Miracles in Oberhof

The Russians began the world of the Biathlon World Cup from victories in five of the six-races of the 4th stage of the World Cup, Russian biathletes rose to the pedestal. Three times - to the first step. The win -win series of the season was extended by the female relay quartet, Ekaterina Yuryeva and Maxim Chudov celebrated in the sprint races of Victory. In the mass start, a wonderful return of the Olga Medvedtseva Olympic champion took place.

New Year's holidays are laid for everyone, including biathlonists. Ekaterina Yuryeva was in the ski environment of Gelsenkirchen, and Svetlana Sleptsova sat down at the festive table with her mother and sister's family in Khanty-Mansiysk. There is only one week to relax at the athletes. On Christmas, in the German Oberhof, perhaps the most unusual stage of the world cup began.

What is it unusual? The fanatical love of the local public for this sport, probably, should not be talked. About 5 million people are a television audience of these competitions in Germany. The schedule of the German tournament was planned so that all races, with the exception of Sundays, were scheduled for the evening. The organizers even went on a certain risk - the evening time of the show determined for Friday racing. To greater satisfaction, even this risk was justified: interest in Biathlon did not fall at all in the evening before the weekend.

And the biathlonists, in turn, presented the audience with a real show with falls and even an incredible incident. The Belarusian biathlete Daria Domracheva, who was walking in a leading group in the mass start, was mistaken in the order of shooting. And against the backdrop of a peloton, preparing to shoot lying, took a standing position. After several misses, she came to her senses, but she had no choice but to finish the race. But a good result could advance Domrachev upstairs from the second dozen of the general standings of the World Cup.

Sticks broke on the crazy bends of Oberhof, blockages occurred. The Russian Evgeny Ustyugov also slapped. Dmitry Yaroshenko nearly flew on the tip of the rival sticks. She slipped more than once and Svetlana Sleptsova in a sprint fell evenly. However, the offensive incident did not reflect in a general optimistic picture.

The third in a row, our girls in a relay race celebrated victory. The win -win series of our team was continued largely due to impeccable shooting. The senior coach Alexander Selifonov called the race perfectly. A turning point was the third stage at which Ekaterina Yuryeva created a more than minute gap, and Olga Medvedseva was able to keep him.

Both of our athletes distinguished themselves in personal races. As if there was no one miss from Katya Yuryeva - she flew to the finish line of the sprint distance on the wings of joy. Thanks to the victory, our biathlete advanced in second place in the overall standings of the World Cup. The world rating is still headed by Svetlana Sleptsova. Oberkhof became a landmark place for Olga Medvedseva. Until the last, she led a duel in the mass start with the German Katya Wilhelm. The difficult start of the season for the Olympic champion returned after the disqualification of the Olympic champion brought not only satisfaction, but also seriously puzzled the coaches: to be or not to be Medvedtseva in the personal race of the World Cup?

The male team made a lot of nervous. “It is always easy for me where it is difficult for others,” Maxim Chudov said about his victory in the sprint. The day before he was called at midnight to pass the doping control, which took about two hours. But in the morning, the miracle was uncontrollable as always. Together with clean shooting, the legs themselves brought him to gold. For twelve with a tail of seconds, he was ahead of the main competitor Michael from Germany. This is the second victory of Maxim in the season and the fourth in his career.

A step away from the victory were our guys in the relay. Her denouement occurred at the last stage, which Nikolai Kruglov marked an additional cartridge in the battle for first place. The time spent, he could not catch up. However, the second place is a decent result, given that at the last moment the coaching staff was forced to make a replacement. The level of hemoglobin in the blood of Ivan Cherezov showed the maximum norm, for which the athlete was removed from the competition for five days. And his place was taken by the newborn Evgeny Ustyugov, who will now recall his debut with pleasure.

Another miracle of Oberehof is two victories of the Austrian biathlon: male relay and Christophe Zumann in the mass start. The amazing revival of the team, which was deprived of financing after memorable doping revelations.

World Cup

4th stage

January 7-11, 2009. Oberhof (Germany)

Mass start

Women

1. K. Wilhelm (Ger) - 39.55.2 (2)

2. O. Medvedtseva (Ros) + 5.8 (2)

3. H. Yunsson (seamstress) + 11.8 (2)

Men

1. K. Zumann (ABC) - 38.11.9 (2)

2. K. Bergman (seamstress) + 9.7 (2)

3. O.E. Bjorndalen (Nor) + 9.9 (2)

Sprint

Men

1. M. Chudov (Ros) -25.49.5 (0)

2. M. Rech (Ger) +12.7 (0)

3. T. Sikora (floor) +25.2 (1)

Women

1. E. Yuryeva (Ros) - 22.09.7 (1)

2. A. Henkel (Ger) +2.4 (0)

3. H. Yunsson (seamstress) +19.6 (0)

Relay

Men

1. Austria - 1: 19.36.6 (0+12)

2. Russia (E. Ustyugov, M. Chudov, D. Yaroshenko, N. Kruglov) +8.7 (0 +6)

3. Germany +19.2 (1 +9)

Women

1. Russia (S. Sleptsova, O. Zaitseva, E. Yuryeva, O. Medvedtseva) -1: 16.47.7 (1+7)

2. Ukraine +1.10.12 (0 +4)

3. Germany +1.31.4 (2 +12)

01/11/2009 / Tatyana Milevskaya material published in the newspaper No. 1 dated 12.01.2009.