What is biathlon pasyut: entertainment or a lottery?

Many inexperienced sports fans are often interested in the question of what is in biathlon pasyute. This English-speaking word does not give rest to the real fans of racing. And for certain it is simply obliged to name the present show. In this article, we decided to enlighten novice fans of biathlon battles.

Which races are more interesting?

Fans with experience consider the biathlon classics individual races with separate start with four firing lines, where for each miss to the current time of the athlete an additional minute is added. However, younger sports fans grew up during the time of attempts to increase the spectacle of biathlon and the flowering of new disciplines. Therefore, when the biathlon (World Cup) appears in the program of the telecasts, the pasyut causes an increased excitement. And this is no wonder, because this race is nothing else than the continuation of the sprint that passed the day before. Therefore, the fans frantically rub their hands in anticipation of real battles and look forward to answering the question of whether the leader will retain his handicap or, perhaps, the pursuers will be able to take revenge.

A few words about the rules

So, what is biathlon pasyut? This is a pursuit race, when the winner of the last sprint race goes to the distance, having the first starting number. The persecutors start in the order they distributed the seats in the final protocol the day before, according to their lagging behind the winner in seconds. In other words, if the silver winner of the sprint lagged behind the winner by 5.4 seconds, then in the pursuit race the leader will have the appropriate time in the form of a handicap. In modern biathlon in 10-kem leaders, the gaps between the results are at times minimal, the more interesting it is to monitor the upcoming battles.

Distance and firing lines

Now you know what biathlon is. The distance, which is overcome by men at major starts (World Cup, World and European Championships, Olympic Games), is 12.5 km. Women pursue the winner in a race of 10 km. And in that, and in the other case shooting is allocated 4 firing lines (5 shots each), which also contributes to an increase in entertainment. For each miss, the athletes are punished by passing a penalty circle through the stadium, which is 150 meters long. However, it is not necessary to believe that perfect shooting is the key to victory. Such a short distance the quickest biathletes go in less than 25 seconds, and at a distance they "kick" can shorten the distance from the leader who fired previously flawlessly.

In addition, when the pursuer sees the opponent's back, additional motivation is included. It is impossible to ignore the principles of contact struggle, when rivals seem to play with each other in cat and mouse, alternately leading the distance and leading a positional battle. And on the shooting range, when the opponent's breathing is felt nearby, nerves can not stand in any, even the most psychologically prepared athlete.

The psychological factor is especially acute in large starts, when not the prize money, but the medals and titles for the country, are at stake. That's why the results of the pasyut are absolutely unpredictable. Biathlon is not only a struggle between the physical preparation of different athletes, it is also a struggle of techniques, tactics, struggle with oneself.

Where do sportsmen miss most of the time?

Statistics - a thing stubborn and eloquent, good, it is conducted regularly, and the results are taken even with the most minor starts. Despite the fact that in shooting from the lying position the diameter of the target is much smaller, biathlonists have a higher percentage on a "lezhka".

By the way, we have identified what is in the biathlon sabbatical, but did not address the issue of alternating firing lines in the discipline. We will fill this gap. The first and second shooting in the pursuit race is carried out from the stop lying down, and the next two are conducted in the standing position. Why do many athletes shoot worse on the rack? Perhaps, the general fatigue affects the end of the race, but most of the time athletes do not properly expend their energy on the distance, too fast rushing to win back. As a result, having come to the firing line not at his usual pace, a biathlete is difficult to catch the very notorious phase of under-recovery, on which he is accustomed to carry out firing. Simply put, breathing is lost from the right rhythm.

Biathlon: World Cup (pasyut), men. Statistics of change of starting positions

Again, look at the statistics and see how often the sprint winner holds the leading position during the pursuit race. It turns out that the sprinters rarely save their positions in the pasyute exactly in the same order as they settled on the eve. With a probability of 90%, we can state only the fact that at least one of the winners of the sprint race can be again on the podium and in pursuit. However, the sprint winner quite often can confirm his reputation and in the pasyute, especially it concerns the leaders of the season. If an athlete fails to run a sprint, with a good coincidence, he can go up in prizes, even having a starting position at the end of the second ten.