Beijing 2022 Results of Day 11: The goal within reach

The Belarusian men's biathlon is doing better and better. Over the past ten years, Belarus’ main achievements in this sport have been associated with the women’s team and four-time Olympic champion Darya Domracheva. The legendary biathlete was on the team that triumphed in the relay in Pyeongchang 2018. The men’s team looked pale against the backdrop of their female teammates. Yet, the coaches, including the famous specialist Yuri Albers, were unanimous that the men’s team held a lot of promise. Time showed that they were right. Four years later, Belarusian athletes were among the medal hopefuls and were very upset that they did not rise to the podium. On the bright side, it is good that there is something to be upset about.

We have a team. We have up-and-coming athletes that we are excited to follow.

The team's head coach Andrei Padin commented on the 8^th place in the 4x7.5km relay:

“The relay left a mixed impression. First, we looked very good in the first two legs and early in the third leg where Maksim Varabei shot accurately and was in the group of leaders. After the standing shooting, our scenario went south. We held our breath as Maksim was shooting at the second range. Unfortunately, he made mistakes and had to do two penalty loops, which threw our team back to the 8th position. Everyone is upset. But this is biathlon, this is sport. You need to live through all these moments and move on. Never give up. Athletes need to be taken care of. They're very upset. Overfocus on the mistakes will not lead to higher results. The guys did well. They gave their best and I thank them for that,” he said.

It should be noted that Team Belarus had the best results (fourth place) in the men's relay in 1994 and 1998.

The men's qualifying in aerials took place on 15 February. Team Belarus fielded three athletes (Makar Mitrafanau was forced to withdraw due to injury). Stanislau Hladchenka placed 12th to qualify for the final. Maksim Gustik and Pavel Dzik did not make it to the final.

Hanna Huskova’s performance on 14 February was an emotional roller-coaster for fans. It was not until the all-important final jump that she proved that she deserved a medal. Thus, on 16 February, all our eyes will be on Stanislau.

The debutant of the Games Pavel Dzik was happy with his performance. “I expected more tension, but everything proceeded in a good competitive atmosphere. I am satisfied with my score (106.20). I got a good experience and now I know what it feels like to take part in the Olympic Games,” he said.

The most pleasant part of the competition took place at the Medal Plaza in Zhangjiakou on Tuesday. Hanna Huskova was presented with a silver award. “I am happy to experience the same feelings as four years ago. It's just over the top! I want to thank those who supported me and rooted for me,” she said.

Hanna Huskova and China’s Xu Mengtao, who clinched the gold medal, are the most decorated active aerials skiers: both of them are Olympic champions and silver medalists!

Viktoriia Safonova performed in the women’s single skating short program in the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing. She executed her program quite well to the song Time to Say Goodbye (Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli). On 17 February, Viktoriia will take to the ice to compete in free skating, which will determine her final position.

It was a pretty good day for Belarusian speed skaters, as Belarus placed 7^th in the Women’s Team Pursuit. Maryna Zuyeva, Yauheniya Varabiova and Ekaterina Sloeva were two seconds ahead of Poland in the final heat.

“We clocked 3:01.19, which was pretty good. We broke a personal record for lowland rinks. We changed tactics a bit before the race against the Poles. In our opinion, it turned out well, and we were able to show a good result,” Yauheniya Varabiova said.

Press service of the NOC of Belarus

Photo by the NOC of Belarus