Golden sleigh
Over the past two weeks, Sochi has hosted two stages of the Luge World Cup.
Initially, they were planned to be held in the Canadian Whistler and the American Lake Placid, but at the beginning of the season, the International Luge Federation (FIL) had to hastily postpone the competitions to Russia, as the organizers could not guarantee the entry of all the declared participants due to coronavirus restrictions.
The transfer, of course, played into the hands of the Russians, because the Olympic track "Sanki" is well known to them.
At the first of the two home stages, Andrey Bogdanov and Yuri Prokhorov won silver in doubles, playing together for only the first season, Victoria Demchenko and Roman Repilov brought bronze medals, and the relay team consisting of Bogdanov, Prokhorov, Demchenko and Semyon Pavlichenko won.
Last week, Bogdanov and Prokhorov took another step forward and became the winners of the competition among twos, ahead of their main competitors, Germans Tony Eggert and Sasha Beneken by 0.134 seconds.
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Publication from FIL Luge (@fil_luge)
After the start, they emphasized that a large number of training sessions at the Olympic stadium played an important role in their triumph.
“Of course we are very happy to win, especially since this is our home track.
The secret is that you just make fewer mistakes than others.
This is what helped us today, ”the FIL press service quotes Bogdanov as saying.
His partner Yuri Prokhorov admitted that the athletes expected a high result, but so far they do not draw far-reaching conclusions from the victory.
“We hoped that if the weather permits, we will hold the positions of the second stage.
And they proved it.
We are glad that we did not flinch and used the chance that presented itself to us at home.
This is a very big contribution to the World Cup.
We are ready to continue to please everyone, including ourselves.
But it is too early to talk about participation in the Olympics, as well as to draw any conclusions.
We have yet to find out what we can show on the tracks in Europe.
But we are working and moving towards this, ”RIA Novosti quotes the luger.
Two more silver awards of the sprint stage were brought by Roman Repilov and a two-crew crew Alexander Denisiev - Vladislav Antonov.
Burov's triumph and the uncertainty of the Olympic selection
Freestyle skier Maxim Burov became a two-time winner of the first stage of the Freestyle World Cup, which was held in the Finnish Hand.
The three-time world champion, as expected, showed the best results in ski acrobatics.
"Everything went well.
I am very glad that the season started so well ”, - quotes a short comment from the winner of olympics.com.
Maxim Burov goes back-to-back as he takes his second win in two days in Ruka with that perfectly stomped back double Full-Full-Full.
Gotta love the execution on this one 😎👌 # aerialspic.twitter.com / 1lD9eNZErM
- FISfreestyle (@FISfreestyle) December 3, 2021
In the team competitions in ski acrobatics, domestic freestylers won silver, losing only to the Chinese national team.
In addition to Burov, the Russian team included Lyubov Nikitina and Stanislav Nikitin.
At the same time, the trip of Russian athletes to the North American stages of the World Cup is still in question. According to current regulations, only those vaccinated against coronavirus with vaccines approved by the American Food and Drug Administration or the World Health Organization can enter the United States and Canada. There are no Russian vaccines among them, and the Russian Freestyle Federation (FFR) did not have the opportunity to revaccinate all athletes with foreign vaccines. Having missed part of the qualifying stages, some Russian athletes run the risk of not getting to the Olympics.
“If nothing changes, then some of our athletes will simply not be able to qualify for the Olympic Games, to win Olympic licenses.
This is an absolutely unequal and absolutely dishonest approach, "FFR President Alexei Kurashov told RIA Novosti.
Skaters break through in the USA
Domestic skaters faced a similar problem of entering the United States, but the Russian Speed Skating Federation was able to obtain permission for its athletes to participate.
The Russians arrived in Salt Lake City just a few days before the start of the competition, but despite the difficulties of acclimatization, they were able to win two silver and three bronze medals in Division A, as well as gold in Division B.
Angelina Golikova twice became a silver medalist at a distance of 500 meters, and Olga Fatkulina took third place in the second race at this distance.
After the performance, the latter complained that she could not overclock this season and therefore the result was not too high.
“Of course, I wanted to run out of 37 seconds here at the five hundred, because to have a personal result higher and run 37 - it would be the most dumb for such a result.
Today the task was to get out of 37 seconds.
I was tuned in to overclocking, at the first "fifty kopecks" I thought: "Olya, do everything to improve it."
I've already tried all the tactics, psychological warm-ups.
Nothing works.
I complain to the coach about overclocking, and he says: "Everything will come, Ol, everything will be."
I'm waiting for “everything will be”, - the sportswoman told Match TV.
The 2021 world champion at the 500-meter Golikova, in turn, also said that she was unhappy with the result.
“I understand that I can run faster, some moments do not work out and this upsets me to some extent.
I understand that I am on the verge of a great result, but so far there is none.
The result is 36.3 - yes, that would be cool, and 36.7 - well, this is a passing start, ”said the Russian woman.
The Russians won another bronze in the team pursuit, losing to the teams of Canada and the Netherlands.
Among the men in Salt Lake City, only Ruslan Zakharov scored, who finished third in the mass start.
Bobsleigh and skeleton are gaining momentum
Bobsledders and skeletonists last week performed at the World Cup in Altenberg, Germany, where they won silver and bronze.
For the first time, the 21-year-old skeleton athlete Alina Tararychenkova became the medalist of the World Cup stages.
The Eagle native finished second, 0.31 seconds behind winner Tina Hermann of Germany.
According to the head coach of the Russian national bobsleigh and skeleton team Danil Chaban, the Russian woman ruined the plans of the hostesses of the tournament to take the entire podium.
“Alina is great, she drove well both races, the second place is an excellent result.
Last season, on this track, Alina took fourth place, a little short of the prize money.
And this year she did it, and she became the second.
The Germans on their usual track expected to take the entire podium, but Alina ruined their plans, fought well and made her way to the prize-winners, "Chaban said.
Thanks to the second place, Tararychenkova rose to the second line of the overall standings.
Behind her is another Russian woman - the bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in Sochi Elena Nikitina.
Finally, bobsledders have pleased with the World Cup medal.
Rostislav Gaityukevich and Mikhail Mordasov won a bronze medal in the doubles competition in Germany, and this is the first Russian medal in bobsled this season.
The senior coach of the Russian national team Pavel Shcheglovsky highly appreciated the progress of the domestic crew.
“This season, they gradually began to approach the prize-winning places at the World Cup stages.
And at the previous stage they were already the fourth, and today they drove very well and steadily.
The guys, together with the coaches, continue to work with the technique and try to find the optimal settings.
And the result at the World Cup stage showed that they are moving in the right direction, ”Shcheglovsky said.
The 27-year-old Gaityukevich came to bobsleigh by sporting standards recently - in 2017 - but has already become the leader of the national team.
The athlete's personal trainer, Oleg Sukhoruchenko, believes that Rostislav is already ready to fight for the medals of the Olympic Games, but he will pick up his best shape after a year or two.
“Physically and psychologically, he is already ready for leadership, but the lack of a colossal advance, which our rivals have, is still making itself felt.
Rostislav is now studying the tracks and every time he discovers some secrets for himself.
I think that in a year or two he will gain experience and will consistently show good results.
Gaityukevich is very efficient, which allows him to level the gap with the leaders of the world bobsleigh in a short time, ”TASS quotes Sukhoruchenko.