Biathlete Porshnev distinguished himself in the marathon with the style of the skier Ustyugov: “He left and that’s it”

Almost two hours of racing, eight firing lines, 40 kilometers. A biathlon marathon, and even at the end of the season, is a bullet point. And it was put by Nikita Porshnev, who did not let any of the rivals doubt that the last gold of the Russian championship was also his. In second place – Karim Khalili, in third – Anton Babikov.

Marathon gold is Porshnev’s fourth first place in the Russian championship. And he is like that, four times, the only one among our biathletes. Neither Latypov nor Khalili managed to do this… Only last week Nikita won the sprint, the classic relay and the mixed relay, and also won silver in the pursuit and silver in the mass start. Such an ending to the season can be both applauded and envied.

Probably, Eduard Latypov was missing in this marathon. But the team leader decided to participate in the Yugra marathon starting in two days. That is, Edward decided to abandon the rifle for a while and add another ten kilometers to himself at a distance. Daniil Serokhvostov will also run there. By the way, last year Latypov claimed the victory at the Yugra marathon until the last meters, at the finish line he was even ahead of Gleb Retivykh, but still lost to Ivan Yakimushkin.

This year Uvat showed severe cold at the second stage of the Russian Cup, when the races were even cancelled. True, that’s why it is the only district of the Tyumen region, which is equated with the regions of the Far North. And the marathon saw the smiling sun. But 40 km, and even in warm spring weather, when you can, of course, go out on the track and wear a T-shirt, but the snow lives by its own laws, is a difficult test. Not everyone survived, they left the race.

Who endured, ran according to the laws of the marathon. And in it, as in cross-country skiing, it is provided to change the shoes of skis, you can do this once. Biathletes also have clips that need to be updated, so the pit stop is not fast, it also takes time. Change skis after the fourth shooting.

After the pit stop, Nikita Porshnev was already in the lead, as they say, with might and main. On four frontiers from a prone position, he made only two misses. Even before the race, Nikita planned to rush forward right away, to run away from his rivals. Sergey Ustyugov recently showed how it looks in skiing, breaking away from his colleagues already 500 meters after the start, and without letting anyone in all 50 kilometers. True, Porshnev never ran a marathon, plans are one thing, and the premiere is another.

But she did well. Moreover, Porshnev admitted after the finish that 40 km was even easier for him than some of the races of the season. Because of the warmth, it was easy to breathe, although the track itself was, of course, difficult. “It was hard enough to run on such a track – two kilometers away.”

The champion said that he was still afraid to run away immediately through such snow, because he might not have had enough strength. The ending of the distance showed that he was right, he said that he had to practically “walk”, he had strength, but his muscles did not allow him to push. “I started to cramp my arms and legs, I couldn’t move.”

But the second twenty kilometers Porshnev walked alone, reminiscent of the same skier Ustyugov, who made a fearless escape. At the same time, Nikita’s lead also increased: the fifth stage was a minute over his rivals, the sixth one was already one and a half … And even the penalty loop of 75 meters, which Nikita had to go through at the penultimate stage, did not spoil the situation.

Karim Khalili, who after the marathon was praised for his chosen tactics by Anton Babikov, who became the third, thanked the servicemen for their work, recognizing that the preparation of skis in such weather plays a big role. And he named the key moment of the race, in which it was decided who would be on the podium: the last stand, where Alexander Povarnitsyn, Kirill Bazhin and Karim came together. Shooting did not disappoint only Khalili.

He said respectfully about Nikita: he is now really well prepared, it was clear in the first half of the race that he had a high pace. “He left and that’s it.” I assessed myself based on the result: I counted on eight zeros, but “something went wrong, I made a mistake lying down, and while standing I tried to maintain concentration.”

Interestingly, Khalili made three misses, like Porshnev, but lost a whole minute and 16.8 seconds to him. And Babikov, who made seven misses, lost 1:33.7 seconds.

Anton Babikov also admitted that “not everything went according to plan.” But it was also his first marathon. For juniors, the biathlete once ran 25 kilometers, but never 40. And its premiere showed that in Uvat the most difficult thing was to adjust to the difficult gliding and disregard that someone’s skis go better. “Personally, it knocked me out mentally, each time I tried to rehabilitate myself by shooting, but each time I made offensive mistakes.” And yet there was enough energy, and on the last lap there was also a good fight with Alexander Povarnitsyn for third place.