Four-time biathlon Olympic champion Alexander Tikhonov sharply attacked the Norwegian cross-country skiing team after the triple victory in the 30km skiathlon last Friday.
By winning the ninth world championship medal, skiathlon winner Johannes Kläbo overtook the Russian Alexander Bolshunov, who has won eight world championship medals so far, in the all-time medal ranking of the most successful participants in cross-country skiing world championships. Because of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russian athletes are excluded from the current Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica and all other FIS competitions.
The Russian biathlon Olympic champion Alexander Tikhonov took Kläbo’s victory and the dominance of the Norwegian men in the cross-country skiing competitions in the World Cup winter as an opportunity to launch a sweeping attack against the skiing superstars from the far north of Europe.
“I don’t take the Norwegians seriously, they’re a bunch of snotty-nosed asthmatics,” the former world-class biathlete and sports official told Match TV. “At the finish, they constantly have ten centimeters of snot hanging out of their noses.” Tikhonov is certain that Kläbo and Co. would not have had a chance against Alexander Bolshunov in a direct duel.
While the best cross-country skiers in the world compete in Planica, the Russians are condemned to content themselves with national competitions in their own country. Bolshunov recently won the skiathlon at an internal championship in the Arkhangelsk region.
In view of the war, Tikhonov would like Bolshunov to make a comeback so that he can prove to the world that he is the best. However, the 76-year-old doubts that this will happen in the short term. The former Vice-President of the International Biathlon Union also made no secret of his position on what was happening in Ukraine: “The problem is that Russia is always late everywhere. We always bow down for someone, but we should keep our lives simple live: shoot first, then open the door. We all look at the others, we should think of ourselves.”