And the most logical under the circumstances.
“We’ll see, it’s too early to talk about it now. The season was very difficult. You need to relax, collect your thoughts, survive all the pandemics. Then we will sit down and discuss. We will talk with each athlete, offer, and they will choose what they see fit.”
“There will be four or five girls with Sanitra, with the men’s team. The rest, as before, are on individual training.
Judging by the change in tone in the words of the President of the Biathlon Federation Vladimir Brynzak, the decision on the new coach of the women’s team has already been made by 99%. And although there is no official announcement that the women’s team has received a new coach, it is almost certain that both Ukrainian teams will be trained by the same specialist for the new season – the coach of the men’s team, Juraj Sanitra. Formally, that’s right.
But in terms of form, the preparation of the Ukrainian women’s team is unlikely to undergo any special changes. The Semerenko sisters, as before, will study separately, with Grigory Shamray, Anastasia Merkushina with her father. No changes should be expected in the case of Yulia Dzhima, who will probably continue to train with Urosh Velepets, the former coach of the Ukrainian women’s team. It turns out that the preparation of the women’s team for the next season still boils down to the fact that everyone will train separately, and, therefore, will be prepared in different ways. But not really.
It should be assumed that, having Sanitra at the helm of the women’s team, the federation will take a very adequate step. It was not possible to work with the Russian Andrey Prokunin, who worked with the women’s team in the 2018/19 season, moreover, the coach himself explained this precisely by the format of training that is now observed, when each athlete works out with personal trainers. Valery Lesnikov, who was the head coach of the national team last season, was still not an independent figure, making decisions jointly with Shamrai, Makhlayev and Merkushin. And now, a year after the absence of a single coach, the women’s team is returning to a similar format. However, this time it could be completely different.
Why Sanitra?
Firstly, Sanitra has been working with the Ukrainian men’s team for a long time (4 years). And one way or another, he repeatedly had to intersect with representatives of the women’s team.
Secondly, Sanitra did not just “intersect” with biathletes from the women’s team. During mixed relays or mixed singles, he often analyzed the performances of Ukrainian athletes and was well aware of their capabilities and prospects.
Thirdly, the Slovak coach has experience working with representatives of women’s biathlon. Even before working with the Ukrainian team, Sanitra was the personal trainer of Anastasia Kuzmina, who, with his help, became a two-time Olympic champion in Vancouver and Sochi. And in this sense, the Ukrainian team will receive not just a “person who works in biathlon”, but a full-fledged, specialized specialist.
Finally, is it worth mentioning how the Ukrainian men’s team has changed during the work of the Slovak coach? If before his arrival, the advantage of the women’s team over the men’s was absolute, which was expressed in the likelihood of getting a medal or simply taking a high place, then in recent years the situation has begun to change significantly, and the gap between the teams has narrowed.. And not only thanks to Dmitry Pidruchny – other athletes also began to show very good results. Just look at last season’s results
- Anton Dudchenko: 28th in the Hochfilzen sprint, two 29ths in Annecy and Ruhpolding (pursuit);
- Artem Prima: 13 top 30 finishes, best result – 8th place in the sprint at the Ruhpolding stage;
- Sergey Semenov: 24th place in the sprint at the stage in Nove Mesto;
- Dmitry Pidruchny: 4 finishes in the top 10, best result – 4th place in the mass start at the stage in Nove Mesto;
- second place in the relay (Nove Mesto), two finishes in the top 5 in the mixed singles (at Dudchenko and Pidruchny), one finish in the top 5 in the mixed relay.
Sanitra – a compromise solution for everyone?
“We will retire, young people will come – then there will be one head coach, one hundred percent. And today, what is, is. Well, if you compare, the girls trained with personal trainers, and I trained with the team. But in the season, I was the only one left of the 12 girls who were preparing in the main team. Of these, I was the only one who ran at the World Cup. As for many other Ukrainian biathletes, for Olena Pidgrushna, the coaching issue also remains one of the most relevant, since it is he who sets the vector of preparation for the season.
With Sanitra at the helm of the women’s team, the federation will be able to solve several problems at once. The most important of them is to establish a relationship between the personal trainers of the leading athletes, but with the possibility of making their own adjustments.. Here, the main thing for the Slovak coach is not to repeat the mistakes of his predecessors in choosing a place to prepare for the start of the season, as well as in other aspects, and in this sense, communication, on the contrary, will help achieve the goal.
Besides, the decision to appoint Sanitra could become a kind of “long-term project”, contributing to the preparation of younger athletes who would be able to replace the experienced Pidgrushnaya in the future, as well as the Semerenko sisters. Sooner or later, however, a generational change in women’s biathlon should take place, and if it does not happen by the next season (although who knows how the coronavirus pandemic will affect the possibility of a full-fledged 2020/21 season), then in a year it should happen ( if not immediately, then gradually).
Much more interesting in this sense is how tangible the changes will be, taking into account the work of Sanitra for two camps for the men’s team. The fact that the load on the Slovak coach will increase is no doubt about it: 4-5 athletes will work with him. It is possible that Pidgrushnaya, who was the only experienced biathlete in the national team, who trained with the team, and not independently, will also be among them. If Sanitra managed to lay the foundation for training for the men’s team, then it seems that there will be no doubt about further progress, and the process itself should be called well-adjusted. Moreover, it is in this vein that he will need to work with the women’s team, providing more opportunities for Daria Blashko, Anna Krivonos and Yulia Zhuravok to prove themselves, as well as gradually bringing younger ones to the first team – Bekh, Moskalenko and Rasskazova.
Of course, there is still a lot of time before the start of the new season. And by that time, the world biathlon should survive the coronavirus pandemic (in one sense or another, it has already managed to touch it, given the cancellation of the final stage in Holmenkollen). And there the process of preparing for the season should already begin, after which it will be possible to say what are the prospects for both Ukrainian teams.
But now the decision to appoint one coach for both teams looks good in all respects. And under certain circumstances, in the foreseeable future, it will be possible to see positive results from its adoption.
Source: Sportarena
