Translated material
Russian pilot school
Evgeny Popov reached the heights of Alexander Zubkov
The second stage of the Bobsleigh World Cup was marked by the first career victory at this level for the four-man crew pilot Evgeniy Popov, who in recent seasons has been in the shadow of the leader of our team, Alexander Zubkov. Some changes in the composition of the accelerators in both quartets, and Popov’s hard work during preparation for the season led to an unexpected castling. For the second stage in a row, Evgeniy is ahead of Alexander, and if a week ago in Calgary he was second, then in the American Park City on the Olympic track of the 2002 Games, Popov finally climbed to the highest step of the podium.Zubkov’s former accelerator Dmitry Stepushkin, Roman Oreshnikov, who is competing in the World Cup for the second season, and Dmitry Trunenkov, who last season occasionally took the start as part of the third Russian crew, helped Popov show the best time in both attempts. The final advantage over the legendary German Andre Lange turned out to be impressive - 0.2 seconds by bobsleigh standards is, if not an abyss, then quite a solid margin of safety. Another sensation was presented by the Latvian Janin Minins - the first prize-winning place in his career, and after the first descent the Balts were second. The fourth position was shared by the Swiss Ivo Rygg and the Canadian Pierre Luders, who lost more than half a second to the winners. Zubkov, together with Philipp Egorov, Alexei Seliverstov and Evgeniy Pechenkin, finished seventh. This crew was let down by inaccuracies in passing the track in the second attempt, where they showed only the 11th time.
In the overall World Cup standings, there is a dual power among pilots of four crews - Popov and Lange are in the lead, earning 190 points each. Each of the opponents had “gold” and “silver” at the previous stages. Of course, in the competition for the highest places, the departure of the Swiss Martin Annen and the American Todd Hayes from the sport was a great help for the world's leading bobsledders. Moreover, if Hayes planned his departure in advance, then Annen could no longer resist the demands of his father, a cheese maker known throughout the country. Martin’s parents never considered bobsleigh a serious activity and repeatedly asked their son to quit this “fun” and go deeper into the family business. Annen delayed his departure for a long time, finding sponsors every time in the off-season, but still the hour for his retirement came.
Things are not going well for the Russians in doubles yet. On the Park City track, Zubkov and Trunenkov were classified sixth, Popov for the second stage in a row, together with Stepushkin, rounded out the top ten. But our girls, Victoria Tokovaya and Olga Fedorova, were pleased with their personal bests at the World Cup. For the first time, a Russian female crew rose so high - to fifth place. However, in fairness, we note that only 12 crews took part in the competition.
The young skeleton athlete Alexander Tretyakov also achieved a prize again. He was very close to winning, having a 0.1 second advantage after the first attempt. over the American Zach Lund. During the second descent in the middle of the distance, this advantage reached 0.59 seconds, but then Alexander began making mistakes in piloting. Hitting the sides of the chute and losing precious time, he eventually lost to both Lund and Canadian Jeff Payne. When Tretyakov, who once again set a track acceleration record, corrects his technical errors, he will certainly be able to become the leader of the world men's skeleton.