Ex-biathlon world champion Anton Babikov first completed a marathon in his life and caused a stir with a time that almost every hobby runner can only dream of.
The former Russian biathlon world champion Anton Babikov has had his announcement from the winter and completed the first marathon of his career in Saint Petersburg. The 33-year-old showed that he can be quick to arrow even without skis under his feet.
Babikov finished the race in 14th place. The clock stopped for him after only 2: 22.51 hours. A time that would have been enough for a place in the top 100 even at this year’s top-class Berlin Marathon.
More Russian biathlon stars in the marathon at the start
Babikov was not the only athlete from the Russian biathlon team who tackled the 42 km route. Alexander Loginov and Maxim Tsvetkov also started next to him. However, they were not nearly as strong as their teammate. Loginov finished 39th after 2: 33.51 hours, Tsvetkov let it go very comfortably and took 3: 07.33 hours.
The relay world champion from 2017 already announced that Babikov would try his luck during the summer break in long-distance races at the beginning of the year. At that time he explained to strive for a new challenge. At the same time, he left open whether he would continue his biathlon career.
After a long time to think, the 33-year-old finally announced in April that he wanted to continue his career as a ski hunter. Nevertheless, he added to the training session immediately after the season finale in Russia: “I will pay less attention because I don’t have the motivation to go back to the training camp in two weeks.”