The Olympic Games in Pyeongchang are less than a year away, and Russian biathlon is full of unanswered questions. How did the Olympic champion of Sochi 2014, St. Petersburger Dmitry Malyshko, come to life at the tail end of the first hundred of the World Cup? Where are the juniors who tore apart the Germans and Norwegians in teenage races? What happens to a biathlete expelled from the national team? “Sport Day by Day” is looking for answers with Dmitry Vasiliev, two-time Olympic champion and head of the St. Petersburg biathlon federation.
Gold with a hint of bitterness
- What is your assessment of the season for the Russian national team?
- It’s great that there is a gold medal at the World Championships (in the men’s relay. - "Sport Day by Day"), but we all understand that this medal has a bitter taste. The instability of the results is sad. The failure in shooting that emerged during the season is especially alarming. To count on anything in the Olympic season, confident shooting is simply necessary.
- He who shoots well does not run - like Maxim Tsvetkov.
- It’s not that Maxim doesn’t run at all. He had a couple good starts in the World Cup. He lacks stability. Coaches must figure out why Maxim Tsvetkov and Anton Babikov gave up at the World Championships. Although they ran the relay well. No wonder they won.
St. Petersburg resident Ekaterina Yurlova, after winning the 2015 World Championships, got married, gave birth to a daughter, and is now returning to the Russian national team. Could she perform in Pyeongchang?
- Undoubtedly. She is preparing very seriously for the Russian Championship, after which she hopes to join the national team. If he gets in, he will prepare for a trip to the Olympic Games.
Until recently, Dmitry Malyshko was the only representative of St. Petersburg in the Russian national team. Will he leave the national team after a career-worst 94th place in the sprint at the last World Cup?
- Only God knows Malyshko’s fate; we can only guess. The season was not a success for him at all. Since the head of the RRF, Alexander Kravtsov, said that Dmitry would be transferred to self-training, it means that it will be so. Who keeps people with such results in the national team? It's a pity, of course... Malyshko has good potential, but it is not being realized.
The Sports Committee understands everything
- Who will finance Malyshko’s self-training?
- The city will not abandon him. The St. Petersburg Federation will do everything so that Dmitry is not left without funds for training. But that's not the main thing. We will, of course, help him. First of all, Malyshko himself must want to do something. He needs to decide how he intends to train, where and with whom.
- So, all of Malyshko’s problems are in himself?
- That's right. He is too distracted by all sorts of external factors. He needs to compare himself from the 2013/14 season with his current state. If Dmitry analyzes and understands what is happening, he can change for the better.
- What exactly distracts Dmitry from racing?
- First of all - a burden Olympic champion and close attention of the most different people. Some people know how to abstract themselves and train at the same rhythm, while others waste their money on all sorts of promotions and lose their form. Another family. As a rule, going headlong into family concerns does not change the athlete for the better.
If not a single St. Petersburg biathlete gets into the Russian national team and does not compete at the Olympics, does this threaten the city federation with something?
“I don’t think this will have a big impact on funding or hit us in any other way.” The leadership of the city Sports Committee is acting very wisely. It understands perfectly well that places in the national team are not permanent. Today the city students brought Olympic gold, and tomorrow they disappeared from the team. The same Malyshko is the clearest example. A year or two before the 2014 Olympics they didn’t talk about him seriously, but in Sochi he won gold medal. I doubt that we will suffer much if there are no St. Petersburg residents left in the Russian team.
Too professional attitude
You couldn't help but hear talk that the nervous situation in the national team and mistakes in the selection of the squad are the result of behind-the-scenes games by coaches and regional federations. They say that specialists with connections push their own people through, while talented but defenseless ones, like Ulyana Kaisheva, are pushed away from the national team.
- I don’t know anything about such facts. I know one thing: athletes are selected for the national team by sports principle. The principle is respected in the biathlon team. In any case, I have no questions on this topic.
– Then what happens to Russian juniors, and especially juniors, who win everything in the world at their age, and then cannot get into the adult team?
- Our coaches are chasing quick achievements in adolescence, which provide them with increased salaries, a prosperous life, titles and other preferences. There is a performance coefficient that increases a coach's salary depending on the results of his players. And it’s not difficult to achieve them. To squeeze all the juice out of an athlete and win the world junior championship - you don’t need much intelligence. Moreover, Western coaches do not take the outcomes of children's tournaments seriously and do not cling to them. And we are the opposite. We are too professional about children's sports.
- We ourselves are ruining our juniors.
- Children's race mows down the resource Russian biathlon. The same thing happens in other species. This is a global, perhaps the most serious problem Russian sports. Therefore, we have no one to put on the women’s biathlon team. Let's take the same Ulyana Kaisheva. In juniors, she brought huge leads to the current superstar, German Laura Dahlmeier. Now Dahlmeier, at 23 years old, is a seven-time world champion! And Kaisheva...
- He’s still making his way into the national team.
- Yes. German coaches competently brought Dahlmeier to the “basis”, and we did exactly the opposite, concentrating on unnecessary intermediate results. This is our mistake.
|Numbers
16 Russian biathletes going to close the season in Holmenkollen. The coaches of our team took full advantage of the clause in the regulations, which allows them to bring an expanded squad to the last stage of the World Cup due to successful performances in the IBU Cup. The full application of the Russian national team is as follows. Men: Anton Shipulin, Evgeny Garanichev, Anton Babikov, Maxim Tsvetkov, Alexander Loginov, Matvey Eliseev, Igor Malinovsky, Alexey Volkov. Women: Irina Starykh, Tatyana Akimova, Irina Uslugina, Ekaterina Shumilova, Daria Virolainen, Valeria Vasnetsova, Victoria Slivko, Ekaterina Moshkova.
Childhood of Dmitry Malyshko
Dima was born in the city of Sosnovy Bor. It is located in the Leningrad region and is known for its strong biathlon school. The boy was enrolled in the biathlon section by his father when he was in second grade. Before that, he didn’t go to any clubs or do anything seriously. Biathlon was the first sport that the boy took up with all his dedication.Naturally, in the summer he played football or basketball with the guys, and rode a bicycle. But all this was just to keep in shape. He fell in love with biathlon almost immediately, although it was shooting that he liked first, later the boy got used to it and ski training.
Yuri Parfenov is the athlete’s first coach. He was Dmitry's mentor until he left junior age.
Starting in 2008, Dmitry Kucherov became the athlete’s coach, who drew attention to the promising guy when he received bronze at Winter Spartakiad in Saransk. The young biathlete moved to St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, that same year the biathlon federation encountered financial difficulties. At this time, Dmitry decided to leave the sport. He got a job in a bank. I didn’t go to training, I just ran to keep in shape.
The athlete himself explains his departure by saying that he simply did not see his prospects in biathlon; it seemed that he was simply going with the flow. There was no feeling that anyone believed in him. In addition, I wanted stability, I had to provide for myself. At that moment he was called to the bank, and he went. Now Dima says that he is very glad that he was dissuaded then and returned to the sport.
Dmitry Malyshko in the “Big Sport” program
The personal trainer was then very concerned about the departure of the young talented athlete. He turned to Anatoly Alyabyev for help. He invited Dima to a conversation and offered to return to the sport on the condition that the federation would find an opportunity to provide the athlete with financial assistance. The amount was small, but Malyshko immediately agreed and began studying again.
The beginning of Dmitry Malyshko’s sports career, the path to biathlon
The athlete’s debut in adult competitions took place in the 2009/2010 season. Gradually getting used to the level of competition, the biathlete was able to help the team at the end of the season in winning a silver medal in the European Championship relay.After a successful season the following year, Malyshko was included in the main team, but in the fall he was transferred to the youth team. In November, Dima underwent a medical examination, which showed the need for heart surgery, which was performed in January 2011. The operation could have been omitted, but in this case the athlete would not have been allowed to participate in the national team.
In February, training began again, and already in April, the talented biathlete came second at the championship in Uvat. The first was Vanya Tcherezov.
Legkov, Shipulin and Malyshko on well-deserved rest - 2013
Preparing for the 2011/2012 season, Dmitry showed good results. Starting the season at the IBU Cup, in the very first race he received his first gold medal in a sprint at an international competition.
In December 2011, Dmitry Malyshko made his debut at the World Cup and he made it into the top ten, and took second place in the men's relay.
Thanks to such a successful season, the athlete was selected for the World Cup. But unfortunately good results Dima did not achieve success at this championship.
Dmitry Malyshko now
Malyshko is a “fast” biathlete. He's much better at running. In terms of speed at the KM, he was often in the top ten. But his shooting fails him, so it is difficult for the athlete to fight for prizes. But his shooting statistics are recent months indicates that he is working on this shortcoming.The 2012\2013 season can be called brilliant. Malyshko has two “silver” and two “gold” in personal races and prizes in relay races.
The athlete is currently training in preparation for the Winter Olympics, hoping to show good results. He devotes a lot of time to shooting, trying to improve his performance.
Personal life of Dmitry Malyshko
Dima's main hobby is cars. He is passionate about Formula 1, loves his Audi and fast driving. As the biathlete said, if it weren’t for sports, he would probably ride a motorcycle. 
Malyshko is a positive and very sociable person. His element is company and communication. His best friends are his childhood friends. He also developed good friendly relations with the guys from the national team, but most of all he got along with Lapshin and Shipulin. Dima is an active Internet user and an avid music lover.
Malyshko studies at the University of Service and Economics in St. Petersburg. There are also plans for legal education. The athlete understands that when he leaves professional sports, he will have to look for work and realize himself in everyday life.
Being at training camps or competitions for a long time, Dima really misses his home environment, close people and friends. It happens that he is away from home for five months. Dmitry likes to relax with friends. Sometimes he goes south.
Dima doesn’t have a girlfriend yet, but there is one with whom he wants to start a relationship. It is important for him that she not only has positive feminine qualities, but also understands him, his way of life and work, and has a sense of humor.
Biography of Dmitry Malyshko
Dmitry Malyshko was born in the Leningrad region on March 19, 1987. During his short career, the athlete managed to win Olympic gold, take second place at the European Championships in 2010, and dozens of other awards.
Already at the age of eight, in his native Sosnovy Bor, Dmitry began to engage in the sport that became Malyshko’s real profession - biathlon. It would seem that young athlete everything worked out and he will forever be professional athlete, however, in 2008, Dmitry made an unexpected decision - he left the sport and became a bank employee. Fortunately, the career of a bank employee did not last long.
Sports career of Dmitry Malyshko
Real debut in professional sports Dmitry Malyshko had it in 2005. Then the biathlete took part in the world championship among youths. The debut was not the best, but it was a good start. Then in the race the novice athlete took only twenty-ninth place. Despite the not the best start, already in the next season the athlete performed well at the Continental Cup and became a silver medalist.
After this there was another pause in the competition. Probably, until the last moment, Dmitry Malyshko made a difficult choice - sports or a regular career as a bank office employee.
Out of a thousand athletes, only a few become champions, while the rest are forced to spend their entire lives looking for sponsors and opportunities to continue training. In addition, it is worth noting that biathlon is not the cheapest sport. In order to train, you need to have expensive equipment and riding conditions. In any case, Malyshko made the right choice.
On at the moment his name will forever remain in the history of Russian and world sports. Olympic champion - one of the best biathletes conquered the highest sports Olympias in the world.
In 2010, the athlete returned to the sport. He was transferred from the main national team to the youth team due to the fact that it was difficult for him to cope with the most difficult training sessions of the national team. At the same time, it became known that the athlete needed complex heart surgery. Having done it, a few months later in 2011, Dmitry again committed crime. difficult workouts and competitions.
At the Russian championship he took an honorable second place and thereby proved to himself and his coaches that he is capable of winning and fighting for his place among the world's best biathletes. Constant struggle and training gave their long-awaited results.
Having overcome all difficulties and illnesses, Malyshko’s star rose. In 2014, Dmitry Malyshko won Olympic gold in the relay. It is worth noting that these Olympic Games were held in the athlete’s homeland – Russia.
At the moment, the biathlete has reached the peak of his sport, becoming the best among the best, the pride of his country. In the same year, the athlete received the honorary title of Honored Master of Sports of Russia. Malyshko also received the Order of Friendship.
Personal life of Dmitry Malyshko. Dmitry Malyshko and Ekaterina Tikhonova
In addition to a successful sports career, Malyshko became no less successful in his personal life.
Despite thousands of fans around the world, Dmitry remains faithful to his bride Katya Tikhonova.
In 2015, the young couple had a son, Philip..
The biathlete received a higher economic education at one of the universities in St. Petersburg. After the end of his sports career, if Dmitry does not want to work as a coach, he can take his place in one of the banks in Russia. However, despite what the future fate of the famous Russian will be, thousands of biathlon fans around the world will forever remember him as one of best athletes peace.
The wedding took place near St. Petersburg, in Pavlovsk on May 14. Malyshko and his wife Ekaterina Tikhonova have known each other since childhood; in 2015, their son Philip was born.
One of the guests, Luiza Shipulina, the wife of another biathlete of the Russian national team Anton Shipulin, published a photo from the wedding on her Instagram page.
Last season, at the Biathlon World Cup, Malyshko won gold in the relay at the stages in Hochfilzen and Antholz.
Over the two centuries of its history, the Bip Castle in Pavlovsk has probably seen many celebrations. So this weekend it happened to become the venue for a luxurious celebration - the wedding of Olympic biathlon champion Dmitry Malyshko and his longtime companion Ekaterina Tikhonova.
Everything was like in a fairy tale. A warm spring day, an arch entwined with snow-white flowers, cupid figurines, a bride beaming with joy in a snow-white dress, and an equally happy groom. The official ceremony took place at fresh air. The couple's one-year-old son Philip added a touching note.
The baby himself carried rings for mom and dad to the altar,” Yulia Sinyanskaya, director of the Art Jam wedding agency that organized the celebration, told Komsomolskaya Pravda. – By the way, wedding accessories for Dmitry and Catherine were made by special order at the St. Petersburg Mint.
The wedding lasted until late at night. And it turned out not only beautiful, but also incredibly sincere. Neither Western stars nor hundreds of guests were invited, as is often the case with stars. Celebrated in a small circle with family and friends. There were 50-60 guests. Among them is the groom’s old friend from the Russian national team, Anton Shipulin. Who, by the way, recently became a family man himself. He got married last June and became a father in December.
We started preparing for the wedding in September. Of course, Katya took a more active part. But when Dima had a free minute, he also tried to delve into the process,” says Yulia.
In the first wedding dance, the newlyweds twirled to the touching song “I have nothing” by Whitney Houston. “I will never ask for more than you can give, And what you can do for me. I'm not trying to look too far ahead. I don’t want to go where you can’t go with me...I have nothing without you,” this is how her lines are translated.
This song was performed by the finalist of the show “The Voice” Yana Bashkireva. The toastmaster was NTV presenter Mikhail Gindelev. They also called the illusionist Ilya Larionov. “Perhaps all of them are stars,” says Yulia.
The next morning Katya woke up on her own happy woman in the world.
“To say that I am happy is to say nothing! I am grateful to all our friends who were able to come. Thank you for sharing our little happiness with us,” she wrote on her Instagram page.
29-year-old Dmitry Malyshko, a native of Sosnovy Bor, has already won silver at the European Championship (2010), Olympic gold in Sochi, and dozens of other awards during his brilliant sports career. It’s interesting that Malyshko is not fixated on one thing: he managed to get a higher education in economics and even work in a bank.
But it was biathlon that “introduced” Malyshko to his future wife. Ekaterina Tikhonova was also seriously involved in cross-country skiing and shooting, and became a master. But then I decided to leave this difficult craft.
This is not the first year that the athletes have been together. They seem to be trying to spend as much time together as possible. They relax together, go skiing, and visit friends. Katya affectionately calls Dima “the most important person in life."
Last year the couple had a son, Philip. Ekaterina gave birth to a baby while his dad was stubbornly pursuing “bronze” in the mass start in Oberhof. The boy was a real hero - with a height of 58 centimeters, he weighed more than four and a half kilograms!
Russian biathlete, Honored Master of Sports of Russia. Silver medalist European Biathlon Championships in relay 2010, three-time winner of the World Cup stage in Oberhof in January 2013.
Dmitry started playing sports in hometown Sosnovy Bor, which is known for its strong biathlon school. At the age of 8, Dima’s parents enrolled him in this sport. At first he liked shooting, but later he got used to skiing and realized that biathlon was his sport. His first coach was Yuri Vasilyevich Parfenov, who worked with Dmitry until he left junior age.
Since 2008 it personal trainer is Dmitry Kucherov, who noticed Malyshko at the 1st Winter Youth Spartakiad in Saransk, where Dmitry won bronze in the sprint. Then, in 2008, due to problems with funding the St. Petersburg Biathlon Federation, Dmitry decided to leave the sport. I quit training and got a job at a bank. Kucherov and Vasiliev helped settle financial issues, and Dmitry returned to biathlon.
Outside of sports, he is a 3rd year student at St. Petersburg State University of Service and Economics. In life, Dmitry's main hobby is cars. He likes good and fast cars. He says that if he had not been involved in biathlon, he would have raced on a motorcycle. As a fan, he is interested in motorsports: rallying, Formula 1.
Sports career
Junior achievements
Dmitry made his debut at junior international competitions in 2005, taking part in the World Junior Championships under 19 years of age. The coaching staff entrusted the native of Sosnovy Bor to run three personal races, in which he was able to finish in the Top10 twice: in the individual race - 8th place and in the sprint - 10th place, and in the pursuit race Dmitry takes only 29th place. The next two seasons are held at domestic Russian competitions, and only in the 2007/08 season Malyshko is again entrusted with the right to compete for the Russian national team - this time at the Junior Continental Cup. Five races at the Scandinavian stages yield one podium finish - in second place in sprint race at the stage in Sweden.
Season 2009-2010. Debut in adult competitions
IBU Cup
After several years of pause, Dmitry returns to international competitions in the 2009/10 season. At the stage of the Continental Cup in Sweden, Malyshko will make his debut in adult competitions. The Russian gradually gets used to the level of competition and at the end of the season helps the national team win a silver medal in the relay race at the European Championships. In total, he spent 9 races out of 17 during the season, and in overall standings IBU Cup with 162 points took 29th place.
Season 2010-2011
After the 2009-2010 season, he joined the national team to prepare for the World Cup, but in the fall he was first transferred from the main team to youth team, so in opinion coaching staff it was difficult for him to stand training program main team. In November, after a medical examination, he was offered heart surgery, without which further training was prohibited. In January 2011, Dmitry underwent the necessary surgery, and in February he began training. Two months after the operation, Dmitry competed at the Russian Championship. He took second place in the sprint, shooting zero and losing 3 seconds to Ivan Tcherezov, and in the pursuit race he took 6th place with 5 misses and a gap of 1 minute 26 seconds. And in the summer of 2011, by decision of the coaches, Dmitry went to training camp with the second Russian national team.
Season 2011-2012
At the selection for the World Cup and IBU Cup, Dmitry won the mass start, but by decision of the coaches he went to the first stage of the IBU Cup in Hydra, which was moved to Östersund due to insufficient snow. And in the first race, the sprint, Dmitry confirmed that his victory in the mass start at the selection was not accidental. He won the sprint with 1 penalty and an advantage of 30 seconds over the biathlete from Kazakhstan Alexander Trifonov. The next day in the sprint he showed 8th result with 2 penalties and a gap of 50 seconds behind Yakov Fak. Thanks to successful performances at the IBU Cup, the coaches decided to transfer Dmitry Malyshko to the main team of the national team at the World Cup stages.
World Cup
At the second stage of the 2011/12 World Cup, he was trusted to run a race in this competition for the first time. The first experience turns out to be more than successful - Malyshko finishes tenth in the sprint race, 21st place in the pursuit race. Before the men's relay, the coaches thought for a long time who to entrust with the crucial fourth stage: Dmitry Malyshko or Timofey Lapshin? The choice fell on Malyshko. Thanks to almost perfect shooting, he helps the Russian team (Shipulin, Makoveev, Ustyugov, Malyshko) take second place in the classical relay. Subsequently, Dmitry is assigned to the team national team in the World Cup and finishes in the top ten in individual races more than once. In mid-February, at the World Cup in Finland, he finished in a podium position for the first time, taking third place in the pursuit race. At the World Championships in Ruhpolding there was a decline in results. Only 35th place in the individual race with 4 misses and a gap of 3 minutes 33 seconds from Yakov Fak, 6th place in the men's relay and 5th in the mixed relay. On last stage World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk took 11th place in the sprint with 1 penalty in the pursuit race, forcing Emil Hegle Svendsen to fight for third place in the last meters of the distance, but could not support the opponent’s finishing spurt, taking 4th place in the race. In the last race of the season, the mass start, he took 6th place. During that season, the Russian performed well in all contact races, finishing 15th in the pursuit standings and seventh in the standings from the general start. In the overall World Cup standings, he took 19th place with 498 points. By decision of the coaches, he prepared with the main Russian national team for the 2012-2013 season.
Season 2012-2013
World Cup
At the selection for the World Cup and IBU Cup, Dmitry took 3rd place in the control mass start, losing only to Alexei Volkov and Evgeniy Ustyugov, and qualified for the main Russian team for the December stages of the World Cup. By decision of the coaches, he became the first substitute among men in mixed relay at the first stage of the World Cup in the Swedish city of Östersund. Won the test sprint among biathletes not participating in the mixed relay. Having shot without misses, he beat Andrei Makoveev, who had shot accurately, by 30 seconds, and also left behind Bergman, Shipulin, Chudov, Garanichev and Zhey. In the first race of the season - the 20 km individual race, Dmitry took 26th place, making 3 mistakes. In the sprint he took 21st place, and in the pursuit he took 7th place.
At the second stage of the World Cup in Hochfilzen, Dmitry took 11th place in the sprint, while making 2 mistakes on the shooting range. In the pursuit race, he retained his chances of winning until the last moment, but in the end he lost to Yakov Fak by 0.9 seconds. This result was Dmitry’s best in personal races at the World Cup stages. The next day in the men's relay (Shipulin, Makoveev, Ustyugov, Malyshko) he took 3rd place. At the third stage of the World Cup in Pokljuka, Dmitry barely got into the pursuit race after the sprint, taking 58th place and making 5 mistakes. In the pursuit race, Dmitry gained 39 positions and took 19th place (with two misses). In the mass start he took 14th place. On January 4, 2013, he won his first victory. Together with Alexey Volkov, Evgeny Garanichev and Anton Shipulin, he excelled in the relay race at the World Cup in Oberhof. He won his first personal victory on January 5, 2013 in the sprint, and the very next day he won the pursuit race. In the pursuit race, Dmitry shot zero and was 42 seconds ahead of Evgeniy Garanichev, who took 2nd place, ahead of the Czech Ondřej Moravec. By decision of the coaches, I went with Evgny Ustyugov to the training camp in Anterselva and missed the first race of the 5th stage of the World Cup in Ruhpolding - the men's relay. In the sprint race of the 5th stage of the World Cup in Ruhpolding, he took fifth place with one penalty, losing 0.1 seconds to Emil Hegle Svendsen, who became fourth. The next day, in the race from the general start, Dmitry took second place, losing 0.5 seconds to Martin Fourcade.
