“What are you all preparing for?” — Babikov was surprised by the poor results of the Russians in the mass start of the Commonwealth Cup

Biathlon world champion Anton Babikov told that he did not understand why so few Russians were in the top 10 following the results of the Alfa-Bank Commonwealth Cup mass start.

Victory in the race from the general start, which took place on Sunday, was won by Olympic medalist Anton Smolsky from Belarus, and his compatriot Ilya Avseenko finished third. Russian Eduard Latypov won second place, Babikov finished fifth.

— Today, six Belarusians entered the top 10. How do you like this result? Where are ours?

— Did you count Latypov? He was also born in Belarus. I was just joking that I was the only Russian at the flower ceremony. Probably, the guys are pursuing other goals, preparing for the main start of the season, probably everyone will be super strong in Zlatoust. In general, I am surprised why 28 people participate in the mass start if we have only 15 strong guys in the team? Where are you all getting ready? My question is: why?

The public has come, we have to please them by performing here. I understand that there are athletes like Alexander Loginov who have not competed for six months, there are those who are sick and cannot compete, but everyone, in my opinion, should go to the line of departure. Here we were talking about a big mass launch, but in the end we didn’t recruit people for the regular launch.

— So you wanted to organize a big mass departure of 60 people?

“Yes, yes, we even thought about how we would take turns in such large numbers, but in the end there are 28 of us. The ranks are thinning, what can I say: it will be easier for people to form a national team “, Babikov told .

Later on Sunday, will broadcast the women’s mass start live, starting at 1:35 p.m. (Moscow time). The show will also be available on the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru websites.