Figure skating coach Alexander Volkov spoke to about the mood and motivation of students in his group in relation to the suspension of international departures.
Artem Kovalev — Winner of the Volvo Open Cup Challenger (2019) and Russian Cup (2020, 2021) stages. At the last Russian Championship, Kovalev completed the top five.
The ISU previously banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing under the organization’s auspices due to the situation in Ukraine. In June, the ISU congress extended the suspension of Russians and Belarusians.
– How are your students now playing for Russia? Still, classmates who go to international competitions are nearby, but so far they are only at home. How do you motivate them to keep working?
– It was more difficult to find the motivation in March, when everything started and there was a shock. Artem Kovalev has just qualified for the world junior championship, but everything turned out to be in vain.
It was difficult to accept the situation. He once said directly, “I don’t understand why I’m riding?” I had to choose words: that everything returns to normal, we must continue to work, because there are tournaments inside the country.
Yes, now Artem sees his friends performing abroad, but the guy understands for sure that his classmates are not responsible for his isolation. Artem, Semyon Danilyants (represents Armenia. – ) and Dasha Afinogenova (represents Lithuania. – ) are great friends, we all encourage each other.
A source:
Source : MatchTV
I’m John White and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. My specialty is covering sports news, which I’ve been doing for over 6 years now. During this time, I have worked as an author with Athletistic, a popular online news website focusing on sports topics.
