On Saturdays and Sundays, Sochi hosted the Russian Athletics Team Championships, a stage of the series called “The Queen of Russian Sports” and implicitly called the analogue of the Diamond League. A RIA Novosti correspondent visited this event and concluded that the path from words to action is still a long way off, both in terms of results and organisation.
Instead of a hit – exhaust into the void
At the Slava Metreveli stadium in Sochi at the weekend, the word “shit” fell on the recorder. Sorry for the rudeness, but you can’t get the lyrics out of your mouth. This “song” was a rendition of the 2015 world champion in the 110m hurdles, Sergei Shubenkov, who started for the first time after almost a year of injury break and didn’t do it very well. As he himself said, after the second or third barrier he practically stopped and started running again. In the end, although he won, but with the result that this word was called.
About Shubenkov and his conclusion a little later. By the way, on another issue where I really want to paste the same feature. Imagine: You want to come to the tournament with the loud name “Queen of Russian Sports”, the stage of the “Series”. Instead of the Diamond League, which was not allowed, Russian athletes were offered. And you are not in line. He was allowed to enter this tournament. Another word, I’m afraid, by no means even as an exception one unprintable word.
It is worth explaining right away: the All-Russian Athletic Federation has nothing to do with it. The responsibility for not allowing the spectators to the Russian team championship rests with the Yug Sport base, part of which is the Slava Metreveli stadium. This is because it is alleged that the order that the base is closed to outsiders has not yet been revoked. But I’m sure it was possible to make an exception and let the fans pass. Only, to my knowledge, the management of the base had no such desire, despite the persuasion of the All-Russian Athletic Federation.
And as a result, there was a potential hit in front of the empty stands that could become the Russian team championship. The chance to confirm the words about the desire to popularize the sport was missed, and this cannot be justified by any federal order and the words “coronavirus”, “regime”. Even at the Olympics in China, the topic of coronavirus was brought up, spectators from outside the “balloon” were allowed to enter the grandstands of indoor arenas. Here, from behind the perimeter of the base, it was possible to arrange a corridor for fans in the open air. It just had to be done – but it was easier for one to do without unnecessary hassle. Competitions were held, the plan was marked, and whether there were spectators – this question has nothing to do with reporting.
And meanwhile, potential spectators approached the Yug Sportu checkpoint before my eyes – and were very surprised that it was impossible to get into the stands. Interest in athletics in Russia for some reason did not die, as many people believe, even in the complete absence of advertising for the championship in the city. There was enough information from specialist sites and the names of the participants, of which one of the main stars was, of course, the Olympic high jump champion Maria Lasitskene. And he was the loudest of all the participants, resentful of his speaking in front of an empty place and not in front of people.
However, it is worth noting that a broadcast from the Russian team championship was held on a federal television channel – but not everything went smoothly here either. To meet the allocated limits, sprint hurdlers had to be driven towards the start. In his comment, Shubenkov did not neglect to note this as a factor affecting the result. But already without a strong adjective – after all, discomfort here, at least for a good reason.
At the end of the organizational issue, it was noted that the shooters in the framework of the Russian team championship did not compete with everyone at the Metreveli stadium, but a few tens of kilometers from it, in Adler, the Yunost sports complex. And then not only the audience, but also the journalists did not have the opportunity to see their debut. Because they passed simultaneously with Lasitskene’s leaps and Shubenkov’s run. And in whose favor to make a choice, the question, as you understand, did not even stand still.
“The season will be stagnant, but you can’t “smoke”
Speaking of the sports part of the championship, unfortunately we did not have to expect high results from both Lasitskene and the other elite participants. And the point here is not only that the Russian team championship traditionally marks the beginning of the summer season, when everyone has not yet “run”, “jumped” and “dispersed”. There is also a problem in motivation that almost no peak hides.
By the way, speaking of the same about the lack of spectators, it is a pity that in Sochi they did not watch the women’s high jump live, because there was drama. As at the Olympics, Lasitskene was one leap away from defeat – at a height of 1.91 meters, Tatyana Ermachenkova suddenly struck on the second try, and something went wrong for the Olympic champion. But Maria’s third jump was perfect – and at a height of 1.94, she made it, but her opponent did not, it was all over. Lasitskene tried three more times to take 2.01 to lead the world season, but so far it hasn’t worked.
Sergey Klevtsov, the coach of another top participant of the Russian team championship, Sergey Shubenkov, was more emotional in his conversation with RIA Novosti about the student’s motivation. Klevtsov said, “We talked to him before this season. What is the situation: We are in the existing life. There is no other and there will be no more. International seasons, but there will be a season before that.” 2022. If you “confuse” without doing anything, without trying to suffocate, without healing the wounds, without increasing the “function”, what will happen in the next years?
Unlike Lasitskene, for Shubenkov the Tokyo Olympics was not a victory, but a disaster: he was injured during the warm-up and retreated. Since then, Sergei has not competed, but now he has recovered and got his first start in almost a year.
Other participants of the Russian team championship did not shine, from which theoretically high results can be expected. Ekaterina Koneva, silver medalist of the 2013 World Championships, who once triple jumped in 15.04, stopped here at exactly 14 meters. The winner of the same world championship, Alexander Menkov, who flew 8.56 nine years ago, took a jump and five steps in Sochi in 7.70, after which he admitted that he did not understand where he got the motivation to continue his career. I assumed it was the kids. Last year Koneva said the same about it – she speaks for the sake of her daughter.
Unless the runners show good seconds. I would especially like to note the young Saveliy Savlukov, who ran in 46 seconds in the 400m race at the first start of the season. But even then, of course, this is not a world level, but a maximum in Europe. Athletics needs stars. A very bright and extraordinary man, Savlukov may be a star, but for that he still needs to move forward. He is confident that he can do it.
But the Russian record (44.60), owned by Viktor Markin, has been held since the Moscow Olympics in 1980, and as his coach Sergey Klevtsov noted, Savlukov is not a second, but 0.8: “How simple everything is with them, “On ten Two of them are there, two-tenths are here. People on the road “die” for those two-tenths. Well, if I said I’m throwing a second, I don’t care.”
At the same time, Klevtsov believes that the student will be able to break the record of almost half a century, but tries not to praise him in advance.
Here we are talking about the same thing we started again. So, it’s time to finish and I want to do it with that in mind. Yes, the result so far – both on the track and beyond – g … o. But that means you only have to push so you don’t drown in it. We have a whole season ahead of us to do that – and there will be many opportunities.
Source: Ria
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