The head coach of the women’s team does not expect consistently high results from his team, but considers them the future of Ukrainian biathlon
Senior coach Ukrainian women’s biathlon team Nikolay Zots spoke about his team’s goals for the season and, in particular, for the first stage World Cup 2023/24 in Östersund, Sweden.
“Tasks for the season? Preserve what was – definitely. To be in the top 10, to have five athletes eligible for the next season is important for the entire biathlon. At the same time, I would like to form a team this season. It will be difficult to achieve any kind of stability and level from this team this season. I think it comes with time. But I am sure that there will be individual signs, which is for all of us, and the athletes themselves have seen that they can.”
“[Задание на] The first stage is to show athletes what they can do at this level, and then we move on to stability of results. Now it will be: somewhere they jumped out, somewhere they failed. It will be like this all season. For now, the main thing is that they believe that they are not a different kind of people, but that they are an elite. Not the elite yet, but they can be the elite.”
“We don’t have such a large selection that there is high competition. The young girls who worked with us are, after all, the future of our biathlon. So far, it’s quite difficult for them to compete at this level – I mean Ksenia Prikhodko, Elena Gorodnaya, Sasha Merkushina. But we really count on them.”
The first stage of the 2023/24 Biathlon World Cup will be held in Östersund from November 25 to December 3.
Earlier, Zots and his coaching staff announced the lineup for the starting day races. Ukraine will be represented in singles mixed doubles by Artem Tishchenko and Anastasia Merkushina. Artem Prima, Anton Dudchenko, Irina Petrenko and Kristina Dmitrenko will compete for our team in the classic mixed relay.
Source: Sportarena
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
