The final stage of the Commonwealth Biathlon Cup started on Thursday, March 9, in Tyumen.
Within the framework of the tournament, the winners of the main trophy among men and women will be determined.
Unlike the Russian Cup, where, in addition to the Big Crystal Globe, small awards were given for each of the disciplines, only the overall standings are kept here, which means there will be only two winners.
The leader in the women's part before the final stage was Dinara Alimbekova-Smolskaya with 1448 points, the top three also included Irina Kazakevich (1386) and Victoria Slivko (1378).
Both Russians, following the results of the sprint, could close the gap from the Belarusian, and Kazakevich made a serious bid for this from the first meters of the distance.
She demonstrated the strongest run, perfectly coped with prone shooting and, before the second firing line, she won 17 seconds against Anastasia Shevchenko, who had been in the lead before.
But the stand once again this season let Irina down, and seriously - three misses did not allow her to hope not only for victory, but also for getting into the top six.
Shevchenko herself coped with the distance quite well, although she lost speed on the last lap.
After the finish, she was in the lead for some time.
Alimbekova-Smolskaya, who also shot without misfires, was not able to push her out, but she was not very good at moving.
And Ekaterina Noskova unexpectedly became the main heroine of the race.
A native of the Sverdlovsk region made a mistake at the first firing line, but did not give up.
Having worked to zero the second shooting, Ekaterina turned on the maximum speed and without any problems not only won back 7.9 seconds behind Shevchenko, but also brought her another 9.3 at the finish line.
The only one who could take away the victory from Noskova was Slivko, who started one of the last.
She hit all ten targets and showed good progress, especially on the final lap.
The coaches led Victoria to the last in time of her opponent, but in the end she lost three seconds to her.
“I am happy that I coped with the shooting.
Haven't shot zero in a long time.
I can also rejoice in my progress after the previous races.
They were very difficult - not only in terms of well-being, but also in terms of results that did not satisfy me.
I think that today in such a company to take second place is good.
It's a shame, of course, that I lost a little in the fight for gold, but I'm still glad.
I just don’t smile, I don’t scream with joy now, as when you win, ”Slivko commented on her performance on Match TV.
Noskova admitted that she was very upset by a misfire on the bench, so she decided to give all her strength on the ski track.
According to the athlete, she overcame the last lap, realizing that the fate of the medals would be decided in a matter of moments.
“All the coaches led me along the track, shouting that there was a fight behind, everyone was shooting at zeros, everything was in seconds.
I didn’t understand who I was fighting specifically with, I just gave all my strength and was very happy to win, because I didn’t manage to do it so often in the season, ”said the biathlete.
In the end, Shevchenko took third place, followed by Alimbekova-Smolskaya, who retained her leadership in the overall standings.
Kazakevich, despite three misfires, lost only 47.6 seconds to Noskova and closed the top 10.
The performance of Elizaveta Kaplina and Larisa Kuklina was unsuccessful.
The first did not close exactly half of the targets, and the second missed three times, which allowed them to take only 30th and 24th places, respectively.
This race was marked by another event - the return of Ekaterina Yurlova-Perkht to the competitive schedule.
She demonstrated flawless shooting and took 13th place.
“I'm glad that everything worked out on the firing line, especially from the prone position, because there was not a very confident shooting.
But everything turned out well: clearly and quickly.
There are still questions about the ski component.
Still, competitive practice plays a huge role, and I hope to take a small step forward before the Russian Championship due to these starts, ”the ex-world champion shared her impressions of the first race in a long time.
Before the competition in Tyumen, in the men's part of the tournament, Anton Smolsky was on the first line of the rating with 1481 points, followed by Eduard Latypov (1457) and Anton Babikov (1372).
But just a few minutes before the start, it became known that the leader of the standings would not be able to go to the distance due to illness.
For a similar reason, Babikov was not declared for the race.
All this made it possible for Latypov to get the yellow jersey of the leader - for this he only needed not to fall below 41st place.
The athlete coped with his task flawlessly.
Eduard was accurate on both firing lines, although he tickled the nerves of the fans, aiming the last shot on the prone and the third on the rack.
In speed, only Daniil Serokhvostov could compete with the three-time bronze medalist of the 2022 Games, but his accuracy let him down - one misfire from a prone position allowed him to take only second place with a lag of 30 seconds.
Vasily Tomshin, who also became third with one miss, lost 56.9 seconds altogether.
In general, men, unlike women a little earlier, did not work out with shooting.
In the top 10 there were only two athletes who closed all the targets: in addition to Latypov, Dmitry Abashev, who became the eighth, worked perfectly on the lines.
The winner of the overall standings of the Cup of Russia Karim Khalili missed three times and took only 19th place.
Thus, Latypov added 120 points to his piggy bank and made a significant bid to win the Commonwealth Cup.
Commenting on the results, Eduard stressed that he did not slow down until the finish line, as he tried to secure the most comfortable advantage for himself in the upcoming pursuit race.
“It was very hard today.
On the last lap, it became very uncomfortable and I had to endure it from the very beginning ... I feel average, there is no reserve, I have to work to the maximum from the start, ”said the athlete after the finish.
According to the winner, from the first kilometers of the distance he felt rivalry from Serkhovostov and expected a serious battle.
Not for nothing, after all, on the eve of the race, Daniil said that he had recovered from a series of illnesses and was ready to beat the leader of the Russian biathlon.
“I started the first round quite well and strong, but it was immediately clear that Daniil was also going at full power.
I played him quite a bit, I expected that there would be a real battle, and it happened, ”said Latypov.
In turn, Serokhvostov complained about the misfire, and also said that he did not have the ability to overcome himself in a difficult moment to win.
“For the first place today, there was not enough clean shooting and patience.
Patience is when you are already going to the maximum, but you still have to run nine kilometers.
In Izhevsk, I was sick, and I only train for five days.
For me, this is a standard situation for the season, so it’s hard, ”the biathlete explained.