The season has not been easy for multiple champion and Olympic medalist Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. The Norwegian skated poorly in the season, as a result of which he did not fulfill the selection criteria for the Olympics. Bjoerndalen was offered to play for Belarus, but the Norwegian refused. Now Ole Einar is faced with a choice - to compete one more season and perform at the World Championships or end a long glorious career.

Bjoerndalen is rumored to be running for president International Union biathletes, who will leave Anders Besseberg after a quarter-century reign. Some, like Björndalen's former team-mate Lars Berger, suggest that the King just wants to relax with his family.

“For the Norwegian team, the main start of the four-year period turned out to be successful. Our athletes have done a great job and deservedly entered the number of medalists. I think Ole Einar did a lot for the sport. Now a new chapter has come in his life: to be happy with Daria Domracheva. I think he will continue to train, as well as help his wife both in sports and in life. However, how much strength does he have in order to continue performing?! Maybe a little over a year. But nobody knows. In any case, it seems to me that Björndalen is now happier than ever," Berger quotes Sports Panorama.

However, Bjoerndalen’s wife, Daria Domracheva, said that the family’s plans for now are just to finish the season, and then discuss both a possible addition to the family and the continuation of performances at the highest level: “I plan to make a decision about further career until the end of November, that is, before the start of the next season. This is absolutely true, I promise boldly! But seriously, now I'm not focused on this issue. I tune in to each next competition and want to perform as best as possible.

I don’t want to make a rash decision, so that later in a few months I will regret it, and maybe even bite my elbows. After all, I am a responsible person, if I decide something, then then I try not to let anyone down. When Ole and I finish the season, we will rest a bit and talk about this topic. For Ole current season, apparently the most difficult in his career. During the summer he had some problems with physical form, which prevented in the end to speak at the Olympics. And everyone who knows him even to a minimal extent realizes what a serious blow it was. My husband really wanted to be part of the Norwegian Olympic team. I always tried to support him and, of course, I was also upset because of this situation. But Ole joined the Belarusian team in Pyeongchang, even becoming a symbol of the women's team.

Did the situation with missing the Norwegian squad irritate him? He must answer this question himself. Him to make decisions, and time will tell. Including in the light of the hypothetical coaching work in the Norwegian national team. But I think he liked the experience in the Belarusian national team. The team atmosphere was amazing. So... Perhaps Ole will consider continuing his coaching career."

And for Anastasia Kuzmina and her brother Anton Shipulin, the problems of continuing their careers have different shades. Born in Tyumen, brother and sister are the leaders of their teams, but if Kuzmina wins everything at the Olympics and World Cups and has tremendous support from the Federation, then Shipulin is more likely in spite of than thanks to the Russian SBR. miscalculations in training plans and starting schedules led to the fact that, according to Anton himself, there is simply no strength for the last stages.

Kuzmina, on the contrary, may feel a lack of motivation to continue the fight, and if Finnish Kaisa Mäkäräinen also finishes and, according to rumors, German Laura Dahlmeier, then Kuzmina will simply have no one to compete with, although the upcoming World Cup in 2019 may force the Slovak to continue running and shoot. Anton Shipulin, as the only consistently combat-ready Russian biathlete, will be asked to stay for another year and also to the World Championships, where, according to the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Pavel Kolobkov, Shipulin has the potential for a medal. Also, Shipulin can spend another year as a mentor to the new Russian talent, Igor Malinovsky, but we will not know the final decisions of the athletes until April Fool's Day, when both the World Cup and national championships will be held.

The leader not admitted to the Olympics in Pyeongchang Russian team in biathlon, Anton Shipulin, in an interview with Match TV, spoke about who supported him in a situation when it finally became clear that he would not go to the Games, and admitted that the reaction of foreign biathletes did not disappoint him. As you know, at the Games-2018 from the special commission of the IOC, and the Sports Arbitration Court its appeal for non-admission.

Daria Domracheva and Anton Shipulin. Photo: Sport-Express

— Were you surprised by the reaction of the biathlon family? No one followed the example of Simon Fourcade.

- The public probably thinks that we are all bosom friends here, almost brothers.

- That's what they say all the time.

So these are empty words. We communicate well, we can make fun, have a spree at the end of the season, as it was before, but in a difficult situation, I think, I would not stand up for them either. And I don't blame them for it. For someone from my team, I would fight to the last, would bite my teeth to the end for my own. But they are not theirs. Good guys, but not ours. Yes, maybe he was waiting for some messages.

- You have each other's phones.

- Certainly. The only thing is that Daria Domracheva wrote to me that Bjoerndalen was very worried and asked me to say hello to me. That was nice. Because he is my idol, the person I was rooting for. And indeed, he has now become closer than anyone to us.

In this situation, I am not at all disappointed, not at all offended. I will communicate with the guys in the same way as I communicated. Let the same Peiffer spoke out recently. But I understand that when you give different interviews, especially to print media, they take phrases out of context. Maybe in his heart he didn't want to be so rude. Peiffer is a great guy with whom I talked a lot. And I won't change my opinion about him.

- You're not lying?

- I definitely won’t bare my teeth, I won’t drive by and not say hello - either. I will remember who is who. I didn't do anything wrong. Throughout his career he was a clean and honest athlete. There wasn't even a single red flag.

Is this a pass test?

- Yes. Or when someone runs away from doping officers. This has never happened. Therefore, I want to prove at the World Cup that I didn’t go to the Olympics in vain. I will try to come in good shape and finish the season well.

- And wishes to the guys who are now in Korea.

- The main thing is to abstract. This is their first Olympics for all of them. I remember those emotions when there are too many of them and you have to deal with them. I tried to convey some instructions to Babikov, the guys have all sport life ahead, there will be many more races. The main thing is to help. If I can give at least something, a piece of myself, and it will benefit them, it will be great. I will rejoice for them no less than I would rejoice for myself. They fight, fight for us, for the country,” said Anton Shipulin.

Biathlete Anton Shipulin denied the conclusions that he stops playing for the Russian national team.

“Firstly, I did not leave the team, and together with my personal trainer Vladimir Mikhailovich Putrov, we decided to ask coaching staff and leadership to enable transition to individual work. The decision finally matured at the training camp in Sochi, but the results of the competition, by and large, have nothing to do with it. It’s just that the closer the Olympics are, the more you understand that you need to catch every minute and squeeze 100% of the benefits out of every workout, ”the athlete wrote in a special explanation on his own website.

“With Nikolai Petrovich Lopukhov, we worked great last seasons and this summer, but now I need to work individually. I want to say right away that we also talked about this with Nikolai Petrovich and understood each other. It's nice that the leadership of the RRF and the Ministry of Sports supported it - it is very important to feel that they trust me, ”added Shipulin.

“I myself have been in such situations more than once and I know that when, being in a team, one person does a completely different job and lives according to his own schedule, everyone else is uncomfortable. Therefore, we decided to train in the group of our "uncles", where everyone works according to their plans. It will be easier to focus on yourself and not interfere with anyone, ”said the biathlete.

Finally, Shipulin warned the press that in the Olympic season he would be a more closed person than usual. “Any athlete in any sport needs concentration. On the eve of important starts, you need to concentrate, maybe even withdraw a little into yourself. In biathlon, this is especially valuable. And each of us tries to find our own ways to focus our energy on the most important things. I hope that both fans and journalists will understand me if in the coming months I do not manage to be as open to communication as before. I don’t know (and no one knows) how this Olympics will turn out, but I want to do everything to win a medal, ”he wrote.

“I am very worried about Shipulin”

Nikolai Lopukhov, head coach of the Russian men's biathlon team, noted that he had good relations with the biathlete. “It’s hard for me to talk about this topic. It all happened very quickly, and I didn't even fully realize what had happened yet. This situation was discussed with me, but I have not digested it yet. You know how it happens in life… When a husband leaves his wife or a wife leaves her husband – how is it discussed? In any case, I am very worried about Shipulin, ”the Team Russia-2014 portal quotes Lopukhov.

“The day before yesterday we called him, and I said: “Anton, if you win Olympic Games, you and I will drink a glass of a good fizzy drink. And if, God forbid, it’s bad, we’ll drink something stronger with grief. We have a good personal relationship,” the specialist noted.

Biathlete Anton Shipulin is going to leave sports career. Possible reasons leaving big sport brought Frenchman Martin Fourcade.

The famous Russian biathlete Anton Shipulin is considering ending his career in sports. He spoke about this at the end of 2017, specifying that the latest competitions for him, the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang could be. Among the reasons for the possible departure from the sport, the 30-year-old athlete called the lack of motivation.

Experts about Anton Shipulin's lack of motivation

Sports experts, meanwhile, do not accept such an explanation: Shipulin is at the very peak of his form, and besides, far from all the peaks in biathlon have conquered him: he does not yet have an Olympic “gold” in the individual standings, and he had to play the 2018 Games skip because he did not receive IOC clearance. Shipulin also does not have the main award - the Big Crystal Globe, awarded to the best biathlete at the end of the year: the athlete has not yet been able to overtake his colleague from France Martin Fourcade, called the king of biathlon (in the list of his achievements 5 Olympic victories).

However, Fourcade himself says that he fully understands the Russian. According to the Frenchman, although he is a year younger than the Russian, he is also thinking about ending his career.

“Anton is one year older than me and I am thinking of leaving biathlon in two years so I can understand him. He has a family, a little son. Be a professional athlete and keep high level many years - not so easy, which I myself know very well, ”says Fourcade.

At the same time, the French biathlete notices that he will be sorry if Shipulin is his main competitor- still leave the sport.

What is Anton Shipulin doing now?

Tyumen is currently hosting the ninth round of the 2017/18 World Cup. Anton Shipulin is one of the participants in the competition. Note that the start of the race is scheduled for today, March 25, 2018, at 17:00 local time. At the previous competitions of the tournament, held in early March in Norway, the Russian won only one bronze medal.

“At the end of the season, there is stability in shooting. It pleases, but I don’t like the move and the speeds that I show at all. I have two races to go. I will try to run them well. I'm going to shoot cleanly so that it's not so sad on the track. I don’t have lightness, but I can endure, but not as much as I want. I have no choice, I have to fight to the end, ”Shipulin shared with reporters earlier.

Experts attribute the current failures of the athlete to fatigue, as well as morale due to non-admission to the Olympics in South Korea.

Shipulin has not yet made a final decision to leave big-time sports.

He won the sprint at the World Cup in Tyumen and thus practically guaranteed himself victory in overall standings World Cup. From the closest pursuer Johannes Boe it is separated by almost 50 points. In a conversation with the correspondent of the "Championship" Fourcade spoke about his sports ambitions and desire to compete for a couple more years.

The saliva will flow. Stage in Tyumen will be the coolest biathlon event

Boycotted, offended and frightened? Now look and lick. And there are no more tickets for Dmitry Guberniev's concerts.

This is not the first time you have won in Russia, where you have many personal fans. With what feelings do you win races on our soil?
- I really like the atmosphere in Tyumen. Not at every stage of the World Cup I come across such support. As you correctly noted, the Russians always support me from the bottom of their hearts and give me motivation. I saw many posters with my photos and my name. It is felt that people sincerely worry about me. It is always nice for an athlete to be recognizable. I did not feel much pressure on the track today, the audience supported me. It was a very beautiful competition.

Previously, Tyumen hosted only commercial starts and competitions of a lower rank. Did you feel the difference?
- Of course, the difference is huge. When I come to Tyumen, I always enjoy competing here. Of course, I also understand those athletes who spoke out against holding competitions here as part of the struggle for clean sport, but I believe that Russian fans should not suffer because of this. I decided for myself to compete and have fun until the end of the week.

- Now you are sure that the World Cup will not go anywhere from you?
- I'm not as strong in mathematics as you journalists, so I'll just do my job and give my best in the remaining two competitions.

At the press conference you were asked about Ole Einar Bjoerndalen's record of 95 World Cup wins. His other record is six "Big crystal globes- you will beat now. What does this achievement mean to you?
- This is a very big reason for pride. He is the best biathlete of all time and to surpass his achievement is a great pride for me. I had many bright victories in biathlon, but seven World Cups in a row is a very big achievement. Before, I did not believe that this was possible.

- Do you have enough motivation for the next Olympic cycle?
- I can't think about the Beijing Games yet, because I plan my career only for the next two years. I decided that I would perform for a couple more years, before the World Championships in Antholz. I'm not sure that after that I will have the same level of motivation, but for the next two years I will definitely have enough gunpowder. And then we will discuss my plans with my family. I am not closing the door to the next Olympics. If my family and I need it, I will be ready to compete. But now it is difficult for me to talk about such distant plans.

What can you say about working with Frank Badiou, who replaced your longtime shooting mentor Siegfried Maze?
- When Sigi went to the Norwegians, I was a little sad, because I liked our relationship, but then I was worried about how I would work without him. But everything turned out well. We have worked productively with Frank for the last two years. He made my shooting more powerful than ever. I am proud that with Frank I became one of the best shooters in the world of biathlon.

- Anton Shipulin may end his career at the end of this season. Do you understand his decision?
- Anton is a year older than me, and I understand him perfectly. I also get tired of competitions and want to spend more time with my family and children. Every day I am torn between work and family. The last two seasons were very difficult for Anton. He is a very good opponent with whom I would like to compete further. But it will be his choice.