The last race for women at the Russian Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk was extremely promising. A whole scattering of bright names that claimed victory misled both fans and specialists.

Of course, it was a great temptation to hang a gold medal on Natalia Shevchenko, who was “ringing” in Khanty-Mansiysk, or powerful Ekaterina Noskova. But the girls surprised everyone again.

One failed, the second could not cope with the nerves, and the first place was taken by the one on which no one bet.

High competition

Last year’s victor Kristina Reztsova gave birth to her second child a few days ago, so a new Russian mass start champion was supposed to appear in Khanty-Mansiysk. Among the favorites, of course, was the opening of the tournament Natalia Shevchenko. At the Russian Championship, she had no equal in footwork at a distance and even in shooting, although the girl only at the end of May last year first got acquainted with a rifle.

Natalia Shevchenko / Photo: © Denis Bushkovsky / Match TV

Shevchenko was supposed to compete with Ekaterina Noskova, who ran all the races of the season, traditionally strong Nastya Goreeva, Victoria Slivko, Larisa Kuklina, Nastya Shevchenko, and Irina Kazakevich. A good dozen contenders for gold.

Flawless Noskova

Three-time Russian champion Shevchenko made two misses at the first shooting. Given that many girls worked to zero, such a start could discourage the ex-skier.

The restless Noskova took the lead. Of the bright episodes, one can single out the shooting of Daria Netbay, or rather, its absence. Five misses, apparently, were the result of a problem with the rifle, which happened to the Muscovite at sighting a few minutes before the start. The father of Anastasia Batmanova was able to repair the weapon of the 27-year-old athlete, but this was not enough for accurate shooting.

Daria Netbay, Kristina Tokareva and Ksenia Dovgaya / Photo: © Denis Bushkovsky / Match TV

In the course of the second round, the four leaders broke away for 10 seconds: Noskov, Batmanov, Kaplin and Tokarev, but they were almost overtaken by the pursuers, of whom there were quite a lot, to the shooting range. The nervous situation at the turn made many people make mistakes, but not the iron Noskova and the extremely ambitious Batmanova.

Katya and Nastya left the shooting range with a 12-second advantage over Derbusheva and Shevnina, who also worked flawlessly, but were inferior to their faster competitors. Not far from them was Kazakevich.

Claim to win

Ahead of the “stand”, which often changes the course of the race. The duet of leaders approached this test together with a very fast Kazakevich: she was ahead of Derbusheva and Shevnina and “ate” 18 seconds behind Noskova and Batmanova. However, such agility affected the shooting. Ekaterina and Anastasia confidently and quickly closed the targets, despite the unpleasant wind, while Irina went for an additional 150 meters.

Derbusheva and Shevnina turned out to be accurate as well, losing 20 seconds to the leaders. Nearby were Goreeva and Kazakevich.

Anastasia Batmanova / Photo: © Denis Bushkovsky / Match TV

Natalia Shevchenko finally said goodbye to the idea of ​​fighting for victory in the mass start: before the final shooting, the ex-skier had four misses and more than a minute and a half behind.

Unexpected Champion

Noskova tried to create a gap for herself for a more relaxed work at the turn and turned on a high tempo speed. 22-year-old Batmanova could not resist and began to fall behind, but Noskova’s tactics failed. The experienced biathlete, who went through three shootings with shock, first caught the size with the second shot, and then made another mistake.

Two misses, with which Katya herself took the victory from herself. A chance for Batmanova, but Nastya also misses once. But Tamara Derbusheva and, who was not expected from anyone, Kazakevich knocked out all five targets.

After the shooting range, the silver medalist of the 2022 Olympics lost 10 seconds to her teammate from the Sverdlovsk region, but Irina had better speed qualities, so Kazakevich easily overtook Derbusheva during the last lap. A very unexpected victory for a 25-year-old biathlete.

Irina Kazakevich / Photo: © Denis Bushkovsky / Match TV

In the fight for third place, Noskova nevertheless caught up and outplayed Batmanova. Although Katya was clearly counting on more.

Later on Sunday, the men’s relay will take place at the Russian Championships. Watch the live broadcast of the race from 11:50 Moscow time on the Match TV channel, as well as on matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru websites.

Irina Kazakevich won the mass start at the Pari Russian Biathlon Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk.

The silver medalist of the Beijing Olympics covered the distance in 40 minutes 32.3 seconds, with two misses on four firing lines.

Tamara Derbusheva came second, 3.7 seconds back, with a clean shot. Ekaterina Noskova rounded out the top three (+10.8 seconds; 2 misses).

Later on Sunday, the men’s relay race will take place at the Russian Championship, watch the live broadcast from 11:50 (Moscow time) on the Match TV channel, as well as on matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru websites.

BIATHLON. RUSSIAN CHAMPIONSHIP. KHANTY-MANSIYSK

Women. Mass start

1. Irina Kazakevich – 40.32.3 (2 misses);

2. Tamara Derbusheva – +3.7 (0);

3. Ekaterina Noskova – +10.8 (2).

April Fool’s biathlon in Khanty-Mansiysk turned out to be special. Unexpectedly, the main hero of the men’s mass start was an unknown athlete from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Alexander Popov took the last place in the race, but still won the hearts of the fans.

The no-name biathlete became a star in just an hour. And from the increased attention I could not even stay on my feet!

Public Favorite

The best result in the 15 km mass start was predictably shown by Eduard Latypov, who finished the race with two misses. Silver and bronze were taken respectively by Anton Smolsky and Nikita Porshnev, who missed three times. Popov made the same number of mistakes at the turn, but, alas, he came to the finish line last – 29th.

Photo: © Denis Bushkovsky / Match TV

The 28-year-old biathlete has never really shined at a high level. In the 2018/19 season, he managed to close the top 10 in the sprint race at the Russian Championship, and this season he did not rise above the 14th position. However, on Saturday, it was Popov who unexpectedly became the star of the television screen and the favorite of the biathlon public gathered in Khanty. Incredible success story!

“Marry me”

– 23rd Popov, forward, Sasha! – issued on the air “Match TV” Dmitry Guberniev after the first firing line.

Throughout the broadcast, the TV commentator watched Popov go along the distance, although the athlete had no real chances to compete for medals. Such is the April Fool’s initiative from Match TV: both the athlete is pleased and the fans are having fun! In the end, we usually follow the same names, and here is an unexpected angle.

– Since childhood, for Popov! Number 29 and the legend! – the social networks of the federal channel warmed up the intrigue.

The fans also joined in the good prank with pleasure. In the stands, a noisy support group unfurled posters: “Sasha Popov is the champion”, “First, Awesome, Winner, Awesome, Wow”, “Sasha Popov is the best. Sasha is waiting for success! And one of the fans even shouted to the biathlete after the race: “Sasha, marry me!”

Photo: © Denis Bushkovsky / Match TV

Alas, at a distance, powerful support did not help Alexander. Moreover, due to the increased attention, the athlete was distracted and lost his balance while running. That’s really love, knocking down!

Thank you for your support, I even fell because of you. The legs didn’t hold! – Alexander said cheerfully after the finish.

Open video

The athlete’s moment of glory did not end there: he went to give an interview to Guberniev himself. Finally, Dmitry got a chance to meet the legend! Popov shared his impressions of the race and unexpected support, told how he fell on the descent and poked around for a long time on the shooting. And then he simply stunned the interlocutor and viewers. It turned out that for Alexander this is the last season. He finishes with biathlon.

***

On Sunday, the PARI Championship of Russia will host the women’s mass start and the men’s relay race, watch the live broadcast of the races on the Match TV channel, as well as on matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru websites.

PARI Russian Championship. Mass start. Women