2013 World Long Jump Champion Alexander Menkov leaves the Russian Cup, held in Bryansk, without awards. Alexander placed fourth in the final protocol, showing the best result of 7.75m in six attempts. Menkov lost to the winner, Danil Kornev, by 22 centimeters, the bronze winner, Yuri Ozhgibesov, by nine.
This season for Alexander is going very modestly so far. He started with a result of 7.70 on the CR team, then there were indistinct 7.57 on the Znamensky, after which in Tver 7.82, but there they jumped on the platform, which does not allow this result to be compared with the track. And now Bryansk, 7.75, the athlete seems to have the best result of the season, but the jumps that brought Menkov the main titles are far away. The previous time he flew eight meters at the national championship in 2020, in Chelyabinsk, then it was 8.06. The last two seasons, alas, the results are around 7.80, largely due to injuries that hampered the athlete.
About what worries Alexander now and prevents him from jumping at least in the 8-meter zone, he told after the end of the competition.
– The wind in the area today is good, up to three meters per second, did that bother you?
– It’s hard to hit him, you don’t feel the race. It seems that you are running fast, but you do not feel supported, because you are carried forward and, most likely, because of this, the jump simply stopped, I could not get up and fly. All the jumps here have been weak, like the rest, this season. I don’t know what happened – my legs and arms are strong, everything is in order. But today was a tough day, when I woke up I felt great, but when I got here I realized that the wind… I don’t know what happened.
– Wounds that have haunted you for many years, are they behind you or do they continue to run through your head?
– They remained in the head, in the memory. Achilles is doing well so far. But recently we jumped in Tver, on the platform, and on the last attempt I tore my adductor muscle. After that, before the Russian Cup, I was practically only treated, there were almost no training sessions. Arriving here I did not understand if I was going to jump or not, it could happen that after the first attempt I refused to continue, saying that it was very painful. But no, it didn’t hurt, and I’m glad I skipped six attempts, in principle, not bad. Of course, I don’t like racing, I don’t like the result either, but I’m happy that at least I’m leaving here alive. I also went there to take a break from collecting.
– In which way?
– For some reason, all the bases of the Russian national teams are closed for the exit, they do not let us go out. It’s very difficult.
“Today Rospotrebnadzor has just lifted the latest covid restrictions.
– I hope they start releasing, because it’s not easy to sit at the base for two weeks and not go anywhere. I was also released due to injury for treatment. If there had been no injuries, it would have been difficult.
– And given the lack of international competitions, isn’t it difficult? It is unclear where and when you will go.
– Where am I going? Decidedly nowhere, because nothing will be decided for the rest of the season. Something, as we are promised, will be closer to winter. But, it seems to me that nothing will change between now and winter. It would be nice to come back by 2024 and there is already hope for a miracle, that maybe they will start giving neutral status to everyone, and not selectively. In this regard, of course, I am a little depressed – it is understood that you will not go anywhere, and, of course, it is difficult to prepare.
– How did you experience spring, the beginning of summer in terms of motivation?
– After the winter, by the way, it was easier – we worked on the sprint, tried to correct the errors and, it seems, they were corrected. But for some reason, this summer season I just can’t run, my legs are “wooden”, and I honestly don’t understand what’s wrong with them. I’m doing everything to relax, I took off the power ones, and my legs are like after a bar. I don’t want to sin on my age, I’m still young (laughs). I console myself with that, because in any case I jump, yes, there are gaps, but 7.70-7.80 is still good results.
What do you need to jump further?
– You need to feel confident, to feel good. It’s not yet the case. I hope to be back by the end of the season.
– Are there successful jumps in training?
– At the beginning of the season, at the training camp in Sochi, there were good training sessions – from eight running steps I jumped 7.80 regularly. Nothing foreshadowed, but it turned out that 7:50-7:60 am is my limit, and I get confused, I think: “It’s not possible, it doesn’t happen to me!”.
Do you watch Diamond Leagues?
– Not. I gave up on this whole world sport, because if they don’t want to see me, I don’t want them either. I don’t care when I’m not there. If I was there, it would be interesting, but now it doesn’t matter – who, what, how. Let them jump as much as they can. It would be understood that I would go there, catch fire and start working in a completely different way. And now I work, it seems, at full strength, but emotionally I still crumble. It’s hard to explain, but it’s very hard to understand that you won’t get anywhere anyway, even if you jump nine meters.
– Especially since you already had a bad story with the European Championship in Berlin in 2018.
– Then I jumped on Znamensky 8.41, who became the leader of the world season, but I was not invited to the European Championship, they did not give me neutral status. The winning number there was 8.25, and even the world ranking leader’s golden number came from another person, because my result was not counted as the best of the season due to the lack of neutral status. It’s very disturbing.
– They said it would be nice to be back on the international stage by 2024. Enough for two more years?
– Hope. I can’t say, but I hope so. It’s hard to say anything about this, but hopefully that will suffice. There is an understanding of how to properly prepare. But you have to hear the truth, finally, whether you go there or not, then you will catch fire. But just prepare and get neutral status in two weeks… you’re constantly on your nerves, all season on your nerves, you can’t sleep, you can’t train. You don’t want to do anything, because you think, “Well, now the refusal will come back, or even there will be no response at all.” If they said at least a year in advance, in the winter of 2023, that there would be an opportunity to happen, I would love to pull myself together and plow through.
Source : MatchTV
