"We are on the right track, everything will be fine by winter"

Eduard Latypov leaves the Russian Summer Biathlon Championships in Tchaikovsky with two medals — gold in the individual race and bronze in the relay as part of the Bashkortostan team. The athlete's sprint did not work out, he made two mistakes on the "bench" and one on the "rack", and even in the relay, not everything went smoothly — Eduard closed the final "rack" with two additional cartridges. He told Izvestia and Sport-Express after the end of the competition about how the athlete evaluates his performance, about the work done in the summer, and plans to prepare for the winter.

"I was at my maximum from the first lap, keeping my hope alive"

— You were obviously unhappy with the sprint yesterday. If you take all three races of the championship, what would you sum up?

— In general, it's not bad. The championship was a success, I managed to win the individual race, and I partially mastered shooting. It didn't work out a bit at the sprint, there was a different firing rhythm and a higher speed, so I couldn't complete the task I set before the race, I couldn't shoot back quickly. He shot quickly, but inaccurately, there were "dimensions", that's why he was upset. Maybe I didn't have enough practice in high-speed shooting. We felt good at the relay, and we tried to fight anyway, keeping hope alive, even though we had big gaps from the first two teams (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Tyumen Region. — Izvestia). In any case, this is a biathlon, and I, realizing the unpredictability of shooting, including from rivals, went at maximum speed from the first lap, keeping my hope alive. As a result, we retained the third place as a team with two young guys, and we are very happy about this. It helped me to perform here that there was a stage of the Commonwealth Cup in Sochi before the Czech Republic, we accelerated a little there, and it was easier for me here.

— It seemed to me that you had a tremor on the "stand" in the relay.

— Yes, because I always go out to win, and given the gap in transmission from Erast Imanbayev, I hoped for some chance until the last, I went very hard for the first two laps, approached the milestone at a fast pace. I didn't know how my opponents shot, and it wasn't until I reached the line that I saw that they had already left without making mistakes. At that moment, the tremor caught up with me, which, of course, affected the "rack" — when I stood alone, it was, of course, more difficult to shoot. I think if we had shot together, in the excitement of the fight, it would have been easier. As it was, I walked up, my legs were already heavy, my pulse was high, and it all started to give way.

— What were your thoughts at that moment?

— I understood that you just need to work out exactly. After the first extra round, it seemed that I had hit, I started to drop the rifle, then realized that I hadn't, and I had to refine it more calmly.

— On the third lap, what kind of lag would you be able to choose?

— Daniil Serokhvostov and Mikhail Burundukov ran there, and you won't be able to choose much on such a fast, high-speed lap. I think we could talk about some kind of chance if there were fifteen seconds between us, given the speed of Daniel. Both Khanty-Mansiysk and Tyumen did a good job in the relay, they did well.

"It was hard, of course, but the results were decent"

— What's next?

— A short rest, then rolling in, smoothly moving into the winter season. First we go to St. Petersburg, a small roll in the tunnel to feel the snow a little, and then we move to Aldan, Yakutia.

— How many days did you gain in the mountains during the preseason?

— Little, very little. Not the right amount. There are statistics on this component, how many days a year you need to gain in the mountains, it is estimated that from fifty to eighty. We lack this component, we are lagging behind in it. Perhaps this is due to the fact that we don't have many places where you can shoot, there are only two — Sochi, where there are medium mountains, and the Seminsky Pass, where there is a difficult mountain, it often won't work.

We will still have mountains during the season, during the preparation period between the stages. The New Year's Eve gathering will most likely be in the mountains, and we will also be there before the main starts. But there were not enough mountains at the preparatory stage.

— What tasks were set at the beginning of the preparation for the season and to what extent were they completed?

— It's in the process, we're doing it. The first cut was at the Commonwealth Cup in Sochi, we hadn't run in the mountains for a long time, and this time we tried without acclimatization, living below, which we hadn't done before. We drew conclusions. In addition, it was necessary to check our condition, given the current training plan, which was based on volume and strength training, but there were not so many high-speed exercises. We wanted to understand, having such a base, what speed it would give.

— Do you understand?

— It was, of course, difficult, but the results were decent, considering the preparation that we did. I think that the coaching plan was aimed at the winter starts anyway. And in the summer, we, experienced high-level athletes, must run in any condition and show results due to our high basic performance. Now the first stage of preparation has been completed, the second begins, where high-speed work will already take place.

Yuri Kaminsky and I have been working on this scheme for a long time, although it is clear that changes occur from year to year. The same scheme was used in the seasons when we competed at the World Cups — to enter the winter from power work, from power, from volume, and closer to the starts to accelerate on the wheel before the first stages. We already have this experience. In my opinion, this is the right option to maintain speed and well—being throughout the season, since there are a lot of races and you need to have strength until the end of winter. If, for example, we move forward to the first stage, then, of course, there will be a recession, but we are still trying to perform steadily.

"I won't say that I'm a very strong athlete"

— Was it my imagination, or did you gain some muscle mass?

— Yes, this is the specifics of our work this season. The strength levels and the nature of the training, so there is a small weight, but in any case, everything is under control — we should already approach the season in different conditions.

— What are Latypov's records in powerlifting?

— I will not say that I am a very strong athlete. I can do six push-ups on the uneven bars with a weight of 60-65 kg. Bench press is done with a weight of 100-102 kg. I don't think these are very serious weights, maybe someone is doing more.

— What is its own weight?

- 75-76 kg— But I think it's not about weight, it's about the quality of the exercises, the transfer of these strength indicators to the snow. Any muscle that has increased in volume due to strength training needs to be worked out so that it is functional, otherwise it will then limit you on the track and acidify quickly, so it does not make sense without transfer.

— Does this weight limit lifting yet, is there enough power?

— Enough. But our preparation is basically planned in such a way that it should be like this, the whole group says the same thing about their feelings. I think we're on the right track, and everything will be fine by winter. Now we'll rest for ten days and go to St. Petersburg, transfer everything to the snow.