“We can discuss with Artem, but the final decision is his.” Noritsyn trains again in Russia

Band Artem Istomine the most talked about this offseason. First, the group is mixed: there are eight women and two men. This has never happened before in biathlon. Second, the group’s coaching structure has raised questions: why is it led by Istomin, 26, and not 38? Vitaly Noritsynwho already has experience as a senior coach in the women’s team Russian teamas well as in the Bulgarian national team, the contract with which the specialist ended on April 30?

Noritsyn missed the group’s first training camp, as he wasn’t on the coaching lists yet, that’s why they couldn’t send him to Terskol. But the specialist joined the team during a training camp in Belarus and spoke about his new role on for the first time. Also in this article:

– When did you realize that it was unlikely that you would stay in the Bulgarian national team?

– Immediately after the return from the World Cup stages. It was already clear that it would be difficult for Russian citizens to work abroad. It was even difficult for us to obtain a visa for the Schengen area.

Is the visa the main problem?

– When we left Bulgaria, this was one of the main problems that was identified. Because we were offered a new collaboration. We consulted the embassy, ​​we were told that at this stage it is impossible.

– That is to say that their biathlon federation was ready to continue working with you?

– They were absolutely for it, like all sportsmen.

– When you were on the World Cup stages after the Olympics, were there sideways glances from your opponents?

“No, it wasn’t. Yes, of course there has been tension in the last three stages of the World Cup. But for us to have spoken directly with someone, that certainly did not happen.

“Where did you live in Bulgaria?”

– They have a hotel at the Ministry of Sports. Between training camps, we were either with our friends near Belmeken. It’s summer. And in winter, somewhere since October, we are in Europe without a break at the World Cup stages.

– Did you have to pick up a lot of things when you left Bulgaria?

– Of course, it accumulated over two years. They left and each had 60 to 70 kilograms.

– When you arrived from the World Cup and realized that your cooperation with the Bulgarian national team was ending, what did you think of doing next? What were the options?

– It was possible to work with the regions. There were invitations. But then our whole story started spinning. Yes, it started quite early. Almost immediately after our return.

– How did it happen? How did you end up in Artem Istomin’s band?

– Artyom called, said they offer such a design.

– And you immediately accepted?

– In principle, we have been talking with him for a long time that we can work together. We have known each other for over a year now. He was in the men’s group, I was in the women’s group. Then they discussed it.

– Did this design bother you? Now they are discussing more about which of you should have been in charge of the group.

– No, I don’t mind at all. I myself held these positions. When we had Leonid Alexandrovich Guryev, Nikolai Stepanovich Zagursky in our group, who is almost twice my age.

– Do you manage to maintain subordination?

– At what diet?

– That Artem Evgenievich is the leader of the group, and you are his subordinate.

It is clear to everyone in the group. That does not bother me. We can debate, but it is he who makes the final decision.

— How do you see your role in this group?

– He already said that we don’t have a division, that someone is only responsible for a certain area. We analyze the training plans a lot, propose loads and jointly publish the plan in the work. This applies to both the shooting part and the functional part.

– To what extent do you agree with the course offered by Artem?

– We have always had similar understandings both in terms of loads and intensity. During this time he saw something new, something I did. And we put it all together. We don’t have any internal disagreements, that’s why we first talked about working together. We have a similar ideology.

– Did it bother you that your group was mixed?

– Not. There were no fundamental differences. In general, I don’t understand if someone panics because of this. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. Everyone trains according to their missions. There is not even such a thing as the group method being constantly formed as a team. You won’t see this anywhere. Neither in Russia nor in Europe. Yes, there are separate workouts that are done by the group, but basically everyone has their own intensity, everyone has their own work zones. It doesn’t matter if it’s women or men. In some components, men are really stronger – in coordination, in technique. For example, it’s good for women. Moreover, the man is not alone in the group. He has a sparring partner so they pull one after the other, pull each other, ram each other somewhere, motivate each other.

Will they have enough of each other to progress?

– There is no problem with that. People can train one by one and achieve high results, including in biathlon. The same Johannes Be spends most of the time alone. The same Teresa Johaug. Do you think anyone trains with her? No one can just stand it. There are no athletes. Yes, they traveled with (Helen-Marie) Fossesholm last season together in training camp and probably trained under the same plan, but Fossesholm never trained with Johaug. Why? Doesn’t she want to work with her? Doesn’t she want to reach out and get stronger? And the answer is just that everyone has different intensity zones and develops work outside of competition.

– How is working with Kristina Reztsova going? On the one hand, Artem is the leader of the group, on the other hand, she is your athlete.

– I say right away to understand: we have no conflict of interest with Artem, we have no conflict in the plan we are implementing. We absolutely always come to a consensus. Same with Christina. We don’t speak different languages ​​with Kristina, we don’t convince the athlete that I am one thing and he another. Even if we speak to him separately, we will transmit information to him, a model of our formation, a periodization of our preparatory period: why in May it is like this, in June it will be like this. No problem. To which of us will she turn? With us, an athlete can ask a question to any of the coaches in a group, regardless of the origin of the question, and will in return receive our common opinion as a team of coaches.

– Now Christina is not at Raubichi’s training camp. Who does she call most of you?

– Communicate with everyone. I wasn’t at Terskol training camp, but Artem was. There they worked directly. There were no questions. Sometimes they called. Now that her interassembly is over, she will come to St. Petersburg and work according to our plans.

You weren’t signed up as a personal trainer last season. What about now?

– Also. She has personal trainers in the area. For me, it’s not at all a problem whether I’m considered a personal trainer or not.

But everyone needs money. The prize project for performance at the Russian Cup provides for remuneration for personal trainers.

Everything will always come back. The athlete himself understands who and what contribution to the preparation was. We certainly don’t have such problems that someone ends up without pants.

What are your expectations for the new season? Optimists are still hoping that we will return to international competitions, but the season in Russia seems more realistic.

– I think we’ll go to Russia. It’s difficult, of course, when you can’t see the world benchmark. The longer we dwell, the more confused we can be about what to take as a guideline. This is where we need to think seriously. We talked about this with Yuri Mikhailovich Kaminsky, that we need to find certain points and take them as a model. We always consider the top 3 of the World Cup as a model. Biathlon has recently changed a lot both in terms of shooting and technology. By participating in the World Cup, you understand how fast your opponents are, how much time they spend on the turn. They compete with each other. And competition is always the engine of progress. If it hadn’t been for Martin Fourcade or Johannes Beh at some point, then there wouldn’t have been an irritant everyone wants to beat.

But, on the other hand, it will be interesting. You get a long schedule, similar to World Cup stages. It will be possible to see everyone we have in Russia. Everyone will see who can keep the season. There will be no such thing as someone only preparing for qualifying starts, because now there are no such starts. There is a ranking, there is the Russian Cup, there is a certain density of competitions.

Do you see the motivation in the eyes of the athletes?

– Yes. I don’t see him falling. On the contrary, all sufficiently charged have arrived. All the work. I know that in Terskol everyone took everything seriously too. In general, I haven’t heard conversations saying that since everything is happening like this, then why are we doing all this. I think it’s just because of our internal calendar. Because at each start there will be both composition A, and composition B, and regional athletes.