaders of the Russian national team
Tatyana Postnikova February 13, 2024, 12:45 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
And Eduard Latypov, who had his third consecutive gold, barely made it to the top 6.
The individual race in the Spartakiad ended with a real sensation. Instead of Eduard Latypov’s third gold, the public saw the unexpected victory of Evgeniy Sidorov. Not even the biathlete with the most titles faced the leaders of the Russian and Belarusian teams. How did he do it?
“I didn’t miss out on first place because of an unfortunate mistake.”
Nobody bet on Sidorov before the start of the race, the favorites were completely different biathletes. But all the leaders were unsuccessful: Daniil Serokhvostov with two penalties was fourth, Eduard Latypov with three was fifth, Karim Khalili and Anton Babikov with two were seventh and eighth respectively, and Alexander Loginov with a six-minute penalty was only 32nd.
While the leaders failed, Sidorov made zero, although he almost made a fatal mistake at the second shooting range, where he almost confused standing and prone. It is worth noting that Evgeniy also beat Anton Smolsky, who also hit all 20 targets. The leader of the Belarusian team, clearly not in the best shape, lost at the finish line by 27.7 seconds! The top 3 was completed by Vasily Tomshin. With a miss, he lost 29.3 seconds to Sidorov.
There have already been pleasant surprises in the Spartakiad:
“I haven’t realized this victory yet.” Sensation on the first day of biathlon at Spartakiad 2024
“Of course, it is very difficult to deal with Latypov and Smolsky at a distance, so today I focused on good shooting work. I’m glad I managed to deal with all four lines of fire.
There were no premonitions. I felt good, better than in previous races. I thought I was starting to get in shape after training camp. I am very happy that the conditions that existed before are returning. The snow didn’t scare me. But it was difficult to find the couple who would go today. It wasn’t easy for the service team, but we did it all together. This is our common victory.
After the first milestone on the second lap, I kept thinking about how I could handle the second lay as well and fast as the first. It seems like this stuck in my head, and when I got to the line, all my thoughts were just about this, so I started getting ready for bed. It’s good that I realized in time that it should be shot while standing and not bother anyone. “I didn’t lose first place because of an unfortunate mistake,” Sidorov told the Championship.
Non-star biathlete
Sidorov’s victory was truly unexpected. The 26-year-old biathlete has never caught stars from the sky. His best is his performance in the IBU Cup in the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons. In total, Evgeniy ran seven races there in two years. His best result was 41st place in the sprint.
The following season, Sidorov was not part of the Russian national team, although he unexpectedly found himself on the list of candidates to participate in the 2022 Olympic Games along with 48 other athletes. But Sidorov was still far from going to the Games.
When the Russians were eliminated from the medals, Evgeniy had only gold in the Izhevsk rifle in the sprint, silver at the All-Russian Winter Universiade-2020 in the individual race and bronze at the Russian Championships in the relay race as part of the Northwestern Federal District. A little, you will agree.
Like Sidorov, Slivko won the race overcoming difficulties:
“I feel like a queen.” Slivko almost took an additional penalty loop, but won
Last season, Sidorov also did not shine: the athlete was in the top ten only three times. And this surprised Evgeniy. In early December he won silver in the sprint at the Russian Cup stage in Khanty-Mansiysk. The biathlete also finished in the top 6 twice and in the top 10 three times. And now – a long-awaited victory, and even at the main start of the season.
