Three-time Olympic champion in cross-country skiing Alexander Bolshunov will not compete at the TECHNONICOL Race of Champions skiing and biathlon in Ryazan for health reasons, Sergei Averyanov, head of the press service of the Russian Biathlon Union (SBR), reported on his Telegram channel.

Instead of Bolshunov, Egor Mitroshin will take part in the Race of Champions.

“They waited for Bolshunov until the last minute; he gave preliminary consent to participate, but illness prevented him from performing in Ryazan,” wrote Averyanov.

The biathletes had one forced replacement: Anastasia Shevchenko fell ill, so Inna Tereshchenko will start the race.

The race lineup is as follows:

biathlon: Alexander Loginov, Alexander Povarnitsyn, Anton Babikov, Daniil Usov, Evgeny Sidorov, Kirill Bazhin, Alexander Kornev, Dmitry Lazovsky, Anton Smolsky, Eduard Latypov, Svetlana Mironova, Irina Kazakevich, Kira Dyuzheva, Dinara Smolskaya, Polina Plyusnina, Tamara Derbusheva, Natalia Shevchenko, Elizaveta Burundukova, Victoria Slivko, Inna Tereshchenko.

cross-country skiing: Ivan Gorbunov, Pavel Solovyov, Sergey Ardashev, Sergey Volkov, Egor Mitroshin, Ivan Yakimushkin, Konstantin Tiunov, Denis Spitsov, Artem Maltsev, Alexander Terentyev, Alena Baranova, Tatyana Sorina, Anastasia Faleeva, Veronika Stepanova, Evgenia Krupitskaya, Ekaterina Smirnova, Lidia Gorbunova, Alina Pekletsova, Yulia Stupak, Ekaterina Nikitina.

The cross-country skiing and biathlon competition “TECHNONICOL Race of Champions” will be held at the Ryazan Almaz stadium on January 3 and 4.

The President of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU), Viktor Maigurov, and the coach of the Russian synchronized swimming team, Gana Maksimova, are included in the database of the Ukrainian website “Peacemaker”*, as evidenced by the resource data.

They are charged with an attempt on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. It is noted that in 2025, Maygurov and Maksimova met with the director of the sports training center for Russian national teams (then acting director) Roman Grishin.

A two-time Olympic medalist and three-time world champion in biathlon, Maigurov has headed the RBU since 2020.

* The site is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia.

German biathletes Janina Hettich-Waltz and Justus Strehlow became the winners of the “Christmas Race”, held at the Veltins Arena stadium in Gelsenkirchen (Germany).

Hettich-Waltz and Strehlov won with a result of 33 minutes 12.9 seconds, the Germans made one mistake on the shooting range. The second place was taken by the Frenchmen Lou Jeanmonnot and Fabien Claude (+21.4; 4 misses), the top three was completed by the Norwegians Uni Arnekleive and Mats Everby (+1.12.8; 4).

The traditional “Christmas Race” was held for the 22nd time.