Olga Sannikova, a first-year student of the Volga region Academy of sports, recently returned from the acheri-biathlon European Cup in Holland, where she won the silver medal in the super-sprint.
Acheri-biathlon is the same as the classic biathlon, but instead of a gun, the athlete ... bow and arrow! As a sport, was born in 1975 in France. The first competitions were held in 1982 in Austria and Italy. Shoot athletes from the position of "standing"and " knee". The game is played from 18 metres on the same targets in the biathlon, the only difference is that they are one less, and they are slightly larger in diameter.
With Olga Sannikova we met in the educational and laboratory building, to which she got from the hostel of the Universiade Village with the help of a friend and crutches. One leg of the athlete in plaster. Unfortunately, because of an injury which the girl received on October 14 at competitions in Derbyshki, she had to pass training collecting. During the forced downtime Olya was able to meet me and tell me about her passion for a strange sport, evoking memories of books about Robin hood and Indians read in childhood…
Olga met acheri-biathlon in her native Beloretsk, where she moved to study in Kazan:
 - Came to the school coach and invited to class, she says. - First impressions: very unusual! But I liked it.
Children's interest in an exotic sport eventually turned into a professional one: Olga Sannikova has been engaged in acheri-biathlon for 10 years, has a category of candidate master of sports.
"My mother was against my hobby at first," she says. - But when I started winning medals at high-level competitions, the attitude changed and began to support, both morally and financially.
According to Olga, acheri-biathlon is cultivated mainly in Western Europe, but the leader in this sport today... Russia. Perhaps because in Europe they train and compete mainly in the summer, and in our country – all year round.
And then it turned out what the major difference acheri-biathlon of biathlon. It turns out that in Europe – it is only a summer sport, and the distance athletes overcome running. And on skis-only in Russia. Hence, some differences in the rules and equipment. In Europe, athletes run with a bow in their hands. And during the ski race hands are busy with sticks, and the bow, like a gun, is located behind in a special case-box. It would seem that the most relish acheri-biathlon-archery. That's romantic! But Olga, surprisingly, likes to run more. She even admitted that she wanted to go to cross-country skiing at one time. But to reach a high level of sports was too late. Acheri-biathlon gives Olga everything she would hardly get in cross-country skiing: demand, victories, participation in major international tournaments.
And that concerns called the shots from string, then, as should, come to love this discipline she has until now not worked. Most likely, due to the fact that at a professional level to master the technique of shooting in his native Beloretsk impossible. There's no section, no shooting range, no coaches. Her mentors in school – biathlon. Even in the team firearms training answers a specialist familiar with the basics of this rather complicated technically sports books and videos in Youtube.
And, by the way, only after moving to study in Kazan, Olga Sannikova was able to raise the level of archery to a sufficiently high level. After all, the city has a school and a shooting range, where it will engage coaches specializing in this sport.
Olga still has time for improvement in all components. She herself is going to continue her sports career for the next few years. And by the way, he hopes that acheri-biathlon will someday become an Olympic sport.