MOSCOW, Jan 8, Alexander Govorov. Biathlete Maxim Tsvetkov is able to help the Russian national team in the first stage of the relay at the Olympic Games in Beijing, said two-time Olympic champion Dmitry Vasiliev. On Saturday, the Russian team finished fifth in the mixed relay at the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof. Tsvetkov ran in the first stage and passed the baton in second place with a lag of 0.4 seconds from the Norwegian team, which won the race. “The coaches are great, they put him in the first stage, because we do not have a reliable first stage. Maxim showed his reliability , now he is one of the contenders for the first stage in the relay at the Beijing Olympics. Even for this it is necessary to take him to the Games. As far as I know, this is not yet the peak of his form — he only improves it. They came from a good New Year's training camp, so we are waiting further progress from Tsvetkov, «- said Vasiliev. The two-time Olympic champion also noted that in yesterday's sprint Tsvetkov was unlucky with the wind situation. The Russian took 54th place, having made four penalties. «Tsvetkov did not really show anything supernatural. He is well prepared. Even in the sprint, if you look at the statistics of the ski run, he looked good. He was the third result among ours. Yesterday in the shooting range. The plan was a lottery, Maxim got into a rush. Today he confirmed the excellent level of the relay — taking into account two «special stages» he actually won the stage together with Tarja Be. Gorgeous performance «, — said the expert.
