Athlete wants to participate in two more races at NC
Anastasia Merkushina summed up the results of the women’s sprint at the championship of Ukraine. According to the biathlete, holding such a tournament is an emotional boost for athletes.
“First of all, I set the task to work to the maximum. Both in motion and technically, because the track is rich in different turns and transitions. I always say that the best workout is the competition. Of course, the conditions at the turn were very difficult, so working on good shooting and walking today was not only important, but also interesting. The national championship is emotional, it is pleasant, prestigious.”
“At the championship of Ukraine [по биатлону] you can “win”. The Ukrainian Championship is great, because everyone here is friendly. The family has gathered. This emotional struggle is more intimate between their own. There is no such psychological tension – to defeat some other team. Even if you lose, you are more relaxed about it, because you are in a friendly circle. Draw your own conclusions and move on. That is, there is no psychological trauma after losing. And to win such a biathlon holiday is great.”
“World Cup? It was hard, to be honest. There is no form yet, no positive aspects. I can only praise myself a little for shooting. But the World Cup stages are commercial competitions. Of course, it was unpleasant to lose like that, but we still have time before the World Cup. It is important now to get together, not to lose heart, not to despair because of what happened. [Нужно] trying to fix the situation and rise from where we are. I had many seasons in my career when the start was just terrible, and then there were good results at the main starts. We have goals, we have opportunities. All that’s left is to improve.”
“I think that I will definitely run the mixed relay at the Ukrainian Championship, but we will talk with the coaches about the pursuit race. I would like to run if there are no problems with the weather. Health is very important right now. If it doesn’t rain, I think the coaches will say to run.”
Merkushina triumphed in the women’s sprint at the Ukrainian Championship. Tomorrow, December 23, the women’s pursuit will take place.
Source: Sportarena
