Biathlon: the quality of cartridges called into question
The war in Ukraine, which has already lasted more than a thousand days, is once again making headlines around the world. In a week of significant escalation in the conflict, the focus has been on Vladimir Putin‘s new experimental Orechnik missile and the US decision to allow Volodymyr Zelensky‘s army to use ATACMS missiles against Russian territory.
It is against this backdrop that biathletes Eduard Latypov, Said Karimulla Khalili and Alexander Loginov are currently competing in the Commonwealth Cup. A mass-start is scheduled for noon Moscow time on Sunday. It will be televised on Match TV. A women’s competition will be held at 9 a.m. with the best biathletes.
A total of eighteen races are scheduled on this circuit. Five have already taken place, putting Tamara Derbusheva and Belarusian Anton Smolski at the top of the provisional overall rankings.
So the Nordic discipline lives its life. The races take place, the journalists interview the athletes and the public applauds their exploits. A winter routine that seems oblivious to current events. Or almost.
“We have companies that produce cartridges of the required calibre, but they are not of the highest quality,” three-time world champion Ivan Cherezov told VseProSport yesterday. In his opinion, they are not as good as those found in Western Europe.
We used to buy our cartridges in the West.
in the West, but because of sanctions
this is now prohibited.Dmitriy Vasilyev
Anton Babikov and Alexander Loginov have also complained. The former has even hinted that the problem could lead to the end of his sporting career. Two-time Olympic champion Dmitriy Vasilyev, now President of the St Petersburg Biathlon Federation, has also sounded the alarm. He told the press: “There is simply no new high-quality cartridge. Some people use leftovers and try to save as much as possible. (…) [Before], we used to buy them in the West, but because of the sanctions, that’s now banned. (…) We can still get by this year, but next year we’ll be faced with a colossal problem. In times like these, it’s vital that the state gets involved. There are no longer any private factories; as I understand it, they have become the property of the state. (…) Otherwise, we will find ourselves in a very difficult situation, leading to a complete paralysis of the entire biathlon.”
The battle has been raging ever since. Officially, as Viktor Maygurov, president of the national federation, told RBC.ru, “if there are problems, they only concern one or two athletes. That doesn’t mean that everyone has problems. We can buy ammunition”.
“In the national team, there are no problems with cartridges in terms of quantity, but in terms of quality, yes, but that’s always been the case,” his manager Alexander Pak said on Match TV.
“We’re not in the same situation as before, when the borders were open. There are gaps now, but we are adapting in one way or another and trying to find high-quality cartridges, Eduard Latypov more or less confirmed. According to him, “the stock of ammunition” is sufficient and “will enable us to work efficiently this season.”
Two-time Olympic champion Olga Zaitseva was less optimistic. “Cartridges are expensive and buying them requires significant financial resources, especially for athletes who train individually.”
During competitions, Russian biathletes shoot with Western cartridges, during training sessions with national equipment. This is what Alexander Pak said before adding: “Because foreign cartridges are expensive. It doesn’t matter how we import them, via parallel circuits.”
