Russian Biathlon Cup – that’s all! The last race, the chase, took place in Ufa. The last Russian Cup outings turned out really great. The most beautiful victories were won by Natalia Shevchenko and Evgeniy Sidorov.
According to the results of the races, the owners of the “Little Crystal Balloons” were determined in the pursuit classification. If for women the result was natural and expected, for men it was a real sensation.
Yesterday the winners of the “Big Globes” were decided:
The fate of the main prizes of Russian biathlon has been decided. Who will win the Big Globes?
“Looks like I have talent.”
The women’s race was incredibly hot. Until the last milestone, Tamara Derbusheva was one of the favorites. But a mistake in the second tier left the Sverdlovsk woman without a medal. And Anastasia Shevchenko and Natalya Gerbulova became the leaders. It seemed that the main confrontation would be between them, but unexpectedly Natalia Shevchenko joined the fight, who after the final shootout was fifth and lost 12.7 seconds.
During the last lap, the former skier not only caught up, but also overtook her rivals. At the finish line, Natalia Shevchenko became the first. Gerbulova lost to her by 6.6 seconds. The top 3 of the race was completed by Shevchenko (+8.7).
This victory allowed the former skier to win the Small Crystal Globe in the pursuit classification. During the season, Natalia won both pursuit races. The difference in the disciplinary standings with the closest pursuer, Elizaveta Kaplina, was 23 points.
Natalia Shevchenko
Photo: RIA Novosti
At the end of the season, Shevchenko not only has the “small globe” in the sprint and pursuit classifications, but also the main prize for the winner of the Russian Cup.
“Did I win everything this year? Apparently talented. Of course, a combination of all factors. Thank God, the filming works. Progress is normal for me, but I wish it were faster. I wanted to finish the Russian Cup on a good note and it turned out well.
You always want more. When you realize that you can fight for small cups, appetite, as they say, comes with food. You start to think you can take this and that,” Natalia said on Match TV.
“I didn’t know it would happen like this.”
The men had an even more dramatic race. Already on the second bench, Eduard Latypov left the fight for medals, having failed four times. In the first position, another favorite fell: Alexander Loginov went into three penalty loops. Others took advantage of the leaders’ failure. After the fourth milestone, Evgeniy Sidorov took the lead. Thanks to a perfect shot, the athlete from Krasnoyarsk moved from tenth to first place.
Anton Babikov entered the race 2.3 seconds behind Sidorov. A fight for bronze was expected between Ilnaz Mukhamedzyanov and Alexey Vagin. As a result, Sidorov finished first, Babikov – second (+2.2), Mukhamedzyanov – third (+4.8). During the last lap, Ilnaz gained almost 18 seconds!
The Sidorov Globe is not the first sensational trophy this year. At this, Mukhamedzyanov surprised:
“One failed race and that’s it!” Russian biathletes competed for the first Globes
Naturally, these unexpected race results seriously affected the fight for the crystal trophy. Before the start, the main contenders for the title were Kirill Bazhin, Alexander Loginov, Eduard Latypov and Karim Khalili. But these four did not have the most successful race: Bazhin was tenth, Loginov eighth, Latypov seventh and Khalili sixth.
As a result, Sidorov unexpectedly took away the Small Crystal Globe! The athlete from Krasnoyarsk beat Bazhin by only two points. Before today’s victory, Evgeniy was only in eighth place in the chase. “I didn’t know it would end like this. This morning I woke up and thought about how to finish the last race of the Russian Cup well. I wanted to return home in a good mood to continue preparing for the national championship. And it turned out something like this (smiles).
Evgeny Sidorov
Photo: RIA Novosti
On the penultimate lap I saw that Anton was already having a hard time. He wasn’t as good over the distance as he was in the previous race. When we left for the last lap I thought that even if he tried to get close to me, he would try to accelerate on the climbs and I would run away from him. It turned out that he was walking at a calm pace and he was also two or three seconds away from me. Already on the second climb the coach told me to give it my all. I listened to her and heard that I began to slowly run away from Anton. Here I already realized that he wouldn’t catch up with me. I’m still not very happy with the victory and the Globe. Understanding has not yet come,” Sidorov admitted to Match TV.
The Russian Cup is over, but the season is not. The next outing for Russian biathletes will be the Russian Championships. It will be held in Tyumen from March 23 to 31.
