The coach of Russian biathletes unexpectedly remained in the national team. Saved an Olympic medal?

The figure of the head coach of the Russian women’s team throughout the past season excited the minds of biathlon fans. Despite a silver medal in the women’s relay at the Beijing Olympics, his departure from the team seemed a done deal. The media discussed the candidates for possible successors, but the leadership of the Russian Biathlon Union surprised again.

Shashilov will continue to work in the Russian national team. And there is no need to wait for the general approval of this news, because during the season at the helm of the national team, the specialist received a lot of criticism.

Conflict before the start of the season

Scandals began during the pre-season, when Shashilov wanted to actually independently determine the composition of the team. Then the Russian Biathlon Union did not allow him to do this, allowing him to choose only three biathletes. Particularly controversial was his refusal to work with Ulyana Nigmatullina, who by all criteria fell into the national team.

The scandals didn’t end there. According to the results of the qualifying starts, Victoria Slivko made her way to the second team, but she was sent to the Russian Cup. The biathlete reacted very emotionally and criticized the coach. As it turned out later, she was rightly criticized. Toward the end of the season, Victoria reached a good level and was supposed to compete at the World Cup after the Olympics, but there were sanctions, and this chance was lost.

But Irina Kazakevich was selected for the national team, with whom Shashilov personally works. Although by no means she should have been there. Irina failed the qualifying starts with a bang, and then she also beat anti-records at the World Cup. Clouds were gathering over Shashilov, because only Kristina Reztsova and Uliana Nigmatullina showed results in the team – athletes who generally trained separately from the national team.

Kristina Reztsova / Photo: © DeFodi Images / Contributor / DeFodi Images / Gettyimages.ru

Allegations of violating the regime

At the January stages of the World Cup, the pressure on Shashilov reached its maximum point when he was accused of violating the regime. A video even went around the network where the coach after one of the races in Germany allegedly appears drunk. Here we must pay tribute to the president of the RBU, Viktor Maigurov, who defended the coach and said that outright fakes about Shashilov dealt a blow to the entire Russian team a month before the Olympics.

However, a few days after that, the coach did not appear on the track at the World Cup. The official version was called health problems. Soon Shashilov returned, and the results suddenly went up. His wards began to churn out medals in relay races, and in personal races, everything was far from so hopeless. There was even some optimism before the Games in Beijing, which turned into a fairly high-quality performance at the Olympics.

Silver at the Olympics is salvation, but what’s next?

Shashilov’s main achievement in China was silver in the relay. And this is with Svetlana Mironova’s penalty loop. Moreover, our girls lost to the Swedes quite a bit. By and large, the main bet was made on the relay race. So, at the end of the season, Mikhail Viktorovich’s work was assessed satisfactorily at the coaching council. Even then, the head of the RRF Maigurov hinted that the organization was ready to continue cooperation with Shashilov. And the coach himself, who frankly stated during the season that he was tired of the national team, changed his anger to mercy.

Photo: © Ezra Shaw / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

But after that same silver relay, Shashilov threw a phrase to journalists that he no longer works with the team. There were, of course, versions that he was misunderstood, but the very fact of these words was present.

What has changed since then? It is likely that the removal of the Russian team from international competitions gave the coach an understanding that for at least the next year he will be able to work calmly and without much stress. Shashilov objectively the last couple of years was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, including because of the tons of criticism that poured out on him from all sides. With or without.

Now this will not happen. At least for a while. Another thing is that it is not clear why in the Russian biathlon the coaches are determined before the elections of the head of the RBU are held. After all, if Aleksey Nuzhdov comes to power, it is logical to assume that he will want to assemble his own team.

Whether work with Shashilov is included in his plans is a big question. No matter how it turned out that at the end of June, when the elections of the President of the RBU will take place, the coaching staff has not changed in the women’s team.