I won’t catch the star. First big interview with Miron Lifintsev

Miron Lifintsev lit up the Russian Championship. He broke the junior world record Kliment Kolesnikov , although, in his own words, it was much more important to beat the two-time Olympic medalist in head-to-head wrestling. We have decided to introduce you to a very talented spin swimmer, who is only talked about in the world of swimming these days.

— First of all, I would like to know why they call you Myron?

– A rare, beautiful, kind and calm name. I like. Not in honor of anyone, there is no particular reason. My brother’s name is Fadey, my parents love rare names.

— How and where did you start swimming?

— Before the first year, I lived with my grandmother in Montenegro for three years, I went to the sea every day and swam. My uncle trained young children there and saw that I loved splashing in the water. There, he began to swim on his back: so as not to look down. Then my mother sent me to swim in the first grade – in the commercial group, although quite quickly I was transferred to a higher level group.

— So you had a rare specialization at the beginning? Swimming on your back in open water?

– Yes, I was afraid that someone would bite me in the water, and I didn’t want to look down. So I went from open water to sprinting. I myself am from Vyborg, so I started with competitions in the Leningrad region. I won prizes there among older guys.

— I know a lot of athletes from Vyborg, mainly cyclists.

– We really have a lot of them there. Every day when I went to training, I saw them running on the roads.

— When did you realize you were staying in swimming?

“Actually, I didn’t think about it at all.” I didn’t even swim for the result. My training was unique. Mom saw that I could get better, we moved to St. Petersburg and started working harder.

—Are you a talented workaholic or a talented lazy person?

– I’m a super lazy workaholic.

– Modern history.

– Yes! Swimming comes first, but otherwise when it comes to sports, I’m lazy.

– Why do you swim with pliers?

— When I swam in the sea and had to lower my head, water poured abundantly into my nose – something was wrong with the bulkhead. I recently discovered the pliers and decided to give it a try. If I remove the clamp, I can add 1-1.5 seconds to the result. I swim, the air comes out and the situation is no longer the same.

— Have you read SwimSwam? Did you watch the video? There the presenter turned to you: “Miron Lifintsev, if you can hear me, tell me how to pronounce your first and last name correctly.

– I know Americans call me Myron. As I understand it, this is in their tradition, but it seems pretentious to me. Echoes “Iron”. Like Ironman.

— Well, it can somehow be marked by “iron”.

– Maybe. In short, whether it’s “Myron” doesn’t matter.

— How do you like this kind of attention to your results?

“I haven’t addressed all of that yet.”

— After the relay race, were you very upset?

– This is an other story. After 100m I called my coach Vladimir Nikolaevich Sidorov – he is a very important person for me and is currently suffering from a serious illness. I decided to call him. The voice was not at all the same, you could tell he was in serious condition. I was very upset, I was no longer at the awards ceremony and still had to swim the relay. I was disoriented. I’m also used to the fact that we always sail with the guys. In the end I forgot that Alina was there [Гайфутдинова] fleet. On one hand it looks like he hit me lightly, but even from the video it’s clear that’s not the case at all. I of course apologized to the coach, to Alina. I am really sorry. Unfortunately, it happens. Anything can happen in sport.

— What do you like more: the 50 or 100m backstroke? And why did the butterfly swim?

— I swam to speed up in the morning. At 50 m I don’t have time to spin yet, now all the work has been done at 100 m 200 m, I know I have to swim, but I really don’t like it.

– If it were an Olympic selection, you would first qualify for the Paris Games, but here – nothing. Isn’t that offensive?

– I’m still little. I still need to swim in Russia. Klim, for example, has a different story, he’s now getting results and he’s probably even more offended. I’m going to have a lot of competitions now. In particular, the BRICS Games, Cup Finals and Friendship Games.

— You went to the Russian-Chinese Games. How are your impressions?

— The competition is like a match meeting, but China itself is really cool, it made a big impression. Chongqing is a modern city, everything is so futuristic and beautiful.

– You won’t catch the star after the first time you are in the spotlight?

– I am a calm person. I swam and swam. Clément has established a new world record and is approaching it with the greatest calm. Maybe I’ll understand in a month if I still have time – there are so many departures ahead. Endless competitions, constant back and forth, mom gets angry.

—How often are you home now?

– Rarely. When Vladimir Nikolaevich, the best person I ever worked with, stopped coaching due to illness, he assigned me to Olga Nikolaevna Baidalova and Elena Yuryevna Kuznetsova. The work was different, it wasn’t easy to change jobs, but I gave it a go. Now I constantly go to training camps in Krugloy. It’s my second home. I go home to wash my things, finish some schoolwork and return to Krugloye. I like it there – the peace, the forest, the food, we live in a quiet environment and we don’t have to travel. In St. Petersburg, the road alone takes a long time.