"Sergei always wants more": Kramer on the comparison of Ustyugov with a violin and the Russian character

Ski training in Ramsau is almost always extreme: since the Austrian police banned athletes from using motorways for roller training, coaches have to take their wards several tens of kilometers away from Ramsau and conduct classes against the backdrop of the most village pastoral: with one cows, on the other - sheep and horses, here tractors are busily scurrying about, delivering and stacking firewood for the winter. So Markus Kramer, when I asked about the place of the next training, laconically remarked: “The collection point in Weissenbach. There, in the center of the village, there is a small coffee shop with a parking lot, you can't pass by anyway. And then ... Then you had better follow our car. You won't find it yourself. " Immediately after training, the coach and I settled down at a table in that very cafe.

- You held your first training camp in Ramsau back in May.

Is this a common practice, or are you just increasing the number of fees in the mountains?

- We originally planned to fly to Norway in May, but the country was completely closed due to COVID-19.

So we went to Ramsau to ride in the snow.

They paid right: on the glacier, the thickness of the cover was under four meters, and not 30 cm, as it is now.

Even in the valley in some places there was still snow, which is completely uncharacteristic for these places at the end of spring.

But overall, we really tried to work more in the mountains.

From Ramsau we went to Val Senales, then spent three weeks in Passo Lavaz - this is near Val di Fiemme, the July collection was made in Obertilliach.

Now we are also planning the next collection of Val Senales.

- Everyone remembers the story of how, after the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, FLGR President Elena Vyalbe said: "Markus, I need you."

Were there any fears that after the not very successful World Cup for your group, your boss will say something completely opposite?

- It's probably better to ask Elena about this.

Usually she refrains from harsh statements, the first thing she asks: "What happened?"

The last season, indeed, did not turn out in the most favorable way for us, but there was COVID-19 in the group.

- Are we talking about positive tests, or did the athletes really get sick?

- Differently.

Sergei Ustyugov dropped out for this reason for a whole month.

Stayed at home and drank a damn lot of drugs.

He really felt very bad: wild weakness, constant headache.

If we talk about the problems in our group, this was the main one.

- When exactly did Sergey get sick?

- He felt bad at the training camp in Muonio at the very end of October.

At some point, I saw that he really could not train, he could barely drag his legs.

And he constantly complains of weakness.

All this looked extremely strange, since the tests for COVID-19, passed by Sergey and all other athletes the day before, were negative.

The first "plus" was discovered at Ustyugov only in Moscow, when we sent Sergei there.

Although by that time I myself already understood what was happening: I followed the development of the situation in various sports and drew attention to the fact that all sick athletes complain of the same symptoms.

First of all - total fatigue.

- Was the recovery going hard?

- Slowly.

We started with very light loads, constantly making sure that the athlete's well-being did not get worse.

The first time Sergey ran at the end of December at the regional competitions and won them, then he started in January at the continental cup stage in Kirovo-Chepetsk, and only after that we decided to go to the world cup stage in Falun.

To be honest, I didn't expect Ustyugov to run well there.

But he really managed to get in good shape by this time.

- And you decided to try to prepare for the World Cup?

- Yes.

The results shown in Falun made it possible to qualify for a place in the national team (Ustyugov was 4th in the sprint, 7th in the 15 km mass start in the classic and 12th in the 15 km free run. -

), so it was decided to start in Oberstdorf from the sprint, and then see how it goes.

In the sprint, Ustyugov ended up in fifth, but there was not a very pleasant background: due to the fact that the World Cup stage in Nove Mesto was canceled, we arrived in Oberstdorf a week earlier than planned.

And in one of the test races, Sergei fell badly and injured his leg.

- In one of your interviews, I read that in relation to other athletes, you just went overboard with loads last season.

Accordingly, people did not have time to recover.

- This is true.

I really overloaded them.

- I ask about this, because I know that in the pre-Olympic season in cyclic sports it is customary to work out the model that will be used to guide athletes to the Games. So this season you have to change everything?

- Yes, we are preparing a little differently, but not because the previous season was somehow wrong.

The current Olympic Games are very different from all the previous ones.

In China, we have to compete at a fairly solid height, plus the time difference.

In such cases, it would be good to know in advance what distances this or that athlete will run before talking about how the training will be built at the final stage, but the qualification will take place with us only at the end of December.

So the only thing I know about the Games right now is the place of the final training camp and the date of the team's departure to Beijing.

- 15 days of Olympic competition instead of the usual 10 - is it a boon for the coach or an additional headache?

- I see this as a definite plus, since the schedule allows athletes not only to recover better, but also enables the coach to better prepare people for the races. The second half of the tournament after three days of rest is only team sprints and long distances, respectively, there will be no traditional fuss, when you have to start every other day throughout the entire duration of the competition. When there are 12 people in a team, this, in principle, is not a big problem. But in Beijing there will be not a dozen, but eight.

On the other hand, the most difficult thing at the Games is to wait for your start, keeping motivation at the proper level. During large competitions, athletes, as a rule, do not have any opportunity to fully train, especially when the organizers do not provide warm-up tracks, as was the case in Oberstdorf. We had to wind several tens of kilometers a day in search of more or less acceptable conditions.

Even if they found an outwardly suitable place, there could be a completely unprepared ski track - due to the fact that the snowcat did not work that day.

Or the ski track turned out to be classic, while we needed a skate.

It was the same with the gyms.

It seems to have looked after the place, you come, and they say to you: "Excuse me, we have a jam today."

At the Games, all athletes are much more restricted in their movements.

Accordingly, more problems may arise.

- Two years ago you said that you face certain difficulties when working with a large group.

Is it easier now?

- Yes, the group is not that big now: eight Russians plus two Italians.

Sometimes the Austrian Teresa Stadlober joins us.

This is a good joint experience, by the way.

- What about jealousy?

- She's not. Everyone, as far as I can tell, is in excellent relations with each other, and I see, for example, that Ustyugov, Gleb Retivykh and Federico Pellegrino frankly enjoy working together. They are constantly talking about something, discussing how to make this or that workout more effective. It is clear that they do not cease to be rivals, but this is precisely why tough competition suits all three. The same competition is constantly going on between Artyom Maltsev and Evgeny Belov in distance races. Maltsev was fifth at the World Championships in Oberstdorf, but I can say that Belov was no worse ready for that championship. It's just that he was desperately unlucky: falls, broken poles, loss of skis. I understand that you cannot write in the protocol: "Sorry, I lost my skis." Nobody cares about the reasons if you lose.

- Does Ustyugov still have the status of the main athlete in your group?

- I would say that he is still one of the most talented sprinters in the world.

- Agree.

But when a talent of this scale for several years has not been able to realize itself and show the desired result, it seems to me that raises questions.

- I disagree about the lack of results.

Finishing fifth in the world championship after everything that Ustyugov had to face is more than a decent level.

Another question is that Sergei himself always wants more.

- That's what I'm talking about.

He's too ambitious to even be happy with second place.

But he has failed to reach the level of his best performances for the fourth season already.

Where to get motivation in such cases?

- It's difficult, I won't deny it.

When we were preparing for the World Championships in Seefeld in 2019, I saw that Ustyugov was simply crushed by the situation that happened to him before the Games in Pyeongchang.

I think this is the most difficult thing for him to this day - to remember how long and with what zeal he prepared for the Games and did not receive an invitation to them without explaining the reasons.

We still don't know the reason.

- Is this topic still relevant for Sergei?

- We never talk about it, but it seems to me that we do.

- Are you satisfied with the current state of Ustyugov?

- Sergei had an excellent summer training, gained good condition.

I was especially pleased in this regard at the beginning of September, when we competed in Italy.

In the sprint, Ustyugov broke the stick twice, but in qualifying he lost quite a bit to Pellegrino.

At a distance, he was also very, very good.

He just caught a cold later, and in this regard, we decided not to take him to Oberhof, to give him the opportunity to recover at home.

Now Sergei is restoring his condition again, but all these changes, of course, are unsettling. 

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- I understand now why Ustyugov did not show a desire to talk to me about his condition.

“I'm afraid this is really not the best time for an interview.

Not so long ago, journalists once again raised the topic of biathlon disqualifications and once again confused Sergei with Yevgeny Ustyugov.

And this has already become a system in Russian journalism: not to see the difference between cross-country skiing and biathlon, to confuse names and events.

How should we treat this?

It is clear that irritation appears.

- On the eve of the Olympic Games, coaches often say that the body of an athlete, as it reaches its peak, becomes extremely vulnerable to diseases and injuries.

Psyche, it turns out, this also applies?

- And how!

Any careless word can provoke the most unpredictable reaction.

There are quite thick-skinned athletes in this regard, but Ustyugov is definitely not one of them.

He loves to be alone, loves silence, in this regard, for example, I see that he is not too comfortable at those training camps where, in addition to our group, other teams gather.

A large team in this regard is like a hive: there is always some kind of buzzing around.

But all this does not apply to training: there Sergey is always extremely focused on work.

Plus, he very well feels his body to the finest settings, which is not always typical for an athlete.

- You talk about him as a musician could talk about his violin.

- It's amazing that you said that.

When I first joined the Russian team, its manager Yuri Charkovsky pointed me to Ustyugov and said: "Markus, this guy is a Stradivarius violin."

Subsequently, I recalled these words many times, to such an extent they turned out to be true.

But I must say that outstanding athletes are generally extremely difficult people, moreover, each in its own way.

After all, I worked with many of them: with Dario Colonya, with Sasha Legkov, with Sergei, with Yulia Stupak ...

- I, frankly, was surprised that Yulia managed to recover so quickly after the birth of her son.

- I myself, I remember, was in shock when she called two weeks after giving birth and said that she was ready to start training.

Then I told her something like: “Take a stroller and go for a walk with your child.

And in a few weeks you will call again, and we will return to the conversation about training. "

- Did you listen?

- Of course not.

But I realized very quickly that I was really in a hurry.

On the other hand, that conversation very clearly made me understand how great Stupak's motivation is to return to the group as soon as possible.

After all, I already had a similar experience when Yulia Chekaleva returned after giving birth.

Not to say that the process was fast, therefore, in the case of Stupak, I expected that she would definitely not be able to restore a more or less acceptable form by winter.

But by the time of the Tour de Ski, Yulia was in good shape.

Perhaps a big role here was played by the fact that we communicate very well, we constantly discuss all aspects of preparation, down to the smallest detail.

In general, I love working with athletes who want to communicate.

When there is no full feedback, it immediately increases the likelihood of a coaching error.

- At the stage of the World Cup in Davos, Stupak was second in the top ten freestyle. In Val Mustair and Falune, she took silver in the mass start at the same distance. In addition, she won the Toblach pursuit and came close to the podium several times. But the drawing of medals in 

- I think it was a mistake to run three races in Falun.

One would be enough.

We discussed this with Yulia both before the championship and after, and came to the same conclusion.

After the Tour de Ski, Stupak got sick and, perhaps, the subsequent competitive load simply turned out to be excessive for her.

So it turned out that we could not get to the main start in optimal shape.

Not enough, judging by the fact that a week later Julia won the 10 km classics in the Engadine over Heidi Veng and Ebba Andersson.

- Shortly before arriving in Ramsau, I interviewed Vyalbe, and she said: "Almost everyone who goes to Markus makes a noticeable leap in the first year."

Can you explain why this is connected?

- I would not agree with this statement.

The same Maltsev, when he came to the group, in the first season of working with me hardly made his way to the World Cup at all.

He began to really progress in the third year, that is, last season.

But for women, this scheme really works.

- What's the difference?

- I suspect that the whole point is that girls tend to listen to the coach in a completely different way.

Ears, like locators, catch every spoken word.

And they try very hard.

So at least it was with Julia, with Natalia Matveeva, with Natalia Nepryaeva.

That is why the progress has turned out to be so powerful.

You can't imagine how happy I was when Julia and Natasha (Nepryaeva

) became the second in Oberstdorf in the team sprint!

Few medals evoked so many emotions in me.

- Most of the outstanding skiers were born and raised in the countryside.

Do you think this really contributes to the development of the athlete to a greater extent?

“I’m a village myself.”

- That is why I am interested.

- You know, I thought about it.

Life in the countryside very strongly and, as it were, gradually develops in a person resistance to many external factors.

To the weather, to physical labor.

Especially, I think, this applies to those who grew up in Siberia with its frosts and long winters.

Living alone with nature, you must be constantly ready for absolutely everything.

It's a hard life.

Especially when the child grows up without a father or without a mother and early enough takes on the functions of an adult.

Accordingly, such athletes always have a higher motivation to achieve something, to break out into another life.

- You have been working with Russian athletes for ten years. Is there something in the Russian character that you could not get used to?

- The strangest thing for me is that so many decisions concerning important things are made too late. In my opinion, it is necessary to plan the result at such starts as the World Championships and the Olympic Games in advance if we want to get 100% efficiency on a certain day. Ideally, each athlete should understand in advance what kind of distance he is preparing for, be sure that he will start at the appointed time. And that only injury or illness can prevent this. I know this is the case for the Norwegian national team. Harald Amundsen, who was third in the individual "tag" in Oberstdorf, knew already a month before the start that he would run this distance. I was 100% focused on it, that's why I finished with a medal. This, in my opinion, is the very reserve due to which the chances of success can be increased.

- Do you propose to follow the example of the Norwegians?

- Well, we want to defeat them, don't we?