- Your ward was one of the most likely candidates for Olympic gold this season. When the Games were postponed indefinitely, what was the first coaching reaction?
- I was ready for this, frankly, what cannot be said about Anton. When it was announced that there would be no Games this year, he almost had tears in his eyes. I even had to reassure, explain that life does not end there, that nothing can be done, since nothing depends on us. But the first period was not easy for both of us. Of course, I was also upset, very upset.
- Before this news, preparations for the upcoming season went according to plan?
- Everything was just fine. Over the past five years, at the main summer starts, we always got our results - exactly the ones we were counting on and preparing for. Therefore, this time I was completely sure that Anton would improve his performance. To guarantee that we could win gold medals in Tokyo would be impudence, but deep down we hoped, of course, for that. Although they were preparing, first of all, for the championship of Russia, for the April selection in Kazan, which was also canceled.
- What was your goal at the Russian Championship?
- We planned to reach the level of best results. Not on a world record, but somewhere near it. Anton has already led himself to a peak, showing his best seconds in segments, that is, it was clear that he was ready very well. That blow that happened was purely psychological, you just need to withstand and survive it. We managed this one way or another. It's just that now we are all in a situation where nothing can be predicted. When we have the next start, no one knows.
- Synchronists even after the cancellation of the Russian championship to the last hoped that they will be able to speak at the European Championship in Hungary in May.
- We also wanted to go to Budapest to get the opportunity to start somewhere before the Olympics. Dates allowed to prepare for this start, and for the Games. Now this is also a mess, since the European championship has been postponed to May next year. In the fall, there will probably be a selection for the November World Short Water Championship, but if we start preparing for these competitions, which is exactly what I suspect the whole world will do, I'm afraid everything will turn out crumpled and forced. That is, on the one hand, it would be better if these competitions were not, and on the other hand, starts are needed, there is no getting anywhere.
- How do you work with Chupkov now?
- I paint Anton a daily program, he reports every day, so everything is in order. That is, almost full-fledged work is going on. We train only once a day, but this is enough for now, because we do not know when our next start can happen.
- What, in your coaching opinion, is the biggest problem for a swimmer with such a long break?
- There is no problem in the training plan, but purely psychologically, when you take such a long break, it can be very difficult to force yourself to do something again. It seems like you have to start working, and you are reluctant to force yourself to get up, invent something, and so on. But I think Anton will survive all this and cope with everything. He will not, as they say, break the folding board and leave the big sport. He is motivated quite seriously.
- Is there really no chance to find a pool in Moscow or the Moscow Region where you can train at least once a day without advertising it?
- Even if there is such an opportunity, not a single coach will tell you about it now. We were invited to Minsk, Ilya Shimanovich called Anton, invited him to come. Belarusians do not have quarantine at all, training is going on normally.
- If you can go to Belarus and train there, why didn’t you?
- So, now they don’t sell tickets for a train or a plane, everywhere there are cordons - you can’t get there either.
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Publication by Anton Chupkov🔴🔵 (@lobeeeen) Apr 16, 2020 at 5:58 PDT
- How realistic is the option for you and Anton to resume work in the near future at Krugly, or in Novogorsk?
- I know that both the president of the swimming federation Vladimir Salnikov and the head coach of the team Sergey Chepik do not sit idly by, constantly go to the authorities, try to achieve something. Even before Novogorsk was closed, they wanted all the leading swimmers to be sent there. I myself spoke on this subject with the Minister of Sports Oleg Matytsin, and it seems they even promised us that they would be able to find an opportunity to train. But here in Novogorsk, the gymnasts had a coronavirus, and everyone except the wards, Irina Viner, was sent home from the base.
- Synchronists claim that the worst consequence of a forced break is the loss of a sense of water. How fatally similar for a swimmer?
- To a lesser extent than for synchronized synchronists. With proper, competent work, it takes us about two weeks to feel the water again.
- What exactly is this feeling manifested in?
- When Anton is in the usual form, he is able to swim a fifty dollars in four strokes. After such a break, as now, it is no longer possible to do this in less than six strokes. That is, the feeling of water is leaving, and the strength will need to be pumped up. A lot of things to do.
- Returning to the Olympic topic: have you and Chupkov somehow changed the ratio of intentions regarding the main distance - 200 meters breaststroke - and 100 meters?
- Yes. In March, Anton set a Russian record at the "hundred", gradually reaching a fairly high level. It’s just that at this distance neither Chupkov, no one else is a competitor to Adam Petey - for 56.88 no one except the English will swim. But then all the results go at level 58 with a pretty penny. In other words, Chupkov may well be able to fight for the second or third place at the 100 meters at the Olympics.
- Due to what did you manage to make progress at a shorter distance? Added muscle mass?
- No, so far only speed work has been added. I’m just thinking about how to work this distance further. Anton has not too powerful exits after the start and after the turn, although we are working on it. That is, even only on this one can drop five to six tenths. But all this is still far from perfect. But as for the two hundred meter marking, Anton this year, before this quarantine, won all the competitions, and there were a lot of them. Even without taking into account the world record, we now have the best season result in the world.
- You want to say that Chupkov has no competitors at this distance?
- In China, a wonderful brassist appeared, I did not even know his name until this season. We were at the World League tournament, so almost the Prime Minister came to reward this Chinese specially.
- And how did the duel end?
- The guy starts the first hundred, and beats Anton’s two corps! What was happening at that moment in the stands cannot be conveyed. The whole stadium jumped up, everyone yells, whistles, stomps, drives the guy with shouts to the finish line, the noise is crazy. And Antoshka sat out, and at the last fifty dollars he pulled out a half-corps from the Chinese.
- Did your coaching heart skip a beat in the first half?
- No. Two hundred meters is a grandmaster distance, you have to swim it smartly. You can't start at crazy speed. And so it turned out that Anton won. For some reason he does not like to lose. Yes, and I also do not like.
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Posted by Anton Chupkov🔴🔵 (@lobeeeen) Feb 9, 2020 @ 3:20 am PST