How I would change the training of young skiers. Column by Veronica Stepanova

“Is this a system error?” I asked. “Maybe,” the seminar leader agreed.

Former personal coach of biathlete Anton Shipulin and now deputy head of the analytical department of the Central Training Center of Russian national teams, Andrei Kryuchkov met us in Raubichi during the last training camp for a frank conversation about the process of training athletes.

I don’t think it’s fair to recount a conversation that lasted more than two hours, but it all revolved around the main idea: how can a modern athlete grow and develop?

What, where and how can an athlete who sees a world record or an Olympic medal add to his preparation and life? In reality, no fantasy.

I will leave the story of this part of the conversation for another day and another column. Believe me, Andrei Sergeevich said very interesting things, some of which we already use in our training.

And today about how young people and youth should train – from a science and analysis perspective. Plus some of my own recent experience.

Have you noticed that Russia is a leader in the types of women’s sports that require maximum specialization as early as possible: rhythmic gymnastics, figure skating. There are not many years to build – either at 15 you are already training like an adult and living the life of a professional, or your sports career has not worked out and it’s time to move on to something new.

But in endurance sports – especially in cross-country skiing – this is not the case. In a friendly crowd, everyone participates in competitions for children, youth, juniors, and then also youth (U23). For what? Name the most recent champion, who was modest in her results at the age of 18, but at 23 she opened up and began to overtake everyone. There are many counterexamples, but there is no “late maturation”.

Today, in ski racing, these are Johaug, Terentyeva/Nepryaeva, Frida Karlsson, who were supposed to win great victories in their youth. By the way, do you know who read it? Specialists for whom, unlike fans, it is obvious who was forced to peak at the same 18, and who still has a rich reserve of power. I will not name the Norwegian athlete whom I know well personally, but all ski fans have seen her quickly rise and fall from the world heights.

We need to rebuild the system. Separate and highlight the athletes who will become the best in the world at the peak of their careers. There are perfect physical tests and there are equally perfect tests of moral and volitional qualities. The collaboration of analysts and artificial intelligence will allow us to identify potential with great precision.

Such a selection of the best in gymnastics or figure skating at the age of 13-14 is quite normal. Well, let it be a little later in skiing, at 15-16 for girls. The best selected can calmly and without stress prepare for future victories on the world stage. Developing leaders is an individual business. The simplest example is yours. Since my youth, I have had a good skating technique on skis. Because my children’s coaches made the right decision at that time: to focus on this, and the technique of the classic gesture “one day, the national team coaches will implement it.” If necessary. The bet paid off: already in juniors, I was ready to fight with anyone on distances of the first 5 kilometers, and soon 10 kilometers. But until last season, I could not even come close to the classics. Now I can probably do it – amateurs have access to videos from different years. But this is the result of several years of individual work with specialists from my training group, the Sorin group.

And you know what I’ll tell you? I’m not an exception, I’m just one of the first. I confidently declare: Alina Pekletsova would confidently win this season the most prestigious race in the ski world (prestige = number of viewers in my world, look at the ratings) Alpe Cermis. Alina is only 18 years old and she was and is being prepared properly. I predict that in the coming years, skiing will experience a spectacular rejuvenation – especially if the development follows the path I predicted, thanks to specialization as early as possible.

Skeptics will say: “What should these hundreds, thousands of 15-year-old skiers do who were not selected for the “future elite” by testing?

First, in some sports there is a wonderful escape route: “consolation tournaments”, etc. Let their winner join the super team. We really want to raise future Olympic champions, and not “just masters”? It takes character too.

Secondly, it is necessary to instill in them from an early age: for 99 out of 100, sports are not about big victories and equally big cash prizes. Sports are a lottery without losing. If you have been training for almost ten years, it is unlikely that you will give up everything good and useful, knowing that you will not become an Olympic champion. In any case, you will not do this if you have intelligence. Sports, even at the level of the first adult category, are discipline, the ability to plan your life, value and allocate your time, strictness in nutrition, good sleep and rest. It takes three paragraphs to list everything that sports give even to a teenager.

There remains such a small detail (no): how to retrain children’s coaches, change their mentality? But this is already the concern of the state: how to ensure that coaches receive bonuses and incentives and not for their students to win district or regional championships. And for the fact that they apply as rarely as possible for the VHI policy or show on the scales a “normal physique” instead of “clinical obesity”. It is not easy, but at some point we will have to start correcting the accumulated “system errors”.

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