MOSCOW, December 3 (R-Sport) - Russia has the strongest team on the biathlon World Cup tour after a successful start to the season, the head coach of the Russian women said Monday.
Russia won four medals in the opening round of the World Cup, its best showing for five years, with one gold and three bronzes in Sweden, although a hoped-for second gold eluded the team.
“I really do think that we have the strongest team in the World Cup and the IBU Cup at the moment,” coach Wolfgang Pichler said on the Russian Biathlon Union.
Russia is focusing on developing the team to perform well at its first home Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 and recovering from the country’s worst-ever world championship showing in March, which yielded just two bronze medals and led to head coach Valery Polkhovsky losing his job.
“I’m sure we’re now on the right path to building a team for the Olympics in Sochi,” Pichler said.
One black mark on the World Cup showing in Sweden was the performance of Svetlana Sleptsova, as the Olympic gold medal winner struggled to 72nd place in the sprint.
Pichler said the team was analyzing her performance “to see if something psychological was the matter or if there are other reasons for the failure” and said she would keep her place in the team for the next round in Austria, which starts Wednesday.
Pichler hinted Sleptsova’s place in the team would be in question if she fails to improve.
“We’ll see what happens after,” he said.
