Sleptsova Wins Farewell Sprint
Svetlana Sleptsova of Russia and Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen won yesterday the season’s last gold medals in the Biathlon World Cup final in Holmenkollen, Oslo. Sleptsova was the first in the ladies sprint of 7.5km and Svendsen triumphed in the men’s 10km. The Big Crystal Globes went to Norway’s Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and German Magdalena Neuner even before the last competition.
The speculations about shelving or even cancelling the World Cup’s final in Holmenkollen, Norway, had been heard until the day before yesterday. This famous biathlon center of the world was actually flooded because of the early snow melting in Norway. But hosting the World Cup final was apparently a matter of honor for Norway, so the arrangers applied the best efforts to rescue the remains of the track.
As a result, the track was hard enough at the starting meadow, but it was quite another matter in the wood, with biathletes not running but rather stumping in the snow slush. Of all ladies, Svetlana Sleptsova of Khanty-Mansiysk was the best to cope with difficulties. With a single miss from the standing-up, Sleptsova had enough technique and stamina to outpace the track hostess Tora Berger by 7.4 seconds and Olympic champion Kati Wilhelm of Germany by 9.9 despite that the shots of both Berger and Wilhelm were accurate by 100 percent.
For Svetlana, it was the second victory this season and, overwhelmed by the heat of the moment, she even said she would end the career, as the tonality was major enough for it. Svetlana changed her mind very soon, promising to compete in the pursuit “if the health permits.” The good news is that in addition to Sleptsova, two more ladies of Russia – Ekaterina Yurieva (the 6th in the 7.5km sprint) and Natalia Guseva (24) will start the pursuit amid the first thirty by results of the final competition.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 14, 2008
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