The coach of the Russian national biathlon team, Andrei Padin, told that the Russian team should take an example from the teams of other countries that actively attract young athletes.
— There are two juniors in your group: Yulia Sheller, Kira Dyuzheva, who trained for the first time this summer with the adult team. What can you say about these biathletes?
“Like all girls, they are just as promising.” Of course, their training program now is a little different from what they did in the previous team. But I would like to note that they are really very diligent, very patient, so they carry out the workload, join the team, strive, and at some beginnings of control, precisely in the training process, they already create a easy competition.
— Will they compete at the adult level next season?
– Today, they are still juniors. We expect that this year they will spend most of the competitions not with their peers, but according to the adult calendar. However, the adult girls’ calendar differs from the junior calendar: it models international competitions. It will not be a big stress for them, although they are still young, according to their passport they are already adults – they are 21 years old. Some of our rivals’ athletes become Olympic champions at 21 or 22, but we still consider ours juniors. So I wouldn’t want to put them down too much. Let them try, reach the adult level and show themselves with dignity.
— So, to attract young athletes to the main team, can we take the example of European teams?
– Certainly. The fact that they are juniors should already seem like a slight irony to them (smiles), Padin told .
Russian and Belarusian biathletes have been suspended from competitions under the auspices of the International Biathlon Union (IBU).
Source : MatchTV
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