MINSK, 15 March (BelTA) – The team of Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko won the relay of the Minsk Ski Track 2021 winter sport festival which took place at the Raubichi Winter Olympic Sport Center on 13 March, BelTA has learned.
The relay quartet included the head of state, who anchored the race, Svetlana Konoshenko, Lyudmila Kalinchik, and Nikolai Lukashenko.
The teams of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee and the Brest Oblast Executive Committees placed second and third respectively.
The 4x2km relay event also featured the teams of the Belarus President Administration, the Council of Ministers, the Presidential Property Management Department, the National Assembly, the State Control Committee and the oblast executive committees.
Speaking to the media after the awards ceremony, Aleksandr Lukashenko shared his emotions after his team's victory. “It is always hard to win. Especially when you have millions of different eyes watching you. It is difficult for me, very difficult. But people are happy. That is my fate. My task is to do good for the people,” the president said.
The head of state said that a large number of fans came to the festival to support their teams. According to the president, it is great, though sometimes it distracts from the race. “I thought that during the shooting stage silence is better than noise. Even at the finish line: you finish on a fresh course (a big difference for a skier) and you get distracted by the stands – I have almost fall down there,” added Aleksandr Lukashenko.
