Bronze Ice

At the World Cup stages, the Russians took four prize places

Four bronze medals were won by Russian representatives of winter sports at the next “session” of the World Cup stages. Alexander Zubkov and his accelerators on the bobsleigh track in Calgary showed the third time based on the sum of two attempts in the competition of two-man and four-man crews, the speedster Alexander Kibalko took the bottom step of the podium at the end of the 1500 m race in the same Canadian city, the capital of the 1988 White Olympics year. Tatyana Borodulina was among the winners at the short track speed skating competition in Bormio. In skeleton, the Russians were left without awards, but Alexander Tretyakov’s performance was considered sensational.

Since the world skeleton (head-first sledding) and bobsleigh are led by one organization - the International Bobsleigh and Toboggan Federation (FIBT), the cup stages in these disciplines are combined. First, the skeleton masters compete for medals. Our last achievement here dates back to January 2003, when Ekaterina Mironova took second place at the stage in Igls, Austria. She won silver earlier, on the eve of the Olympics in Salt Lake City, showing an encouraging result on the track in Lake Placid in December 2001. However, at the Winter Games themselves, Catherine became only seventh. Last season, while the Russian national team was in North America, a scandal occurred: Mironova did not share something with our other girls, and by the decision of the President of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation Valery Leichenko, she was removed from the team.

However, the Russian skeleton is not only Mironova. She is gradually being replaced by other figures who will soon reach world level. We are talking primarily about Alexander Tretyakov. This physically gifted 20-year-old athlete from Krasnoyarsk last season attracted the attention of specialists because at many stages he demonstrated the fastest acceleration and showed times that exceeded the record of a particular track. Not being experienced in driving a sled, Tretyakov lost his starting advantage and eventually took places in the fourth ten participants, only once soaring to 19th position. The intensive preparation for the current season and the accumulated experience made themselves felt already in Calgary. In his first attempt, Tretyakov improved the track record in acceleration - 4.78 seconds, although his finishing time was only 16th.

The second race was truly historic. At the start, Alexander knocked off another hundredth of a second from his new record, rode the entire distance without failure and settled on the temporary podium. Since the skeleton athletes started in the reverse order of their places in the first attempt, Tretyakov seemed to have little time to wait until someone improved his overall result. Several more descents passed, and the Russian continued to remain under the guns of television cameras. In the end, naturally, he was surpassed by those participants to whom he lost a lot in the first attempt, but getting into the final ten was a landmark event. This is the highest achievement of our men's skeleton in the World Cups. And most importantly, in the second race Alexander showed the absolutely best result among all participants. The elite was shocked!

According to the 2005 bobsleigh World Cup winner Alexander Zubkov, made before the start in Calgary, at the first stage he would consider it optimal to simply get into the top six. Preparations are structured in such a way as to reach the peak of results directly for the Olympics. Moreover, while the newly designed beans are being tested, the total weight of the crew in the off-season, taking into account the requirements for improving aerodynamics, has become noticeably heavier, and the athletes are still getting used to performing in new conditions for them. Nevertheless, in the two-man race with Dmitry Stepushkin and in the four-man race with him, Sergei Golubev and Alexey Seliverstov, Zubkov led the crews to the podium. It is interesting that in both disciplines the top five pilots took the same places: two gold medals for the German Andre Lange, two silver medals for the American Todd Hayes, and two bronze medals for the Russians. It is noteworthy that for the first time in history, Russia fielded three crews at once.

A sign of the Olympic season is a sharp increase in the number of participants at the World Cup stages due to representatives of exotic countries that are poorly developing winter sports. According to the regulations adopted by most international federations, those wishing to compete at the Games are required to register at several serious competitions. For example, whoever came to the short track competition in Bormio (Italy): Mongols, Indians, South Africans, New Zealanders and even a Brazilian.

European champion Tatyana Borodulina continues to please with her stability. The title of the best speed skating athlete of the Old World itself is not a guarantee of successful starts at the world level, because the best short track speed skating masters live in Korea, China and Japan. And yet, the Russian woman has already managed to get used to the company of the giants and feels on an equal footing with them. In Bormio, Borodulina finished third in the decisive 1000 meters race. This is her second podium this season.

Ilya TRISVIATSKY