On December 6, millions of Russians watched the men's individual race at the World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia. How did the athletes of the Russian biathlon team perform? Who among the athletes who took part in the competition was able to maintain composure, challenge not only opponents, but also resist the fog over Pokljuka, the track broken by skis?
The individual competition for 20 kilometers was to begin on December 5th. It did not take place due to the dense fog in Pokljuka. The start was postponed to the next day.
Overall standings for men
Many biathletes mispredicted the weather forecast. They thought that it would snow after the start of the race, so they decided to run in the 2nd group. Martin Fourcade started as the most extreme participant. He competed not only with other biathletes, but also with a ski track that covered Pokljuka with fog. Its time course was not high. Fourcade focused all his attention on shooting. Having hit all the targets on 3 firing lines, he had a high chance of winning. At the final stage of the race, he was 2nd, losing to the German biathlete Shemp. The latter missed when shooting, thereby eliminating the opportunity to win gold.
In absentia, the German Johannes Kühn claimed the victory in the men's individual race. Martin Fourcade coped with the task. He didn't miss on the firing line, he was 16 seconds ahead of Kuehn. However, there could be no question of victory yet, because the time lag between them was decreasing. 1000 meters before the finish line, it was halved. It was clear that Martin Fourcade was in control. He crossed the finish line, ahead of the German Johannes Kühn by 4 seconds. With his victory, the Frenchman proved that he is rightfully considered an exceptional, outstanding athlete. Johannes Kühn took 2nd position. The bronze medal was won by a biathlete from Austria Simon Eder. The German made no mistakes at the shooting range, but he showed not the fastest time. The competition among men was completed by the Ukrainian Sergey Semenov (6th place), the representative of Norway Vetle Christiansen (11th place). The top 5 leaders include Slovenian athlete Jacob Fak, German Simon Schemmp.
How did the biathletes from Russia prove themselves in the race?
Russian biathletes have shown themselves to be extremely unconvincing. Our athletes either shot well at the shooting range, but showed bad time at a distance, or vice versa. If the speed of Alexander Loginov and Dmitry Malyshko were summed up, it would be possible to win a medal. Dmitry took 12th place, and Alexander, with the speed of Fourcade and 3 misses, ended up in 29th position. Eliseev Matvey showed himself well. He made 2 shooting mistakes and was pushed back to 31st position. This result allowed him to take 20th place.
Norwegian Johannes Boe showed himself the fastest at a distance. He overcame the race like lightning and, with 3 penalties, finished 7th. Martin Fourcade lost 1 minute 11 seconds in speed. The Frenchman took only 13th place in time. The same result was shown by the Russian biathlete Loginov.
Aleksey Slepov showed the 20th time at the distance, but made 6 misses at the shooting range. He took a place only in the 7th ten. Latypov completely failed the individual race. He was late for the start, shot badly, walked the distance slowly. Edward took only 99th place.
Young biathletes from the Russian Federation are not yet ready to conquer the podium. Experienced athletes Loginov and Malyshko need to improve their shooting first. Shooting without fail will help biathletes qualify for medals.
