In Minsk, they spoke in favor of finalizing the admission of Belarusian biathletes to the beginnings in Russia.

MINSK, February 28 – RIA Novosti. Yury Albers, head coach of the Belarus national biathlon team, told RIA Novosti that it would be advisable to further develop the nuances of allowing Belarusian athletes to compete in Russia in order to avoid possible misunderstandings in the future.

Earlier, the Russian Biathlon Union said that Belarusian biathletes on their own initiative refused to participate in the men’s collective start at the Russian Championships in Izhevsk. The big start, where no more than 60 people could attend, was held on Sunday, the winners were Russian Victoria Slivko and Ilnaz Mukhamedzyanov. 42 athletes participated in the women’s race, including three representatives of Belarus. 53 biathletes from the Russian regions participated in the men’s collective debut. Earlier, the Belarusian Biathlon Federation stated that by the decision of the Russian Championship jury, its representatives did not compete in the race.

He noted that at a meeting of the jury in Izhevsk, it was said that Belarusian athletes would not be allowed to participate in the men’s collective start, in which 60 people were selected according to the results of the first two days of the competition. (individual race and super chase). In addition, a small reserve is created in case the athletes refuse to participate in the race. The final roster of the starting order is confirmed two hours before the start of the race.

According to him, due to the fact that Belarusian biathletes were neither among the main participants nor among the reserves, “on the day of the collective start, the athletes and coaches decided to go to training.” Albers also added that two hours before the start of the competition, many Russian athletes refused to participate in the race and were offered to the Belarusian side to start. “By this time, however, the athletes were already in training and the service crews were not ready to service the skis,” the head coach said.

He noted that in such a situation “it was decided that participation on behalf of participation was not an option”. The interlocutor said, “If our athletes had been informed from the beginning that they were in the reserve group, the service team would have prepared the skis and the athletes would set out.” However, Albers stated that it is not realistic and impractical to start in the current situation.

The interlocutor also noted that even in the case of such participation, the Belarusian biathlete Anton Smolsky, who is among the leaders, for example, will start from the last numbers, that is, from the “back rows”, which is also not completely. TRUE.

Albers stressed that the Belarusian side has no resentment towards their Russian counterparts. “We understand that there is a flaw in some regulatory documents,” he said. The interlocutor added that despite the incident, Belarusian biathletes will continue to participate in Russian competitions. “We will continue to attend where our coaches plan to attend … The team has moved to Tyumen, everything is going according to plan,” he said.