The Ministry of Sports of Khakassia told about the results of the first stage of the Russian Cup for skiers

Last weekend, the competitions of the 1st stage of the Russian Cup in cross-country skiing in Khakassia ended. In the regional Ministry of Sports told about the results of the athletes, the number of fans, the evaluation of the event by the President of the Ski Racing Federation and the online broadcast.

The first day of the competition, November 19, at the sports center “Teya” was dedicated to the classic sprint. Among women, she overcame the distance fastest Natalia Nepryaeva (Arkhangelsk region), among men – Savely Korostelev (Perm Territory).

On the second day, November 20, skiers overcame 5/10 km freestyle in the individual race. Here the winner was Veronika Stepanova (Kamchatka Territory), and the winner was Artyom Maltsev (Tyumen Region/Nizhny Novgorod Region).

The names of the winners of both races and their results can be viewed at the link here and here.

As one of the winners of the Cup, Savely Korostelev, noted, the rivals were eminent stars:

“Sasha (note – Alexander Bolshunov) broke the stick, he is too strong, the sticks scatter. I didn’t count on such a result, I went second or third.”

This year, indeed, has become special in terms of the number of titled participants. No less than 40 eminent skiers gathered at the Top of Choi. Many of them are Beijing 2022 Olympic champions. In honor of this, a new stand of the Walk of Fame was opened in the sports and training center.

Following the Olympians, many fans also came. The Minister of Sports of Khakassia Sergey Kochan counted about 1000 spectators. Their presence gave additional strength to athletes:

“Hard! While it is hard at the first starts, we are only accelerating. The fans add motivation,” commented the sprint winner and Olympic champion Natalya Nepryaeva.

Famous Russian skier and president of the Russian Ski Racing Federation Elena Vyalbe noted that she has no complaints about the organization and holding of the first stage of the Russian Cup in Khakassia:

“Everything is really great! We were worried about the snow, but in recent days it has fallen enough. And over the weather on the day of the sprint, probably, the Khakass shamans tried to make it so sunny.”

The Minister of Sports of the RH also mentioned the online broadcast, which could not be organized at the proper level this year. He said that work is underway in this direction, experts have been invited to analyze and resolve this issue. Sergey Kochan promised that next year fans from all over the country will be able to follow the races in Khakassia online.