"The IBU will be the last one to allow our athletes to compete"

In March and April, Russian and Belarusian biathletes will finish the season. The Russian Championship will be held in Tyumen and Khanty-Mansiysk, the final of the Russian Cup will be held in Zlatoust, and the last stage of the Commonwealth Cup will be held in Murmansk. The main event of February was the Cup of the strongest in Belarusian Raubichi. It was held in parallel with the World Championships in Switzerland. Alexander Povarnitsyn won one of the medals in the Cup, a bronze in the individual race. In an interview with Izvestia, the athlete assessed the chances of biathletes returning to the international arena, told what needs to be improved to compete for medals at the World Championships, and also appreciated the popularity of his sport in Russia and Belarus.

"The Strongest Cup in Belarus is the main start of the season"

— How would you rate your performance at the Strongest Cup?

— Satisfied with seven out of 10. Because, after all, there were flaws and mistakes. Especially on the last firing lines. I didn't want to perform much better, but I wanted to perform better. One personal victory was missing, which I was aiming for in the individual race. But this is a sport, and there are a lot more defeats than successes, so I should be happy with what I have now. And keep working.

— The season will end in the spring with the Russian Championship and the last stages of the Russian Cup and the Commonwealth Cup. What are you counting on them for?

— I'd like to take a short break for now, but the Strongest Man Cup wasn't easy emotionally. Such starts really emasculate you. Especially the preparation for them. It's because you've been away from home for a long time. And I just want to take a break for a week, stay at home. And then we'll see how things go.

— Such tournaments, when you train and compete for a week and a half, are very different from the stages of the Russian Cup and the Commonwealth Cup, where you only have to run two or three races on the weekend?

— Of course. After all, we understood that the Cup of the Strongest in Belarus is the main start of the season. This is a different level of excitement and slightly different demands on yourself, so you try to mobilize as much as possible.

— Is this mode somewhat similar to the adult and junior world championships? Does it help to simulate the situation if you suddenly find yourself there?

— Yes, I would say that. That is, I was trying to fully simulate such a situation. Perhaps if I had been at the World Cup, I would have been even more mobilized. But I think that I spent a lot of effort at the Strongest Cup.

— In what way did you mobilize? What did you do that you don't do at the regular stages of the Russian Cup and the Commonwealth Cup?

— At the Cup of the Strongest, you try to devote as much time as possible to how you will run the race, what to run on, how to shoot, and so on. That is, you try to close all the nuances in order to remove responsibility from the people around you, for example, from the service people.

I usually don't go skiing before the race. And in Raubichi, I went out every time before every start, because it's very important to me that the whole inventory works clearly. So that I don't come and say that there's a problem somewhere, there was a problem somewhere. That is, he tried to take full responsibility for himself in the first place.

— Why don't you ski at other competitions?

— That's the way we do it. The service and I agreed that they already know the skis better than us and look like them themselves, they will ride under us. Anyway, give or take, they look like my weight. And they know better what to run on. But this time, the nuance of how the ski works in my leg was important to me. That's why I went out to test it.

— Was it especially pleasant to compete in Raubichi in February in the presence of snow and light frosts, compared to the January stages in Ryazan and Rybinsk, where there was often water instead of snow on the tracks due to the plus temperature?

— I don't like water at all — it makes the track very difficult for me, and I have nothing to push against. And it's just even unpleasant for the general well-being. When the gray sky is hanging over you, it's raining... And in Raubichi we saw beautiful weather. The sun is shining, the soul rejoices (smiles).

"We need to review our rate of fire"

— Have you watched the February World Cup? What do our biathletes need to improve in order to qualify for medals after returning to such competitions?

— Definitely need to review your rate of fire. We can see how fast the people there are shooting the rack. And at the same time with high quality. We need to move in this direction. I think we missed this moment. That is, we were already somewhere in the rate of fire, but during these three years, which we have been spending outside of international competitions, we have begun to lose significantly in terms of rate of fire. Yes, we have athletes who can shoot fast, but for the most part, I think we shoot much quieter than there.

— How many seconds do you shoot in now?

— I have an average rhythm of 26 seconds on the rack in recent starts. My usual rhythm is 24 seconds. Now I feel like I'm wasting an extra two seconds before the first shot. I've been picking at the stock of my rifle too much this year. And yet I came to the same production as before. But because of these changes, I'm a little unsure of what I'm doing right now. This year, I plan to move away from digging into inventory and come to one model and work. Stop digging already.

— Is it harmful?

— During the season— yes. When you have summer training, you redo, add, subtract something. And then, until the end of the season, until March, I have to work with the production that exists.

— What rate of fire would you like? In the region of 20 seconds, like the leaders at the World Cup?

— Everyone has their own shooting rhythm. I think the optimal shooting time for me is 23 seconds. That would be fast enough. Three seconds difference from the best is not so critical.

"We are building preparations with the Olympics in mind"

— Do you believe that next season they can allow you to participate in international competitions and there will be a chance to go to the Olympics?

— We are building our preparations taking into account that the ending will include the Olympics. We generally have a four—year cycle of preparation for the Olympic Games, and we adhere to it. And how fate turns out there is not our concern, not our area of responsibility. And we just have to be ready for any decision.

— In recent months, international sports officials have been less categorically speaking out against Russia, and figure skaters and speed skaters have already been admitted to the Olympic selection in a neutral status. Do you think it will affect biathletes soon?

— I am a realist. And I will say that I have not seen any positive changes in my assessment. I still think that the IBU (International Biathlon Union. — Izvestia) It will be the last organization that will allow our athletes to participate in its competitions. It's all because there are weapons, not just skis. And it needs to be exported abroad. The export legislation has not changed in three years, but there are still various security delays that are likely to affect the situation. But let's hope that all this will magically be resolved quickly and the audience will finally see Russians and Belarusians on the international stage. We will be very happy about it.

— Is it hard for three years to perform only in the domestic arena?

— It's hard. Before the start of the Strongest Man Cup, I spent the first half of the season, frankly speaking, trying to squeeze something out of myself, trying to get to the start and motivate. It was easy only at competitions in Belarus. As it was, starting in November, it was hard to force myself...

More precisely, in November, at the first races in Khanty-Mansiysk, it was still interesting and pleasant to run. And then there came a moment when I either overtrained, or the road from Khanty-Mansiysk to Izhevsk made itself felt. But I just couldn't find myself — it was so hard for me to get to the start and run... I just didn't want to go to the races. And in January, after the stages in Rybinsk, I somehow switched, trained in Sochi. I did a lot of basic work again, and I wanted to compete again.

— Several thousand spectators constantly came to the races in Ryazan, Rybinsk and Raubichi this winter. Can we say that even without international competitions, biathlon is still popular?

— Biathlon is basically one of the most popular winter sports in Russia and Belarus. And it's very nice that we see such a huge number of fans in the stands. I would like more people to come and support us on weekdays, when our races shifted to the evening. But it's great that there are a lot of people on weekends when we perform during the day. We really appreciate such attention from the audience. We are very pleased with this, so we encourage everyone to come to the stands.