“We’re not doing brilliantly yet”: Kaminsky on medals in relay races, changes in the national team and his mascot

- How nervous did you survive the relay race?

- To be honest, it hasn’t happened for a long time.

Even at the World Championships I was less nervous.

And here, in Hochfilzen, I don’t know how I survived all this?

- But this is just a stage of the World Cup ...

- Apparently, expectations are high.

We walk around the bush, like very close to the medals.

That one fails, then another.

When Vasya Tomshin started shooting while lying down, I had time to think about it as a sinful thing: he will continue in the same way, we can argue for gold with the Norwegians.

- And then Tomshin catches the penalty loop ...

- I think that at the counter there was a small psychological breakdown with the guy.

After that, however, I felt calmer: we only had to catch up, and this is always easier.

- In your career as a senior coach, this is not the first penalty loop in the relay, is it?

- Unfortunately no.

In Antholz last year, Sasha Loginov ran a circle, and in Ostersund last week we were third with the circle.

All repeats.

Moreover, in comparison with Östersund, even the number of additional cartridges turned out to be the same: 1 + 9.

- Is the penalty loop in the relay for a team like Russia a disaster?

- Rather, a big disappointment.

You just don't feel it right away: in the race you instantly begin to figure out what can be done in this situation, how big the breaks are, how real the struggle is.

- So this bronze is an outstanding performance?

- I would call it solid.

Remember how Suvorov wrote to Bagration?

"One must start solidly and end brilliantly."

But we have not succeeded so far brilliantly.

Theoretically, we could probably compete for second place if Sasha Loginov and Eduard Latypov had worked out the stance cleanly, but with three additional cartridges each one could not count on a higher place.

- Was there at least one Russian relay in your memory that was completed without the use of additional cartridges?

- This, in my opinion, has never happened at all.

I remember there was one.

I just don’t remember exactly where.

- Here, in Hochfilzen - in 2014.

And after all, we also won the relay here at the World Championship.

Now that the stage is over, can you explain what your fluctuations in the relay composition were connected with?

- A lot with what. First of all, we took into account the condition of the athletes. Personally, I wanted to give the same Karim Khalili the opportunity to rest, so his candidacy was not initially considered. He ran hard for the very first race, and it would be completely wrong to load him with three starts in a row. And besides, we still have to vary the composition, try different people. Well, we don’t have a reinforced concrete four capable of competing for gold medals at the Olympics. Therefore, we continue to experiment, we look at who and how they manifest themselves in the conditions of competition.

It is clear that Norway, with which we will have to compete, is a super team.

To defeat her in Beijing, everyone, without exception, will have to jump over their heads.

And for me, as a coach, the biggest problem is precisely not to be mistaken in the alignment.

To put on exactly those people who, at the right time, will be able to show their maximum in the relay race.

And so that more experienced athletes do not let down, but support the young.

Then we will have a chance of success.

- Did Latypov know that he might end up in Hochfilzen outside the relay lineup?

- Yes.

I talked to him about it the night before.

- And what was the reaction?

- Absolutely normal.

Edik said that he was ready for any coaching decision.

In this regard, he is like a soldier: ordered - carried out.

- I didn't quite understand your phrase about Anton Babikov: was there really an option to put him on the baton?

- What is the difficulty?

Anton is at the disposal of the second team, and it is now based just 150 kilometers from Hochfilzen.

Two hours drive.

There was simply no such need.

If the guys ran the pursuit race really badly, then perhaps we would think about rotation.

Moreover, I constantly call up with Artyom Istomin, who leads the reserve team, in the course of the state of all athletes.

Actually, together with Istomin, we decided that there was no point in disrupting Babikov from training and thereby interrupting the acclimatization process, returning him to the plain for one day.

- Belarusian coaches said that they chose not to put Dinara Alimbekova on the baton just for the reason that acclimatization covered her in Hochfilzen.

So this is a common phenomenon here?

- We also faced this.

In the sprint, it hit Khalili and Serokhvostov most hard, Latypov barely coped with this condition, and Loginov, as far as I know, did not feel very confident in the pursuit.

I can't say anything about Tomshin.

- Vasily admitted that he did not feel very comfortable in the first race on the way to the border.

- It's hard for me to comment on this.

As they say, I've never been in this skin.

- In general, are you satisfied with how the team started in the new season?

- I am glad that no one gives up even when we find ourselves on the brink of disaster in the relay races.

On the other hand, it’s time to take the next step, more stable shooting.

Then the guys will really become competitive.

Although, returning to the relay, with the exception of Tomshin, the rest of the troika worked at the level of the Norwegian.

And I wouldn't scold Vasya too much.

I really liked his bed.

In fact, I asked him to accelerate as much as possible at this line - it’s too painful for Sturla Legrade to have someone leave the shooting range before him.

It is possible, by the way, that the shooting of Tomshin and the Norwegian unsettled at the first line.

- What do you think is more correct in the Olympic season - to decide on the relay line-up as early as possible and try to roll it as much as possible or try to view as many applicants as possible?

- We must proceed from the possibilities that we have.

If the bench were short, like last year, that's one thing.

After all, if you remember the last world championship, we put on the baton Khalili out of despair, choosing between a bad option and a very bad one.

It is clear that Karim did everything he was capable of, but the lag at his stage was decent.

Our third place wouldn't have happened if the French hadn't helped.

This season the picture has changed: we got the opportunity to try guys in the relay who look very good in contact races.

I would also like to try Babikov.

- I would not like to jinx it, but your whole group this season is somehow unusually good with speed.

- Well, why do you think I was invited to the national team?

- Do you have any lucky item, without which you do not go to the races?

- Now, I'm rummaging through my pockets.

Here (

): this is the Yakut god of the hunt - Bayanai.

- Helps to shoot?

- Yes, so far, something is not very ...