They fought and won

The final of the Snow Sniper competition ended in Raubichi

In the days when the final stage of the Snow Sniper was held in Raubichi, the famous biathlete, multiple world championship winner Liudmila Kalinchik was in the thick of things. The senior judge in the start and finish area saw all the emotions of the schoolchildren and, when the competition was over, she said: there were both joy and tears. “I personally approached the athletes. I told them that they don’t need to get upset — they need to analyse unsuccessful races and move forward with the hope that everything will work out next year,” Liudmila admitted. Despite the fact that these competitions are amateur, and none of the guys taking part in them go in for biathlon in youth sports schools, Snow Sniper is still real and serious competition.

Intrigue until the last metres

The finalists of the Snow Sniper have been preparing for the final stage of the tournament for months. Milana Romanyuk from Novogrudok, who won the sprint on Friday and the mass start on Sunday, for example, said that she trained very hard: every day she went to the Selets sports and biathlon complex. It was not easy to train and study at the same time, but the girl did it! Schoolchildren from Mozyr started training in August: first they trained on roller skis, then on skis.


By and large, each of the finalists has already become a winner, having passed the qualifying stages in their schools, then districts and regions. But no one wanted to stop there. Therefore, the intensity of the struggle in some races was simply amazing. In the mass start among young boys of middle age, all three medallists finished in the interval of 8.4 seconds. In a similar race among older boys, the struggle was no less stubborn. And the mixed relay race in the middle age group tickled the nerves of all those present. Especially the final stage.
The finalist of the Minsk team Yaroslav Shulpenkov was the first to run to the track, and Roman Dashkevich from the team of the Mogilev Region took the baton after 22.8 seconds. But after the first approach of the guys to the shooting range, the alignment of forces changed. Shulpenkov went for four penalty loops, while Dashkevich, using only one extra round, hit all the targets and ran away. At the second shooting range, Roman already encountered problems — he was forced to swim two penalty laps. Yaroslav, in turn, managed with two additional rounds, but went to the distance behind an opponent from Mogilev Region. Soon he caught up with him and walked around. It seemed that disputes about the winner were closed, but just before the finish, Yaroslav Shulpenkov fell. However, he didn’t get lost! So — sitting and helping himself with his hands — and crossed the line, bringing victory to his quartet, which also included Milissa Popko, Liana Golovachenko and Bogdan Bobrik — the gap from Mogilev team was only 4.3 seconds. 

“If I tried to stand up, I would lose! The guys from my team, of course, were delighted with the victory. They also said that it was the most unusual finish!” the slightly embarrassed boy said after the race.

Well, it’s a fair point…  

The format has changed, but not the essence

The final of the Snow Sniper, which ended in Raubichi, became the 15th in history. In recent years, the decisive stage of the competition invariably takes place in the main biathlon complex of the country, but this was not always the case. The chief referee of the tournament and the head coach of our national biathlon team Yuri Albers recalled: 5–6 years ago everything was quite different, “Winters were not always snowy, so shooting and cross-country skiing and sometimes cross-country competitions were held separately. The tournament has improved over the years. Now the finalists are performing in Raubichi in excellent conditions and on an excellent track. Before the final stage, there are training camps that help them open up.”

After the races, the coaches carefully study the protocols and analytics of the races so as not to miss the talented guys. Not all participants of the Snow Sniper will become professional biathletes, but these competitions will certainly remain in their memory for a long time.

Medals and cups, prizes from the Presidential Sports Club and cash certificates, which were awarded to the winners and prize-winners of the competition by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Petrishenko, Sport and Tourism Minister Sergei Kovalchuk, Education Minister Andrei Ivanets and more will be a wonderful reminder of the busy days in Raubichi for the guys who have already returned home.

By Tatiana Pastushenko
Photos by BELTA, Aleksei Vyazmitinov