Nadymova, Yahin and a returned Ivanov win Russian summer nationals
Oct 06, 2020·Nordic Combined
The competitions of the National Championships at the Olympic venue in Sochi were the first competitions for the Russian Nordic Combined athletes since March. As all participants noted, it was a great feeling to take part in competitive events again.
On Saturday, in Sochi both men and women competed in Individual Gundersen events on the normal hill.
Stefania Nadymova was the clear winner of the women’s event. Jumping to the lead on the hill, she held only a one-second a headstart on Maria Yakovleva. However, Yakovleva wasn't able to take part in the 5-km race and so Svetlana Gladikova, who was third on the hill, was Nadymova’s closest pursuer but more than a minute behind her at the start.
With a big advantage to rely on, the race went well for Nadymova and she was the first at the finish line. Anastasia Goncharova had ended the Ski Jumping part only on the sixth place, but the fast skier climbed up to the second place in the race. Svetlana Gladikova finished third. Alexandra Glazunova, Chulpan Valieva and the youngest participant Maria Kuzmina completed the top six.
On the men's side, Timofey Borisov won the ski jumping part. Ernest Yahin was only second and lost 36 seconds for the start of the race. Konstantin Abramov was in third.
On the track Borisov was caught by Yahin quite fast. The racing shapes of these two athletes are very different now, team leader Yahin won this battle clearly. Samir Mastiev was the fastest skier of the race and got the silver medal in the end. Vitaly Ivanov finished in third. It is a great result for the athlete who wasn't able to train for nine months after his knee injury. Vitaly Sharshavin, Alexandr Milanin and Konstantin Abramov completed the top six.
On Monday, the men competed on the large hill. Ernest Yahin ended the jumping round in pole position with a head start of 15 seconds. Runner-up Vitaly Ivanov showed the longest jump on 130 meters but his judge marks were low. Timofey Borisov was on rank three after the jumping part.
Vitaly Ivanov closed the gap already on the first lap. Until the finish meters the athletes worked together but on the last downhill Ivanov chose the right way and didn't allow Yahin to win again but set a strong win in his comeback after his ACL injury last year. Samir Mastiev claimed the bronze medal, Vyacheslav Barkov was fourth, Alexandr Kolganov finished in fifth and Timofey Borisov closed the top six.
Reporting by Anastasia Shuhova
