"I'm not going to make plans and promise anything to anyone": Nepryaeva about participation in the World Cup after the operation and the fall in Falun

Despite the fact that Natalya Nepryaeva was allowed to go home after a short surgical intervention, she immediately warned that she would not be able to talk for a long time - the consequences of anesthesia and rather severe pain in the operated arm affected.

- The coach of the Russian national team, Markus Kramer, who stood near the place where you fell during the race, said that he heard screams and crying when you were taken from the slope.

Was it because of severe pain or was it a purely emotional reaction, the understanding that the season might be over?

- Immediately after the fall, she did not scream or cry.

It was really very painful, but emotionally it was not immediately possible to understand what exactly happened.

I lost my balance on the steepest part of the descent, the stick flew out of the lanyard.

When I got out of the snow, I put it back into the lanyard and tried to push off, I realized that things were bad.

I didn't feel pain, my hand seemed to be numb.

And when she took off her glove and looked at the hand, it immediately became clear that the bones were broken: they moved under the skin somehow completely chaotically.

It was only then that it dawned on me: that's it, we arrived, there was definitely an injury, and it looks like it was serious.

- Falun is some completely unhappy place for you ...

- Actually, yes.

I don’t remember a single race that would have developed there for me the way I wanted it.

Either falls, then disqualification, then I fall ill at the wrong time ...

- It is clear that a month before the World Championship, all fans are concerned about one question: will you be able to return to duty during this period or not.

What do you think about this?

- In this state, I don't think about anything at all, I just don't know.

Especially now, when the head does not really work.

Therefore, in no case am I going to make plans and promise anything to anyone.

- Nevertheless, you go back to Europe to recover ...

- We made a decision together.

Naturally, I will continue to train as much as my hand condition allows.

It's just that it's too early to talk about it now, and it's hard for me to talk about it purely physically: the anesthesia has not completely released.

- In early January, your coach Yuri Borodavko complained that you are not gaining shape as quickly as you would like ...

- I was also not entirely happy with the process.

As well as the quality of the training that I spent in the summer.

I felt when we had already started training on the snow that I could not do much of what Yuri Viktorovich suggests.

- The condition of a skier on the track is usually assessed by coaches by how a person moves.

How does the athlete feel?

In other words, at what point in the season did you begin to realize that form was finally starting to return?

- In sports in this regard, nothing ever happens suddenly.

And the fact that the “wrong” movements are felt very well.

Incidentally, I cannot say that my condition in Falun has somehow improved in comparison with the races in the previous stages.

Overall it was not bad though.

It is clear that this is not the peak of the form, I did not even have time to get close to it.

- Is the lack of preparation somehow related to the general crumpledness of all summer work due to the coronavirus?

- Partly yes, although I don't think that these circumstances played too big a role.

- You have repeatedly stated in interviews about warm relations within the team.

Now, after you and Tatyana Sorina were overtaken by injuries, other athletes got a chance to prove themselves.

Does the competition, which always intensifies on the eve of major starts, does not complicate human relations between you?

- It depends on specific people, I think.

It doesn't complicate me.

With the same Julia Stupak, we communicate a lot on a variety of topics.

There are no friends on the track, this is obvious.

However, this should not affect relationships between people in ordinary life, should it?

- By the way, Stupak admitted that she talked to you after you fell on the track, and that your example made everyone else be extremely careful on the slopes.

Do you think the fall that led to the injury was a pure accident, or could it have been avoided?

- Honestly, now I don't even remember exactly when that conversation took place.

As for the fall, I probably needed to stay more focused on the track.

But I don't think about it anymore.

Everything is left behind.

We need to think about something else.