Rozhkov Sergey: photo, biography

Sergei Rozhkov is a famous Russian biathlete, world and European champion, multiple winner of the World Cup stages. One of the representatives of the stellar composition of the national team. The peak of his success came in the late 90's - early 2000's.

At the beginning of a career

Rozhkov Sergey was born in Murmansk on April 1, 1972. After school he entered the Murmansk Arctic State University.

From the age of 12, I took a great interest in ski sports and finally came to biathlon by the time I was older. At the age of 24 he became a member of the Russian national team. In 1995, for the first time, he went to the World Cup. The debut for Rozhkov is the stage in the Swedish Ostersund in the individual race. Sergei Rozhkov confidently holds the race for the debutant and finishes it at the 15th position.

Already the next start brought the athlete the first hit in the top ten of the World Cup. In the sprint Rozhkov takes 7th place. After three more stages, the biathlete holds a total of 8 races and joins the coaching staff for the World Cup.

First medal

In 1996, the competition took place in the German Ruhpolding. It was on this world championship that the athlete showed a sensationally successful result. In the team race Rozhkov Sergey Leonidovich takes part along with more experienced Viktor Maigurov, Vladimir Drachev and Pavel Muslimov. Today this version of biathlon was removed from major starts. The peculiarity of the race is that all the athletes are sent to the race at once. At the finish line between the leader and the last in the team, the distance should not exceed 50 meters or 15 seconds. Otherwise, the team receives a penalty minute.

The Russian team in the race performed successfully, allowing only 2 misses. However, the Belarusians shot at all without errors. Therefore Sergei Rozhkov won only a silver medal. The final backlog was just over 32 seconds.

At the first stage of the Cup after the World Cup Rozhkov gained the first victory. In his crown individual race, he comes to the finish line first.

True, the ending of that season was smeared. After the first victory Rozhkov Sergei first came in the 50th in the sprint, and in the next stage in Austria's Hochfilzin became the 45th in the individual race and the 36th in the sprint.

As a result, in that season, Rozhkov spent 13 races in the World Cup, scored 122 points, finishing 13th.

Cup wins

The next season Rozhkov spent less successfully, three times rising to the podium, taking the third place invariably. This result was achieved in the relay in Holmenkollen, the team race in Ruhpolding and the individual race in the Italian Antholz. At the end of the season, ranked 19th, Sergei Rozhkov. Biathlete was much more successful in the next season. He won the relay in the Finnish Kontiolahti and finished the season in 10th place.

Golden Season

The most successful for Rozhkov was the 2004/2005 season. Almost half of the races in which he took part, fell on the podium. He started with a bronze medal in the relay race in the Norwegian Beitostolen.

Rozhkov went to the start of 30 races, though he could only win once. Victoria won the biathlon in a sprint in the Italian Cesana San Sicario. Seven times he won silver medals and 6 times bronze medals. At the end of the season, Rozhkov scored 656 points, becoming the fifth in the overall standings of the World Cup.

In that season he lost only to compatriot Sergey Chepikov, the third was Frenchman Rafael Poiret, the second - German Sven Fisher, and the victory was won by the great Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. For Rozhkov, the performance at this World Cup was the most successful in his career.

Debut at the Olympics

As for every athlete, the most significant competitions for Rozhkov were the Olympic Games. For the first time to get on this holiday of sports biathlon it was possible in 2002. The sports forum was held in the American Salt Lake City.

A full member of the Russian team was Sergei Rozhkov. His biography was supplemented by another remarkable page. As an athlete of the basic structure, Rozhkov started with a performance in the individual race. He clearly worked on all milestones, not allowing a single miss. However, he lost considerably to his rivals. It is only necessary to say that the champion in this discipline at that Olympiad, the Norwegian Ole-Einar Bjoerndalen, did not hit the target twice. Rozhkov, however, not having received a single minute penalty, took only 12th place. The final backlog was 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

The next discipline was the sprint. Here for Rozhkov everything turned out even worse, having made unfortunate mistakes on the firing lines, he came to the finish only 51-m. Of course, he did not count on the prosecution for the medal.

In pursuit of the persecution Rozhkov went briskly, but made a mistake on the very first frontier. However, having clearly worked out the remaining three, he managed to significantly improve his final position, rising from 51st to 27th place.

The final start was the relay race. Rozhkov escaped in the second stage. Victor Maygurov was the first to leave the race. Having confidently passed his segment of the road, he passed the baton to Rozhkov in the rank of the leader, but he could not hold back the advantage. First, he made two misses when shooting lying down, then another in standing position. I lost all the advantage and transferred the relay to my team-mate Sergey Chepikov only the 5th. And Chepikov, and Pavel Rostovtsev who followed him, also fired not without flaws, having missed out for six 6 times. The result is the 4th place in the relay team.

Olympiad in Turin

Once again, the athlete managed to compete at the Olympics after 4 years in Turin. Sergei Rozhkov was not in the best shape for these competitions. Photo athlete said that the season is not easy. In the World Cup, the biathlonist had only one podium - the second place in the relay race. Therefore, at the Olympics, he took part in only one race - the mass start.

The final for Rozhkov start at the Olympic Games took place on February 25, 2006. The first two milestones Sergei passed without errors, not allowing a single miss. However, shooting from the standing position, as it often happens, failed the athlete. Once missed on the third and fourth firing lines, Rozhkov excluded himself from the list of applicants for a high place. As a result - only the 20th position with a lag of 1 minute 49 seconds from the victorious German Michael Grice.

Rozhkov finished his sports career in 2008. In the last season in the World Cup he held only three races.