Belarusian Smolsky beat the entire Russian biathlon three times at an international tournament

There is, of course, a third option to explain only two victories: our athletes threw all their energy and plans into preparing for participation in the Spartakiad. It will take place in February in Zlatoust. But even if this assumption is true, it is reminiscent of those times when all failures at the World Cup stages were explained by preparation for the World Cup. And, unlike the World Championships, where everything immediately became completely clear – whether mistakes were made in preparation or not, now everything will not be so obvious. Because no one invited foreign competitors (at least at the moment), and these are Belarusians, to the Spartakiad. And this means that we will only stew in our own juice. This juice is highly competitive. But everything is always learned by comparison.

And in Raubichi, Anton Smolsky “made” the entire Russian national team and those athletes who have nothing to do with the team, but know how to win. Three golds out of three possible. Yes, Anton didn’t hide it – he was preparing specifically for the home start, and before the stage he went to the mountains. But just as he started collecting gold this season on roller skis, he doesn’t stop in the winter.

And after all, it would seem: there are many more Russian biathletes who should show high results than in the Belarusian team. Both men and women. (Taking into account that Dinara Alimbekova-Smolskaya is not competing in the season yet, having given birth to a child in September, she was the one who won the Commonwealth Cup last season, and Anna Sola just returned from maternity leave, which, however, does not prevent her from winning.)

But already in the sprint, Anton Smolsky did not make a single mistake in Raubichi, his speed was the highest of the participants, and even left the impression that Anton would improve as much as he wanted. In the pursuit he had three penalties, but won again. In the mass start, he missed twice, but still ended up ahead of his neighbors on the podium, Rustam Kayumov and Karim Khalili, who shot to zero. Eduard Latypov lost to Smolsky by more than 40 seconds with the same two mistakes.

Women defended the golden honor of our biathletes in Belarus. Valeria Kayumova presented a surprise in the sprint, and Natalia Shevchenko won the pursuit. And the mass start rewarded Anna Solo: the Belarusian with three misses left behind Tamara Derbusheva with one unsuccessful shot and Elizaveta Kaplina in third place. And the fleet-footed Natalia Shevchenko and Irina Kazakevich lost to the champion with the same three mistakes for more than a minute.

And yet, every race in Raubichi gave both intrigue and discovery. On the very first day of the sprints, Alexander Kornev, who has long been called the future of our biathlon, almost won. And among the women, Valeria Kayumova won without any “barely”.

Alexander Kornev is 22 years old. In February 2022, he won the IBU Junior Cup. Silver in Raubichi is his second senior medal; last season there was gold in the sprint at the Russian Cup. After the pursuit in Raubichi, and in this race Kornev became third, losing silver to Alexander Povarnitsyn, the biathlete even made a “sentence” for himself: “I think I’m ready to always be in the top 3 or somewhere close,” I became close.”

Yes, Alexander Kornev was close to the second gold in his senior career; he did everything for it in the sprint, but Anton Smolsky did more. Smolsky was in seconds of the leader, that is, Kornev, and on the final lap he gained so much that he increased his lead from 9 to 24 seconds. And the assessment of the two biathletes of the race was consistent with the results. Kornev said: he understood that there were strong biathletes left behind, you need to run and endure. And the last lap was especially difficult: “every hundred meters I told myself: if only I could get there, I’d cross the line and lie down in the snow.” And Smolsky admitted that he was preparing for the home start, where he had to win, both mentally and physically. Before the last lap, the coaches told him that Kornev had gained a second from him, and he thought that he might lose his advantage, so he “got fully involved, worked until the very last meters.”

In the women’s sprint, the supposed leaders fell away from the fight because of the shooting, and Valeria Kayumova, having won, began to cry. Last season, Valeria practically did not perform due to pregnancy. When I entered the competition again, I found myself behind the top ten. The victory in the Commonwealth Cup sprint came as a bit of a shock even for her.

The biathlete admitted that she could not say that she was flying along the course. And it seems to her that she ran like this a month ago, and a week ago. “When they told me that I started as a leader and was the first to leave, I was a little shocked. I still don’t understand how such a speed can happen.”

And many, at the moment when the biathlete was surprised by her victory, recalled the Olympic Games in Beijing, where Valeria, then Vasnetsova, instead of starting, found herself in strict isolation due to Covid. Her dream of participating in the Olympic Games collapsed in Beijing itself almost at their start.

“Perhaps someday I will find the strength to rise again, but that will be a completely different story,” wrote Valeria after she found herself in a closed room, crying, sad and trying to eat peculiar Chinese dinners. Now, almost two years later, victory has arrived. A new story of ascent to the top has begun for the biathlete.

And in the last race in Raubichi, Valeria’s husband, whom she thanked for her help, Rustam Kayumov, did not lag behind. The biathlete became second in the mass start. And he was very happy that he shot to zero: he had not had such shooting, according to him, for several years. He called the race his “breakthrough,” but admitted that he approached the final milestone without any longer understanding what was happening. And when they shouted to him that he was leaving as a leader, he could not believe it. “And then I drove on as best I could.” At the same moment, Eduard Latypov, who came to the final line with an advantage of 16 seconds, also sensationally gave away his gold: he went into two penalty loops.

Kayumov’s leadership was nevertheless stopped by Anton Smolsky. He later said that at the final stage he took advantage of the chances that his opponents gave. He did everything he could. And serious preparation did not even allow me to think about what actions needed to be taken. “I just came to the line, did the work, everything worked out.”

Rustam, having already realized after the finish that he had managed to win a medal, said that neither Valeria’s victory nor his silver should be considered a “one-time event.” And he said that he and his wife were pushing back the training process a little because they were preparing for the main competitions. “So it’s going to get even better.”

…A very beautiful and welcome moment of the races in Raubichi: the finish of Natalia Shevchenko with the flag in the pursuit race. Natasha already came to the final shooting with a noticeable advantage. She did not allow herself to falter in front of the target. And she finished alone, as Anton Smolsky did all three races, with a clear advantage. “When I was driving down the last descent, I dreamed that someone would give me a flag. Because I saw how Smolsky finished with the flag of Belarus.”

The victory was the first for the biathlete at the Commonwealth Cup (Natalia Gerbulova won silver, and Tamara Derbusheva won bronze), but already the third of the season. Shevchenko admitted that it was cool.

But the leader of the overall standings among women remained the same. And Victoria Slivko intends to remain in the role of leader, although she admitted that the stage in Raubichi somehow did not work out. (Slivko was fourth in the mass start, seventh in the pursuit and thirteenth in the sprint.) “I will fight and in any case I will not give up my yellow leader’s jersey to anyone.”

The final stage of the Commonwealth Cup will take place on April 12–14 in Murmansk. In the meantime, the overall standings of the Commonwealth Cup after 9 races out of 12 look like this:

1. Anton Smolsky (Belarus) – 965

2. Eduard Latypov (Russia) – 940

3. Kirill Bazhin (Russia) – 842

4. Alexander Povarnitsyn (Russia) – 810

5. Anton Babikov (Russia) – 777

Women:

1. Victoria Slivko (Russia) – 948

2. Tamara Derbusheva (Russia) – 932

3. Irina Kazakevich (Russia) – 918

4. Natalia Shevchenko (Russia) – 892

5. Anastasia Goreeva (Russia) – 860

Season start calendar:

Russian Championship, Tchaikovsky

January 11 – super sprint

January 13 – team racing

January 14 – big mass starts

Russian Cup, 4th stage, Izhevsk

January 18 – individual races

January 20 – sprint

January 21 – big mass starts

Spartakiad of the strongest athletes of Russia, Zlatoust

February 11 – individual races

February 13 – sprint

February 14 – pursuit races

February 16 – mixed relay

February 17 – relay race (women), mass start (men)

February 18 – relay (men), mass start (women)

Russian Cup, 5th stage, Ufa

February 29 – individual races

March 2 – sprint

March 3 – big mass starts

Russian Championship, Tyumen

March 23 – sprint

March 24 – pursuit races

March 26 – individual races

March 27 – single mixed relay

March 28 – mixed relay

March 30 – relay race (women), mass start (men)

March 31 – relay race (men), mass start (women)

Russian Championship, Uvat

April 4 – 40 km race (men)

April 5 – 30 km race (women)