Five years ago, biathlete Elena Kruchinkina changed citizenship. Instead of representing Russia, the country of her birth, the now 28-year-old started for Belarus. Now the roll follows backwards.
Elena Kruchinkina will compete under the Russian flag at the Commonwealth Cup in Sochi, Russia. The biathlete announced this to “sport-express.ru”. The competition will take place from September 7th to 10th.
The Commonwealth Cup was created to compete with the World Cup after the suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This is the second time the ski hunter has changed citizenship during her career. Until 2018 she had already played for her native country Russia, but then switched to the Belarus national team. Her twin sister Irina also joined the neighboring country, together they should fill the gap of retired top biathletes Darya Domracheva, Nadezhda Skardino and Nadzeya Pisarava.
Biathlon: Kruchinkina wins European title
As a Belarusian, Kruchinkina then made her debut in the World Cup in January 2019, shortly afterwards she was part of the team that traveled to Östersund for the World Cup. With the season she managed an eleventh place.
A special moment followed in 2020 when Kruchinkina won the pursuit at the European Championships in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, ahead of Russia’s Kristina Retsova. It was her biggest success to date in her career as a biathlete.
The European Championship medal gave the Russian-born a boost in the months that followed, as she finished in the top ten in four individual World Cup races in the 2020/21 season. In the end she was 30th in the overall World Cup ranking and the third best Belarusian. Another highlight was Kruchinkina’s participation for Belarus at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, albeit without top results.