Senior coach of the Russian cross-country ski team Egor Sorine summarized the results of the fifth stage of the Alfa-Bank Cup of Russia and named the weaknesses of the Olympic champion Veronica Stepanova .
The fifth stage of the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Cup ended on Sunday in Kazan.
— Among the men, Alexandre Bolshunov won all three races in Mirny and now has 15 consecutive victories in the Russian Cup. Among women, the athletes in your group set the tone: Veronika Stepanova won the 10-kilometer freestyle, Anastasia Faleeva won first place in the classic sprint and Elizaveta Pantrina won the skiathlon. How do you evaluate these results?
— Stepanova and Faleeva were favorites in their disciplines. Pantrina still hasn’t won any personal races at senior level, so her success was a pleasant surprise, although we expected to be fighting for first place. We of course knew that Lisa knew how to finish, but when the runners had three hundred meters to go, I said goodbye to the idea of first place. Pantrina was quite far from Kuleshova. However, Lisa gathered her will into a fist and achieved victory.
— Do you agree with the description that 2010 Olympic silver medalist Alexander Panjinsky recently gave to Stepanova on , saying that she is a machine, like Bolshunov.
– No car yet. Yet, from time to time, welfare problems arise and recessions occur.
– What does she need to improve?
– Both in speed and stability. When strong skiers who for one reason or another miss the season return to action, the competition will increase and the gigantic advantage that Stepanova currently has will no longer exist. In no case should you relax. Veronica is a young athlete who has not yet exhausted her potential. At the final stage of the Cup last calendar year in Kirovo-Chepetsk, Stepanova confidently won the skating sprint. His strong point is skating. But in the “classics”, she has improved considerably over the last two years.
— Is it true that the younger generation has taken leading roles? Stepanova turned 23 on January 4, Faleeva is also 23, Pantrina will be 22 in a month, Evgenia Krupitskaya will be 21, Alina Pekletsova will be only 18.
— In the absence of Natalya Terentyeva and Tatiana Sorina, these athletes should have put themselves forward. And it’s good that it happened this way. If those previously in fourth or fifth position were in the lead, this would apparently indicate stagnation. Analysis shows that even when winning, Stepanova does not always perform strong. Sometimes she doesn’t arrive on time, even if she gets to the finish line first,” Sorin was quoted as saying by the OCD news service.
Stepanova is 23 years old, the athlete won the relay at the 2022 Olympic Games. By decision of the International Ski Federation (FIS), Russians and Belarusians were suspended from international competitions due to the situation in Ukraine.
Source : MatchTV
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