4x6 km Relay Women
Olga Anisimova after the finish of the ill-fated stage quickly took off her skis, got rid of the unlucky rifle and summed up: “Girls, I have failed everything”. You can’t say more precisely ... The two penalties earned by the 35-year-old biathlete from Balakovo turned out to be fatal. To catch up with rivals who had advanced ahead - Norwegians, French women, Chinese women and Slovenians - was already unrealistic.
And how great it all began! At the first stage, the Olympic champion Anna Bogaliy-Titovets, although she experienced problems at the “stand”, using all the extra cartridges, stuck with a bath sheet to Martina Glagov and Florence Bavarel-Robert. It seemed that Anya specially saved her strength to confidently roll to the finish line. She succeeded with brilliance!
At the second stage, young Ekaterina Yuryeva, who distinguished herself in individual races, fled for Russia. The coaches took risks, but there was no way out. Irina Malgina has not adapted to the conditions of the midlands, Tatyana Moiseeva is completely at odds with the shooting, Anna Bulygina is still completely inexperienced ... Katya Yurieva had to puff for everyone, and she managed. I didn’t make a mistake, just a little bit, about 20 seconds, I lost to world champion Andrea Henkel. Other favorites - Frenchwoman Dolphin Peretto and Norwegian Anna-Christine Flatland - were far behind. It seemed that the most unpredictable stages of this relay race were overcome. I even wanted to dream - what the hell is not joking - about the fight against the Germans for gold. But…
How unpredictable and sometimes unfair is sport! Olga Anisimova, who had waited so long for her chance behind the backs of Akhatova, Pyleva, Zaitseva and Ishmuratova, performed very confidently this season. Shooting was particularly successful. At the World Cup in Ruhpolding, our team won the baton thanks in large part to Anisimova. Head coach Valery Polkhovsky could not get enough: “I can always rely on Olga. We in Oberhof took sixth place, because we gave her a break. "
Who would have thought that the problems, one after the other, would begin precisely at the third stage of Anisimova! On the “lying” Olga made a mistake, but instantly corrected. Rivals, however, shot cleanly. And on the “rack” the incredible happened: five misses, two penalty circles!
Most interesting, shoot Anisimov without incident, our team could compete with the Germans. Magdalena Neuner walked the rope at the second firing line: three unclosed targets for three additional rounds. But the Russians instantly crossed out their medal prospects. Natalya Guseva frappered the public with the next three mistakes and let Belarusians go ahead. At the finish, no one was waiting for our team ...
On this day, all attention was riveted to Glagov, Henkel, Neuner and Wilhelm. Bundestren Uwe Mussigang did not have such a stellar golden composition for a long time!
Mass start 15 km men
A medal was awaited from our men, who won the baton on the eve of the relay on the eve. Everyone started except Dmitry Yaroshenko, who was ill. But from the start, the race was not easy for the Russians. Bjoerndalen, Ferry, Schlesinger set a crazy pace and did not slow down for a second. Where did the forces come to the end of the championship ?! The only Russian chance was in perfect shooting, because the course of the rivals looked preferable. For the time being, Maxim Chudov and Ivan Cherezov kept close to the leaders, but ran out of steam near the third firing line.
Everything was decided at the last shooting. Bjoerndalen walked first, but missed twice. But the Germans Birnbacher and Grice were timely accurate. While the great and terrible Norwegian was winding an additional three hundred meters, Rafael Poiret rushed in pursuit of the bronze, declaring his career end in Anterselva.
The Russians did not fight for medals. The price of misses was too high: Miracles at the last “stand” did not close three targets, the rest missed during the race at least once. With such shooting, it is impossible to compete with Mickey Grice, who caught courage. Although, who interfered with 15 kilometers was as confident as the smiling dude Anders Birnbacher, who won the first medal in individual races, one cannot understand with his mind. It can be seen that our guys gave too much strength in the relay. Let's not reproach them ...
The national teams of Germany and Norway today are objectively stronger than all. Including our team. We will work and catch up. What else remains?