A youth biathlon center will be established near Novopolotsk to train reserves for the national team
Heading to Novopolotsk to the UOR, where Anna Sola, one of the heroines of the Junior World Championship in "Raubichi", studies, we expected to witness general euphoria and celebration.
Meanwhile, the forge of champions met us in a businesslike and routine manner. The fatigue after the emergency work of the judging team formed from the teaching elite of the school at the JWCH 2015 was evident. But the main thing is different. If from the fan's point of view, victory in any top tournament is the highest achievement, then for specialists, Olympic gold is considered the standard of career success. Hence the restraint in compliments and an almost superstitious fear of overpraising the young talent.
The World Champion in the relay is indeed a very talented girl: excellent natural abilities, speed endurance, work capacity, stress resistance. But the UOR trainee is only 19, she still has two years to compete in junior competitions. And this, in terms of preparing a reserve for adult loads, is the art of dosing – training, competitions, recovery cycles. Everything that turns a promising prodigy into a terror of the authorities, a young star into a star of Darya Domracheva's caliber. In a strategic sense, there is still a lot of work to be done with Anna Sola. The director of the UOR, Valery Gushchin, reported that the nearest plans include the creation of a youth biathlon center in Borovukha, which will streamline the training of reserves for the national team.
However, there is still much to be done. Vice Prime Minister Natalya Kochanova, who attended the World Championship, also spoke about this. The prize-winners were congratulated by the former head of the Vitebsk region, now Head of the Belarus President Administration, Alexander Kosinets. The Chairman of the Belarusian Biathlon Federation, Valery Vakulchik, said that the issue with the loader needed by the UOR for track preparation in the winter period has been resolved: "Amkodor will send it in the near future." In addition, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, is also aware of the situation. He gave the go-ahead for the creation of a youth biathlon center and promised to donate a snow groomer – a special snow-compacting machine used for preparing ski tracks – to the school when Borovukha is ready to host high-level guests.
– The results of the junior championship confirmed the correctness of our chosen course, – said Valery Stepanovich. – Anna Sola became the gold medalist in the relay and fifth in the sprint. In previous years, the highest awards in similar competitions were won by Evgeny Abramenko and Pavel Goncharov, both in individual races.
At the school, we also spoke with Anna Sola and her personal coach, Sergey Nekrasov. The attitude of the heroes of the World Championship, we repeat, was business-like: a medal at the junior championship is good, an Olympic medal is better! Ahead lies a long climb to the sporting Olympus. When we asked Sergey Anatolyevich what he and his protégé remembered most about the championship, instead of an answer, he showed us a message from three-time Olympic champion Darya Domracheva: "Sergey Anatolyevich, my congratulations to the champion girls. Well done!"
Vladimir FAKEEV, Novopolotsk.