Press releases

MINSK, 15 January (BelTA) – Belarusian Yulia Tikhonova clinched the women’s 5km bronze at the ongoing FIS Eastern Europe Cup in Raubichi, BelTA informs.

The Belarusian clocked 14:18 minutes to finish behind two Russian skiers. Darya Vedenina won the race in 14:01. Her teammate Yelena Soboleva covered the distance in 14:06 to take silver.

“It was quite hard as I have not recovered fully from the FIS Tour de Ski. I put all the efforts to show my best in Raubichi,” said Yulia Tikhonova.

Earlier, Raubichi hosted the men’s 10km race in which all medals went to Russian athletes: Nikita Stupak (25:11 minutes), Sergei Turyshev (25:12), and Dmitry Yaparov (25:13). Mikhail Semenov of Belarus clocked 25:42 to finish 6^th.

The second day of the FIS Eastern Europe Cup in Raubichi will feature the men’s and women’s sprints. The competitions will be wrapped up with the men’s 20km and the women’s 10km skiathlon on 17 January.

The FIS Eastern Europe Cup was first held in 2008. This season it is divided into four legs. The first leg was held in Khakasia, Russia in November 2015. The second leg in Krasnogorsk on the New Year’s Eve was canceled due to warm weather. The third leg is underway in Raubichi, Belarus. The fourth one will take place in Syktyvkar on 25-29 February.

Among the organizers of the tournament is the International Ski Federation (FIS), the Sport and Tourism Ministry of Belarus, the Minsk Oblast Executive Committee, the Minsk City Hall, the National Olympic Committee, the Belarusian Ski Union, the Belarusian Ski Federation.