“Mom Sees”: Kristina Reztsova received an expensive cup from the hands of the victorious Slivko

The first races of the national biathlon championship in Tyumen were postponed from Saturday to Monday, and individual races had to be excluded from the schedule. The Russian Championship began two days later, as planned, with a sprint. The men ran first, but I still want to start with the women’s race.

Yes, this would be a beautiful story of the first Cup draw – the daughter wins the Cup named after her mother. But sport gives us stories that cannot be made up. Kristina Reztsova lost, won silver. But she still ended up with the Cup named after her mother Anfisa Reztsova. Victoria Slivko, having received the award from Christina’s hands at the award ceremony, a minute later presented it to Reztsova. And it wasn’t just Christina who made her cry.

Victoria Slivko won the sprint race at the Russian Biathlon Championship in Tyumen. And he did it very beautifully, without making a single mistake and giving his all, which was noticeable after the finish. The battle in the women’s sprint before the start was expected to be difficult. The Russian Championship is the main start of the season, everyone was preparing, including the strongest Belarusians.

After missing part of the season, Kristina Reztsova returned. And the fact that the winners of the sprint races at the Russian Championship from this season receive the Cup in memory of biathlete Anfisa Reztsova (the three-time Olympic champion died on October 19, 2023), of course, especially motivated the athlete to achieve results. Christina said that she wanted to win this Cup immediately after the prize was established. And I prepared for the race accordingly.

There were many strong cross-country biathletes in the sprint: Belarusian Anna Sola, Natalia Shevchenko, Larisa Kuklina, Natalya Gerbulova, Svetlana Mironova… But the warm weather and uneven shooting did their job, taking them one by one out of the main contenders for medals.

Kristina Reztsova did everything in her power to win. And if I could reproach myself for something later, it would be for one mistake at the second turn. After the first prone shooting, she was the leader, and remained the leader after the miss. Then Irina Kazakevich, who started later, overtook Reztsova after the first shooting. The second milestone – the penalty loop – was ultimately lost to Kristina, taking the intermediate second place.

Victoria Slivko “harnessed slowly”: after the first shooting, she was almost 10 seconds behind Kazakevich. But accurate shooting while standing made her already a leader. And Vika never gave up this leadership. “Today such a miracle happened, I’m happy to the point of tears.” Kristina Reztsova was 16.1 seconds behind the champion, Irina Kazakevich was third.

Slivko said that on the eve of the start she had a fever, so entering the race was a big question: should she run or not? I doubted it for a very long time, but still the desire to perform outweighed me. Despite the difficult weather conditions (spring still begins to dictate its temperature regime and does not spare the snow), the biathlete, after consulting with coach Andrei Padin, chose the second group to start. Victoria said this to her mentor: if I am strong, then I will be strong in any group. And the men who ran the sprint that day first, “they already ruined the track for us, and we girls were all equal.”

Among the “equals,” Victoria Slivko was the first and intends to compete in the pursuit race. Whether he can run all the championship races will be determined by his health. Vika herself admits that before her illness she was confident in her participation in all races. But the victory in the sprint did not come easily, and perhaps it will come back to haunt you.

Irina Kazakevich praised all her competitors for their tight fight, and especially Vika, who worked hard at the shooting range: the absence of penalties allowed her to win on such a difficult course.

… The first words that Victoria Slivko said after the finish live on Match TV were: “Honestly, I’m very happy about my victory, but I really really wanted Christina to win. Because this is a Cup named after her mother.” And then champion Slivko made many cry along with Kristina Reztsova, who clutched the Anfisa Reztsova Cup to her chest. “Immediately after the finish, I already decided to give the Cup to Christina. I think I did the right thing. Christina should have the first Reztsova Cup!”

Kristina Reztsova, without a doubt, had a hard time that day: her motivation was off the charts, her sense of responsibility, and the bitterness of loss… Kristina said that she was very happy for Vika Slivko. Although, of course, she was worried until the very end and deep down in her soul hoped that she would have enough time to win. “But it is as it is. This is a sport.”

And that’s why she wasn’t upset about the second place, she understood: all the biathletes wouldn’t dream that she would take this Cup. But she herself did everything that depended on her for this: “Yes, not without mistakes, but I hope that this Cup will now be given every year and I will have the opportunity to compete.” And she added touchingly: “Mom sees that she is happy.”

***

Karim Khalili won the Russian championship in the sprint, also without making a single mistake. After the first milestone, it seemed that Eduard Latypov, who had just celebrated his thirtieth birthday, would not give anyone any reason to doubt who would become first that day. But shooting while standing brought Eduard as many as three shots wide. So Pyotr Pashchenko, whom Latypov was ahead of by two dozen seconds before the line, became the leader of the race.

And it wasn’t only Latypov who shot poorly that day. Alexander Loginov, Anton Smolsky, Dmitry Lazovsky, Kirill Bazhin, Evgeny Sidorov, Daniil Serohvostov, Alexander Povarnitsyn also failed to hit the target. Namely, shooting and the penalty loop determined who would be in the forefront in this race. All three winners ended up shooting clean.

Karim Khalili and Petr Paschenko spent some time figuring out which of them was faster, but shortly before the finish Khalili had already created a gap for himself, albeit by three seconds. And at the finish line he had already doubled them. Karim won and became the first winner of the Anfisa Reztsova Cup. He said that a good tradition was born in biathlon, we must remember about people like Reztsova, they went down in history forever. And “The Anfisa Anatolyevna Cup adds status to the Russian Championship.”

After the finish, Petr Paschenko analyzed what was happening at the distance not only with him. He said that after a discussion with service specialists, they came to the conclusion that those biathletes who started the race quickly made a big mistake. On the first lap the equipment still worked well, but with each lap the skis began to pick up dirt. “It got worse and worse, I can’t say that the track was broken, but there was more moisture and the sliding got worse.”

And poor gliding led athletes to the point that “someone may have become overly muscular.” This, in turn, led to tremors, “some of the athletes simply could not cope, and others, perhaps, could not cope psychologically.” Paschenko’s words were confirmed by Karim Khalili, saying that biathletes are used to running in the cold, that is, on a hard track. And in the sprint of the Russian Championship, as the distance progressed, the sliding became “much dumber”; it was not possible to add speed.

Ilnaz Mukhamedzyanov and Alexander Kornev competed for third place in the sprint. Ilnaz won with a minimal advantage, who also admitted that the weather conditions for skiing were very difficult. There is a lot of water and the route is uneven. But the biathlete was completely satisfied with himself in the race, “he was able to implement everything that he practiced in training.” And, although he became third and did not win, his “inner feelings overshadow this result.”

Daniil Serokhvostov, who rounded out the top six, said that his and Karim Khalili’s “legs” were “give or take the same,” he just “shot longer.” And at the turn he was shaking a lot, apparently because he started so quickly. “That’s why I shot while lying down for a long time to make sure everything was done.” The athlete expected more from the sprint, but apparently now this is his maximum, and he will build on this.

Russian championship. Sprint, 10 km. Men

1. Karim Khalili – 25.33.7 (0)

2. Petr Pashchenko – +7.5 (0)

3. Ilnaz Mukhamedzyanov – +15.9 (0)

4. Alexey Kornev – +16.6 (1)

5. Ivan Kolotov – +31.3 (0)

6. Daniil Serokhvostov – +34.8 (1)

7. Alexander Povarnitsyn – +37.7 (1)

8. Maxim Tsvetkov – +48.8 (0)

9. Eduard Latypov – +52.0 (3)

10. Rustam Kayumov – +54.3 (1)

Sprint, 7.5 km. Women

1. Victoria Slivko – 22.55.5 (0)

2. Kristina Reztsova – +16.1 (1)

3. Irina Kazakevich – +20.8 (1)

4. Anastasia Shevchenko – +27.3 (1)

5. Polina Shevnina – +29.6 (1)

6. Anna Sola (Belarus) – +33.7 (1)

7. Natalya Gerbulova – +38.2 (0)

8. Ekaterina Noskova – +44.5 (2)

9. Svetlana Mironova – +47.3 (0)

10. Anastasia Batmanova – +52.0 (0)…