Biathlon fans are looking forward to a great sporting feast attracting many of the famous skiing marksmen. Champions from all Olympics will take part, including the winners of the 1984 Sarajevo event and 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The invitation by Darya Domracheva, winner of three gold medals at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, to compete in Belarus has been already accepted by Olympic winners from Germany, Sven Fischer, Ricco Gross, Michael Greis and the world champion Simona Hausvald (Denkinger).
Representatives from Norway will add some serious competition, including three time Olympic champion and one of the most accurate biathletes at the start of the millennium, Halvard Hanevold, as well as the speedy Frode Andresen and Lars Berger. The latter is not only a world champion in biathlon but also in ski racing. The Belarusian town will also welcome Sweden’s Helena Ekholm (Jonsson) (2008/09), and the 2006 Torino Olympic champion Anna Carin Zidek (Olofsson).
Russia will be represented by double Olympic champion, Anna Bogaliy, alongside Yuri Kashkarkov, who raced a dramatic Olympic relay in Sarajevo in 1984 with Belarus’ Sergey Bulygin. Thirty years on, both sportsmen will perform together again. As well as Sergey, Belarus will be represented by a Calgary Olympic champion from 1988, Alexander Popov, and the winner of 17 World Championship medals, Alena Zubrilova.
The legendary biathletes will take part in two races in Raubichi. First, the super-sprint competition and, depending on the results, relay teams will be chosen for the final. As part of the event, Darya Domracheva will be awarded ‘The Best Sportswoman of 2014’ Prize by the European Union of Sports Press; many of them will cover Raubichi’s ‘Race of Legends’.
By Kirill Karin
