The Russian Biathlon Championship began in Tyumen. The competition program opened with sprints. This time the races were special, because based on their results not only medals were awarded, but also a new trophy: the Anfisa Reztsova Cup.
While Karim Khalili won the men’s competition easily, Victoria Slivko won the women’s competition in a tense fight with Kristina Reztsova. But the race will be remembered for its beautiful history. Victoria, who took home the Reztsova Cup, touchingly presented her prize to Christina. No one could hold back tears at such an act.
dramatic fight
The Russian Championship was inaugurated by men. The first race of the tournament brought surprises: the favorites failed, and those who were not expected to do so took the lead. Eduard Latypov and Alexander Loginov made three errors each, Anton Smolsky and Kirill Bazhin two, Daniil Serohvostov, Alexander Kornev, Anton Babikov and Alexander Povarnitsyn one each.
But Karim Khalili, Pyotr Paschenko and Ilnaz Mukhamedzyanov did not score. Along with an excellent shot, they also showed good movement, which allowed them to fight for the podium. The best of this trio was Khalili, 7.5 seconds behind him was Paschenko. Mukhamedzyanov took bronze, 14.6 seconds behind the leader.
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For women, the race was more intense. Starting at number eight, Kristina Reztsova immediately set the bar high. Despite the failure, the Ugra athlete finished first, showing a surprising movement.
Christina was the sprint leader for a long time. Irina Kazakevich tried to fight her. With a mistake after stopping, the Sverdlovsk resident was 5.4 seconds behind her rival. It seemed like a real fight awaited us, but Kazakevich didn’t have enough strength for the last lap. In the end, Irina lost to Christina by 4.7 seconds.
Natalya Gerbulova also tried to unseat Reztsova from first place. After the second shot to zero, the biathlete from Krasnoyarsk was only 2.1 seconds behind the leader. While Gerbulova worked excellently on the line, her legs did not show the most impressive results. As a result, Natalya lost to Christina by 22.1 seconds.
“Chris, I’m sorry. “I wanted you to win.”
Victoria Slivko and Kristina Reztsova
Photo: Natalya Gorshkova/SBR
We had the feeling that a beautiful story awaited us: Christina would win the first Anfisa Reztsova Cup. But this was not destined to come true. Victoria Slivko, who started in 38th place, decided to make her own adjustments to the race layout.
The Tyumen athlete worked perfectly at both levels and showed excellent movement. After stopping, Slivko was 16.4 seconds ahead of Reztsova. This reserve was more than enough to maintain first place until the finish line. As a result, Victoria beat Christina by 16.1 seconds.
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After Slivko’s shot, it was clear that Reztsova was a little upset. However, the woman from Ugra came forward to support the winner of the race.
“Chris, I’m sorry. “I wanted you to win,” Victoria told him during the hug.
“Why didn’t you stop?” – Christina responded jokingly.
A moving story
Victoria Slivko and Kristina Reztsova
Photo: Natalya Gorshkova/SBR
Afterwards, Reztsova admitted that she was not upset by Slivko’s victory.
“It didn’t bother me at all that I didn’t drink the cup named after my mother. I understood that today no one would dream that I would drink this drink. I did everything I could today, I did everything that depended on me. Yes, there were some errors. I hope this cup is awarded every year so I will have the opportunity to compete. I am very happy for Victoria. I was worried until the last moment, deep down I hoped I would have enough time to win. But as it is. This is sport, congratulations to Vika.
Would you like Vika to stop on purpose and for me to take the trophy? No. This is a sport. We understand that here everyone wants to win, everyone works for it. If Vika had done that, it would have been just her gesture. I know she was very worried. We talked before the start and she wished me victory. Basically all the girls came up to me and told me they wanted me to win. It was as pleasant as possible.
I am not ashamed of myself or my results. I hope mom sees all this and praises me,” Christina admitted on Match TV.
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“I am very happy with my victory. But I really wanted Christina to win. Because this is a mug named after her mother. In fact, yesterday I had problems. I had fever. Today everything was in doubt: to apply or not. And today such a miracle occurred. To tears,” Slivko explained after the race.
But it still couldn’t be done without a beautiful story. After the medals and the trophy named after Anfisa Reztsova were presented, the winner came down from the pedestal, asked Cristina to go up to the podium and handed her the cup.
Of course, Christina couldn’t hold back her tears after such a gesture. Crying, Reztsova hugged Slivko and thanked him for the gift. Both athletes listened to the anthem together on the first step of the podium with eyes wet with tears.
