Russian pole vaulter Soloviev explained which foreign athletes inspire him

Russian track and field athlete Alexander Soloviev told that he was satisfied with his performance at the All-Russian Pole Vault Festival, and also admitted that he follows world competitions and named the athletes he is focusing on.

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. Soloviev took second place, reaching a height of 5 m 78 cm. The athlete performed the composition “Moscow never sleeps” by DJ SMASH and “Bad Girl” by the group “Vintage”.

“It was a little hard, but I’m happy.” This is my personal best indoor. There was a great attempt at 5.83m, that would have been my absolute personal best, but alas. There is something to work on, but I’m happy.

– What do you need to work on? What are your immediate goals?

— The summer season promises to be big. There are numerous departures, particularly international ones. There is a lot to work on – make everything more precise in terms of technique, run faster, you can improve endlessly.

— It seems that the first leap was made into music. Are you trying to do this or is it an accident?

— It’s just mentally easier to move on to music. It relaxes me, I’m not so tense. Normally I don’t listen to music when I run, so I play it more for the spectators, so it’s more interesting for them and they sing along with me.

— The World Pole Vault Championships ended on Sunday. Did you follow him?

– No. But besides, it’s interesting to see what was there, otherwise it completely slipped my mind. And so, I follow and watch all the competitions where guys jump abroad. I look at what they do and compare it with what I do. It’s always interesting to see where I stand compared to top athletes.

— Which foreign athletes inspire you?

— I really like the way Christopher Nielsen jumps, his jump, his rhythm. I also like the way he and Sam Kendricks communicate, there’s no anger, everyone supports each other. There is something similar in the way we communicate with Mikhail Shmykov.

— Doesn’t competitive wrestling interfere with friendship?

– No. We don’t have boxing, I don’t have a goal of beating anyone. If, conditionally, Misha [Шмыков] broke 5.83 m, I would be happy with that. I would be upset if I didn’t take it. Why should I be upset that someone else did it? — a correspondent reports these comments.

Soloviev is the 2024 Russian pole vault champion.