Khozov on the Nations Cup in Hong Kong: “The atmosphere is friendly, respectful, it made me happy”

The coach of Russian sprinters Vladimir Khozov said he was satisfied with the situation at the Nations Cup stage in Hong Kong.

For the first time in two and a half years, Russian individual sprinters took part in such a large-scale international competition in neutral status. Alina Lysenko became third in keirin.

— All the strongest sprinters were gathered together, we felt that everyone was loaded to the maximum. Weren’t the guys confused after such a break in international competitions?

– Was. This was particularly felt from the first day of competition. Those who started here will compete for Olympic gold this summer. Our guys haven’t competed at such a high level in 2.5 years; Alina, in general, comes from juniors and has never had big international starts in the elite. So, of course, there were ambitions, we are used to the fact that we are always somewhere nearby, close and we can fight. But if we evaluate the situation carefully, the guys were very surprised by the difference in seconds between them and the foreigners.

Of course, we found out in just three weeks that we were going to participate in this Nations Cup, we came out of basic training, we accelerated a little bit, what form we managed to get, that’s how it is. There was no point in expecting superseconds, but one could have driven with one’s own seconds, but even that wasn’t entirely possible.

— Will this be extra motivation for the guys?

“They understand perfectly what they have in their legs in international competitions and what their rivals have. The key here is the lack of international experience and international races. It was felt and it was very significant. In keirin during our competitions, there is one attack per race, with a maximum of two laps before the finish. Here, the first attack arrives even before the derny moves away, moreover the attacks follow one another, because of this the guys were a little lost. The dynamic is new, even if in fact it is well forgotten in the absence of an international calendar. Of course, this greatly affects performance.

— Alina said that experience here is more important than a medal.

– Without a doubt. And I want to emphasize that we communicated well with the representatives of the other teams here. They were happy to see us and asked if we were going to the Olympics. I replied that we did not have the qualifying points for that. The environment is friendly and respectful. It made me happy.

— Did you have enough time to speak with Denis Dmitriev in his new capacity as coach of the Chinese national sprint team?

“He was happy to see us, he missed us a lot.” His athlete finished seventh in the keirin, just a little short of reaching the grand final,” Khozov told .