– Vladimir Valeryevich, the season had to be saved this year and urgent decisions had to be made. What was done?
– First of all, it was possible to maintain, and perhaps even increase the motivation of the athletes who found themselves without international departures. It is clear that we could not artificially influence the competition and invite top athletes to our home for obvious reasons. But our championships are all open, whoever wants can come.
We worked out the story with the prize money. The prize fund is divided between clusters in long and short courses, which motivates athletes to show high results, speaking throughout the season at a certain number of starts.
It’s not easy to get motivated without high-level rivals, but the guys are doing well, as evidenced by two dozen records in the Russian Championship, including a world record and European records.
Regarding the organization of competitions in Kazan, we must pay tribute to the ANO “Directorate of Sports and Social Projects”, which is our long-time partner. All organizational issues are resolved quickly, without any hassle. I think the level of the current tournament is comparable to the level of organization of the World Cup, considering the design and the surroundings.
– Have all the registration formalities for Kliment Kolesnikov’s record been completed? And then there are those who ask if there is doping control at the Russian Championship.
– Of course, there is a doping control, the whole procedure was observed, this is not the first time in our country that a world record has been broken. So we know the process.
– I would like to ask about the files of Masha Kameneva and Evgenia Chikunova separately.
– It always makes me happy when an athlete goes so stubbornly towards his goal. Mary’s character is iron. I’m glad she managed to show such seconds here. As for Chikunova, her attack on the world record, which was missing by 13 hundredths, was very impressive. The athlete herself, however, was upset because only the European record fell as a result, but I’m sure she won’t stop there.
What is the calendar plan for next season?
– There are departures from the regular schedule, other tournaments may be added. The Russian Cup next year begins in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and ends in Kazan. I am convinced that it will be interesting for the participants themselves, and also useful from the point of view of swimming development. Everyone perceives the idea positively. The Russian Cup will be held in three zones – the Far East, Siberia with the Urals, the European part. We plan to rotate the cities by season within this structure of the Russian Cup schedule, we want to expand the geography of the competition.
The two main cities where the Russian championships are held are Kazan and Saint Petersburg. After the commissioning of the facilities, it is very possible that Yekaterinburg will be added. But as for the departures that are not included in the structure of the regular schedule, here decisions will be made later – for example, there is an idea to hold a tournament with the conditional name “Kuzbass Cup” at the end of the summer season. The idea was expressed at the forum “Russia – Sports Power”.
In open water, we conducted negotiations with the organizers of the biggest X-Waters competitions, with the triathlon federation. We want to give our athletes the opportunity to participate in these competitions in order to broaden their competitive practice and unite the attention to mass swimming and our tournaments at the same time.
One of these departures will take place in Chelyabinsk. The Russian Cup stage, which we are organizing in St. Petersburg, will be combined with the Bronze Horseman tournament. Thus, the number of participants will be around 1000 people.
In general, our open water athletes are modest guys, and I think they don’t get enough attention. We want to correct this situation.
– When Athletics presented their calendar plan, the question arose – is it a decadent mood? There were no international departures and not many windows left for them. Do you have a plan A and a plan B?
– It’s easier for us. This year, the finals of the Russian Cup and the Russian Short Course Championship were combined with the stages of the Friendship Games. For this reason, we received more media attention, increased the number of participants. So in 2023, the Russian Championship and the Russian Cup will still take place, the calendar is balanced, and if we play in the World Championship, the structure of the calendar will not change.
– Do you plan to show the stages of the Russian Cup?
– We are working on cooperation with Match for the next season in terms of key starts – Russian Championships in pool, Salnikov Cup, Russian Cup final. As with most stages of the Russian Cup, we want to have good quality Internet broadcasting, so that the image of the competition is and always remains at a good level.
— Will you take part in the Congress in December?
— I was invited, but I decided to take the opportunity to participate online.
– Should we expect any changes in the situation with our suspension in the near future?
“FINA follows the recommendations of the IOC, but at the same time we maintain a working relationship. Many bring up the subject of moving to Asia. This, in principle, is real, but you need to be extremely careful in such decisions. Under what status one could participate in the competitions of the Asian confederation is another question. It remains to be clarified, especially since this subject concerns our entire aquatic family, and not just swimming.
Source : MatchTV
