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Tag: Russian national team

  • Vylegzhanin and Chernousov Lead Dominant Russian Performance in Rybinsk Skiathlon

    Vylegzhanin and Chernousov Lead Dominant Russian Performance in Rybinsk Skiathlon

    Vylegzhanin on his way to victory in Rybinsk, Russia on Sunday in the 30 k skiathlon. Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus.

    Rybinsk is like Russia’s version of Holmenkollen—perhaps not with quite as many spectators, but its fans were no less enthusiastic about the World Cup this weekend, and turned out in admirable numbers despite the cold to cheer on the national team. On Saturday, Russian skiers fell short of topping the podium in front of the home crowd, but that changed in a big way in the 30 k skiathlon on Sunday. Not only did Russia claim the top two spots, they took four of the top five and nine of the top 12.

    Maxim Vylegzhanin (RUS) delivered victory in Rybinsk, besting teammate Ilia Chernousov by six seconds on the twelve-lap course, and in a photo finish for third, Tobias Angerer (GER) broke up the Russian pack by outsprinting Eugeniy Dementiev (RUS). Petr Sendov (RUS) was 0.6 seconds behind in fifth, adding to Russia’s dominating showing.

    “This victory was very important for me because I couldn’t get to the podium in Rybinsk before,” said Vylegzhanin in a press conference following the race.

    “Something was always wrong either with skis or my shape. This time everything worked perfectly.”

    The Rybinsk crowd. Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus.

    From the moment the gun went off, Russia pushed the pace. On the second lap, the top ten men were all in blue. In an interview with Skisport.ru after the post-race press conference, Vylegzhanin said that his team definitely used their numbers (15-strong out of 56 competitors) to their advantage, consciously using team tactics to try to break open the race in the classic portion.

    Vylegzhanin’s strategy was to wear his competitors down in the classic leg, as he considers it his stronger discipline. There were four intermediate bonuses available on Sunday, at the 6.5, 11.5, 21.4 and 26.5 k marks. At the sprint preem at the 11.6 k mark, Vylegzhanin was in third behind Konstantin Glavatskikh (RUS) and Dmitriy Japarov (RUS), but the pack wasn’t worn out yet, holding at around 30 skiers strong.

    In the exchange zone at the halfway point, Vylegzhanin had the lead and the front group had diminished to 19. As Kris Freeman (USA) described afterwards, the beginning of the skiathlon played out much faster than usual with the sprint bonuses, which were an added feature this year.

    The pace slowed once the skate leg got underway, and Vylegzhanin hovered in the top 10. The relaxed tempo helped his chances in the end, he told Skisport.ru.

    In the first skate preem at 21.4 k, Saturday’s winner Devon Kershaw (CAN) made a break to win 15 extra points, and continued to ski near the front for the rest of the race.

    Japarov and Italy’s Roland Clara attempted to break away shortly thereafter, but the pack reeled them back in, and as the group came through the stadium for the second to last time, Sedov set the pace, with four other Russians in the front.

    Chernousov made a move to take over on the last uphill before the stadium, but Vylegzhanin reacted, and the two put distance on the rest of the field. Chernousov still led as the stadium came into sight, but Vylegzhanin overtook him on the corner before the final straightaway and won by a six-second margin.

    Vylegzhanin said later that he had not particularly expected Chernousov to be the one to make the break at the end, but thought that everyone probably envisioned the last hill to be the spot where someone would try to make their move. With this in mind, he was ready to react to Chernousov’s surge.

    Vylegzhanin also told the Skisport.ru reporter that, though he was pleased with his first World Cup win of the season, it would have been more meaningful if so many Red Group skiers hadn’t been absent.

    Chernousov described his break as an attempt to repeat a nearly-successful identical move in Saturday’s 15 k, where he was just beat at the line by Kershaw.

    “I was really exhausted in the last three laps and tried to relax and use the same tactics as yesterday in the last uphill,” said Chernousov.

    Though he missed the top spot, the Russian was satisfied with his second podium in Rybinsk this weekend.

    Vylegzhanin and Chernousov put a comfortable gap on the rest of the field, but Angerer fought Demetiev for third, the only non-Russian in the top five. Demetiev’s fourth-place finish on Sunday was his first result back on the World Cup since the end of his two-year doping ban.

    “I’m happy to be on the podium again,” said Angerer. “Rybinsk becomes a very special place for me, I do not really know what is exactly special… I always feel well here.”

    “I tried to push hard and worked in front together with Roland Clara in the free technique part but at the end the Russians were too strong today.”

    Men’s results.

    Vylegzhanin (r) in front during the classic portion of the skiathlon next to Sergey Turyshev (RUS). Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus.

  • Actovegin Apparently Well Known in Eastern Europe

    NORWAY – The Russian cross-country skier Nikolay Pankratov was reportedly held up on the Swiss border last week when customs officials found intravenous equipment and 22 vials of the substance Actovegin in his car. Former Norwegian biathlon team director Kjell Ove Oftedal is surprised that the substance is not currently on the doping list.

    “I think WADA should at least declare whether the substance is legal or not. If it’s not illegal, you can’t single out athletes publicly like what is now happening to Pankratov…I had never heard of the substance, but apparently, the drug is well known in Eastern Europe,” Oftedal said to the Norwegian newspaper Adresseavisen.

    Anti-doping expert Ingard Lereim, M.D., says to Norwegian national TV station NRK that Actovegin is a substance intended to increase or improve the effect of blood doping.

    “Additionally, Actovegin is said to help speed up the recovery of overuse injuries. But we don’t know how widespread its use is,” the exercise physiologist told nrk.no.

    Russian national team manager, Yuri Charkovsky, told Adresseavisen that he knows nothing about the Pankratov case.

    “He is not a part of our team. He is not on the national A-team or the national B-team,” Charkovsky said.

    However, Pankratov has been a part of the Russian national team for several years. He recently said in an interview with Langrenn.com that he thinks Russia should be more open to other countries’ training philosophies.

    “In Russia, we’ve done the same things for 20 years. We travel to the same places, we run the same loops, and do the same roller ski courses. There are a lot of other really nice places in Russia to have training camps, but we always go to the same places,” Pankratov says.

    But language barriers make it hard for the Russians to approach other nations. Oftedal recalls that the Russian coaches and team staff would say “hello” at the range, and that was the extent of the contact he would have with the Russian team. Pankratov is one of very few Russian skiers who speak English.

    “There are a lot of athletes and coaches who want to talk with the Russians, but we don’t speak English. That is a huge problem for us,” Pankratov said to Langrenn.com in an interview with the web site at the end of August.

    From Langrenn.com, September 15, 2010 By Ola Jordheim Halvorsen, translation by Inge Scheve

  • Pankratov on Norwegian Training Culture: Variety and Wet Feet

    Several weeks ago Langrenn.com published an interview with Russian Olympian Nikolay Pankratov, who was in Norway training with Team Synnfjell. The plan was that Pankratov would come back to Norway later in September to train with the Norwegian national team when they return from their altitude camp in the Alps. Those plans are likely scrapped after he was caught on the Swiss border last week with intravenous equipment and vials of the drug Actovegin.

    “In Norway, you run all over the place and get your feet wet every workout. In Russia, we run specific, predetermined courses every time. We know exactly what’s waiting,” Nikolay Pankratov said.

    Pankratov was tired after a week of training in Norway. The strong Russian skier had attended the Team Synnfjell training camp at the end of August and was impressed with the way the team works. However, getting his wet feet on almost every workout added a new dimension to Pankratov’s training experience.

    “It’s pretty funny. You try to keep your feet dry, but after 10 minutes you’re soaked no matter what you do. You run all over the place in this country,” he said.

    Pankratov met with Langrenn.com at the Oslo airport just before he was leaving Norway and the Team Synnfjell camp. He had gained insight to the Norwegian cross-country training culture, as well as some very sore abs.

    “Yesterday we did a strength circuit workout that included five different ab exercises. I’ve never done that before, I’ve only done sit-ups. But the new exercises seem very effective. I’m very sore now, and it will be even worse tomorrow,” Pankratov said with a grin.

    Less variety in Russia

    “In Russia we’re following a program that we’ve used for many years, especially on the strength side. But I’ve seen YouTube videos of the Norwegian sprint team boys and I’ve tried some of the drills they do, especially those that Øystein Pettersen is doing. Those videos are funny,” Pankratov said.

    While Pankratov is no longer a part of the Russian national team, he has been for many years. Pankratov has been on age-specific national teams with the Russian national ski association throughout his junior career, and has placed on the podium in several World Cup events, and helped the Russian team to a relay bronze medal at the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf (GER).

    What do you consider to be the biggest differences between the Russian and the Norwegian training cultures and team environments? The lack of variety?

    “In Russia, we’ve done the same things for 20 years. We travel to the same places, we run the same loops, and do the same roller ski courses. There are a lot of other really nice places in Russia to have training camps, but we always go to the same places,” Pankratov explained and continued: “For instance, this summer, Rybinsk had a heat wave and it was extremely hot there. But that was where the national team had their camp, and the skiers had to get up insanely early to be able to train at all. They could have gone to a different place, but that’s not in the protocol. Even if it’s 40 degrees Celcius. I talked to Alexander Legkov, who said they couldn’t sleep at night.”

    Do the skiers say anything?

    “We don’t have those kinds of discussions on the national team in Russia.”

    What kinds of discussions do you have?

    “There is no social environment in the national team. There are almost no team meetings, three workouts per day and that’s the focus. Everyone does the same workout. There are no individual adaptations.”

    So you are looking for a change, and that’s why you come to Norway?

    More openness

    “I wish we could be more open to other countries’ training cultures in Russia. I was very lucky to find a connection with Team Synnfjell and Frode Bjeglerud (team director). They organized the trip coming here, and I feel very grateful for that,” Pankratov said.

    Martin Johnsrud Sundby said he was impressed with how much volume you log. Do you think the Norwegian skiers train very little?

    “Well, now I’ve trained with a Norwegian team for a week, and I think we averaged about four hours per day. That’s definitely a less than we would do during a training camp in Russia, but I am at least as tired as I would be after a week-long training camp at home. We’ve done so much variety here,” Pankratov explained.

    What can the Norwegians learn from you and the Russian skiers?

    “One thing that is good about the Russian training program is that the athletes only need to think about training. That is the only focus. Train, eat and sleep,” he said.

    Huge language barriers

    The openhearted Pankratov believes the language barriers are a large part of the reason why the “distance” between the Russians and other countries appears so big. While Pankratov speaks good English, he is one of very few among his fellow skiers.

    “There are a lot of athletes and coaches who want to talk with the Russians, but we don’t speak English. That is a huge problem for us,” Pankratov said. “For myself, it’s been helpful to train with Team Synnfjell, and when I get home, I will continue to speak English with my wife,” he joked.

    10,000 kilometers

    In Russia, the skiers keep track of distance in their training logs, not hours as we do in Norway. Pankratov covers about 10,000 kilometers per year, and at the training camps the athletes are subjected to rigorous standards.

    “The Russian national team has about 20 training days at camps, and 10 rest days every month outside the competition season,” he said. “You get up and train before breakfast, 30 minutes running and 30 minutes strength. That’s good for waking up. After breakfast, we do the second workout, which lasts about two and a half hours, either roller skiing or running. After that we do strength and stretching for 30 minutes. The coaches are there all the time,” Pankratov said to Langrenn.com.

    All roller skiing is done on a track. The trafficin Russia makes it lethal to attempt roller skiing on the roads. After a long lunch break and a short nap, they get back at it for their third workout of the day. This session is typically 1hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes, followed by 30 minutes strength and stretching. Pankratov said some skiers even do a fourth workout.

    From Langrenn.com, September 2, 2010 By Ola Jordheim Halvorsen, translation by Inge Scheve