2020 World Champion among Sergei Ardashev spoke in an interview with about the village of Balezino in the Republic of Udmurtia and the military town where he grew up.
Ardashev, 25, trains in Egor Sorin’s group. At the Russian Championships, which are held in the Arkhangelsk region, Ardashev won three bronze medals: in the skiathlon, team sprint and relay.
— You were born in the village of Balezino with a population of 15,000 inhabitants. What kind of place is this? Did everyone really know each other?
“I can’t say that everyone really knew each other… An ordinary village.” It seems to me that all villages are the same. But in our country it is quite developed. There is a stadium, shops, a shopping center, there was even a cinema before. I don’t remember what year they closed.
— Did you have any activities when you were growing up, other than sports?
— Everything was linked to sports: football, basketball, volleyball. It even happened that you already practiced skiing with the guys, and then in the evening you played football. Or I did my homework and went to play volleyball.
Most people practice cross-country skiing, but volleyball is also very popular. Sometimes guys still play lapta well. And when rural games are held, they show a certain level of hockey and win. I haven’t heard anyone speak out professionally in this regard. My village lives on sport. I can’t say for sure that people get drunk there one way or another, for example. There are really a lot of athletes.
— At the same time, I asked myself one day what I would do without skiing?
— I thought about it, but it’s hard to say. Everything happened quickly for me with skiing. My mother bought me and my sister skis when I was in kindergarten. And I was able to get them on and start riding so quickly. In first grade, I had already been given wooden skis with felt boots. I received it from my sister. So I have been skiing since early childhood.
Maybe my mother thought that I could immediately achieve something in sports. I remember when I already needed good skis, my mother bought them for 10,000 rubles. For her, it was then a difficult purchase, which cost a lot of money. She was even talked out of it at work. But I bought it anyway.
However, I lived in a military town. If you think about it, you could have gone to military school. In fifth grade, I was transferred from a military camp to a regular school in the main village. But many of my classmates from the military camp went to college.
Additionally, I moved to the village to be closer to training. At the same time, my mother and my sister remained in the military camp. So, I left my mother on Monday, then I lived in the village with my cousins and brothers. I didn’t come back until Saturday evening.
—Was life in the military camp different from that in the rest of the village?
– It’s just a military unit. Entry was only possible with passes. Although when I was a schoolboy, they were not controlled. Life there is a little different. I remember that order was maintained everywhere – in winter the snow was leveled as much as possible with shovels. There are doors, a checkpoint and in front of that another checkpoint. That is, they check you through two checkpoints. But now it has become easier. Before they hid this military unit, but now they show it on maps! – Ardashev told .
Alfa-Bank The Russian cross-country skiing championship will end on March 24. Watch live broadcasts of the competition on and Match! Arena”, as well as on the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru sites.
Source : MatchTV
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