On April 5 the super sprint knock out race of the Sprint Tour 2012 took place at the "Gazprom Transgaz Yugorsk" stadium.
In the semifinals there were two groups of skiers that were located in different sections of the 1200 m track. Every group was trying to get ahead of the other one at the intermediate point. After every round out of three in the semis the weakest team lost a few skiers. Those athletes that crossed the finish line went to teh A final.
Surprises began to happen already in the semifinal as the winner from the first day Andrey Parfenov was eliminated and did not go through to the finals.
Unlike the day 1 of the Super Tour when there were 10 Russian skiers in the finals, the A final start field was much more international. Dusan Kozisek (Czech Republic), Nikolay Chebotko (Kazakhstan), Timo Simonlatser (Estonia), Tim Tscharnke (Germany), Martti Jylha (Finland) and Raido Rankel (Estonia) went to the A final as Russia was represented by Mikhail Devjatiarov jun., Sergey Turyshev, Alexey Petukhov, Evgeny Belov, Raul Shakirzianov and Igor Usachev.
For a long time Nikolay Chebotko was leading the way with Mikhail Devjatiarov in second position. But shortly before the finish line, Devjatiarov took over the lead as the Kazakh skier could not keep this speed-up and Chebotko was left behind. In addition, the Kazakh skier was also overtaken by Dusan Kozisek (CZE) in the last meters of the race.
Supersprint knock-out results
А Finals
1. Mikhail DEVJATIAROV Jr. (RUS) – 10.01,44
2. Dusan KOZISEK (CZE) – 10.01,80
3. Nikolay CHEBOTKO (KAZ) – 10.01,99
4. Sergey TURYSHEV (RUS) – 10.03,61
5. Timo SIMONLATSER (EST) – 10.04,09
6. Alexey PETUKHOV (RUS) – 10.09,69
7. Evgeny BELOV (RUS)
8. Igor USACHEV (RUS)
9. Tim TSCHARNKE (GER)
10. Raido RANKEL (EST)
11. Raul SHAKIRZIANOV (RUS)
12. Martti JYLHAE (FIN)
В Finals
1 (13 overall). Denis VOLOTKA (KAZ) – 10.17,14
2 (14). Federico PELLEGRINO (ITA) – 10.17,61
3 (15). Andrey PARFENOV (RUS) – 10.24,93
4 (16). Nikita KRIUKOV (RUS) – 10.26,43. Withdrew
5 (17). Nikita STUPAK (RUS)
6 (18). Matias STRANDVALL (FIN)
7 (19). Anton GAFAROV (RUS)
8 (20). Andrey SMOLIANIN (RUS)
9 (21). Ivan GULIAEV (RUS)
10 (22). Enrico NIZZI (ITA)
You can find more information at www.skisprint.com
