Nadymova, Ivanov, Team St. Petersburg and Yahin triumph at Russian nationals

Mar 27, 2019·Nordic Combined

After the end of the Ski Jumping Ladies World Cup, the Russian Nordic Combined skiers had their national Championships in Nizhniy Tagil.

On Friday, in Tagil both men and women competed in Individual Gundersen events on the normal hill.

Stefania Nadymova (Perm region) was the clear winner of the event. Jumping to the lead on the hill, she held a 48-second head start on Glafira Noskova (Perm region). Alexandra Glazunova (St. Petersburg) closed the top three. With a big advantage to rely on, the race was pretty easy for Nadymova and, of course, she was the first at the finish line. Anastasia Goncharova (Krasnoyarsk region) had ended the Ski Jumping part only on the seventh place but the fast skier climbed up to the second place in the race. Svetlana Gladikova (Perm region) , the winner of the Russian Cup this season, finished the third. Alexandra Glazunova, Olga Aristova (Perm region) and Glafira Noskova completed the top six.

On the men's side, Ernest Yahin (Bashkortostan) won the ski jumping part. Yahin would have been only second after the winner of Russian Cup, Timofey Borisov (Moscow region), but Borisov was disqualified due to a non-rule conforming suit. Niyaz Nabeev (Tatarstan) was the second on the hill and Alexandr Pashaev(St. Petersburg)closed the top three, losing leader 20 seconds to the leader.

However, on the track Ernest Yahin was caught by Vitaliy Ivanov(St. Petersburg), who was only fourth on the hill. In the end, Ivanov won the race and Yahin's national title series was ended by him taking the silver medal only. Samir Mastiev (Sverdlovsk region) was the fastest skier of the race and got the bronze. Alexandr Pashaev (St.-Petersburg), Viyacheslav Barkov (Moscow) and Artem Galunin (Nizhniy Novgorod region) completed the top six.

"I'm really satisfied after the race today. It was quite difficult. I managed to catch up Ernest only in the middle of the fourth lap. On the last climb I thought I could ski a bit faster and tried to do it. It was successful and I finished alone", Ivanov said after the race.

On the following day, the athletes competed in a team event. The first team of Moscow region I (Alexandr Kolganov, Vitaliy Sharshavin, Konstantin Abramov, Timofey Borisov) won the Ski Jumping part. Saint-Petersburg team I (Vladimir Strugevich, Ivan Pronin, Vitaliy Ivanov, Alexandr Pashaev) was second and the team of Moscow (Alexandr Milanin, Viyacheslav Barkov, Alexandr Ovsyannikov, Eduard Zhirnov) closed the Top 3.

It was clear that Saint-Petersburg athletes were stronger on the track than two other teams. The race confirmed it and Ivanov crossed the finish line the first again. The team of Moscow region I managed to save their second place and athletes representing the capital took the bronze medal.

"It was very interesting race, I'm happy that we could take medals. Sometimes we show bad cross-country skiing part but today we managed to look much better. On my side, I tried to help my team and when Pashaev caught up with me, I could ski with him together and lost several seconds only right before the exchange. But Pashaev has the World Cup and even the World Championships experience", Alexandr Kolganov tells.

The second team of Saint-Petersburg was fourth, the four of Sverdlovsk region finished fifth. Despite a perfect jump from Ernest Yahin, the team of Bashkortostan couldn't be higher than the sixth.

On Monday, men had to compete on the large hill but due to strong wind the jumping part was cancelled and PCR was be used. Ernest Yahin ended the PCR in pole position with a head start of 1 minute 16 seconds after a 131 metre jump. Runner-up Alexandr Pashaev showed 124,5 meters and Vitaliy Ivanov had 1 minute 19 seconds to make up in the following 10 km Gundersen race.

On the first competition day, Ivanov could close a 50 seconds gap but in this event, he had to accept that gold was not for him. Yahin skied even faster than Ivanov and crossed the finish line the first. Then he had to wait for Ivanov more than 100 seconds. Samir Mastiev was the fastest skier again and thanks to his high speed climbed from the twelfth place to the third position. Konstantin Abramov, Viyacheslav Barkov and Niyaz Nabeev completed the top six.