Olympic Biathlon 2022: Russian Biathlon is Ready to Regain its Former Position

Over the past two Olympics, Russian athletes have only won one bronze medal. Will they be able to rehabilitate themselves at the Beijing Games? Our prediction: the Russians will win at least three awards this time.

Over the past decade, the Russian biathlon has accustomed us to constant failures. Leaving aside those awards that have already been taken away from the Russian team due to violations of anti-doping rules, we have only one bronze medal from the Sochi Olympics, Evgeniy Garanichev, in the individual event. At Pyeongchang, the Russians could only enter four athletes, who ended up not winning a single medal.

The current biathlon season also got off to an unsuccessful start. Eduard Latypov brought the first medal for Russia at the fourth stage of the World Cup in Annecy. This local success is the first step towards the future triumph of the team. By now, the Russian athletes have already got 15 medals in their portfolio, including four gold, six silver and five bronze ones.

Obviously, the Russians are in good shape, so they can seriously count on several awards at the Beijing Olympics. Alexander Loginov is ready to fight for medals in the sprint, Eduard Latypov has successful experience in the pursuit. Said Karimulla Khalili can be pleasantly surprising in the individual events. Kristina Reztsova is a versatile biathlete so she can get on the podium anywhere.

Biathlon is a highly competitive sport, where numerous sensations occur at each Olympics. After a series of unsuccessful seasons, the Russian athletes are ready to fight. We can expect a couple of medals from the men one or two medals from the ladies, but the main trump card of the Russian team is the team spirit, so the main hopes are related to the relay races. So, at least three times, Russian biathletes must get on the podium and bet on the total over 2.5 medals of the Russian team.