Belarusian skiers continue to prepare for the new season: how the national team was updated

Raubichy hosted the Open Championship of Belarus in ski rollers - a test start for skiers who continue to prepare for the new winter season. Despite the serious struggle imposed by Russian athletes, our athletes have repeatedly climbed to the pedestal: medals were won by Denis Filimonov, Elizaveta Pugacheva, Irina Kravtsova, Victoria Zhemkova, Valery Dushicheva and not only. The names of these athletes are not familiar to most fans, but this is not surprising. Great changes are taking place in the national team, as the chairman of the Belarusian Ski Union and the Belarusian Ski Federation Alexander Grebnev recently said. The composition has been seriously updated, and the training of our athletes is now conducted under the leadership of the senior coach of the Russian national team Yegor Sorin.

At a distance of 20 km. Ahead is Irina Kravtsova. The change of generations is a process that happens constantly in sports, says Alexander Grebnev. This is what can be seen in ski racing. In recent years, the main hopes in this sport were associated with two Annas – the Queen and the Stepmother. Anna Koroleva in the off-season decided to go to biathlon, and Anna Machekhina is now experiencing a wonderful period in her life: she is preparing to become a mother. At the same time, notes Alexander Grebnev, trains according to an individual plan and intends to return to the sport after the appearance of the firstborn. When asked why it was decided to enter a new stage in cooperation with Russian colleagues, the interlocutor answers:

The principle is simple: if you learn, the best. Russia has a strong integrated system of training top-class athletes, there are different methods and models. Having talked with colleagues, with Elena Vyalbe (three-time Olympic champion, first deputy chairman of the Russian Ski and Snowboard Federation). We considered that the best solution is our collaboration, interaction with Yegor Sorin, whose athletes performed at the Olympic Games and showed high results. He keeps his finger on the pulse, tracks the dynamics of our skiers. Senior coach of the national team Alexander Zavyalov, who previously worked in the team of Tatarstan, is constantly with them. Russian specialists work in tandem. Joint training events are held with the Russian team, training models are drawn up taking into account the recommendations of our Russian colleagues. I think all this will bear fruit.

Victoria Zhemkova. Alexander Zavyalov started working with Belarusian skiers in May. He says the team has "refreshed" - predominantly athletes under 23 and juniors:

- In the category up to 23 years it is Victoria Zhemkova and Irina Kravtsova, Valeria Dushicheva, Egor Korotkin. The rest of the guys - Alexandra Parfenova, Lyudmila Torubarova, Kirill Buevich, Artem Nesteronok and Stanislav Kravchuk - juniors. There is an invited athlete from Russia Denis Filimonov. Recently, at the Russian Championship among skiers of primary age (Filimonov is 27 years old. – Approx. ed.), he took ninth place in the sprint, this is a very decent result. At the Open Championship of Belarus in ski rollers, Denis also became the winner in this discipline by a large margin.

In the summer, most of our skiers spent in Raubichy, and shortly before the open championship of Belarus returned from the high-altitude camp in the Armenian Tsakhkadzor. The performance at the home tournament was woven into the training system: athletes were not brought to the start especially, since all attention is for the winter season. Nevertheless, says Alexander Zavyalov, the last start showed positive dynamics among Belarusian skiers.

- There's still a lot of work to do. For the winter season, the main task is to perform at the World Junior Championships, which will be held in Estonia in January. All athletes, except Denis Filimonov, meet the age limits for participation in this tournament. Now we will continue to prepare for the winter season, work on the mistakes that have remained, analyze what we lack and move forward. Athletes are interested and mobilized. Alexander Zavyalov draws attention to the fact that several specialists of different directions work with a team of Belarusian skiers and each of them invests their knowledge in athletes. The potential of our team is good, and the task of the coaching staff is to help unlock it.

Very soon, our team members will change ski rollers to skis, the coach said:

- We plan to go to the snow from October 20 – we will train in Aldan, Yakutia. Then we will move to Top Thea, where there will be other junior teams, which will allow us to assess our readiness. From there we will go to Tyumen to perform at all-Russian competitions. After the World Junior Championships, we will also join the All-Russian starts. We plan that somewhere the guys will play in adult competitions for experience and skills.

past@sb.by