The Russian men’s biathlon team took second place in the relay at the seventh stage of the Biathlon World Cup in Antholz (Italy), determining the changes in the Nations Cup standings. The competition took place on Sunday, January 23. The Russians lost the first place to the Norwegians, who were ahead of the Russian biathletes by almost two minutes.
As a result of the relay, the Russian team was able to get ahead of France in the Cup of Nations and climbed to second place. The first are the Norwegians, the French close the top three.
The Ukrainian national team also moved up one position, beating the Italians in the Nations Cup standings. They were sixth in the relay, the Italian team took eighth position.
Daniil Serokhvostov, Anton Babikov and Alexander Loginov, as well as Eduard Latypov, took part in the Russian national team in the relay – he had to run a penalty loop due to a large number of misses at the first shooting range. At the same time, Latypov managed to finish faster than the athletes from France and Germany, despite the fact that he finished fourth on the final lap, Sport-Express reports.
Competitions in Antholz will end on January 23 with the women’s mass start. The race will start at 17:15 Moscow time. After this start, the athletes will continue their performances at the Beijing Olympics, which will be held from February 4 to 20.
Earlier, on January 17, President of the Russian Biathlon Union Viktor Maigurov announced the composition of the national team for the Olympic Games in Beijing. The team included Serokhvostov, Latypov, Loginov, as well as Karim Khalili and Maxim Tsvetkov.
The Biathlon Nations Cup score is a rating of national federations based on the results of athletes’ performance in individual, sprint, relay and other races of the World Cup and the World Championship. Nations Cup points are awarded to the top three athletes of the national federation in individual and sprint races, as well as to the relay team of the federation in accordance with the places taken.
When summing up the results of the World Cup, all the points of the Nations Cup earned by the athletes of the national federation are summed up, and the amount received determines the place of the federation in the standings. In accordance with the rating, the number of athletes who will participate in the World Cup stages and at the Olympic starts is determined.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
