Biathlete Anton Shipulin has hit out at the Russian national team’s kit man, claiming that poorly-prepared skis left him unable to challenge for medals in Sunday’s mass start at the World Biathlon Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany.
France's Martin Fourcade won the mass start in a time of 38.24, three seconds ahead of Sweden’s Bjorn Ferry, with another Swede, Fredrik Lindstrom, 0.4 seconds behind Ferry.
Russia’s skiers missed out on the medals, with Evgeny Utyugin the highest-placed Russian in tenth, 34 seconds behind Fourcade.
Shipulin, a bronze medalist at the 2010 Winter Olympics, finished 29th, three minutes and eight seconds off the pace.
Shipulin said that he noticed something was wrong with his skis as soon as he started the race.
“From the first lap I understood that the race was lost, because skis have never moved so badly. After the first lap I had lost half a minute, it’s really disgusting.”
Shipulin added that the blame did not lie with the ski manufacturer, but with Reinhard Neuner, who services the Russian team’s equipment.
“He’s in charge, and he answers for the greasing and the service.” he said. “Only he can say what to do and how to do it.”
Shipulin and Olga Vilukhina won bronze for Russia in the men’s and women’s pursuit events, the country’s only medals from 10 events.
If Russia does not win gold in Sunday’s women’s mass start, the final event, the championships will be the country’s worst-ever, excluding the smaller-scale events held in Olympic years.
