“I ruined the race for myself and my opponent.” Why did the Russian biathlete shoot at other people’s targets?
Batraz Tomaev December 16, 2023, 11:55 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Piotr Paschenko made a mistake in the pursuit race. Well, Daniil Serokhvostov is doing very well: he won the gold.
“I’m not particularly happy”
The second stage of the Commonwealth Biathlon Cup 2023/2024 continues in Ufa. On Saturday, December 16, biathletes will compete in pursuit races.
In the men’s race, Daniil Serohvostov took the first victory of the season in the capital of Bashkortostan. He took the lead after the first turn. Well, then I spent my degree in splendid isolation.
How were the sprints on the first day of the stage:
“Absolutely everyone was screaming.” The Russian biathlete started last and won the race
The 24-year-old biathlete made four errors in the standing shot. He had two misses on the third and fourth lines. And yet, Serokhvostov seems to have found himself: his speed qualities seem ideal.
But the athlete himself does not believe so. Is he lying to him?
“I’m not particularly happy. But still, this is the first place, so there is joy. As the race progressed they told me what the difference was between who. Therefore, even after two failures in the last turn, I understood that I was definitely the first one out. Three failures would have already been a big fight.
The reason for the failures? I fired the first shot clearly on target, but it didn’t come close. I didn’t even understand where the error was. I made it a point to be more careful with brands, but after two failures I realized that I was too obsessed with goals. And I just continued my work, like in training.
Daniil Serokhvostov
Photo: RIA Novosti
My uniform? Honestly, today is better. I must have been very disingenuous yesterday. Turns out I’m pretty well prepared. Sometimes you feel terrible, but you run well. I had this situation yesterday. Today I feel better. But still, because of the cold, the muscles become stiff and it is difficult to maintain a high pace throughout the race,” Serokhvostov said on Match TV.
unstable leader
Kirill Bazhin demonstrated the best shot among the race participants – he missed only one shot. He finished second, 13 seconds out of first place. However, he failed to force the fight for the gold medal. Serokhvostov moved much better than Bazhin and everyone else.
The silver medalist of the race explained the only failure as follows.
“Why did you fail? The carpets are a little slippery, my leg moved during the shooting, I pulled (the trigger), my leg moved, I saw that I had missed for three hours,” Bazhin said on Match TV.
The pursuit of Eduard Latypov evidently did not go well. The Qamishli buffalo missed seven times! And today he clearly was not ready to complete the “golden” double. Already in the first phase of shooting, Latypov made three errors and began to lose a minute to Serokhvostov. Well, we couldn’t even get closer to Bazhin.
As a result, third place. This is little consolation for the team leader, who aims to lead the overall Commonwealth Cup standings. But not at this moment.
Belarusians have problems
There were also some oddities.
The Russian Piotr Pashchenko fired on the installation of the Belarusian Dmitry Lazovsky. The latter, being on the canvas, was perplexed and remained in this state for a whole minute. The situation, however, was resolved and the Belarusian athlete’s final result was corrected. In the final protocol, Lazovsky came fourth.
“I would like to apologize to Dima again, because I ruined his and my career.
Today it is quite cold and humid, many athletes had problems entering the shooting range, the carpet is slippery. We focus on the mat to achieve the most comfortable and stable position possible. I didn’t see the number of the facility, after the third shot I realized that I wasn’t shooting with mine, I heard what they were saying at the exchange of coaches, I switched to my facility,” Pashchenko commented on the episode on TV Match.
In biathlon, more convincing incidents occur in the curve:
Five failures by Kazakevich is not the most curious situation on the curve. Foreigners had it worse
Anton Smolsky also cannot boast of a chasing career. The leader of the Belarusian team was also close to the medals, but made five errors in the last two stages.
Next, the shot skiers will have a big mass start. This is where Smolsky and Latypov will have the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves from their failure.
