Translated material
Intermediate hopes
Sergei Chepikov was 0.8 seconds short of a medal
The biathlon program of the Olympic Games opened with an individual race in the mountainous town of Cesana San Sicario on Saturday. Russian Sergei Chepikov fell just a moment short of the bronze medal, losing only 0.8 seconds to Norwegian Halvard Hannewold. The winner was the German Michael Greis, who found an almost perfect balance between racing and shooting.“I really want to watch the Olympics. But you can’t get to figure skating, it’s very difficult to get to the mountains for biathlon,” complained to a Vremya Novostey correspondent when volleyball player Elena Godina met in Turin, who plays for one of the surrounding Serie A clubs. She, a participant in more than one Summer Games, is well aware of how difficult it is to move around Olympic venues without accreditation. I remembered her words when our bus was climbing for a long time along a very steep serpentine road to the biathlon track. The route in some places resembled a mountain path, and from time to time two oncoming buses maneuvered for a long time, allowing each other to pass. There is no question of driving to the mountains in your own car.
As we approached the biathlon stadium, the surprise grew more and more: how in these steep mountains one could find a relatively flat place for a track. Meanwhile, it was possible to do this, and the four-kilometer circle, located at an altitude of 1650 m above sea level, has an elevation difference of only 50 m. True, the highlands already pose a lot of difficulties for biathletes, and one steep 60-meter climb located directly at the stadium , and does look fateful. Having overcome it, biathletes find themselves practically at a shooting range and forced to shoot at targets at a pulse of about 180 beats per minute.
Surely it was this obstacle that played a cruel joke on the leaders of world biathlon, who were not used to missing the first prone shot. The French were irrevocably deceived. The magnificent Raphael Poiret fired twice into the “milk”, and Vincent Defrasne - three times. The future medal fighters - Hannewold, Chepikov and Bjoerndalen - also missed once.
In this situation, the shooting of the German Ricco Gross, who started fourth, overshadowed the rest of the events for a long time. Gross passed three milestones flawlessly, which prompted an admiring comment from Nikolai Kruglov, who was standing next to our correspondent. A Russian who was not entered for this race exclaimed: “This is the only athlete in biathlon who goes unnoticed throughout the season, but collects medals at the World Championships and Olympics.” However, some time later it became clear that even perfect shooting would not save the German veteran - even those who had made mistakes began to move his time down.
Russian Maxim Chudov stood at the head of the intermediate list for a long time at half the distance. He was absolutely the best after two shootings, but his next trip to the targets was fatal: three misses, which left no chance even for a place in the top ten. Ivan Tcherezov also appeared on the first line, but he also missed on the last lap. In this kaleidoscope of reshuffles after the third shooting, even Slovakian Marek Matyasko briefly appeared in the lead, although he was destined to become caliph for an hour.
After flawless shooting in the last two stages, the winner became clear. Michael Greis ran in such a way that he left no chance even for Bjoerndalen. But Chepikov was clearly going for the bronze medal! When he finished, no one seemed to be able to shake his position. By that time, Hannewold had missed once in each of his shooting ranges and was running no faster than Chepikov. But the Norwegian eventually created a real Olympic drama: he closed the remaining targets, and on that very last climb he managed to win decisive fractions of a second.
In addition to Chepikov, silver medalist Ole Einar Bjoerndalen also had the right to be annoyed. His disappointment, however, is more global in nature. The five-time Olympic champion at his fourth Games seriously intended to surpass the achievement of his legendary countryman Bjorn Daly. This skier has eight Olympic gold medals, Ole Einar has so far only reduced the number of his chances to overtake him or at least catch up with him. Although there are still three personal distances and a relay ahead, there is room for Bjoerndalen to roam.