“My legs were shaking terribly” – Usov on men’s relay shooting

Biathlete Daniel Usov representing the Perm region, told about problems with the standing shooting during the men’s relay at the Alfa-Bank Russian Summer Championships in Krasnoyarsk.

Usov competed for the Volga Federal District team in the fourth stage of the relay and won gold with Evgeny Emerkhonov, Nikita Blinov and Ivan Kolotov. The biathletes covered the distance in 1 hour 15 minutes 7.1 seconds, using 15 additional rounds.

— The impressions from the race were great, it was great, I really enjoyed it. It was hard to pull, the line was quite difficult, the wind was blowing back and forth. Especially on the counter, it was something. My legs were shaking terribly, because when you run a team race, you fight and perform not only for yourself, but for the whole team, so the excitement increases several times.

— What thoughts did you have when you entered the stage?

— First of all, I thought about doing my job properly, well, then look at the circumstances. I managed to work well in the lying position, in the standing position it didn’t go so well, but my opponents gave me the opportunity to compete and I took advantage of it.

— You also ran the fourth stage of the mixed relay in Murmansk at the Alfa-Bank Commonwealth Cup last season, not everything went well there

“I even forgot, but now I remember that it was hard there too, and it was the stand that let me down. We have to do something, comply in some way with this position.

— Why did you run the fourth stage? Was that your wish?

– I didn’t express any desire. As I understand it, it’s the coaches’ decision. There are probably developments in the pipeline for the future, I hope.

— What stages of the relay races did you usually run?

— I often ran the second stage when I was competing for the region, but we didn’t have many relay races in my career, you can count them on one hand, because the regional team often didn’t recruit. But I think the second and fourth stages belong to me.

— When you went to the penalty round after the final shot, did you think the fight for gold was still possible?

“I saw my opponents making mistakes, but when I was already gone, the guys still had extra rounds and open targets. I just tried to go through the penalty loop faster to get into the fight.

— When did you realize that winning gold was real?

“When I saw that Materkov had started first and was not so far behind, I understood that I was able to catch up with him and compete for gold.

— What tactic did you choose to fight him?

– We had to catch up with him first. I tried to take the lead immediately, imposed my pace, my speed, he supported it on the steepest climb. And I wanted to work, as I did, already on the plain – there to give my all, but on the descent you can’t do much, because there is almost no strength left, you just roll there. It was clear that I wanted to leave him, and that’s what I did, “Usov told .

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