Biathlon: Latvian bloodshed?
The mood in the Latvian national biathlon team during the final days of the world championships in Lenzerheide (Latvia) was clearly not in the best of moods. There was an incident between Andrejs Rastorgujevs, runner-up in the 2024 mass start, and Ilmar Bricis, coach and partner of his team-mate Baiba Bendika.
According to the sultry Latvian biathlete, he went to see his coach to tell him about an incident last year when his skis were stolen. Andrejs Rastorgujevs accused his coach of being behind the theft. “The whole team was in shock,” explained Baiba Bendika in a story posted on Instagram on Monday afternoon.
Then, according to the biathlete, Ilmar Bricis attacked him. “He attacked me and was very angry. After that, two people from the [Latvian] team came to separate us, Andrejs Rastorgujevs toldLatvian public television. I didn’t expect my coach to act like that. What would happen next? A coach who attacks an athlete is criminally liable.”
An internal investigation is underway
Ilmar Bricis also spoke about the episode. The Latvian coach explained that his biathlete had accused just about every member of the team, including the technicians, of stealing his cross-country skis. “At dinner on Thursday, Rastorgujevs then told Bricis that they needed to talk, but the coach retorted that he would not talk to him until he had apologised to the team of technicians”, the Latvian media reported.
Later that evening, the athlete entered his coach’s bedroom, accusing him by name of stealing his skis. “We didn’t go so far as to hit each other, but we did fight, yes, admits Ilmar Bricis. But you see, neither of us threw a punch. We’re not boxers…”
Andrejs Rastorgujevs claims to have a broken nose, a bruised shoulder and a broken finger. However, all these injuries did not prevent him from finishing twentieth in the mass start of the World Championships on Sunday, a result that came as a great surprise to his coach. The athlete would like to have his injuries assessed at the hospital in Riga (Latvia) and no longer race under Ilmar Bricis.
For the moment, the Latvian Biathlon Federation is refraining from making any comment: it is conducting an internal investigation.
