Translated material
Photo for memory
Maxim Chudov snatched silver with a finishing lunge
“Silver” by Maxim Chudov in the pursit and “bronze” by Natalia Guseva in the sprint - this is a completely satisfactory result of the performance of Russian shooting skiers during the first two days of the World Championships that started on Saturday at the biathlon stadium of Anterselva (Italy). There is no longer any question as to who will be the main hero of the competition in South Tyrol. Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen won both the sprint and the pursuit. Now his home collection will include nine (!) top awards won at world championships.Guseva's Saturday medal and Chudov's Sunday success can be classified as pleasant surprises, but for two different reasons. Natalya performed more than mediocre at the World Cup this season, and her best result in individual races was only 20th place. The head coach of the women's team, Valery Polkhovsky, did not even register the biathlete for the last stage before Anterselva in Slovenia and sent her ahead of all the other girls to prepare for the world championship at the site of the upcoming battles. However, on the eve of the tournament, in a conversation with a Vremya Novostei correspondent, Polkhovsky did not hide his certain hopes for Guseva and often repeated the phrase: “She still has to shoot this season.” One can only envy the mentor’s insight.
Undoubtedly, in his calculations he also took into account the important factor that Guseva won her first victory at a serious level in Anterselva, being a newcomer to the national team and a little-known athlete. Three years ago, Guseva sensationally won the sprint on the Italian track and confirmed her class a few days later with silver in a mass start race.
On Saturday, Natalya entered the race with starting number 50, when almost all the leading biathletes had either already finished or were completing the race. 19-year-old Magdalena Neuner, who was only a couple of seconds ahead of the new leader of the overall World Cup standings, Swede Anna-Karin Olofsson, gave an interview to German journalists with a happy look. What made her take a break from this activity was Guseva’s result at the control mark when exiting the first shooting range: the best time and a 22-second advantage over Neuner herself. A mistake in the standing position, and most importantly, a slower move along the distance did not allow the Russian woman to count on victory, but she earned her “bronze”. Natalia's result was attacked in vain by the clean-shooting Michaela Ponza and Ann-Christie Flatland. The Italian and Norwegian matched Guseva's time and were unable to match her running pace. Of course, in terms of ski training, Neuner and Olofsson stand apart.
Yesterday, in pursuit of Gusev after the third shooting, she led a group of bronze medal applicants. Alas, she was unable to compete with the fast-moving Linda Grubben. Moreover, the Norwegian, thanks to her clean firing at high speed and a long push in the last kilometers, also overtook Olofsson. Neuner, like Bjoerndalen, made a “golden” double. The vacant position of prima of the German national team, which appeared with the departure of the great Ursula Diesl from big sport, last Sunday Magdalena staked her claim for a long time.
Chudov’s “silver” is surprising not because of his previous performance at the World Cup stages, as in the case of Guseva, but by the situation in yesterday’s pursit itself, which developed at the exit from the penultimate milestone. Maxim lost almost a minute to the third-placed Pole, Tomasz Sikora, and finished 17th in the race. Chudov later fully justified the nickname “Russian Rocket” - before appearing at the second “stand,” Maxim overtook several competitors and smashed all five targets with almost a machine gun burst. It was no longer possible to catch up with Bjoerndalen, but the Ufa man left the sensational sprint silver medalist of the Czech Michal Schlesinger and the Norwegian Emil Egle Svendsen behind him without even running half a kilometer. Then the grueling pursuit of Vincent Defrasne began. The fate of the “silver” was decided on the final straight. The Russian was ahead of the Frenchman by a moment, perceptible only to the keen eye of a photo finish.
Chudov could have reached the podium as a result of the sprint. Maxim was frankly unlucky on the stand. Just as he was preparing to shoot, chaotic gusts of wind began, he did not take any risks and tried to wait for more or less tolerable conditions. But time was running out irrevocably, and Chudov had to open fire in an uncomfortable situation - two bullets went missing.
The outright failure of the German biathletes in the sprint was even more of a surprise than the prize-winning places of the “dark horses” - Schlesinger and Ukrainian Andrei Derisemli. Due to widespread poor shooting, Germany's best representative, Alexander Wolf, finished in 15th time. The famous Sven Fischer ended up 43rd overall - he had not performed so poorly at the World Championships since 1989, when he was still a green junior. Due to the large gaps behind the leaders, the Germans were unable to rehabilitate themselves in the pursuit. Angry with himself, Fischer avoided any penalty laps and immediately moved up 26 positions. The result is impressive and nothing more - at the World Championships there are only medals. Rounding out the top ten is Mikael Rech - that's all the German men's team can boast of at the end of the pursit.
Results. World Championship. Anterselva (Italy). Men. Sprint 10 km. 1. Bjoerndalen (Norway) -- 26.18.8 (0+1). 2. Schlesinger (Czech Republic) - gap 4.8 (0+0). 3. Derizemlya (Ukraine) - 25.8 (0+0)... 12. Kruglov - 58.6 (1+0). Pursuit race 12.5 km. 1. Bjoerndalen -- 32, 21.3 (1+0+1+0). 2. Miracles - 1.09.8 (1+0+2+0). 3. Defrasne (France) -- 1.09.9 (0+0+1+0). Women. Sprint 7.5 km. 1. Neuner (Germany) - 22.46.9 (1+1). 2. Olofsson (Sweden) - 2.3 (1+1). 3. Guseva - 19.6 (0+1). Pursuit race 10 km. 1. Neuner -- 33.01.6 (1+0+1+2). 2. Grubben (Norway) - 7.1 (0+1+0+0). 3. Olofsson (Sweden) - 7.6 (2+0+1+2). 4. Guseva - 47.8 (1+1+0+0).