On Sunday, December 21, at the third stage of the Alfa-Bank Commonwealth Biathlon Cup in Tchaikovsky (Perm Territory), women’s and men’s races will be held from a common start.

Watch the live broadcast of the men’s 15-kilometer mass start from 8:35 Moscow time on the Match TV and Match! Arena”, the broadcast of the women’s 12.5 km race will begin at 11:30. The competitions will also be shown on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.

30 athletes will compete in each race; if any of the participants refuses, the nearest reservist will go to the start. For men, the preliminary starting protocol included Russians Kirill Bazhin, Eduard Latypov, Karim Khalili, Alexander Loginov, Daniil Serohvostov, representatives of Belarus Anton Smolsky, Nikita Lobastov and others.

For women, the preliminary start list includes Russians Natalia Shevchenko, Anastasia Shevchenko, Svetlana Mironova, Kristina Reztsova, Victoria Slivko, Anastasia Khalili, Irina Kazakevich, Victoria Metelya, Belarusians Anna Sola, Dinara Smolskaya and others.

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Norwegian biathlete Johan-Olav Botn won the pursuit race at the third stage of the World Cup in Annecy (France).

Botn, who started fourth, covered the 12.5 km distance in 31 minutes 20.8 seconds. The Norwegian did not make a single mistake on the shooting range.

The silver medal was won by the representative of France, Emilien Jacquelin (lag – 17.6 seconds, 3 penalties), who again found himself on the podium after third place in the sprint. Norwegian Johannes Dahle-Sevdahl finished third (+17.9; 2 penalties), dropping one place down in the pursuit.

For 26-year-old Botn, this victory was the third of the season. He continues to lead the overall standings with 510 points, Frenchman Eric Perrault is second (372), Swede Sebastian Samuelsson (348) closes the top three.

On Sunday, Annecy will host the women’s and men’s races from a general start.

Alexander Bolshunov this season has become an even more media personality in Russian sports than before, although this attention is not always perceived in a positive way. Several scandals and even disqualifications are still widely discussed in the press.

And now Russian biathlon star Kristina Reztsova suddenly told interesting details about the behavior of the three-time Olympic champion.

The two universes did not intersect

Skiing and biathlon, although they are related sports, still do not always overlap. The competition calendar is structured in such a way that even if skiers and biathletes run on the same tracks, they do so at different times. So this weekend, some are performing in Izhevsk, and others in Tchaikovsky. But the Olympics are a different matter. There, in fact, Russia has one single team, which in theory should be as united as possible.

It’s a completely normal story when athletes from some disciplines come to cheer on their compatriots from others. Skaters can often be seen at hockey games and so on. So at the Beijing Olympics in 2022, skiers and biathletes actually ran across the road from each other, if you look from a geographical point of view. And, of course, they mostly supported their colleagues.

Alexander Bolshunov became a three-time Olympic champion in China and generally removed questions about who really is the best skier on the planet. This was recognized even in Norway. Kristina Reztsova was also good and brought relay silver and bronze from China. However, globally, the two universes then intersected little. Even taking into account the fact that the suspension happened, and our skiers and biathletes competed exclusively in their homeland.

Kristina Reztsova / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Alexey Filippov

“He doesn’t even say hello!”

The contact between Bolshunov and Reztsova in absentia occurred today. Kristina brilliantly won the pursuit race at the Commonwealth Cup stage in Tchaikovsky, almost a minute ahead of her closest competitors. On Match TV, the Russian woman not only talked about her triumph, but also told extremely interesting details of her conversation with Bolshunov. More precisely, the lack of this communication.

– He doesn’t even say hello! How will he give me the phone number? He doesn’t say hello to anyone at all. I don’t deserve it. So I went to one Olympics with him. After the Games we saw each other everywhere. He doesn’t greet anyone. “He’s just such a person in life,” Reztsova said on the air of the “Biathlon with Dmitry Guberniev” program.

The Match TV commentator himself also responded to Christina’s words, wishing our champion to treat people differently, despite all his titles and awards.

– I’m not surprised at all. I watched Zanin’s story about how none of the biathletes have Bolshunov’s phone number. We can say that from the point of view of Olympic titles, any biathlete is a dandy compared to Bolshunov, and maybe that’s true. But, on the other hand, there are also Olympic medalists and world champions. When Kristina Reztsova says that Bolshunov doesn’t greet anyone, this probably speaks once again about the person’s upbringing. I want to say to myself that Bolshunov always says hello to me and will probably continue to say hello. I respect Sasha as an athlete. I would like to wish him empathy, love of humanity and treat people a little differently,” Guberniev told Match TV.

Alexander, of course, had a very difficult start to the season. Scandals and not the best results obviously do not add confidence and can unnerve even the most stress-resistant athletes. At the same time, there is little doubt that Bolshunov will cope with the negativity that has fallen on him, even justified. And there is confidence that as soon as a loophole appears with a return to the World Cup, the entire sports world will see the same skier who took three golds at the last Olympics.