New wave of talent in Belarusian biathlon

A young biathlete dubbed the ‘next Domracheva’ and plus one athlete in the men’s team — the season has not yet begun, but Belarusian biathletes are already making headlines

Gleb Orlovsky, Belarusian biathlete  

The start of the new biathlon season is just around the corner. Our shooting skiers have already begun training on snow in Russia’s Khanty-Mansiysk, and in mid-November, they will hold their first winter event within the International Biathlon Club League (IBCL). Before heading off to training camps, the athletes underwent testing, the results of which were quite intriguing in some aspects. “We have Darya Domracheva’s testing data from her youth and in adult sports. So we make comparisons and assessments of both the national team athletes and young biathletes against these models,” shared Roman Malukha, the head coach of the women’s national team, during the Sport-Kadr TV programme. “Yelena Kulak had an excellent test regarding the development of her lactate system. However, it is important not to rush but to proceed methodically, as there is a risk that even though an athlete performs well in their youth, we might lose them in adult sports. It is crucial to do everything consistently.” 
Another Belarusian athlete — Gleb Orlovsky — is being gradually prepared for the transition to senior biathlon. Roman Sinichenko, the head coach of the men’s national team, has recently remarked in an interview with sport5.by when talking about his team’s composition, “Our approved national team roster is complete, plus we will have the young athlete, Gleb Orlovsky, with us. We are testing him, monitoring, and trying him out.”    
This summer, the biathlete was already involved in training with the national team, but Roman Sinichenko says he still needs to prove himself in competitions.  
So who are those who stand out from the entire reserve today? In fact, 19-year-old Yelena Kulak and 20-year-old Gleb Orlovsky have quite a lot in common. Both hail from Minsk Region: from Logoisk and Stolbtsy districts. They underwent training in an experimental group at the Novopolotsk Olympic Reserve School and have repeatedly won the Belarusian Biathlon Federation Cup — a youth tournament modelled on the World Cup format. Interestingly, they have also stood on the podium together as the biathletes have often triumphed in mixed relays.
Yelena Kulak has more competitive experience at the international level — currently, in Belarusian-Russian competitions, due to well-known reasons. She has participated in the Commonwealth Cup and the spartakiad of the strongest, which took place in Zlatoust in February. At the end of summer, the biathlete became the winner of the national junior championship in summer biathlon for the second consecutive time. When communicating with journalists, she admitted that she was pleased with the achievement, yet ‘chasing the leaders of the national team is currently completely unrealistic. They are very experienced and strong, and competing with them is difficult’. Meanwhile, Gleb Orlovsky created a minor sensation at the same tournament. In the mass start, which Anton Smolski and Ivan Tulatin missed, the young biathlete made it onto the podium. He became the silver medallist, finishing just 18.5 seconds behind the winner — Maksim Varabei — having the same number of misses. By the way, he finished almost the same time ahead of bronze medallist Mikita Labastau.

By Tatiana Litvinova