"We support the skiers, but the biathletes have no chance of getting there"

The Technonicol ski and biathlon competition was held in Ryazan on January 3-4. Race of Champions", which brought together most of the current Russian and Belarusian star representatives in both sports. Traditionally, this event is one of the main events in Russia during the New Year holidays. Among the participants were the Olympic champions-2022 in cross-country skiing Tatiana Sorina, Julia Stupak, Denis Spitsov, Olympic medalists in skiing Alexander Terentyev and Ivan Yakimushkin, Olympic medalists in biathlon Eduard Latypov and Irina Kazakevich, as well as the 2017 world champion in biathlon Anton Babikov.

In an interview with Izvestia, Babikov assessed his current form, spoke about the difficulties with training in the Moscow region and assessed the chances of biathletes to be admitted to international competitions in the foreseeable future.

— How satisfied are you with your current form?

— Tolerable form. He'll go for a C.

— How do you survive the holidays? How difficult is it to restrain yourself, given that you have to go on the track on January 3rd?

— This is generally not difficult to do. There just aren't enough ski trails in the country to train. Let's say there is no place to train skiing in the Moscow region. This makes its own adjustments to the preparation. Otherwise, they worked like everyone else. Therefore, it is not difficult to get on the track on January 3 and roll back the race. That wasn't the case there.

"I hope we will be allowed to participate in international competitions soon"

The bronze medalist of the 2022 Olympic Games in biathlon, Eduard Latypov, talks about the chances of returning to the international arena in 2026 and the admission of our skiers to the World Cup

"About what?"

— The race in Ryazan turned out to be a bad one on the first day. It turned out to be a difficult slide — you have to rest, it is impossible to walk for pleasure in such conditions. I wish the sliding was better.

— You said that there is no place to train in the Moscow region. Doesn't even the track in Krasnogorsk pull, where the Russian Cup stage in cross-country skiing took place a couple of years ago?

— Krasnogorsk, it seems to me, has not been pulling at all since the World Cups.

— Compared to last season, the calendar in Russian biathlon has become less dense, there are much fewer stages of the Cup of Russia and the Commonwealth Cup. Is it more convenient for you to perform in such conditions? Or do you want more competition?

— Yes, it doesn't matter at all. The main thing is that high-quality competitions are held.

— We followed the performance of skiers Daria Nepryaeva and Savely Korostelev at the World Cup and the Tour de Ski race, where they were admitted in December. Do you believe that biathletes will soon be allowed to participate in similar competitions?

— Of course, we follow the skiers and cheer for our own. In particular, we watched the Tour de Ski, but there is no chance for biathletes. I think this question is already stupid.