MOSCOW, January 14, Alexander Govorov. Relay medal for the Russian women's team in biathlon was made possible thanks to the unsuccessful performance of the Belarusian athlete Anna Sola at the last stage, said the former president of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) Vladimir Drachev. The Russian women's biathlon team took third place in the relay at the World Cup stage in Ruhpolding, Germany. The winner was the French team, which covered the distance in 1 hour 10 minutes 50 seconds and used four extra cartridges on eight firing lines. The Belarusian team, which claimed the medal, fell back to fifth place at the last stage. Anna Sola went to the penalty loop after the first shooting. «Of course, it's fair to say that Reztsova made the greatest contribution to this medal. But I would also add Sola here. She gave us a gift, losing a minute at the stage — this still needs to be managed. Of course «We rooted for both the Russian and the Belarusian teams. Here ours jumped ahead. It is clear that in general the team is not ready for such relay races. Everyone is in a precarious condition, except for one athlete. Without penalty loops, we walked with a big lag along the way. I would like to hope that the girls will improve before the Olympics,» said Drachev. The former head of the RRF also noted that the real place of the Russian women's team in the relay race is from fourth to sixth.» Only the Norwegians and Swedes put up the second squad. «If there were main Norwegians, everything would be different. Germans and Belarusians did not perform very well. So it turns out that our place is fourth, fifth or sixth. I don't think that this positive will give a big impetus to the team. Here it does not happen that suddenly they will run faster. It's just a joyful moment in a particular race,» Drachev added.
