Problems with snow for participants of the TechnoNIKOL ski and biathlon. “The Race of Champions” should not happen in Ryazan, said competition director, executive director of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) Alexander Pak.

On Monday, the RBU press service reported that three-time Olympic champion in cross-country skiing Alexander Bolshunov will not compete in the Race of Champions due to illness. The last participant in the race among skiers was Egor Mitroshin.

— We have decided on the final composition of the Race of Champions. The last vacant place among the skiers was taken by Egor Mitroshin. We were really looking forward to Alexander Bolshunov, but, unfortunately, he fell ill and even missed the Russian Cup stage in Kirovo-Chepetsk.

We have a forced replacement among the biathletes: instead of Anastasia Shevchenko, Inna Tereshchenko will perform, yesterday’s junior, who at the recent stage of the Alfa-Bank Commonwealth Cup in Tchaikovsky twice became a silver medalist.

Regarding the readiness of the stadium, I can say that the weather has been helping us as much as possible in recent days. Preparations are in full swing, the trails are covered with both natural and artificial snow. Worries about lack of snow are a thing of the past; there is no longer a shortage of snow. I am sure that on January 3 we will meet the athletes and spectators in full combat readiness,” Soviet Sport quotes Pak as saying.

Cross-country skiing and biathlon competitions “TechnoNIKOL. The Race of Champions will be held at the Ryazan Almaz stadium on January 3 and 4.

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.