“Before, I thought I would end my career at 25.” Ilinykh on diving, loyalty to Yekaterinburg and figure skating

On June 24 in Yekaterinburg, in the new Palace of Aquatic Sports, the Russian diving championship begins. It’s a very special moment for the World Cup medalist. Christina Ilinykhwho was born and raised in this city.

– Since I started diving, I trained at the Palais des Jeunes, it is a multifunctional center where there are many different activities, even artists’ concerts are organized. And here they also train in trampolining and diving,” says Christina.

– What jumps did you originally come to?

– The first time I came to the Palace of Youth in general during a performance – from three to six years old I was engaged in folk dances in the Polichkin ensemble. But she became interested in the trampoline, came to the gymnasium where they trained. There, coach Natalya Lvovna Valova asked me if I wanted to try my hand at diving. She promised that we would jump both on the trampoline and in the pool. I thought, “Oh, cool, I’m going.”

– Mom was happy that you were doing sports, or now she thinks: “It would be better if she continued to dance”?

– It seems to me that my mother was generally for any initiative. She, on the contrary, liked that I was interested in many things. I went to drawing, figure skating and table tennis. I wanted to try a lot and my mother always supported me in this. I also worked in the circus! But the coach said to finish this case, because they mess up my technique.

– That is, there could be another Ilyin in figure skating?

– It’s totally possible, because I’ve always tried very hard to do everything well, set a goal and work towards it. As a result, she engaged in figure skating for three months. I went there because it was painful to fall, but above all, nobody forced me to go there to continue doing that. According to the principle: if you don’t want it, you don’t have to. It was different in show jumping because the coach was interested in me. I won’t come, she calls, asks how are you, says come. Mom and coach in this matter played a role. The coach saw that I was self-critical, so she tried to support me so that I wanted to do this more.

– About “it hurts to fall”. There are also a lot of falls while jumping.

And it hurts too, of course. For this reason, I did not want to go to training. It was scary to learn new jumps.

They say it’s even worse in adulthood.

– In adulthood, this fear is already a habit. As a child, you are more afraid of the unknown. It scared me.

– Now the long familiar pain sensations scare you?

– Yes (laughs). Also, we don’t really learn new jumps. Now I’m just trying to run an already established schedule better.

“Could you have been a high school student?

– In the Youth Palace we have a tower of only 5 m, plus a shallow pool – 3.5 m. Sometimes it is not enough even to go well in the depth from three meters. This makes it difficult to place the entrance vertically to some extent. When I was little, this depth was enough for me to jump from the tower, now I am even afraid of falling from there – there is a risk of sticking to the bottom. So there were no special conditions for that.

— Yekaterinburg is not one of the main diving centers in Russia, at least not yet. How did you get from there to the national team?

– Slowly. From an early age, she showed results at All-Russian competitions. Initially they traveled at their own expense, then the school started paying for the trips when serious results started to show. We went to Voronezh, Togliatti, Chelyabinsk. I tried to express myself. The first time I was selected for the European Championship in Minsk. It was the first important moment.

“Do you still live in Yekaterinburg?” Many change region, move.

– I can’t say that I had many proposals for the transition, they only offered a parallel shift. Maybe people seemed like I wasn’t the kind of person who would go anywhere. It’s true – I never wanted to move. I love my city, here is my house, my family, my apartment. I want to live here for now. Everything suits me.

Was it difficult to fly so much? Everything from Krugly in a few hours, and you have an extra flight.

– In this regard, by the way, it was difficult, especially after international competitions. We flew via Moscow. Everyone is already at home and you are still waiting for the next plane. Three days off, and one of them you’re on the road.

– How difficult was it for you to change the composition of the “synchrone”? For example, when Nadia Bazhina left.

– With Nadia, we were the most suited to each other both technically and in everything. But everything changes, life goes on. I will leave – Lisa (Cousin) will get used to another partner. You accept all these changes as inevitable, just work, try to adjust.

Once I thought I would skip until 2020, go to the Tokyo Olympics and that was it. I thought I would be 25 and finish. But first, the Olympics were postponed, and I also broke my leg, I didn’t have time to get back into shape …

– And at that time you did not talk about this turn.

“I don’t like complaining. The inner circle and the team knew about it. Also, I’m not very active on social media. Those who are active on social media will immediately post how the injury is happening, how the recovery is going. I don’t really like all that. Not a very public person.

– How did you break it?

– At the gathering, at the Round. It was my first collection during the pandemic. I spent four days in quarantine, trained one day, broke my leg the second day and went to the hospital, where they put knitting needles on me. Because of all these grassroots restrictions and quarantines, it wasn’t all easy. I was without a personal trainer, even on the flight there would be no one to help me. So I returned to Krugloye, from there with Tatyana Valerievna Korobko – by car to her home in Saratov. I stayed there for a little over a week and then returned to Krugloye. There were still two months of walking with knitting needles, then they were taken away from me, and even then I returned to Yekaterinburg.

– About the good. Already installed in the new establishment?

– The first impressions are excellent, everyone was on the rise – finally, in such conditions, the children will begin to train for future achievements. And when I went there for the first time, I was pleasantly satisfied. So far, we can train three times a week for free, even though we are locals. Guests from Kazan arrived, paid rent and practiced, but we locals didn’t. As far as we know, it will continue to be so, only at certain times three times a week. Maybe things will change in the future.

– Did Liza Kuzina rob you in advance?

– There was no training the day Lisa arrived, so we trained at the Palais des Jeunes.

– How did you work with her in “synchronism”?

– Relatively. Our technology is very different. The attacks are different – she adapts to me. I’m also trying: my dam is higher, she has one step less under her load. At first, as soon as we meet, everything goes pretty hard, we try to remember how and what we did.

– Have you thought about what you will do after sport?

– I thought, but I did not find. I don’t want to be a coach.

– Everyone says it, then we publish the news – Viktor Minibaev works with the Krasnodar Territory team.

Yes, he said that too, but now he likes it. I won’t swear, but so far it is. Let’s see what chances fate will give me.

Do you like anything other than sports?

There are no such clear interests. I haven’t tried anything other than diving. I must first try my hand at another activity.

– You don’t want to comment on the dive?

“I don’t think I’m going to do well. I don’t like to comment on what other people are doing.

– It seems like you definitely shouldn’t be a coach.

– Well, you see (laughs)! Although in training I can say something to the children – sometimes the coach’s eyes get blurred, and someone from the outside has to say the same thing, but in other words. But to do this kind of work all the time, to constantly perfect something, it seems to me that I will not be able to bear it.

Now that I am studying for the judiciary, there are new acquaintances that may suggest something. I was offered a position as assistant manager during a competition. But now I have studies, training, and if there is still a new job, I will not be able to face all that at once. But it’s really interesting. In the future, it is quite possible. In my studies, I chose the direction “Project management in the field of physical culture and sport”. One way or another, I think my future work will always be related to sports. But who I will be exactly, I can’t say yet.

Looking back, do you regret quitting table tennis and figure skating?

– Absolutely no regrets. I’m glad I tried a lot. It would even be interesting to know how life would have turned out if I had stayed in the circus, for example.

– By the way, what about Cirque du Soleil after the end of your career?

– There you have to leave the house for a long time, and now I’m not ready for that.

Watch the Russian Diving Championship live on Match Channels! June 24-29.