“Loginov’s plans are 95% mine, we are discussing details and nuances with Kasperovich.” Interview with Sergei Bashkirov

What stage of preparation are you at now?

– Currently on hiatus. There were three training camps: in Sochi, Raubichi and Toksovo, Leningrad region. Ahead, another training camp in Sochi and the Commonwealth Cup in the same venue from August 23-29. Now a few days off.

– How did you spend your vacation?

– I usually rested at home or in warm places, but this year, due to the busy spring schedule, it did not work out. In addition to a rafting trip to Bashkiria, where my colleague Pavel Maksimov invited me.

“Is your place of residence in Novouralsk, in the Sverdlovsk region?”

– Right.

– Why is this city said to be closed?

‘Has to do with the nuclear industry.

Do all residents have dosimeters?

– I have not heard that anyone had, in this regard, everything is fine.

– In your training group – Loginov, Tsvetkov, Babikov, Povarnitsyn, Tomshin, Bazhin, Chipmunks, Maleev, Kolotov and Vagin. The first five are famous people, how would you characterize the second?

– Not juniors, but young athletes with potential. In terms of physical indicators, they are not far from the leaders; in terms of the quality of implementation, there is room for improvement.

– How is the current formation different from last year?

I won’t go into details. There are some changes, the general direction is the same.

– What are the intended changes?

– Connected with the movement technique in the first place. We also try something in the shooting. We try to simulate stressful situations, for example. To this end, we organized a training session open to spectators in Toksovo. And not all the leaders, it must be said, were able to confidently carry out shooting exercises, although they did perfectly well in more comfortable conditions.

– Do you understand how the selection will take place for each of the three competitions of the season: the Commonwealth Cup, the championship and the Russian Cup?

– Not everything is clear yet. The performance of the national teams is expected at the Commonwealth Cup, we will be told in other starts I believe which teams the athletes will be competing against. They usually represent the regions in national competitions.

How will people be selected for the team? Several training groups, someone is training alone… You have to check the candidates. Where and how?

– There are no details yet, but the Ministry of Sports, the RRF and the Belarusian Federation will definitely make a decision. It is clear that everyone will race in the Russian Cup, without restrictions. Then we will start from quotas and results.

– Yuri Kaminsky – head coach of the national team. How does its seniority manifest itself if the training groups work independently?

– For the moment, each group has its own program. We will only meet at the official start of the season.

– If we talk about Loginov, in what shares is the participation in its preparation distributed – yours and Alexander Kasperovich?

— We are closing different aspects. If the two walked along the track, looked into the pipe and performed a formation, it would be possible to compare.

– It happens, you know, when a national team athlete is only invited to the turn and helped with the equipment, and the training plans are written entirely by a personal trainer.

– Loginov’s plans are 95% mine, we are definitely discussing details and nuances with Kasperovich. We are in regular contact.

– Where can Garanichev and Eliseev show themselves? After Östersund last year, both seemed to have been eliminated.

– We have not eliminated these athletes, we are monitoring them. Garanichev, I know, works with personal trainer Maxim Kugaevsky, prepares to perform at the summer Commonwealth Cup in Sochi. There is no information about Matthew. At the beginning of the preparatory period, some health indicators did not allow him to obtain medical clearance. I cannot say whether this situation has changed.

– How do you work with Babikov, 30 years old? The athlete is experienced, with badges, but also with his own opinion.

– I started my coaching career in the junior team, where there were Babikov, Loginov and Povarnitsyn. We have known each other for a long time and we interpret the main objective in the same way: that the athlete can progress. There are no disagreements and misunderstandings, we have full working contact.

– In football, we often hear about the behavior of coaches in the locker room. They would pepper it in and turn the game in their favor. How in this sense in biathlon? Have you ever raised your voice or kicked chairs?

– We don’t have changing rooms and breaks, remote athletes manage themselves. My task is to prepare a person so that he optimally uses the options developed during the race. But each must be approached individually. An experienced athlete is one situation, a beginner is another, someone needs a whip, someone needs a carrot. In general, I don’t remember banging my fist on the table. However, we always monitor the mood of athletes and correct them within our authority.

– You don’t feel that an important part of your coaching career has been canceled by your suspension from international competitions?

– Every athlete and coach wants to compete at the highest level possible. Without foreign stages, we are forced to focus on national starts, but that does not remove the need to show the maximum, otherwise there will be no progress. It will not be possible to run halfway, because to return to world biathlon, whenever that happens, you have to be competitive.

Personally, I don’t feel that what is happening is secondary. I see in front of me athletes who need to grow. If they are able to correct certain shortcomings, add technique, shooting, it means that I am not working in vain.

– If the quarantine period is canceled when changing sport citizenship, many will leave, what do you think?

– It’s hard to say, but at the moment, judging by the guys in my group, nothing hints at it, no one is offended.

– Recently, Russian national team soldier Evgeny Permyakov died. Were you familiar?

– I knew Zhenya for many years, I knew her family, they came to visit each other. He was married to the famous biathlete Olga Nazarova. There were times when his skill allowed him to take athletes’ skis to the highest level. Very well versed in ointments, weather influence, ski structures. I was sick for about two years, I changed a lot during that time. I continued to work as hard as I could, but cancer is such a disease… A great loss to our service.