Russian biathlete Victoria Metelya became the winner of the mass start at the Alfa-Bank Commonwealth Cup stage in Khanty-Mansiysk. She completed the distance in 29 minutes 36 seconds, making two mistakes. Anastasia Grishina (+9.2) finished second, Kristina Reztsova (+15.5) took third.

The victory came at a time when the athlete is in the spotlight due to an interview in which she spoke about the harsh working methods of children’s coaches.

Victory in the mass start

Metelya confidently completed the first line, shooting without errors. She entered the track third, 11 seconds behind the leader. At the second shooting stage, Victoria made two mistakes and fell back to sixth place, while the leading positions were occupied by Reztsova, Nasotovich and Grishina.

But the young Russian didn’t miss again. After clean work on the third line, she rose to fourth position, and over the distance she caught up with Grishina and Nasotovich.

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The denouement came at the final shooting. Reztsova, who was leading with a comfortable lead, made a mistake and went to the penalty loop. Metelya and Grishina shot accurately and went into the last lap together, but Victoria quickly created an advantage on the track and kept it until the finish. The most important victory for one of the main rising stars of Russian biathlon.

How her career is developing

The 22-year-old athlete represents the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. She started at the Chaika ski school in the Smolensk region, then moved to biathlon under the leadership of Yuri Averyanov and later moved to Khanty-Mansiysk.

In recent seasons, Metelya has been regularly improving: experts note her good speed and growing stability on the lines. Victory in the mass start confirms that she belongs to the circle of athletes capable of competing for high places at the domestic Russian level.

The victory in Khanty-Mansiysk is also valuable because it was won against the background of close attention to Victoria. The fact is that the other day she spoke about the humiliation, abuse and cruelty of trainers that she had to face as a teenager.

— In Smolensk, even now I can’t say thank you to a single coach or leader. I, a young athlete at that time, was so destroyed there that I simply ran away. First of all – emotionally. It’s hard to even remember. There we constantly lost weight. From 11–12 years old. Now I have difficulties because of this. I look in the mirror and constantly don’t like myself. I’ve been told so many times that I’m fat that it’s still in my head…

Once we found a gingerbread under the bed. Once upon a time they bought it, and it apparently fell into disrepair. We were so tormented by hunger that they took it out, wooden and unpleasant, divided it between two and ate it.

We were bugged. Either the coach was standing at the door, or… I don’t know what it was, but it happened that we were talking with a neighbor before going to bed, and in the morning at training they told us all this. We were completely controlled. If something went wrong, they could take the phone away for a month. If there was an injury, they forced us to train, they said we were pretending. My knees hurt, and we did jumpings.

Victoria Metelya, Anastasia Grishina, Kristina Reztsova / Photo: © SBR / Valentin Kozlenko

Parents gave, conditionally, 1000 rubles. You buy something, and then they greet you: an audit. They take away crab sticks, cookies, and some gingerbread. And because they don’t give you anything to eat in the canteen, you want it all! But they took everything away from us, leaving only apples and pears. And then they brazenly ate in front of us what they had taken away. They also collected money directly. For example, for a mistake in training – 50 rubles, sometimes 100, – Sports quotes the words of the athlete.

Equipment situation

Before the stage, another hot topic arose: according to Meteli, athletes could not be allowed to start if they did not perform in the uniform of the national team. The organizers allowed biathletes to use their own equipment only at this stage. At subsequent starts, it is planned to issue new overalls, but Metelya said that she would refuse to run in a uniform of unsatisfactory quality.

— The coaches sent information to our group that the organizers decided to admit us, but only under one condition. Only here can we run around in our own, and in the next stages they will sew for us [комбинезоны] according to our sizes. But it’s not about size, it’s about quality. Therefore, I also refuse to run in the next stages in this equipment until it reaches normal quality,” Metelya said on Match TV.

After the victorious mass start, Metelya also couldn’t do without an interview.

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The result in Khanty-Mansiysk was one of the most significant for Metel this season. Amid a high-profile interview, discussion of training conditions and equipment history, Victoria demonstrates stability on the track and growing confidence in contact racing.

Gradually, from a promising young biathlete with a model appearance, rightfully considered the main beauty of our biathlon, Victoria becomes one of the leaders of the team, capable of beating recognized favorites. And this cannot but rejoice!