Day 2 successful for Czechs! Krčmář fourth in the sprint at the World Cup in NMNM
The second day of the World Cup event in Nové Město na Moravě was successful for the Czech nationaI team again thanks to Michal Krčmář who finished fourth in the sprint. The gold and bronze went to the Norwegian brothers, Johannes and Tarjei Boe: finishing in time under 25 minutes, Johannes gave his opponents very little chance. Fillon Maillet of France, who took the silver, finished 22 second behind him, and Tarjei lagged more than one minute behind his brother. All medallists did not make a single mistake at the shooting range.
Everyone had expected a duel between Johannes Boe and Martin Fourcade, but this was not the case eventually. Boe run brilliantly and was in the leading position from the very beginning. Moreover, he supported it by flawless performance at the shooting range. Fourcade could not compete with him in this race, both on the track (where he got unlucky when he broke one of his poles), and at the shooting range. He missed one target in the shooting section. The French had their flag flying high anyway as Quentin Fillon Maillet wedged in between the Norwegian brothers and took the silver.
Michal Krčmář finished fourth, and this represents his second best result in an individual race in the World Cup series, and means that his bronze from mass race in Ruhpolding 2017 remains his personal best. At the beginning of the race, Michal Krčmář was not the best of the pack as his time from running ranked 25th only. “Well, this is typical of me as I always try to manage my performance well from the tactical point of view,” he explained. This strategy gives a racer the opportunity to put maximum effort into the last lap. In the finish, Michal was the fourth fastest, and climbed up from the seventh place to the final fourth, thus outrunning the French world champions – Martin Fourcade and Emilien Jacquelin, and Jakov Fak of Slovenia. “Everything worked out the way I wanted it to work out,” the racer said.
He only felt sad for not being able to share his success with spectators. He even had earphones during the race and shut himself away into his own world, which he does not normally do. He said he had listened to rock music during the race. And despite the fact that the pewter medal is usually considered an unlucky result, Michal perceives it as a great result, especially due to the fact that this was sprint. “You really have to connect running and shooting into a seamless whole,” he explained.
Jakub Štvrtecký turned out to be the second best Czech racer. This “young gun” finished 31st though he had deal with challenges during the race: he broke a flange on his rifle and had to get a spare one as a result of his crash. “I came in in a risky fashion and left the tip of my left ski. This made me flip and I failed to stand on my own two feet,” he commented on his crash. He did not have a single miss at the shooting range though in standing position, he had to use a spare rifle that is “very short in comparison to the standard one,” as he deemed. “I was lucky, there was one close shave, but I am glad I managed not to make any mistake on the home track,” the native of Velké Karlovice said.
Ondřej Moravec had to run one penalty loop and finished 41st. The races in Nové Město na Moravě are the last in the career of Michal Šlesingr, who had to run two penalty loops and finished 56th. “Today’s race brought conditions that are not what I like – heavy, slow and deep snow. I prefer hard-packed snow. This means that I struggled even more so, and this is why it may be that this race is inscribed deep in my memory. I will certainly; while lying on the massage table after the race,“ Michal flashed a rather tired smile. I regretted having missed two targets at the shooting range. “With mistakes like this, it is impossible to keep up with the best. I just screwed up, though there was not the pressure from tens of thousands of fans.” Michal also commented on his 18 seasons in the World Cup series: “It was long. Very long.”
Adam Václavík, the second in the supersprint at European Championships, made five mistakes at the shooting range, and finished 77th.
Today, two relays are scheduled at the Vysočina Arena; women shall start into their race at 2 PM, men at 5 PM. Both races will be broadcasted live at ČT sport – Česká televize, Eurosport, Eurovision Sports Live. Results: DATACENTER, for any other information, please visit our official website BiathlonNMNM.cz.
Author: Tomáš Hermann, Lada Smržová
Photo: Michal Jilka
