Biathlon was canceled even in Russia. What happened at the beginning of the season?

Russian biathletes who were banned from international competitions could not even compete within the country. Severe frosts in Khanty-Mansiysk prevented the start of the new season. The irony is that in the second stage of the Russian Cup next week, everything can be canceled as well. And what can I do now?

Since March 2022, the national teams of Russia and Belarus have been suspended by the International Biathlon Union (IBU). If at first there was still some hope that everything would work out positively and we would be allowed to participate in the World Cup, then even the last dreams melted away as we approached autumn. It is now clear that international competitions will be held without our participation with Belarusians.

On paper, this gave the Russian biathlon a chance to raise the level of local competitions. A rich program was designed for this, including the Cup of Russia and the Commonwealth Cup. The latter officially had the status of an international tournament. And it should be noted that the summer stages of the Commonwealth Cup in Sochi and Minsk were very interesting and pleased the audience with intrigue.

Therefore, everyone expected to see something similar at the beginning of the season as part of the Cup of Russia in Khanty-Mansiysk, where the Belarusian national team led by world biathlon stars Dinara Alimbekova and Anton Smolsky came to the most combat composition. Recently hosting the World Cup, Khanty seemed like a great place for biathlon speedup. Here is a great stadium located inside the city, which greatly simplifies the logistics for the fans. A picturesque place where foreign biathletes love to come at the end of the season. There are legends about parties in Khanty.

But everything broke down from severe frosts. If the races on Thursday were held with great difficulty, but still managed to be held, the organizers were forced to cancel the Saturday starts. The fact is that the regulation allows competitions to be held at the coldest point of the track when the air temperature does not fall below minus 20 degrees. You also need to take into account the wind factor. If it is quite strong, the bar in degrees is reduced to minus 18.

On Thursday, everything was at the maximum limit. After the meeting with the coaches and biathletes, it was decided to run. And the races were great. Karim Khalili, Alexander Loginov and Petr Pashchenko competed for the men’s medal, while Anastasia Goreeva, Natalia Gerbulova and Victoria Slivko shone in the women’s. I really wanted to see the rest of their fight on Saturday, but the weather was against it.

Already a week ago, the weekend forecast was preparing for the worst. Still, the organizers hoped that everything would change by the end, but an unpopular decision had to be made in the early morning hours of race day. As a result, the pursuit race was temporarily rescheduled for Sunday and the relay races were canceled altogether. True, there is a high probability of another cancellation on Sunday. Because of the same frosts.

The irony is that the cold will not go anywhere next week when the biathletes move to neighboring Uvat. Athletes run the risk of missing out on competitive training for two weeks. Or the organizers will have to go against the rules and start under the current conditions with the approval of the biathletes and coaches. It should be understood that such cancellations will be a strong blow to sponsors and television.