Belarusian skier Yulia Tikhonova clinches the women’s 5km bronze at the FIS Eastern Europe Cup hosted in Raubichi, near Minsk.
Yulia Tikhonova on the ski track
The Belarusian athlete clocked 14:18 minutes to finish behind two Russian skiers. Daria Vedenina won the race with a time of 14:01. Her teammate, Yelena Soboleva, covered the distance in 14:06 to take silver.
“It was quite hard as I have not fully recovered from tEuropean starts. I put all my efforts into showing my best performance in Raubichi,” said Yulia Tikhonova after the race.
Earlier, the Raubichi Republican Centre of Olympic Training in Winter Sports hosted the men’s 10km race in which all the medals went to Russian athletes. The second day of the FIS Eastern Europe Cup featured both the men’s and women’s sprints. The competition wrapped up with the men’s 20km and the women’s 10km skiathlon.
Spectators could attend the events free of charge. The FIS Eastern Europe Cup was first held in 2008. This season it is divided into four stages. The first stage was held in the Russian town of Khakasia in November 2015. The second stage in Krasnogorsk on New Year’s Eve was unfortunately cancelled due to the warm weather. The third round was hosted in Raubichi and the final leg will take place in Syktyvkar on February 25-29th.
By Igor Leshin
