“Watching the guys with pride and tears in their eyes. » Coach – about the victories of trackers in the Junior World Championship

Russian juniors light up at world track cycling championships. In three days, they have three victories to their credit, and above all incredible emotions, because for the ten athletes who were entitled to these starts, these international competitions are the first of their careers.

“I’m happy with the way things are going. Yesterday my son (Nikita Kiriltsev) became world champion in my favorite discipline. It was a long-awaited dream. And Liza (Solozobova) won today, proving that we don’t work in vain and didn’t fly such a distance for a reason.

– How did you get there?

– Flight logistics – 11 out of 10 points. I would like to give credit to Nikita Bekineev. We spent the night in Istanbul, then took a direct flight to Bogota, from there to Cali. The time was well calculated, not a single athlete acclimatized, and for them this is the first international competition.

It’s very nice to see that the athletes want to win, like our elite riders: Anastasia Voinova, Daria Shmeleva, Denis Dmitriev, Alina Lysenko, Nikita Kalashnik, Yana Burlakova. The new generation was raised on the stories and examples of these athletes, but they lacked a practical understanding of international competition. And now you have the opportunity to experience it for yourself. Yes, it is not immediately possible to feel the opponent, but he adapts quickly, because there may be no chance to prove himself here and now.

I see a slight confusion in the eyes of the athletes, they are lost in front of an unknown opponent. It’s a banal lack of international departures. Unfortunately, not everyone made it to the podium. Nikita, Liza and Ruslan (Kuznetsov) managed to pull through and become the best in their races.

It’s also difficult for us coaches because of the lack of international practice. But there is no turning back, this progression towards Olympic medals was too difficult to give up now and bury this path!

Help is needed to motivate athletes. Talking about the need to work and earn, it works less and less. I fear that the spark of enthusiasm and courage for victories will be extinguished in active athletes, and that it will take years to prepare a new generation of winners.

Are you happy to have come to these competitions?

“It was a well-deserved breath of fresh air. For the guys, it’s all just a curiosity, they were rolling with their mouths open as we arrived. But all this is important even for me, because all the coaches unanimously say that, of course, we manage, but the motivational techniques become more and more difficult.

I lost my voice – already weaned. Previously, at each stage of the World Cup, World Championships and Europe, I would switch to bass after the first days of competition, now it is forgotten. But today he also screamed on the track, broke his voice. You have to train athletes just to win.

Solozobova rode with a Colombian in the final. The opponent got nervous and fell, Lisa couldn’t follow the trajectory and also fell. She lies, and I run and I think: if only she hadn’t hurt herself, if only she hadn’t broken the bike, because we just don’t have a spare part that big. I come running, I say: “How are you?” Her: “Looks like I broke my finger. I answer: “Be patient, we don’t give up!” Stand up and show everyone you can’t be broken. That’s exactly what she did!

I was also worried about how people and coaches from other countries would communicate with us. They welcomed us, for which we thank them very much. The first day they greeted me, a lot of coaches know me, maybe someone greeted me with clenched teeth, I don’t know. But yesterday, when Nikita won, everyone came to congratulate him. Today, even those I don’t know congratulated. I felt that everything was fine, the sports community perceives us perfectly, they like the way we are ready.

Liza showed the best races, none of her competitors can behave in the sprint as she did. After Nikita’s performance, coaches from other countries came to me and congratulated me on my victory. They said how cool he drove, saw everything and controlled everyone. It was very pleasant to hear, proud of him.