On the second day of the Biathlon World Cup in Hochfilzen, the Russians had a good chance of winning medals in the pursuit. However, the leaders of our team did not perform very well, and the debutant suddenly became the main character. MK-Sport tells the details.
After yesterday’s sprint, it seemed that only two biathletes remained in the pursuit race in the Russian national team, who in the pursuit had a chance for something more interesting than consolation with the hackneyed maxim that the main thing is not victory, but participation. The first, of course, was Alexander Loginov – he started fourth, letting ahead only the German Johannes Kühn , the Finn Martin Ponsiluomu and the sensational Belarusian Anton Smolsky . All these are decent biathletes, but definitely not one of those who cannot be caught up and bypassed with clean shooting.
Eduard Latypov again appeared to be the second of our people who should be watched . He started this season surprisingly confidently – yes, so far without victories and podiums, but already without failures. The tenth starting number in the pursuit is a good position for an attack; in the contact race, one of the leaders will certainly make a mistake, which means that there will always be a chance to rise to the top five. The main thing is not to make mistakes yourself.
The only trouble is that everyone is trying not to make mistakes at once, and no one is going to forgive mistakes. Latypov made one mistake on the first line and another on the second, after which he ended up outside the top twenty, a minute behind the leader. And in the second half of the race, I could already think about how to properly distribute forces so that there would be enough for the rest of the race. So there was only Loginov – so, in any case, it seemed.
Alexander began to confirm his class right from the start. He entered the track in fourth, 22 seconds behind. After the first shooting (0 misses), he left the third with a lag of 18 seconds. After the second firing line (again 0 misses), he chased the leader as part of the group, which also included Tyrei Be, Emilien Jacqueline and Sebastien Samuelsson . At that moment, it seemed that it was impossible to escape from such persecutors for almost anyone who himself did not bear the surname Be or Loginov.
And again everything was decided on standing shooting. At the third turn, almost everyone began to smear. And even the iron Alexander Loginov flinched on the last shot – a miss, a penalty, and now he had to chase the leading group (Latypov, by the way, shot clean here and returned to the top 10).
And the German Johannes Kühn was in the lead. He never missed at the first line, nor at the second, nor at the third. He kept the pace for the first three laps, keeping none of the pursuers. He walked the distance alone and only the voices of the coaches told him where the competitors were. Kuehn really wanted to repeat his success from the sprint. But the grazing takes place at a longer distance, and you need to shoot not twice, but four times. And for the last lap Kühn was not enough. He first let the Frenchman Quentin Fillon-Maillet come to him – and the two leaders came to the last shooting together. And then Kyun began to smear – three misses, and from the sole leader, in an instant, he turned into the guy who runs somewhere in the end of the top twenty.
The race, meanwhile, was turning into a celebration of the French biathlon. Fillon-Maillet, who made only one mistake in the entire race, rushed to the finish line as if it were a sprint, and he had been resting the day before for at least a week. After the fourth shooting, Emilien Jacqueline rushed after him. Samuelsson, Be and another Frenchman, Sebastien Destier , who turned on incredible speed on the last loop, were fighting 20 seconds behind . In the end, Destier won centimeters at the finish against Samelsson and became the third – the audience saw a purely French podium.
Behind this stormy denouement, the spectators in the stands might not have noticed the sensation in the Russian national team. And there, too, something incredible was happening – no less amazing than the French catwalk. Vasily Tomshin , who started from 47th place, gave a phenomenal race: not a single miss on four lines plus super speed. Tomshin played 25 seconds against the winner and finished tenth. Once again – he started 47th and finished tenth! It was impressive.
Eduard Latypov missed his young colleague and came in 12th, Alexander Loginov after two misses in the fourth shooting slowed down and finished in 17th place. Karim Khalili climbed from the 25th starting place to the 20th finish, Alexander Povarnitsyn – from the 54th to the 34th. The commentator on the federal sports channel was able to discern the good in the small and enthusiastically told the viewers that in these results “work is visible.” It is difficult to argue with such an observation, although, of course, I would like to see the results as well.
But what is Tomshin after all, eh? Handsome, one word.
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