Mikita LABASTAU

NATIONALITY SWITCH
Born in the Russian Federation, he competed for his homeland until 2017 as Nikita Lobastov. Began competing for Belarus in December 2018 after being invited by former coach Vladimir Korolkevich (BLR).

SHOOTING ACE
"Shooting is my strong point. Of course, I try to develop the course along the distance, but traditionally the most successful for me are races with four firing lines. On control trainings, in a calm atmosphere, I scored 99 points out of 100. The usual result is within the range of 96–97. It is difficult to say how it will be in winter, but the requirements are simpler there. You don't need to hit the top ten for the target to close. An eight is enough, and when shooting while standing, a four is enough. But I still try to shoot with a margin, as accurately as possible." (sportufo.ru, 29 Aug 2019)

YOUTH
Attended the Specialized Sports School of the Olympic Reserve in Biathlon in Izhevsk, Udmurtia.

© Data by Sports Data Warehouse

At the 2020 and 2021 World Championships he represented Belarus placing 9th in the men's relay at both events and 30th in the individual in 2021, his best result individually.

He celebrated his debut in the IBU Cup 2018/19 in Duszniki-Zdroj when he finished 15th. He started regularly in the World Cup since the beginning of the 2019/2020 season an collected his first points placing 39th in the pursuit in Hochfilzen in Dec 2019. His best result was rank 28 in the pursuit in Annecy a few weeks later contributing to his 66th place in the total score at the end of the season. He was also a regular member of Belarusian relay teams achieving a number of top ten results.

Made his international debut in 2015, still under the Russian colors at the European Youth Olympic Festival, where he won the silver medal in the mixed relay. At the 2017 Junior World Championships he clinched gold in the relay and bronze in the individual. At the 2019 Junior World Championships representing Belarus he claimed silver in the individual. In the same year he finished in the top ten in all his three individual races. He was even more successful in the 2019 Junior World Championships in summer biathlon winning gold in super sprint and silver in the pursuit.