Elena Soboleva ski racing. Sergey Ustyugov

Member of the Russian national team. Silver and bronze medalist of the Russian Championships.

Elena Soboleva was born on January 8, 1992 in the city of Novosibirsk. The girl started skiing during her school years. At the age of sixteen she came to the city of Suzun, Novosibirsk region. First, she repeatedly became a prize-winner in cross-country skiing among Suzun schoolchildren, then began to participate in competitions at the regional level. Vladimir Korczak, who is a coach at the Olympic Reserve training school, drew attention to her.

The skier graduated from the Olympic Reserve College. Fulfilled the standard for Master of Sports of Russia in cross-country skiing. Gradually and purposefully I moved towards sporting achievements. In January 2011 in Estonia, at the World Championships, in the 4x3.3 kilometer relay race, juniors from Russia, together with Soboleva, won silver. First place went to young skiers from Norway, who finished 23 seconds ahead. For Novosibirsk skiers, this victory was a triumph. For fourteen years they had no prizes.

A year later, in January 2012, Elena took part in the Russian Championship in a team of junior skiers. The competition took place in the city of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region. The young skier won the individual race, covering the 5-kilometer distance in 12 minutes 53 seconds. Already in February of the same year, the athlete performed remarkably at the World Championships in skiing competitions among young athletes, winning two victories.

At competitions in Turkey at a distance of 5 kilometers in personal starts, she took second place. She lost only 0.8 seconds to her rival from the Republic of Tatarstan. In the overall composition of the team, she became the winner. Having returned from Turkey, almost immediately, I flew to Finland to participate in the World Championships, but already competing with adult athletes.

In the winter of 2013, the next World Ski Championships took place in the city of Liberec. In the “classical style sprint” category among juniors and youth, Soboleva was the best, receiving a gold medal. At a ski distance of 1.3 kilometers, she beat two athletes from Germany.

At the Russian Championships in 2015, she became a bronze medalist in the freestyle sprint. A year later, in the same category, she won a silver medal at the National Championship.

In the Italian Val di Fiem, on January 6, 2019, the last stage of the prestigious multi-day ski race “Tour de Ski” took place. Elena Soboleva took twenty-fourth place.

The athlete competes for the All-Russian Physical Culture and Sports Society "Dynamo", a specialized children's and youth sports school of the Olympic reserve in the city of Novosibirsk. Elena Soboleva trains under the guidance of Vladimir Nikiforovich Korczak and Valentin Dmitrievich Litvintsev.

Member of the Russian national team. Silver and bronze medalist of the Russian Championships.

At the Russian Championships in 2015, she became a bronze medalist in the freestyle sprint. A year later, in the same category, she won a silver medal at the National Championship.

In the Italian Val di Fiem, on January 6, 2019, the last stage of the prestigious multi-day ski race “Tour de Ski” took place. Elena Soboleva took twenty-fourth place.

Sergei Ustyugov is an athlete who, despite his rather young age, is already called one of the most promising skiers in the world. And indeed, Sergei literally burst into professional sports and, apparently, is aimed at serious achievements.

Childhood and youth

Ustyugov was born in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, in the small village of Mezhdurechensky on April 8, 1992. In one of the interviews, the athlete admitted that he often annoyed his parents and grew up as a restless child. Sergei began to be interested in sports in early childhood: his mother and father decided that boxing would be the best sport for such an active offspring. However, Sergei did not like “waving his fists.”

After some time, Ustyugov tries his own strength in biathlon. The novice athlete liked skiing and target shooting much more than boxing gloves and the ring. The choice has been made. Soon Sergei was already ahead of his peers in speed and accuracy. A dream appeared to conquer serious sporting heights. It is interesting that Sergei’s parents were displeased with their son’s choice: training began to distract from his studies. However, Sergei himself was determined to move forward.

When Ustyugov turned 11 years old, the coach suggested the boy try cross-country skiing. Sergei did not immediately agree, but decided to listen to his mentor’s advice. The first steps in the new sport were not very successful, but after some time Ustyugov was already demonstrating enviable results, representing his hometown in children's and youth races.

skiing

Quite quickly, the name of Sergei Ustyugov was included in the coveted list of candidates for the country’s youth team. Perhaps this moment can be considered the beginning of the skier’s professional sports biography. Ustyugov makes it to the national team and successfully performs at the world championship.

The 2011-2012 sports season was marked for Sergei Ustyugov with the World Championship, which took place in Turkey. Here the athlete seriously declared himself, taking first places in all races. In the same season, Ustyugov performed no less brilliantly at international competitions in Estonia, which earned him a place in the first Russian national team.

It seemed that the skier’s career would continue to develop just as smoothly, but the next season (2012 - 2013) prepared an unpleasant surprise for Ustyugov. Sergei moved from the junior division to the youth division, the level of his opponents increased, and the skier failed all the races in which he participated. However, sports stubbornness did not allow the young man to give up, and Sergei partially rehabilitated himself, ending the season with a victory in the 30-kilometer skiathlon and bronze in the team relay.

In 2014, Sergei, as part of the Russian team, went to the first ever Olympic Games in Sochi. Even before the start of the competition, world experts were inclined to believe that Sergei Ustyugov would become the favorite of this season. However, the athlete did not live up to the expectations of coaches and fans: Ustyugov completed the single sprint in fifth position. Later, the skier admitted to reporters that his opponents were stronger than he expected, and that there was a lot of work ahead on his mistakes.

And this work, apparently, was really done. A year later, Sergei Ustyugov and Alexey Petukhov brought World Cup gold from the Estonian city of Otepää. In addition, Sergei won bronze at competitions in Rybinsk and became second in the team competition.

2016 was also a successful year for Sergei Ustyugov. The athlete added to his own treasury a bronze medal at the Tour de Ski championship, a victory in the World Cup mass start, and a silver medal in the Tour of Canada multi-day race.

The 2016-2017 season turned out to be no less indicative: January began with the Tour de Ski multi-day race. The first five stages Sergei Ustyugov was unconditionally in the lead, and only the sixth race he finished second, losing two seconds to the Norwegian Martin Sundby. Sergei Ustyugov’s last race went flawlessly, leaving his rivals behind and winning the coveted “gold” of the competition.

Note that Sergei Ustyugov became the second Russian to win the Tour de Ski multi-day race. The first skier to bring a gold medal for Russia (in the 2012-2013 season). In addition, Ustyugov was ahead of the previous favorite of the competition, Martin Sundby, in the number of tour stages won in a row.

The 2017 season did not end there for Sergei Ustyugov: the skier went to Finnish Lahti for the World Championships, from where he brought back two gold and three silver medals.

The athlete himself has repeatedly admitted in interviews that he owes his success to two factors. Firstly, these are suitable physical data that were inherited from birth (Sergei Ustyugov’s height is 1.84 m and weight is 81 kg). And secondly, purposefulness and sports ambition, which makes you forget about fatigue and mistakes and continue to train.

Personal life

Little is known about the personal life of Sergei Ustyugov. The athlete prefers not to advertise matters of the heart, rightly believing that the relationship concerns only two people. For several years, Sergei met with Elena Soboleva. The girl is also a skier. However, there is no information about the details of the romance and separation of the young people.

Fans of the athlete can only follow the news and photos on Instagram and other social networks in the hope of finding out who became the lucky chosen one of Sergei Ustyugov.

Sergey Ustyugov now

Now Sergei Ustyugov plans to repeat the success of the past season, preparing for the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. The athlete is the favorite in the personal sprint; in addition, high hopes are placed on Ustyugov in the skiathlon stage. The skier will also have a traditional team relay race and several classic and freestyle races.

In total, the Russian cross-country skiing team in 2018 will include 8 women and 12 men. In addition to Ustyugov, Stanislav Retivykh, Gleb Volzhentsev, Nikita Kryukov and other skiers will go to Pyeongchang. Among women, some media call Yulia Chekaleva, Marina Gushchina, and Polina Nekrasova favorites.

Awards

2013 - bronze medal (Val di Fiemme, 4×10 km relay)
2016 - bronze medal "Tour De Ski"
2017 - gold medal "Tour de Ski"
2017 - silver medal (Lahti, personal sprint)
2017 - gold medal (Lahti, skiathlon 15+15 km)
2017 - gold medal (Lahti, team sprint, classic)
2017 - silver medal (Lahti, 4×10 km relay)
2017 - silver medal (Lahti, 50 km)

SCHOOL PRIDE

Koltyugina Tatyana Samoilova Elena

Master of Sports in Biathlon

Prikhodko Valentina Weber Irina

Master of Sports in Cross-Country Skiing Master of Sports in Cross-Country Skiing

Veprik Alexander

Master of Sports in cross-country skiing

Shishkin Denis - Master of Sports in Biathlon;

Klepfert Sergey –

Korchak Andrey – Master of Sports in cross-country skiing, Master of Sports in Biathlon;

Korchak Alexander Vladimirovich – Honored Trainer of Russia.

Soboleva Elena

Master of Sports in cross-country skiing

Lena Soboleva is a well-known personality in the Novosibirsk region, and a source of pride for the Suzunsky region in general: champion of Russia in cross-country skiing, member of the Russian junior team, participant of the World Championships in Germany. These are her latest and most significant achievements.

And it all began in the Kamensky district of the Altai Territory, at the Allak secondary school. In the fourth grade, Lena went to the gymnastics section, where the winter program included cross-country skiing. During one of them, she lost a foot from a ski pole, for which she was scolded by the ski coach, Sergei Shabanov. The girl was offended and decided: “I’ll never ski again!” But the resentment was short-lived. And the coach was able to recognize the makings of a future skier in the eleven-year-old girl and convinced her to take up this difficult sport.

At her first regional cross-country skiing competition, Lena Soboleva was awarded a certificate of honor. Today, this certificate occupies a worthy place among many others won at high-ranking competitions, including those signed by the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Vitaly Mutko.

Lena’s current coach, Vladimir Korczak, saw a promising skier in the girl and did everything possible for his development. He looked after Lena when she, as an eighth grade student and champion of the Altai Territory, won four medals at once at the Siberian Ski Festival in Tomsk - gold and three silver. Vladimir Nikiforovich invited her to study in his sports class in Suzuna. He brought her and her mother to the boarding school, showed her where and in what conditions the girl would live, study and train.

Constant training and competitions began. In the first year, Lena won the championship of the Novosibirsk region. Then, at the All-Russian tournament for the prizes of the famous skier Lyubov Egorova, she won “silver” and “bronze” at different distances. I started beating older girls born in 1990-1991. She joined the Russian youth team, and in June 2009, when she was not yet 18 years old, she was included in the Russian junior team. Together with the team, our countrywoman attended training camps in Estonia, Bulgaria, Austria, Switzerland and became a participant in the World Junior Championships (born 1990-1991) in Germany.

In Germany, Lena performed well - 19th place in the sprint out of 80 starters. Then she won the Russian championship in her year, which took place in Zlatoust, and a number of other competitions.

Lena Soboleva already has experience of performing at the World Cup stages. In Otepää, a few days before the start of the world championship at the adult World Cup, Elena qualified in the sprint and eventually became 29th.

Lena Soboleva: Last year I thought that by the Games in Sochi I would still be too young to get there; after all, 21 years old is quite a bit for cross-country skiing. And now I see that there are girls even younger than me who are also really aspiring to Sochi. So I will still fight!

This is how she is, Lena Soboleva, a girl from the village of Allak - smart, hardworking, purposeful, promising. We wish her that her path to the Sochi Olympics would be without injuries and intrigues, and that she knows how to show her strength and skill on the ski track.

Sergey Ustyugov: “Autographs, interviews, photo sessions are not mine. I love running races!”

We bring to the attention of the readers of “Skiing Sports” the answers of the five-time world champion among juniors, medalist of the World Ski Championships and stage ski races Tour de Ski and Tour of Canada, multiple winner of the World Cup stages and champion of Russia Sergei Ustyugov to straight line questions.

Carier start

13.01.2016 19:13

Sergey, thank you very much for your races, we always cheer and worry! The question is: who is your first coach? (a few words about how they started skiing). How did you train at a young age - in the period of 12-15 years - in your opinion - did you perform heavy loads at that time? At what age did you start more serious training - training camps, training sessions, regional and all-Russian competitions, national championships?

12.01.2016 20:23

At what age did Sergei take up boxing, when and why did he switch to skiing?

12.01.2016 21:18

Sergey, I sincerely congratulate you on your brilliant performance in your debut Tour de Ski! You're a big lad! Don't lose motivation and don't catch a star! I have several questions:

1) How old were you, Sergey, when you started skiing?

I started skiing in 2001. Before that, like any child, I also went to different sections, I wanted to find something of my own, in particular, I ended up in the boxing section. But I only practiced boxing for about a month. I liked it, everything worked out, but at some point the coach punished me, and I thought that boxing was not for me either. And then my neighbor Sergei Ganin called me to the ski section - it was the Biathlon Sports School in the village of Mezhdurechensky. I immediately really liked it there, and over time the sports school became my second home! We rode a lot of slides and learned to go around sticks on the slopes. Quite soon, about a week after I signed up for the section, the first competition took place, which I won. This is how my skiing career began. And then somehow it happened that from the group of guys who trained with my current personal trainer, three or four were accepted into the biathlon team, but they didn’t take me, they sent me to the skiers. I didn’t want to go, I said that I didn’t know anyone there, but my coach told me that if I wanted to continue training, then I had no other way. So I ended up not in the biathlon, but in the ski team of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, led by Valery Pavlovich Sivkov. For many, getting into the district team was considered a big step forward in their career; there was serious discipline there, since we had to defend the sports honor of the district. And I came to this team as a guy who just liked to ski and train, but I had problems with discipline. Quite quickly, in two training camps, I collected three explanatory notes, and after three explanatory notes they were usually kicked out of the team. I was already told that we would now come home, and they wouldn’t call me back to the training camp, but on the last day of the training camp, I won the control training, which, I remember, was held in cross-country, and by a fairly large margin, and they still decided to keep me. When we arrived home, my personal trainer scolded me thoroughly and explained that I have enormous potential, which I could simply ruin with such behavior. This was the turning point when I started training consciously.

How did you train at a young age - between 12 and 15 years old - in your opinion, did you perform heavy loads at that time?

Yes, we trained a lot. At that time I was already in the Autonomous Okrug team with Valery Pavlovich Sivkov. I don’t know how people at this age train now, but at that moment it seemed to me that we trained a lot. We did a lot of speed and strength work. Every Thursday we had a control training session on strength training, which included parallel bars, horizontal bar, multi-jump, long jump and several other events.

At what age did you start more serious training: training camps, training sessions, regional and all-Russian competitions, national championships?

For the first time I went to the All-Russian competition in Tchaikovsky as part of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug team. We had a pretty strong lineup back then, which included Alexander Vasilkov, Viktor Denisov, Dmitry Konev... True, I don’t remember the year now. Athletes born in 1992 ran in the race, and Gleb Retivykh participated outside the competition, who won the race, and I was second behind him. Then there was the “Smetanina Prize” in Syktyvkar. At that age, we already traveled a lot to training camps and competitions.

14.01.2016 11:41

I wanted to ask Sergei, as a child, where did he like to train and run more in Khanty: in the Valley or at the Biathlon??

I always liked it in the Valley, and we spent much more time there. Like any children, we loved to relax somewhere, cut trees, and enjoy ourselves with pine cones, of which there were much more (laughs).

Workout

12.01.2016 20:11

The detailed answer on strength training, especially in the off-season, is interesting. Question: Do you increase muscle size? Are you familiar with statodynamic exercises and how do you feel about them? Thank you:)

We do static-dynamic exercises mainly on the abs. Sasha Legkov posted a video on the Internet, we are making approximately the same complex. The first year, when I started training with Isabelle and Reto, it was a little hard for me, but by the end of the preparatory season, my muscles got used to it, and these exercises began to be much easier. As for muscle mass, I haven’t added it, if only a little, since we don’t do exercises aimed at increasing it.

12.01.2016 19:58

I have only one question for Sergei.
Sergey, do your coaches know what a biologically based sports training system is?

I can't tell if they know it or not. This is the first time I've heard of such a system.

12.01.2016 20:31

Sergey, tell me, how do the training methods of Russian and foreign specialists differ, based on your experience of training with both?

The first thing that caught my eye was that everyone was equal before the coach. We had Olympic champion Alexander Legkov, but I and each of us received no less attention than he did. And no one had any privileges. They also pay great attention to discipline, and if one person does not comply with it, everyone suffers.

- Are there any differences in the training itself?

In principle, we worked the whole year according to the same scheme, slightly changing the loads, increasing or decreasing the length of the intervals. Also with Isabelle and Reto we work much less on movement techniques.

And the second question is why, in your opinion, so few promising juniors, when they reach adulthood, stop in their development (except for you) and at the age of 21-23 no longer compete with their foreign peers, whom they previously beat.

Perhaps someone will be offended by me for this answer, but it seems to me that after junior successes, many people change their approach to business and training. Plus, there were victories in juniors, but now they are gone - and people simply do not see themselves further in sports. I think it's because of this.

12.01.2016 21:37

1. Sergey, why the group Reto and Isabel? Why not Carriers and the main team?

I was already preparing with Oleg Orestovich, and I wanted to try something new. Moreover, Isabelle and Reto could see how Alexander Legkov and Ilya Chernousov were progressing... Each team has its own pros and cons, but Reto and Isabelle have much more advantages

Athletes Sergei Ustyugov, Stanislav Volzhentsev, Evgeniy Belov, coaches Reto Burgermeister and Isabelle Knaute, servicers Viktor Churkin and Evgeniy Uftikov

2. Isabel is a beautiful young woman. Do you perceive her as a senior (I don’t mean her age, but her status in the team)? Is it easy for you to submit to a woman? Or do you have some other relationship between coaches and athletes in your group, different from the Soviet-Russian realities of national teams?

Yes, in our group we just have different relationships. We're all friends. But we all understand that Reto and Isabel are the main ones here, and we came to prepare for them. Therefore, as they say, so it will be. If you want to spend an extra half hour arguing, then this, of course, can be done, but it will still be as the coaches decided. Of course, it is noticeable that in Europe everything works differently, and in many ways Reto and Isabelle still do not understand our realities. For example, if they gave you a training plan for the inter-camp, that means you have to complete it first. They don’t care about relatives, hospitals, traffic jams, or that some boss urgently called you somewhere - you have a responsibility to train, eat on time, sleep, change clothes after training. Everything is like at a training camp, only at home.

12.01.2016 22:26

What is the current state of the Russian women's national team, in your opinion?

It's hard for me to judge this.

Does heart rate greatly influence training in young athletes (13-15 years old); should we focus on the heart rate indicator?
I will be very grateful to you for your answers! All the best

Before the district team, when I trained with my personal trainer, we did not pay much attention to the pulse, although sometimes, of course, we measured it. When I joined the district team, we were all given heart rate monitors, and we trained based on our heart rate. We were very much scolded for violating pulse zones... Now the situation is approximately the same: we undergo an examination where we determine pulse zones, which we must then observe during training. So I think that you need to focus on heart rate indicators.

13.01.2016 13:12

Sergey, Greetings from your American fans!
How do you feel about high-altitude training?

There is a good height, after which you rush, and you show good results, and there is a height, after which you feel nothing. In general, I like to run after training at altitude, and all my best results were shown after mountain training. For example, at the Junior World Championships in Turkey, where I won four out of four races, we descended from the Bulgarian Belmeken. And although there was also altitude in Turkey, I felt great. In Nove Mesto, where I won the sprint for the first time at the World Cup, we descended from the Khmelevskie Lakes - this is a neighboring ridge to the one on which the Sochi ski complex “Laura” is located. There is also an excellent height, and after it there is a very good effect. From there I went down to Sochi, and although the difference in altitude there is only about a hundred meters, you can feel it very strongly.

Training on the glacier

13.01.2016 13:16

Sergey, during the race do you like to dominate the group, stay at the back, or do you prefer to move separately from the group? Why do you choose this particular tactic?

Let me give you a recent example. Quite recently, the guys and I ran the Ugra Marathon, and I realized that I was very uncomfortable when the pace of the group was too low for me. If I don’t have a pre-given task to stick with someone and wait, then I can’t sit and wait for a long time and I start to get nervous and twitch. This time a lot of people came to the marathon, the group was quite large, but I, Serega Turyshev, Zhenka Dementyev, Dima Yaparov were in the lead. And it turned out that I, being in good shape after the Russian Championship, led the race the entire distance, twitching, trying to make a gap, to escape. But I didn’t have enough strength to finish, and I realized that a plan for the race was definitely needed. Otherwise, you go to the start line, your head breaks, and you start doing something incomprehensible. After the race, the guys and I went into the service booth, looked at each other and said: “We are fools!” (laughs).

13.01.2016 13:20

What motivates you most when training to get maximum results? Or do you simply carry out the plans that the coaching group sets for you?

There are workouts that you enjoy, but this, of course, largely depends on your mood. I play sports, I get a kick out of it, but sometimes I still go out to train simply because it’s necessary. As my friends say, I am a person of mood, if I am in a good mood, then the race will be successful and the training will be successful.

13.01.2016 13:25

The whole country already knows about your greatest success in ski racing today - this is an excellent performance at the Tour de Ski 2016. Maybe remember your most unsuccessful race in your adult career and what conclusions did you draw from it?

- Probably the most unsuccessful race in my adult career was the Russian Cup in Syktyvkar. I flew there after the junior world championships and had to run the team sprint with Sergei Turyshev. On the eve of the start, he asked me to try to run well, since a lot would depend on me, and that if I ran poorly, I could ruin the whole race for the team. And so it happened: either I couldn’t cope with the excitement, or my form began to go away, but I ruined the race. It was a shame that I had let my friend down. After this, I concluded that you need to come to any competition as prepared as possible and determined to achieve a high result.

13.01.2016 14:07

Sergey, please tell us about the warm-up before the race - how many minutes before the start do you start, briefly in what mode do you do it, when do you finish? Do your warm-ups differ for a sprint and a distance race of 15-30 km, and in what ways? Thank you!

I usually go out to warm up an hour and a half before the start. I warm up more intensely before a sprint than before a distance race.

13.01.2016 15:37

Do you use a bicycle in your off-season training? If yes - in what volumes and modes?

Last year I used it, but this season it was on the bike that my knee began to bother me, so I switched to cross-country.

Before the last season, Sergei’s preparation included long cycling training, Sergei Ustyugov’s Instagram

14.01.2016 08:09

Sergey, congratulations on an excellent performance! Ski racing is only interesting to watch on TV if our skiers are fighting for victory!

In Isabelle’s interview there are these words about you: “He can say directly: “I don’t want to do this. Explain why this is necessary? “We were looking for a compromise, but not in the sense that we started training less, but explained to him why this or that work was necessary.” Please give an example of your creative differences with your coach.

Good luck and health!

Yes, it happened. After the World Cup in Drammen, I didn’t want to do strength training because I thought I was tired. They tried to convince me, but I still refused. After that, I felt bad during the race and realized that the coaches were right.

Tour de Ski

- Did you expect that you would be able to perform so successfully in the Tour de Ski?

I myself am surprised how I managed to stay in good shape for so many days at the Tour de Ski, and then at the Tour of Canada. I still can't believe it. I prepared purposefully for the Tour de Ski this year because I really wanted to go to it. Before this, I missed the opportunity to go to the Tour de Ski twice. The first time I won the uphill race at the Russian Cup stage in Chusovoy, they told me that I was preparing for the youth world championship, so they wouldn’t consider me for the Tour. “What's your Tour de Ski? You are still young!" Although I had a very strong year: I won against everyone who went to the World Cup stages, and we were very upset that I, winning, stayed at home, and they, having lost, went to the stages again. But at the end of the season at the World Championships, I was put on the last leg of the relay, and we managed to win bronze medals.

Alexander Legkov, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Evgeny Belov and Sergey Ustyugov with bronze medals for the relay race at the World Championships in Val di Fiemme, photo REUTERS

Last year we prepared a lot in Europe, and I went into a slight slump. I ran unsuccessfully at the World Cup in Davos, did not qualify and asked Reto and Isabelle to let me “feel the blood” and start. They then sent me along with Ilya Chernousov to the Alpine Cup stage in Hochfilzen, where I was able to breathe properly and feel the taste of blood in my mouth. After I returned, they sent me to the Krasnogorsk Ski Track, where I had to run a sprint and return back to continue preparing for the Tour de Ski. I left half of my things in Europe and went to Krasnogorsk. There, together with Gleb Retivykh, we did some work to prepare for the sprint, but the race itself ended for me at the quarterfinal stage due to a fall. The next day there was a long race that I didn’t plan to run, and Gleb asked me to give him a drink. And right during the race, Elena Valerievna calls me and asks: “Why aren’t you running today?” I answer that Isabelle and Reto told me that I was preparing for the Tour de Ski, to which she again puzzles me: “Who told you that you are even going to the Tour de Ski?” It turns out that my candidacy for the multi-day event was again not considered, other guys went there, and I bought tickets and went home to celebrate the New Year. Elena Valerievna and I agreed that I would go with the women’s team to a training camp in Otepää to prepare for the sprint stage of the World Cup. Isabelle and Reto wrote me a preparation plan, and when we discussed it, I told Isabelle that I had a little cold, but that I would leave the training camp as nothing serious had happened. And on the way to the training camp Vyalbe calls me again:

Isabelle said you had a cold?

It’s a pity, because Legkov refused to go to the Tour de Ski, they wanted to take you, but now, apparently, nothing will work out.

I was very very disappointed. In fact, I then had another chance to get into the stage race, but I missed it. At the training camp in Otepää, because of this, I began to train with triple strength, because I knew that I had to prove myself at any cost. As a result, I not only won the Estonian stage of the World Cup, but also had enough passion for the stage in Rybinsk, where I made it to the podium in both the distance race and the individual sprint. I got into fantastic shape and after Rybinsk I kept it for a very long time. But everything was spoiled by the control training in Davos, which we conducted jointly with the Americans and the Swiss. I won there by a huge margin, but I inhaled cold air and fell ill. The next day I woke up with a fever, we urgently descended from the mountains to the plain, but no matter how hard I tried, I was unable to fully recover from this illness for the World Championships in Falun, and I did not show the results there that were possible calculate as the season progresses. I really regret that nothing worked out for me at that World Championship.

Together with Alexey Petukhov, Sergei Ustyugov won the team sprint at the World Cup stage in Otepää, photo fasterskier.com

And then he became a prize-winner at the World Cup in Rybinsk in the sprint, photo fasterskier.com

And the 15 km freestyle race, photo RIA-Novosti

12.01.2016 21:09

Hello Sergey! Fans have noticed that you react very restrainedly to the greetings and congratulations of the Norwegians. Is it natural modesty or something else? And did the team discuss the issue of replacing both skis during the classic mass start with the Norwegian Krogh? Is this even possible during a race like this? Thank you in advance!

We did not discuss this issue, I have not heard anything about this episode.

12.01.2016 21:18

Knowing now the feeling on the Alpe de Cermis mountain, do you think the tactics you chose for the race were definitely correct or would you have used a different race pattern in hindsight?

Yes, probably, knowing how the race ended in the end, I would have chosen a different tactic. If he had known that Krog would run away, he would have followed him all the time, but then he did not know what to expect from him and from his body, at what moment the crisis would come. My personal trainer later told me that when he saw me look back for the first time, he realized that I just had to get there. And so it was.

Three medalists of the 2016 Tour de Ski on the top of Alpe di Cermis: Finn Hagen Krogh, Martin Jonsrud Sundby, Sergey Ustyugov, photo fasterskier.com

12.01.2016 21:44

Sergey, did Elena Valerievna Vyalbe once congratulate you on your success at the Tour de Ski?
-Yes, I called or sent an SMS, I don’t remember now.

12.01.2016 20:31

Sergey, what, in your opinion, is the secret of the overwhelming superiority of Norwegian skiers at present?

Skiing is in their blood.

12.01.2016 22:48

Sergey, please accept congratulations from Ukraine for your wonderful achievements at TDS! Ukraine for Ustyugov!
And the question also concerns the group of Burgemeister and Knaute. All the latest achievements of Russian skiers at TDS (with the exception of Max Vylegzhanin, special greetings to him) - Legkov, Belov and you - are connected precisely with this group. Moreover, in those years when the above-mentioned athletes became TDS prize-winners, they did not have any more victories (I mean the World Cup). So, is there still purposeful preparation and priority for TDS?

No, before the World Championships in Falun, the priority was the World Championships. True, at that time, as I already said, I had a slight glitch in my preparation, so I did not participate in the Tour.

Knaute seemed to deny this. What is the secret of this group specifically in preparing for TDS? And can we expect more victories from you this season?

The secret is professional. If you relax a little, you are immediately reminded who you are and why you are here. And this turns you on, and you begin to train with renewed vigor.

Knaute said before the start of this Tour that she expected 4-5 good stages from you. In any case, you have five excellent stages. Did the coaches call any of the mass starts successful for you?

Yes, this is thirty in Lenzerheide, where I was eighth. They praised me and said I ran it well. Yes, I myself was very happy, because I did not expect that I would get the eighth job in such a strong company.

Sergey Ustyugov leads the peloton during the classic mass start at the 2016 Tour de Ski stage in Lenzerheide, photo Felgenhauer/NordicFocus

And one more question. How did you thank Isabelle for passing the stick on time and successfully during the first sprint?

I don’t remember, I just said “thank you.” This is, in principle, an ordinary situation; this happens in racing all the time.

13.01.2016 01:29

Sergey, please dispel some doubts regarding the photo finish at the 3rd stage of the Tour.
1. Comment on your joyful reaction immediately after the finish - did it seem like you were ahead of Krogh?

Yes, I thought I was third.

2. Have you noticed some discrepancy between the real picture of the finish with the split leg, with the almost vertical silhouettes of the photo finish skiers /where a noticeable loss of about 30 cm is recorded - the length of the boot/?

No, I trust the judges. If they said that I was fourth, then so it was.

3. Did you see the slow-motion video of the finish from the side that was not shown to viewers during the broadcast?

I didn’t see it, I only saw the video from the front, only the photo from the side

The same finish in the fight for third place with Finn Hagen Krogh, photo by Flavio Becchis

Why do you often move separately from the peloton when almost everyone prefers to “backpack”?

I've already broken a lot of sticks, so I'm trying to move more carefully.

Sergey, questions about TDS:
1) Classic 15 km mass start race in Val Di Fiemme, Belov rode next to him for almost the entire distance, but a little behind, was it a team effort, or did it coincidence?

We didn’t agree on team tactics; everyone defended their position in the race.

2) At a certain point, it became obvious that you were fighting for the top three at the TDS, were there any races or moments when your group or team partners worked for you?

- As I already said, there was no such thing that the team agreed to work for me. At least this was not discussed in front of me.

3) If, for example, someone from your group (team) would claim the top three (in the overall standings), but you did not, and the coach received an assignment to help, if possible, a partner during one of the races, would you agree?

I wouldn’t even wait for the coach to give such a task, but I would take the initiative myself.

4) Do you see how our girls train? Do you think they are really a little lower class than the women leaders, or just mistakes in preparation, or a psychological factor?

As I already said, I would not like to talk about how our women’s team trains.

Sports data:

What is the length of the skis and poles used by Sergei in classic racing (his weight and height can be found on Wikipedia). Are these parameters different for distance racing and sprint racing (or are they the same)?

In classic races, if you don’t take into account city sprints, then the length of the poles is 157.5 cm, the length of the skis is 207 cm. If you take races like the sprints in Drammen or Stockholm, then I use slightly taller poles. And when Nikita Kryukov found out at the sprint in Stockholm this year that I was running with longer poles, he asked for my usual ones, which were slightly higher than his. I gave them to him, and he ran with them and even won the race with them.

How many pull-ups can Sergey do (max) on the horizontal bar?

Now we are not doing pull-ups for the maximum number of reps. We have certain strength work that we stick to. So now I’ll do 10-15 pull-ups. In general, my record is 32 times, but that was in my youth, when we were purposefully preparing to pass the standards for pull-ups. And then I also did a lot of push-ups on the uneven bars.

Heart rate at rest (in the morning) – at peak form (before competition)?

It is not always possible to measure your pulse in the morning, but on average it is 38-40 beats. Sometimes even before going to training, when you turn on the heart rate monitor, there are 42-43 beats.

13.01.2016 11:34

1 Average heart rate for 10-15km races?

2 heart rate max

It always happens differently depending on how you feel. There may be 195-196 average heart rate for the race and 207-208 maximum, as happened sometimes this year. But usually it is 185 average and 203-204 maximum.

3 Question about racing tactics. It seems to me that she is less rational and more energy-consuming compared to many, especially Northug. Is there any way to explain this? (Let’s say you like it this way, and that’s it!)

It very much depends on the situation in the race, on what numbers you are running in, with whom you are running. If earlier, in juniors, I worked the race from the very start to the end until you die, and I could barely finish the last laps, I lost a lot on them, but now I try to start more calmly. But when your form is good, it doesn’t matter how you run: if you start fast, you may lose a little by the end of the race, but you know that you will make up this gap in the first laps. This year I had a very good race in Nove Mesto, where I went through the laps very well, and on the last lap I felt that I could add more and go away. And sometimes it happens that from the very start you run with all your money and still lose. Of course, Isabelle has been giving a lot of advice on these issues lately: where, with which rivals I can compete with at the race, and how to behave in this case. He and Reto discuss this and then convey it to us. By the way, this year you could choose your starting position in the red group. Reto did this for us: first he collected our wishes, at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the group we would like to start, and after that he took the numbers.

- Do you mean choosing a position in the sprint?

No, these are distance races with time trials. In sprints, I always chose which race I would run. This year I won the qualification often, and tried to choose the first race as soon as possible. And the opponents watched and did not want to go into this race.

4 Height/length of skating poles?

Poles 170 cm, skis 192 cm.

5 Skiers take part in cross-country competitions. Did you do better/worse in pure cross-country than in skiing? (relatively)

In the cross country competition that year I competed in Oberwiesenthal, Germany. These were starts, it seems, among some sports schools. In general, many guys compete in cross-country, some even prepare specifically for it.

- How are your cross-country races going?

I used to be good at cross-country, but at the last summer championship in Tyumen it was very difficult for me. I don’t know what this is connected with, maybe I gained a lot of muscle mass. I also became very interested in why I used to run cross-country very well, and then suddenly suddenly stopped.

During a training camp in Oberwiesenthal, Germany, with Tour de Ski winners Alexander Legkov and Lukasz Bauer and World Cup winner Rene Sommerfeldt. Rene lives in Oberwiesenthal itself, and Lukasz lives a few kilometers away in the Czech Divine Gift,

6 Are there individual athletes in the elite or even entire teams whose skis often perform better than others?

No, it doesn’t happen that one team or a particular skier always has good skiing, everyone has “failures”. As for me, this year I was lucky with the serviceman with whom we worked this year. My skis worked just fine; in almost all the races I had some of the best skis among all the participants. There were races where I could sit on the descent at the back of the peloton and be the first to roll out, for example, on the thirty in Lenzerheide at the Tour de Ski or at the Canmore skiathlon at the Tour of Canada. So I want to thank our entire service team and hope that they will still keep my servicer for me next year.

12.01.2016 23:09

Sergey, congratulations on your successful performance at the Tour de Ski, I was worried and sick, the Tour turned out great.
Question about nutrition, what do you eat/drink during 30/50km

And also, what do you eat before races?

We eat a lot of pasta. We ate them all summer and all fall. I will probably remember this forever. We ate them, ate them and ate them... There was, of course, other food, but mostly pasta (smiles). If we talk about sports drinks, before races and at stage races we use special carboloaders. There are no dietary restrictions. Isabelle and Reto explained that it is better to eat well at breakfast, lunch and dinner than to then come into the room and eat something sweet or even sit in a cafe in the evening and drink coffee with some kind of bun. We should also always go to training well-fed.

During the races, Isabelle makes us a special drink. I can’t say exactly which one I think Vitargo Electrolyte is. I also told her that I couldn’t drink it because it made my mouth dry, but she replied that that’s how it should be. During the race, you need to drink a lot so that the body does not “dry out” and is ready to maintain maximum performance throughout the race. Well, 10 kilometers before the finish - Coca-Cola. Everyone probably already knows about this, even at the Russian championship they drink it, and not only in marathons, but also in thirty, many drink Coca-Cola with an activator before the finish line.

- What does “with an activator” mean?

These are special substances that are added to drinks, for example, guarana.

12.01.2016 23:54

Thank you for the pleasant surprise, for giving the fans the pleasure of forcing the fight and for the high result!

I would like to find out from the original source the reasons for the recent falls in order to resolve the disputes.

This year I had quite a lot of them. The most memorable thing was in Davos. I was so ready that day! I knew that I could be in the prizes, I had so much energy, so much strength!!! And then some kind of ridiculous fall! At that turn, the track was icy and a little broken, and I myself did not understand how it happened, but since it happened, it probably had to be so.

- Did you fall yourself, or did your opponents “help” you?

No, I fell myself, there was no interference from my opponents. I was completely focused on the race, on the fight, maybe that’s the reason. When I fell, I realized that today I had no prizes, although I had a lot of strength left! I think if I had fallen on the first lap, and not on the second, I would have been able to catch up, but otherwise there was no chance... (sighs) After the finish, I went to the mixed zone, and my former servicer Misha Lukerchenko, who worked with me in the Olympic season, and now works for Swix. He looked at me, smiled and said: “Today is just not your day, the main thing is not to despair.” This somehow calmed me down a little, and I thought that, probably, my day would come soon. Isabelle was then also very upset, she even cried with frustration.

13.01.2016 19:40

Sergey, good afternoon!
How do you choose one or another brand of manufacturers of skis, bindings, boots, poles? That is, what influences your choice: advice from other skiers, wishes from management, your own experience, or something else?

As for poles, we, unlike biathletes, do not have the right to choose the manufacturer of poles, since our Federation has a contract with the Swix company. That’s why the entire Russian team runs on poles from this company. In terms of skiing, this year my contract with the Fischer company ended, on whose skis I have been skiing since the days of the Smetanina Prize, when they brought me my first contract in my life. I never had any questions about skis, but I had a lot of questions about boots. But all my wishes were taken into account by the manufacturer, and now Fischer boots are also at their best! This year, when the results appeared, representatives of manufacturing companies began to constantly circle around me, offering to try their brand of skis. I tried Rossignol skis from the guys and I can say that these skis work differently from Fischer. Fischer suits me, especially since I have good “material” for this brand.

Personal life

12.01.2016 21:18

Do you have any signs or superstitions before the start?

No, I don’t have any pre-race signs or superstitions. Perhaps, if you are in a bad mood before a race, you will perform poorly, and then you yourself will not understand why this happened, and no one will tell you about it. At the World Cup stage in Toblach, I was not put in the classic race, although I passed all the selections and was ready to run it. When we arrived in Italy, they announced to me that I was only running sprints, I was very upset, and because of this, I didn’t succeed in the sprint either. I didn’t qualify, and during the cooldown Maxim Vylegzhanin drove up to me and offered to run the classic race in his place. Of course, we don’t resolve these issues, but since he didn’t want to run, and I, on the contrary, was eager, our coaches managed to come to an agreement and sign me up. I was very happy about this, and already in that race I ran very well and took seventh place.

With a girl - winner of the 2016 Eastern European Cup Elena Soboleva on Vayner Street in Yekaterinburg, photo from Instagram of Sergei Ustyugov

What is your favorite distance and what style?

I guess I don't have a favorite distance. I have always been considered a sprinter, I only ran sprints, and only this season I fully experienced how cool it is to run both sprints and races all season. But it’s also very difficult, and sometimes you think that maybe it’s better to just start a couple of races and that’s it, than then run ten or fifteen the next day (smiles). On the other hand, this year there were a couple of races that took place very quickly, almost like a sprint. For example, 15 km from the general start at the Tour de Ski, everything was so fast that I didn’t even notice how this race flew by!

If we talk about style, I skate more at home, since I don’t have to bother with lubricant for grip. Although just hanging out with the classics is also a lot of fun. This year, after the Tour de Ski, I went home to the village of Mezhdurechensky, I had 10 days, I had a training plan, but 35-degree frosts hit, and I asked to prepare a classic track for me and went for a walk on the classics. I had such a pleasure, such a buzz, even despite the fact that my cheeks were a little frostbitten!

12.01.2016 21:20

Sergey, if not for sports, what would you do? Do you have/had any serious hobbies, perhaps not sports?!

13.01.2016 12:01

Sergey thank you so much for such an explosion of positivity!! That was great!!! As they say, not a year without a pedestal :))
I really want to see you for many more years at the top of ski racing. I would like to believe that all the root causes of falls during racing are gone and will no longer upset either you or us fans :)))
It’s very interesting to know what you do for a living, besides skiing :))???

I mainly live only by skiing. Of course, sometimes you want to go out for winter fishing, sit on the ice with a fishing rod, but you need to take care of your health. After all, we have a winter type of spot, and in winter we compete, so I can’t afford such entertainment. I have a beloved girl, Elena Soboleva, who is part of the national team, we spend a lot of time together. I also love my family very much; I try to get home as soon as possible. I also like to drive a car over long distances; I can sit down and drive 1,100 km from Yekaterinburg to home and enjoy it.

- Is this your longest trip?

Probably one of them. I drove about 1100-1300 km. For example, I arrived at the Ugra Marathon after the Russian Championships. In Yekaterinburg we got into the car, drove to Khanty-Mansiysk, ran cross-country in the evening, ran a marathon the next day and drove towards home. It turned out to be about 1700 km in two days. It's a pleasure for me.

I read mostly on the Internet, but also books. This year I have already read two or three books. One of them is based on the film “The Martian”. There was no way to look, I picked up the book and got so carried away that I didn’t notice that I had read it. Stas Volzhentsev and I even argued that I would read the book, and after that the film would seem like complete nonsense to me. And I lost this argument, everything is described much more realistically in the book! So this year I plan to take literature with me to training camps, read more, and wean myself off the phone. I won’t hide it, now I go there almost every free minute: either I communicate with friends and family, or I read something on the Internet.

I don’t have a favorite movie or favorite music; I like a lot depending on my mood. This year, for example, we listened to the Leningrad group a lot. I also like our Russian cartoons about Alyosha Popovich, “Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf” and others - if you get bored at training camp, they really lift your spirits!

- Is Isabel also listening to “Leningrad”?

No (laughs). In fact, I not only listened to “Leningrad” this year, I just chose a few songs. I also like some songs by the group “DDT”, something from “Spleen”, and “Aria” has several songs. Everything is different.

12.01.2016 22:26

Sergey, how can I get your autograph? I really want to have an autograph card of the Tour de Ski bronze medalist.

In general, I don’t really like all this. There was a VKontakte page that was created by fans and maintained on my behalf. I wrote to them, met them halfway when they asked, sent autograph cards, but gradually came to the conclusion that I was not the kind of person to put my life on public display. Therefore, I asked the girls to close the group, because I didn’t want it all to revolve around me. In fact, people through the Ski Racing Federation find out my address and send letters to my mailbox at home, probably your reader can do the same.

13.01.2016 08:51

Do you practice meeting with fans after ECM races?

In fact, I don’t like autograph sessions or press conferences after the race, I don’t enjoy them, although I understand that they are necessary. Thanks to Isabel for protecting me from all this. If I manage to get on the podium, she takes me by the hand and quickly leads me to change clothes and to the press conference. It happens that you have to wait for your opponents for 15-20 minutes while they chat and sign autographs. But it's not mine.

13.01.2016 20:50

Sergey bravo! Proud of such talented young skiers of Russia!

1. Where do you like to perform the most (country)?

Russia, of course! Houses and walls help. It has its own language, everything is familiar, so you feel more comfortable. In fact, when you run a race, you switch off from it, in any country everyone shouts, everyone cheers... If you formulate the question differently and choose your favorite track, then I will name the track in Rybinsk. I really like the relief on which it is profiled.

2. Is there an idol in sports or someone you would look up to and strive to be like?

No, I don't have any idols. Each person is unique, and we see only one side of people, who in life can be completely different than on TV. Even from the outside, some might say about me that I’m arrogant, but I have good friends to whom I always tell that if they notice something like that in me, then let them come up and give me bream (laughs). And I know that they will do it without problems. People like Serega Turyshev or Stas Volzhentsev will immediately come up and say: “Boy, let’s come down from heaven to earth.” But I hope they don’t have to do this, and after this successful season of mine, I won’t change. This year there were a lot of offers to come somewhere, star in some programs, give interviews... There was even a case when I came to a ski resort in my village, and there was a car and a reporter with a camera. I turned around and went home. I don’t want to give interviews, I run races, compete for the country, show results... I know that I should popularize our sport, but I can’t help myself, I’m not that kind of person...

At the Russian Championship 2016 with friends and teammates from the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug team Evgeny Dementyev and Sergey Turyshev. This year at the national championship, Ustyugov won four gold and one silver medal, Instagram photo by Sergei Ustyugov

Yes, I'm on Instagram. My nickname - sergei86m, so you can subscribe and like my photos, although I post them quite rarely. I look more at what others post.

- Why 86, you were born in 1992?

- 86 is my region, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.

- Your wishes to the fans.

Watch the ski races, cheer, worry about us. We are trying for you. If something doesn’t work out for one of us, there is no need to scold or blame us. I see how everyone is trying, how everyone trains very hard and wants to show good results. Also, taking this opportunity, I would like to say hello to my native sports school - the Sports School for Biathlon in the village of Mezhdurechensky!

Prepared by Andrey Krasnov