We have discussed with the coaches that our preparation should be aimed specifically at the World Cup, as well as at the stage of the World Cup in Antholz-Anterselva, where the next Olympics will be held. My goal is exactly that. The Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo will probably be the last competition of my career. All my strength and concentration is directed at her.
This was stated by the most successful Bulgarian biathlete Vladimir Iliev in the history of the celebration on the occasion of 40 years since this winter sport was developed in an organized manner in our country and over time became the most successful.
The 37-year-old Trojan is our only competitor with a world championship medal – silver in the 20km individual event at the 2019 Östersund (Sw) championships.
On October 30 last year, Vlado became the father of a daughter, Ivayla, from the relationship with the national biathlon player Milena Todorova, to whom they are engaged. Both are natives of Troyan, and this spring the family moved into their new home in the mountain town.
“For me, the past season was quite complicated. My girlfriend and I did an analysis. After the birth of the child, there was a drop in my performance. The distance they were all the time had a very negative effect on me. I think that purely psychologically I was not able to cope. But now the little one is traveling with us, we are all together and I hope the new season will be much more successful,” Iliev said.
“Despite my age, which everyone notes everywhere, I feel good. There are athletes older than me in the Norwegian team who are doing very well. I don’t think age is an obstacle. I feel in the shape I was in five years ago , that maybe even a little better. With the new coaches, I hope for a very successful season and to show what I showed in the summer training as well,” he added.
Since this summer, Robert Kabukov, who was born in Russia but lived in Germany for the last 25 years, has been the coach of the national team, and the famous German specialist Wolfgang Pichler is acting as an advisor.
During the ceremony, the president of the federation Atanas Furnadzhiev said that for the first time in many years there is no division in the national team and all the athletes are preparing together. Iliev was asked to comment on the atmosphere in the team.
“In the last three years I trained separately from the national team. Now we are all together. I trained separately not exactly for personal reasons, but because I thought that the people in the coaching staff could not help me with my development as an athlete and what I want.
In addition, there was a change in the team with many young athletes. We are on different levels and I needed completely different things. Now, however, a lot of really quality coaches were taken. This also applies to the Russian coach Robert Kabukov, who has been living in Germany for 25 years, and to Wolfgang Pichler. He is one of the biggest names in biathlon and single-handedly raised the sport in Sweden. Nobody had heard of biathlon there before, and now they are one of the best in the world. I think we have a good team now and these coaches will help us achieve what we want. But everything takes time and it doesn’t happen in a month or two. The level of the team increased in the summer, I hope we will show this in the winter season as well,” explained Iliev.
“The most difficult thing in biathlon is to combine fast running with accurate shooting, and that’s why very few people manage to achieve it. We try, we train every day. I know from my experience that when you work hard, success comes sooner or later.
At the moment we are financially stable, the federation and the ministry are helping us and I think this will lead us to good results. On Friday we leave for training in Sweden. There is already snow there. The new coach has arranged training sessions with the Swedish national team, which will be of great benefit to us. We will stay there for two weeks. Then we have a short break and return to Austria, again on snow.
November 30 is the first start for the world cup. There are competitions every week, but with us the calendar is like that”, the national added.
“My feeling is that Bulgaria will have full teams for both men and women at the Olympic Games, but everyone is still training and preparing. We have to fight and prepare well,” concluded Iliev.