Beijing 2022 Results of Day 3: One shot away from the podium

Monday, 7 February, could well become the "Belarusian" day at the 24^th Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

In Zhangjiakou all eyes were on biathletes. The Women’s 15km Individual was often successful for Belarusian athletes in the past. This day will be remembered by Dzinara Alimbekava. She proved that she is in excellent shape, and only one unfortunate miss separated her from the podium. As a result, she finished in 5^th.

In any case, experts have agreed that it was a good result for the Olympic Games!

Senior coach of the Belarusian women's biathlon team Oleg Ryzhenkov summed up the results of the Women's 15km Individual:

“Dzinara's fifth place is not a defeat! She earned points, after all. Many may see this place differently, from different angles and in different ways. For some, it would be an incredible result that one can only dream of, for others – a failed podium finish. Sport is cruel, but it's beautiful. Competition is tough! But only in this way we temper the will and thirst for victory! Dzinara is a strong girl, she will get over it and make the right conclusions, especially since many races are still ahead.”

Hanna Sola got herself together, probably, only after two shooting bouts. She probably did not understand what had happened. She did well at the last two shooting bouts. She shot in the way and rhythm she was supposed to. This, in my opinion, is important for her before the sprint race. She did well on the running track.

Iryna Leshchanka was over-focused on this race. Probably, it did her more bad than good. Small inaccuracies cost her four missed shots.  Many biathletes shot extremely well today. One mistake in the individual race means one minute added to the result, which is almost impossible to win back on the track. Iryna did her best today.

It is a pity that Elena Kruchinkina performed poorly at the second firing bout. Three misses was too many. She was out of competitive practice for a long time (she competed last on 16 January). In January she also had a bad cold. She missed the World Cup in Antholz. Lack of competitive practice does affect the final result.

On 7 February two Belarusian speed skaters competed in the women’s 1500m. This event has always been known as one of the most difficult ones, because this is not a sprint, not yet a long-distance race. The biggest challenge here is to distribute the energy in the right way throughout the race. This task was perfectly accomplished by the Netherlands’ Ireen Wust who won the race setting a new Olympic record in the process and became a two-time Olympic champion. Unfortunately, the Belarusian speed skaters came up empty-handed, with Ekaterina Sloeva finishing 16th and Maryna Zuyeva placing 23rd.

Ekaterina Sloeva’s performance could not win her a place on the podium, but it was certainly a kind of experience she could put under her belt.

“It was quite a good Olympic debut, yet Ekaterina could do much better. As for the leader of the Belarusian team, Maryna Zuyeva, I believe she is just picking up steam. We hope she will be able to move into top gear at the 5000m event and to get into top 8 at the very least,” senior coach for reserve in the national speed skating team Aleksandr Novakovich said. 

Press service of the NOC of Belarus

Photos by BelTA and the NOC of Belarus