Foggy Alpensia / Photo by Andrey Ivanov

So, Pyeongchang! The World Cup is sent to the so-called pre-Olympic week or Test event - traditional competitions before each Olympics in the arena of future Games.

Pyeongchang is actually not a city, but a county in northern Korea, not far from the demarcation line with the communist northern neighbors. But the city around which most of the arenas of the Game will be located is called Daegwallyeong-myeon. To the biathlon center from the center of the six-thousandth town - half an hour's drive. And two and a half hours by train (180 km) from the capital Seoul

Alpensia from above / f3nws.com

This is a typical area of ​​winter resorts - something like alpine towns (but, of course, without centuries-old cultural traditions and historical heritage in every village) or - probably, still closer - Bukovel.

Chip Pyeongchang-2018 - for the first time since 1992 White The Olympics will take place not in big city, but in a classic winter resort.

Here it is, Pyeongchang

The Biathlon Center is located in the most famous of the local resorts - Alpensia. The resort is multifunctional - there are also ski jumps, a bobsleigh chute and ski slopes (although it is believed that in terms of their complexity they are more for beginners and middle peasants, and not for pros).

Recall that Pyeongchang submitted its candidacy for another Games of 2010 when they chose Vancouver, and then was the main favorite for 2014 year, but the arrival at the IOC Session in Guatemala, where the capital of the Games was chosen, Russian President Putin decided to vote in favor of Sochi.

In 2006, before the 2014 capital elections, Alpenzia was founded - one of several (and not the only and best in Asia, as someone might consider) winter resorts in this area. The Koreans were so confident that they would get 2014 that they "knocked out" themselves in advance . And before that, and

It was a memorable experience, which is illustratively reminiscent of an interview with the then leader of the Ukrainian national team Andrey Derisemlya ( source - the official portal of the Biathlon Federation of Ukraine ):

“Pyeongchang surprised us from the very beginning, as soon as we checked into the hotel. Imagine: we go into the room, and there is not a single bed, not a single chair, only a wardrobe and high mattresses. But it turned out to be flowers. Berries were found on the track. She was just awful. The snow is thin, not rolled up, no one sprinkles it. This is later the committee international federation strained the organizers, and they stirred. And the first race turned out, one might say, extreme. Like a championship of some region, not a world forum. Before the sprint, we weren’t even allowed to explore the track, it was halfway…washed away by rain… And during the pursuit race, something was messed up with markings… So, in my memory, there was probably no more nervous World Championship.”

Andrey Derizemlya in Pyeongchang in 2009 / biathlon-online.de

AT sports plan Korean World Cup became a benefit Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, who won 4 gold out of six possible. In the sprint, all three places went to the Norwegians. The best Ukrainian result was fourth place Vita Semerenko in the mass start and two places in the top 10 for the aforementioned Derizeml.

After 2009, there were no more biathlon starts in Alpensia, and in preparation for the 2018 Games, which were finally given to Korea, rumors arose about the imminent bankruptcy of the resort. Alpensia's losses amounted to $ 55 million, talking about a possible sale or state assistance.

In Alpensia, biathletes are greeted in all languages ​​spoken in the World Cup / Photo by Andrey Ivanov

Most likely, biathletes who are not too fond of such long journeys, after the Games, will no longer agree to go to stages in Korea. For the development of biathlon in Korea and Asia - which, of course, the organizers spoke pompously during the presentation of the application for the Games - the importance of the track is also quite arbitrary. Yes, . But objectively, this is only for the Olympic principle "not victory, but participation." The rest of the Asians - Japan, China - only occasionally appear in biathlon.

It is very possible that biathlon Alpensia will share the fate of other empty Olympic arenas, but so far the attention of the entire biathlon world has been directed to this “Potemkin village”.

Track in Alpensia (there is no best scheme yet) / hellopyeongchang.com

Alpenzia is the midlands. The track is located at an altitude of 700-800 m above sea level

Time difference from Pyeongchang - 7 hours with Kyiv and 8 with Western and Central Europe. The races will take place in the evening to make it convenient for Europe. This is an important moment, considering also the weather.

The weather promises to be the same as - during the day 6-8 degrees of heat, and in the evening frost, which, to, will require special skills from the service group.

Weather in Pyeongchang for the next weekend

Both leaders overall standings World Cup - Martin Fourcade and Laura Dahlmeier- perform in Pyeongchang.

We have already talked about the missing Norwegians and Simon Schempe. The opponents of Martin Fourcade this season have no tournament motivation - why drive back and forth between time zones.

And Marten, who eight years ago was not yet such a star, but had already competed at the World Championships in Pyeongchang, with a calm soul for the fate of the Big Crystal Globe, conducted a tour of the Olympic track

But the Women's World Cup will fight against Laura Dahlmeier, crushing everyone at the World Cup. Stages after the main start of the season are always rich in surprises - women can expect them, although in the difficult conditions of the new track, service will come to the fore, which means those teams who have a better financial situation.

Just look at this, to put it mildly, porridge on the track / Photo by Andrey Ivanov

All the leaders went to Korea as part of the Ukrainian national team - Dmitry Pidgrushny and Alexander Fat who, for good reasons, missed the social event. The guys will use the same line-up for the last two stages, in Kontiolahti and Oslo, except for Valentina Semerenko, which will end the season after Korea.

Valya Semerenko and Olya Abramova, again changed evening dresses for the usual jumpsuits, Sergey Semenov and Dmitry Pidruchny in training before the sprints in Alpensia / Photo by Andrey Ivanov

the site will broadcast all the races of the stage - two (), two pursuits and two relay races. Race Schedule -

All the winners and the best results of the Ukrainian team on the only two in history international tournaments biathlon in Pyeongchang

• Sprint, men– Emil Egle Svendsen, Norway 1+0. …26 – Alexey Aydarov, Ukraine 0+1, +1:45.5.
• Pursuit, men– Michael Greis, Germany 2+0+1+0 (from 10th place). …31. Vyacheslav Derkach 0+2+1+0 (from 36th place)
• Sprint, women– Magdalena Neuner, Germany 0+2. …28. Lilia Efremova-Vaigina 1+3, 2:23.4
• women's pursuit– Sandrine Bailly, France 0+0+1+0 (from 2nd place). …21. Lilia Efremova-Vaigina 1+0+2+0 (from 21st place)
• mixed relay – Norway 2+7 (Ann Kristin Flatlann – Solveig Rogstad – Hans Jedrem – Alexander Us)… 7. Ukraine (Liliya Efremova-Vaigina 0+3, 0+1; Inna Suprun 0+3, 0+1; Alexey Aydarov 0+ 0, 0+0; Vyacheslav Derkach 0+0, 0+3) +52.7

Men

• Sprint– Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Norway 1+1. …12 – Andrey Derizemlya, Ukraine 2+0, +1:20.2
• Pursuit– Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Norway 0+2+0+2 (from 1st place). …7 – Andrey Derizemlya, Ukraine 0+1+2+1, +2:09.8 (from 12th place)
• individual race – Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Norway 0+0+2+1. … 8 – Andrey Derizemlya, Ukraine 1+0+0+1, +39.1
• mass start– Dominik Landertinger, Austria 2+0+0+1. …23 – Andrey Derizemlya, Ukraine 3+1+2+1, +3:00.8
• Relay race- Norway 2+9 (Emil Egle Svendsen - Lars Berger - Halvard Hanevold - Ole Einar Bjoerndalen). …5 Ukraine (Oleksandr Belanenko 0+1, 0+1 – Vyacheslav Derkach 0+0, 0+0 – Andrey Derizemlya 0+1, 0+1 – Roman Pryma 0+2, 0+0) +1:14.7

Women

• Sprint– Kati Wilhelm, Germany 0+0. …15 – Valentina Semerenko, Ukraine 1+1, +1:42.1
• Pursuit– Helem Ekholm, Sweden 2+0+0+0 (from 5th place). …31 – Vita Semerenko, Ukraine 0+0+3+0, +1:52.6 (from 26th place)
• individual race– Kati Wilhelm, Germany 0+1+0+0. …12 – Vita Semerenko, Ukraine 0+1+0+0, +2:01.7
• mass start– Olga Zaitseva, Russia 0+0+1+1. …4 – Vita Semerenko, Ukraine 0+0+0+0, +34.6
• Relay race- Russia 0 + 9 (Sleptsova - Frolina - Medvedtseva - Zaitseva). …DNF Ukraine (Elena Pidgrushna 1+3, 0+2 – Valentina Semerenko 1+3, 0+2 – Oksana Khvostenko – Vita Semerenko)

mixed relay

France 0+6 (Marie Laure Brunet - Sylvie Becar - Vincent Defran - Simon Fourcade). …11 – Ukraine (Oksana Khvostenko 0+1, 0+3 – Valentina Semerenko 0+0, 0+1 – Oleksandr Belanenko 0+1, 0+0 0 Andrey Deryzemlya 0+3, 0+2)

And this is required attribute- mascots of Pyeongchang-2018 / Photo by Andrey Ivanov

The Biathlon World Championship in Hochfilzen has already become part of history, and after a short break, the World Cup resumes with the next stage in Korean Pyeongchang. The pre-Olympic week will begin on Thursday, March 2, with the women's sprint. Athletes will also run a pursuit and a relay race.

Bjoerndalen sets an example for the young

The biathletes have a very tense week and a half ahead, because after the end of the stage in Korea they will have to make another long flight to Finland, where the eighth stage of the World Cup, transferred from Tyumen, will take place. Because of this schedule, it has already become known that many of the strongest will not fly to Pyeongchang.

The leader of the German national team decided to follow the example of the tired Norwegians and not fly to Korea, citing illness.

“There is no point in flying sick. I hope I can recover quickly for the stage in Finland,” Schempp told Sport1.de.

Russians in the period of stagnation

Women turned out to be more persistent than the stronger sex, and all the leaders of the season will take part in the fight for cup points. This can also be explained by the nature of the struggle for the Big Crystal Globe, where for men Anton, who occupies the second line in the overall standings, can only in theory win back 330 points from Martin Fourcade, but for this something out of the ordinary must happen.

For women, the fight is in full swing, and the German World Cup leader is ahead of last year's Globe winner by only 46 points, so it is extremely dangerous to miss starts.

The fight for the first place in the season for women will be sharp, and it cannot be confidently stated that Dahlmeier, who won five gold and one silver medals in Austria, won the world championship in Hochfilzen, and will calmly hold the first place in the overall standings. Moreover, after such tension and emotional outburst, the German woman may not have the strength to continue victorious pace in Korea and Finland.

Koukalova is quite capable of taking advantage of the inevitable decline in Dahlmeier's form after the main start of the season and impose a fight on her. As for Kaisa Mäkarainen from Finland, who closes the top three in the overall standings, she is 81 points behind the Czech diva, and it will be extremely difficult to recoup.

Russian coaching staff decided to conduct a cautious experiment with the composition of the women's team.

The already proven Tatiana, Irina Uslugina will be joined by the 23-year-old, for whom this will be her debut in the World Cup.

Mironova is performing this season in the IBU Cup, where she has never climbed the podium, and her best results were two fourth places.

the legendary biathlete handed over a sable jacket “made by the best craftsman in Krasnoyarsk”.

Now he has a great opportunity to present himself with a present in the form of a second final place in the overall World Cup standings. In the absence of Schempp and Shipulin, he can far break away from his closest pursuers and bring the title of vice-champion of the season closer.

The challenge to the national team of Shopin and Makhambetov is interesting. Chopin, 24, has already started at this season's World Cups in Östersund and Oberhof, but his best result was 31st in the pursuit in Germany.

His peer Makhambetov will make his big biathlon debut and got in good shape, climbing to the podium of the IBU Cup stage in Osrbli, Slovakia at the beginning of the month.

Lack of a leader German team Schemppa can also affect the layouts in the fight for the Small Cup in the relay standings. The Russian team leads in this discipline with a small margin of 17 points from the German team, but in Korea they will get a chance to increase the advantage over a weakened opponent.

Five minutes to the winner of the sixth Grand crystal globe Fourcade continues to chase Bjoerndalen's record for most wins in a season.

At the moment, the Frenchman has 11 individual success, and he lacks just one victory to catch up with the great Norwegian. In the case of a very likely victorious double in Pyeongchang, Fourcade will beat the achievement of the king of biathlon. And the repetition of the record for the number of victories in the overall World Cup is just around the corner.

The ill-fated Pyeongchang

Russian fans have mixed feelings about the Korean biathlon stadium.

In 2009, the World Cup was held here, which was remembered for several events that were opposite in nature. Sleptsova,

Korea follows in the footsteps of Russia

For the Games in Sochi, the Russian Olympic team was joined by Korean and American Vic Wild, who brought us gold medals in short track and snowboarding. The Koreans not only do not lag behind, but already surpass the Russians in the naturalization of foreign athletes on the eve of the home Olympics.

Speaking in the World Cup for the Russian national team, Lapshin twice became the winner of relay races, and also climbed the podium three times in individual starts. His best result career - sprint silver in the 2011/12 season. And the post of head coach of the national team is occupied by the former Russian biathlete. I wonder if the Koreans will be able to next year turn quantity into quality.

More news, materials and statistics can be viewed at winter views sports, as well as in groups of the sports department in social networks

The biathlon season after the end of the World Cup is close to its finale. So, from March 2 to March 5, South Korean Pyeongchang will host the 7th stage of the Biathlon World Cup 2017. Note that there are 9 stages in the World Cup calendar, and therefore the outcome is close.

Biathlon 7th stage of the World Cup: schedule

We bring to your attention full schedule 7 stages of the Biathlon World Cup, which will be held in Korean Pyeongchang. Taking into account the fact that stage will pass in South Korea, starts start earlier than usual. So, the first race of stage 7 will be the women's 7.5 km sprint, which will take place on March 2 and start at 14:15 Moscow time. The next day, March 3, the men will run the 10 km sprint.

On March 4, two pursuit races will take place. At 12:45 the women will start the 10 km race, and at 14:30 the men will start (12.5 km).
Finally, for dessert, on March 5 - the last day of the stage - two relay races were left. At 10:30 the women will run the 4 x 6 km relay race, and at 13:45 the men's relay will start (4 x 7.5 km).

The composition of the Russian national biathlon team for the 7th stage of the World Cup 2017

Let's talk about part of the Russian national biathlon team for the 7th stage of the World Cup 2016-2017 in Pyeongchang. It looks like this. Note that Olga Podchufarova will most likely miss the stage due to injury, and Eliseev, Volkov, Loginov and Malyshko will take part in the IBU Cup in Kontiolahti.

Women: Svetlana Sleptsova, Tatyana Akimova, Irina Starykh and Irina Uslugina, Svetlana Mironova

Men: Anton Shipulin, Evgeny Garanichev, Anton Babikov, Maxim Tsvetko, Yuri Shopin and Timur Makhambetov.

Biathlon World Cup 2016-2017: overall standings

In conclusion, about the position in the overall standings of the Biathlon World Cup 2016-2017. In men, the Frenchman Martin Fourcade is leading by a huge margin, with 1020 points. The Russian Anton Shipulin, who is in second place, has 690 points, while the German Simon Schempp, who closes the top three, has 673 points.

Germany's Laura Dahlmeier leads the women's standings with 903 points. In second place is Gabriela Soukalova from the Czech Republic - 857 points, in third - Finland's Kaisa Makkarainen (776). The best of the Russians - Tatyana Akimova - closes the top ten with 457 points.

Our tourists can’t run or shoot at someone else’s expense, it’s time for them to participate in competitions at their own expense, then maybe the results will be treated more responsibly. Well, the nags are tired of this hopelessness.

And I am against putting Mironov under the current TS. Shooting will not appear, and the move will disappear. Now the skis in the national team are smeared according to Yakovlev's order.

paris, well, they don’t have the right to put Akimov (the leader) where they please, since the first 15 in the total choose the group themselves

The last group will not give an advantage, so they will run late in the evening, but what state of the track will be - that's the question

Hatam, the rights you are talking about are of a recommended nature,
and are not law. Coaches have the right to put even the leader (against his will) at the end of the list.

Sveta Mironova good luck in the race and be careful at the shooting range. and then luck will turn to you.

Anna Di, with a small pile, I agree, she will bypass, but with a large pile ..., well, I don’t know, she will have to try hard if Sveta is also not carried away by the production of piles - and she can do it, we know. :))

Forward! You have to show yourself on the Olympic track. If only Mironova coped with the shooting, and our servicemen with lubrication.

Anna Di, Deniz kicks all of ours, as if they were lying down.

DimaN1951, someone is Deniz... kicking with a bunch of penalty loops... Sleptsov, as a standing one will bypass) good luck to everyone! especially Mironova!

Frolina and Avvakumova start in the top thirty,
and the owner knows best places in home…))

Sveta Mironova, go for it! Well, Tanya and Ira too! I don't want anything for Sleptsova. Service points to earn.

From an interview with Alikin: ... “In 2009 we competed on artificial snow - now, as I understand it, it will be the same. This is a big concern for the service: training was during the day, and by the evening the sun was freezing. The Norwegians in 2009 realized this, showed up in the last group in the sprint, got well smeared - they had 20-30 seconds of advantage from the circle ... ”It turns out that Mironova was the luckiest of all ?!

Interesting combinations formed:
Akimova should try to catch up with Hammershmidt and run away from Jima;
The old ones should try to catch up with Pidgrushnaya and run away from Merkushina.
The rest, God forbid, do not let yourself overtake:
Sleptsova - Herrmann;
Service - Domracheva (hopeless if Daria does not shoot herself);
Mironova - Emonier (quite capable).
And everything will be fine! :)

Sveta Mironova double luck! On the descents, be careful, the track is broken.

Many leaders are closer to the tail, "hope it will freeze? Good luck to the girls. I wish Sveta Mironova to get into the GP.

paris, what hazing? The right to start in a comfortable group must be won by a position in the leading group of the WC overall standings. Mironova does not have such a right, since there are no points in the KM standings at all, but if she breaks up, she will receive.

Again, young people are at the end of the list, like hazing in the army.

On March 2, the next stage of the Biathlon World Cup starts in Pyeongchang, South Korea. These competitions are of particular importance for Koreans, as they will become a dress rehearsal on the eve of the 2018 Olympics, which will be held in this Korean town.

Our team arrived in Korea a few days ago and conducted training and shooting. Judging by the statements of the athletes, the track has its own specifics - different snow, rather steep climbs that place high demands on functional training, as well as sometimes sudden side gusts of wind. In addition, the weather brings surprises. AT last days in Pyeongchang, a stable "plus" has been established, during the day the temperature exceeds 7-8 degrees Celsius, and therefore there is practically no snow on the slopes of the hills. A layer is supported on the track, but it is wet. By evening, the temperature drops, heavy snow is expected at night, and warming again during the day. In general, maintenance crews of prefabricated will have to rack their brains to guess with lubricants in order to ensure optimal glide.

Judging by the declared composition, Russia brought its own the best composition. The women's team included Svetlana Sleptsova, Tatyana Akimova, Irina Starykh, Irina Obluzhina and Svetlana Mironova, and the men's team included Anton Shipulin, Evgeny Garanichev, Anton Babikov, Maxim Tsvetkov, as well as Yuri Shopin and Timur Makhambetov.

Note that we will have to see many other Russian names among the participants. In particular for the home team - South Korea- Four athletes well-known to Russians will perform at once: Anna Frolina (Bulygina), Ekaterina Avvakumova, Timofey Lapshin and Alexander Starodubets. All of them have already received Korean citizenship and will now defend the honor of Korea both now and at the 2018 Olympics.

The World Cup will open with a women's sprint. A feature of the races in Korea will also be the fact that they will take place late. For example, the women's sprint will start at 9 pm local time. Male sprint March 3 - at seven in the evening. This is done for the convenience of the audience, the lion's share of which falls on the European region.

The World Cup stage in Pyeongchang has already been marked by a small scandal. On the way to Korea, the famous Norwegian athlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. Loss of things was discovered when transferring to Helsinki on a Seoul flight. However, the athlete himself took everything with humor. “They stole my new ski goggles, headlamp, wireless speaker, as well as a laser medical device. Now someone rides with glasses in good light and probably with good music,” Bjoerndalen joked.