Presidential visit to Maoershan

Presidential visit to Maoershan
There was some excitement in the Maoershan venue for the visit of FISU President George Killian, and of his wife. Mr. Killian was hosted by the Mayor of the Village, Mr. Xu Wendong, by the Vice-Mayor and by our Vice-Chair of the Ice Hockey Technical Committee Mr. Zhiqiang, who is the coordinator of all the events that are taking place in Maoershan. Mr. Killian had the opportunity to visit the FISU Office which also hosts the CIC Committee. From there he could have a wonderful view over all the snowboard venues. Although protocol is a very serious matter, Mr. Killian took the time to see the sports venues. Just after the flower ceremony of the biathlon 10km sprint, he could meet the Technical Delegate Ubaldo Pruckner and CT Chair Andres Rybar and tell them how impressed he was by the venue and the way they had collaborated in order to build it. Just after biathlon Mr. Killian jumped into a grooming machine to climb the hill to the half pipe venue and to see the men’s qualification heats both won by a Chinese rider. He took also the time to meet the FIS Technical Delegate Mister Peter Krogoll and the CT Chair Mr Wojciech Golebiowski. After a quick ski doo trip it was time for lunch and a return to Harbin.

Russians Hammered Biathlon Sprint
The conditions were perfect for the men’s 10 km sprint event: a little bit of sunshine, a light wind and a temperature of -6°C. With the arrival of some of the athletes who had competed in the World Championship, the level of the competition has increased but it did not prevent the Russian Artem Gusev to repeat his victory he conquered in the 20 km three days ago. With a perfect shooting exercise, he was nevertheless only one second and 9 tenth faster than the Ukrainian Oleg Berezhnoy (0p) and 27,3 seconds ahead of the Czech Jaroslav Soukup (1 penalty loop).

Second in the 15km event, the Russian Nadezhda Chastina clinched the victory in the 7,5km event, just a few seconds in front of her country fellow woman Marina Korovina and of the Polish girl Agnieska Grzybek. The rising wind has caused many problems in the shooting range but, tomorrow, the pursuit is going to be exciting with 18 girls within 1 minute 27 seconds. The men’s pursuit is also going to be very interesting with 5 men starting within the same minute.