Belarusian track and field athlete Volkov talks about his victory at the All-Russian pole vault festival: “There were more ambitions than opportunities”

Pole vaulter Matvey Volkov told that he was not at his peak at the All-Russian Pole Vault Festival.

On March 3, in the Moscow Arena of the National Research University MGSU, the 5th All-Russian Pole Vault Festival was held, in which the youngest athletes and pole vault stars of Russia took part and Belarus.

Volkov showed a result of 5.83 meters and won the men’s competition. Second place went to Russian Alexander Solovyov (5.78 meters), third place to Russian Mikhail Shmykov (5.55).

– Did everything go well?

— There were more ambitions than opportunities. My fitness was already in decline, there was no rigidity. I think the fight that Sasha [Соловьев] imposed, motivated me very well. Overall, as it stands, this is an excellent result.

— Was it bad luck that it didn’t work or is there another reason?

– We have such a concept as peak form, which is when you are at the very top. And now I’m already down. It was as if I hadn’t rung the bell. But it’s a good sign that even in this state I’m ready to jump high.

— You tried to take height 5.90. Have you ever tried this in training?

— No, we don’t have a sport in which you jump higher in training and, therefore, lower in competition. For us, it’s the opposite which is due to many factors: first of all because of the rigidity of the stick. That is, to take a harder stick, you have to run faster, and maximum speed is, let’s say, a very difficult bundle of energy to generate during training. Such moments of maximum concentration only occur during competitions.

— The season is over. What are you going to do?

— Now, for five days, I will not focus on pole vaulting, I will abstract myself and work on some media issues.

— What goals do you set for the summer season?

– Jump as high as possible. That’s all.

— You create videos for social networks. Doesn’t this interfere with the training process?

– On the contrary, it disciplines. I keep social media as a sort of diary that people can look at. It’s only good for me.

— Is the goal of running social networks to popularize sport?

– First of all, yes. And I just like covering the agenda from my bell tower. Maybe this will be useful to someone,” reports a correspondent.

Volkov is a gold medalist at the 2021 World Athletics Under-20 Championships.