Translated material
Wrong level
Our skiers should have less hemoglobin and more medals
The World Ski Championships in Sapporo have passed the equator. Six races out of 12 planned are behind us: the Russians have the victory of Olga Zavyalova in the women's duathlon and the silver won by Vasily Rochev and Nikolai Morilov in the team sprint. There is no need to talk about the prospects of our combined athletes. Dmitry Vasiliev showed the seventh result in ski jumping on Saturday.European lesson
It is known for certain that Europeans taught the Japanese to ski. It is said that in 1908, the Swiss professor at Hokkaido University, Hans Kohler, taught the first skiing lessons to his students. All this happened in Sapporo. Three years later, an Austrian captain named Lerch began training in this. History is silent which of these two turned out to be the more talented coach. But the fact that the university in Hokkaido, in modern terms, has become a center for skiing, is beyond doubt. The first ski jumper in Japan is also listed as a graduate of this university - Ooya Toshinori.
The organizers of the championship, the Japanese in Sapporo, confirmed their reputation as inventors by offering participants several know-how. Sprint races were held for the first time at the huge Sapporo Dome stadium, and distance races were held on a track unlike any other. The main difference is that the sharp ascent and dizzying descent made it extremely dangerous for riders. As a result, of the 89 participants who started in the men's duathlon - a 30 km race (15 km "classic" and 15 km "skate"), a little more than half reached the finish line. Those who broke their skis and poles escaped with a slight fright. Broken noses and faces are also not taken into account. This is nothing compared to what happened to Liechtenstein rider Markus Hasler, who broke his collarbone in a fall. Now, as the coaches of his team said, the skier’s career is in question.
Japanese roller coaster
After last year's World Cup in Sapporo, the track where distance racing is held was called "adrenaline." Indeed, one of the descents seems to have been specially created for the kind of blockages that are not uncommon in cycling. There was talk that the configuration would be changed, and in fact something was changed, but in fact the essence remained the same.
“It was something with something,” said Alexander Legkov, who ultimately took sixth place, after the duathlon. - Such madness! From the start, everyone rushed as if they had eaten too much. Right from the “classics” the pace was set as in a sprint until the end. Angry, pushing, fussing, twitching, screaming. I had a small lead in the classics. This is how Koller jumps on skis. I knew they were capable of this, but not that much! Vittoz swung a stick in the face. Even after La Clusaz, I still have a scar from it on my leg. Then he took off his overalls - there was an abrasion and blood. French good fellow! Northug just annoyed me here, cutting me off three times. I threw out all my swear words on him. The Norwegian was driving behind me, third. I wanted to go a little to the right, change lanes, but he didn’t let me, he pulled my skis. He turned to him and shouted: “What are you staring at, let him pass!” I don’t have a complex in front of them. But everything was decided on the last climb. I thought, now I’ll roll out of the descent and start going around everyone, as always. And then someone hits me on the ski. I'm on my knees. And everyone drove over me. Actually, I controlled the whole race and held my position. He didn’t let anyone in, but while he was climbing, he became twelfth. And yet he managed to catch up with the leaders. What next? Maybe, of course, the Germans also used command tactics. After all, Teichmann stepped on my skis. He won. The servicemen later said that over the radio their trainers repeated: “Legkov, Legkov.” But what does this matter now: lost means lost. I cried afterwards. I had a lot of hopes for this race. If Dema (Dementiev - O.E. ) had fled with me, everything would have been different. My head is spinning, where are Shiryaev and Chernousov? And they all fell on the descent, like girls.”
Ilya Chernousov broke both skis. And he rode part of the distance on different ones - one leg on a Fischer, the other on a Madschus, which some Italian coach gave him. Then during pit stops he changed his shoes twice more due to technical problems and finished the race 31st. Shiryaev was less “lucky” than the others. He was forced to retire from the race because he broke the binding on his ski during a fall. “By the time I reached our trainers, 500-700 meters, people had managed to pass the circle. That’s how the race ended for me,” explained Sergei Shiryaev.
Hemoglobin "buildup"
The current championship for Russian skiers began with hemoglobin surprises, which overshadowed all other events of the world championship. First, it was announced that two biathletes, Konstantin Voronin and Dmitry Matveev, were suspended for five days of competition due to elevated hemoglobin levels. Then they were joined by two leading racers - Nikolai Pankratov and Olympic champion Evgeniy Dementyev. The results of the medical examination of WADA representatives shocked the doctors of our team. As it turned out, commissioners from the World Anti-Doping Organization came to check the training camp in Tsakhkadzor and found nothing. In Sapporo, all ski racers were tested several times by our doctors, including on the morning of the team sprint. Everyone's levels were normal then.
The doctor of the men's team, Oleg Zhukov, also explained that usually on the day of arrival at the competition, he is informed of the timing of tests for hemoglobin. This time he had to contact representatives of the relevant services himself. Zhukov suggested checking the athletes on the eve of the sprint team race. But he was told that the team would take the test on the start day. “Either we don’t understand something, or WADA representatives are working on different equipment, if the results are so different. Our device showed Pankratov’s hemoglobin level at 16.0. An hour later, WADA’s score was 17.0. To prevent such situations from repeating in the future, it is necessary to agree that doctors of all teams and Vadovians have the same equipment,” Zhukov told reporters.
His namesake, coach of our combined team Sergei Zhukov, called what happened at the championship a disaster. According to him, this happened for the first time with our athletes, but it cannot be an excuse. “It makes no sense to say that someone is hunting our athletes. Russian biathletes are not favorites. And then not only our athletes, nine skiers were removed from the races due to problems with hemoglobin. From Croatia, Belarus, Switzerland, Italy, Estonia... Our main problem is that the team does not have a doctor, since it is not possible to find an intelligent specialist who would agree to work for a small salary,” the coach complained.
Nevertheless, both the doctor of the Russian racers and the coach of the combined athletes agreed that after training in the mountains, such situations with fluctuations in hemoglobin levels are not uncommon. The cross-country skiers trained for 20 days in Armenia at an altitude of almost 2000 m. The cross-country skiers came to Japan from Italy. “Gathering in the mountains is necessary in order to increase the body’s endurance before the start. But when you come down from a height, it takes time to adapt. During this period, hemoglobin “builds up” occurs. Its level can rise up or drop sharply. Most likely, both Pankratov and Dementyev got into such a mess,” says Oleg Zhukov. In his opinion, in all this fuss around hemoglobin, much is artificially pumped up. “The whole world is concerned that people, especially residents of large cities, have extremely low hemoglobin levels. Everything is being done to raise it with the help of nutrition, vitamins, walks in the fresh air, physical education, and WADA and FIS are fighting to preserve the health of athletes, on the contrary. Many stereotypes have migrated to skiing from cycling. But almost all races there are held in the heat, cyclists lose a lot of fluid, the blood thickens and becomes viscous, and the muscles do not receive enough oxygen. But skiers and biathletes compete under different conditions. Sometimes during training, the hemoglobin level of athletes approaches 180 when the norm is not higher than 170, but no one is suspended from training. Due to the characteristics of each sport, it is necessary to adopt and legitimize different standards, because in biathlon they raised the upper bar to 175,” commented Oleg Zhukov.
Pankratov behaved strangely
According to the captain of the national team Vasily Rochev, the current situation, when for the third year in a row they have to step on the same rake, should force athletes to be more demanding of themselves. “I can’t say anything about Dementiev. I found out about everything on Friday when I arrived at the stadium. Kolya Pankratov’s behavior seems strange to me. Last year at the end of the season we were here in Sapporo for the World Cup. And the situation was the same. Kolya was shaking, he was shaking, he felt unwell, and although he was not suspended from the races, due to health problems he actually did not start. Knowing this, and now on the day of the hemoglobin test, instead of going to train, which the coaches asked him to do, eat well, drink two liters of water, take aspirin, he went to bed. As a result, he was suspended from competition for five days. But if he knew that this could happen, then why didn’t he do anything? Kolya is very gentle in character, but at the same time he knows how to get ready for a race and win. In this case, he simply followed his own lead,” Vasily Rochev expressed his opinion.
The consequences of what happened were immediate. Due to the absence of reserves in the team, the dual athletes did not take part in the team competition. The riders were missing at least two medals. With the exception of Vasily Rochev, none of our skiers even made it to the repechage final of the individual sprint races. Three centimeters at the finish line separated Rochev and Morilov from gold in the team sprint. But this silver medal is the first at this championship and so necessary for everyone, perhaps it will become one of the most memorable for its winners.