How flying skiers are growing in Sochi

by time news

We have been waiting for this medal for more than fifty years. The last time Olympic gold in ski jumping for our country was won by Valery Belousov in 1968. Therefore, the team silver of Russian flying skiers Evgeny Klimov, Irina Avvakumova, Danil Sadreev and Irma Makhini at the Beijing Olympics turned out to be a real sensation. A few days after the victory, the athletes returned home. How the nineteen-year-old winner of Olympic silver was met in Sochi and how flying skiers are raised at the resort, our correspondent found out.

Irma’s talent

The plane carrying the 2022 Winter Olympics silver medalist Irma Makhinya flew home to Sochi landed at 01:35. Everything was ready for the meeting of the athlete: a solemn delegation of the city authorities, numerous relatives and, of course, a folk choir with Russian songs, Cossacks with bread and salt. A little embarrassed, the young champion accepted the lush bouquets, modestly and without pathos answered the questions of journalists.

– Were you hoping for a medal?

– This season I did not hope for a medal, only, maybe, deep inside. When we performed, I couldn’t believe it, but when they checked us after the jumps – overalls, equipment – and said: “Everything is fine!”, Emotions flooded. This is some kind of madness, joy: all at once, – shared her impressions the silver medalist of the Olympic Games in Beijing Irma Makhinya.

And Irma’s first coach, Yuri Golubenko, knew for sure that the girl had a great future.

Irma is a talented girl. From childhood, it was clear from her movements, from her coordination that she was fast, jumpy. She was tenacious and efficient. Moreover, it is anthropometrically built like a jumper. She landed right away. There was no doubt that she would get into the national team. So the result is expected, it is not accidental, – says the first coach of Irma Makhini.

Irma came to ski jumping after her sister, before that the girl was engaged in gymnastics.

– I was small, it was more interesting than scary. But I will not forget the first jump from the forty-meter springboard. She cried, but through her tears she went and jumped,” said Irma Makhinya.

The main task of the coach

Where did ski jumping come from in Sochi? This is not tennis or athletics, which are typical for the resort. After the end of the 2014 Winter Olympics, the question arose about the use of heritage, including the Russian Hills ski jump complex. Sergei Zyryanov came to Sochi at the invitation of the Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Federation of the Krasnodar Territory. Himself a former jumper, international coach and referee, he understood perfectly how to raise a new generation of champions.

– In general, the most difficult thing in the work of a coach is to help a child overcome fear. We work with subtle feelings. It just seems that it is easy to lower your head below or pull the sock towards you. And when you are racing at speed, you know how scary it is! I still remember my first jump from a fifteen-meter springboard when I was nine years old. Then I jumped a hundred meters from springboards, but I don’t remember these jumps, and I can’t forget the first one. A jump is a fall from a height, you fly only due to speed. And on the springboard you can develop speeds of up to one hundred kilometers per hour. Therefore, before the child makes the first jump, more than a year of training passes, – Sergey Zyryanov explained.

Sergey found the first children in an unusual section for a southern city on the beach. I came to swim – I saw the girls jumping from the buna, I talked to my parents.

– Training is quite difficult, a lot of strength exercises, gymnastic, acrobatic. In the summer we go rollerblading with the kids. This is very important for the development of coordination of movements, so that the guys learn how to fall correctly. There are classes on the swing, a lot of jumping – on the trampoline. In winter – ski training. We learn to slow down, to juggle a tennis ball at speed. This is necessary so that the child can accurately control his movements, then it will help him learn how to hit the breakaway table and make the right jumps, – Sergey Zyryanov emphasized.

In addition to the training process, it was necessary to solve organizational issues. Ski jumping has never been on the list of basic sports in the Krasnodar Territory. And this means that classes were not funded from the budget. The ski jumping section belongs to the sports school No. 14 for winter sports, training for children is free. But funding for fees, equipment, and one set of overalls, skis, a helmet costs two thousand euros, I had to find on my own.

– I agreed with Russian Railways – they provide children from our section with free travel on the Lastochka. Mountain resorts with ski passes help, the Federation of Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined of Russia – with uniforms. Therefore, when in 2014 I began to lead the children’s section, I also began to translate jumping into a basic sport. To do this, it was necessary to create a regional federation, train three coaches, develop a development program,” explained Sergey Zyryanov, who today is the head of the Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Federation of the Krasnodar Territory.

For the training of young flying skiers, the Federal Center for Sports Training “South Sport” donated a set of Olympic ski jumps, which were in its area of ​​responsibility. Since the large slides – K-95 and K-125 are not suitable for beginners, a small collapsible simulator K-35 was purchased (the numbers show the length that an athlete can fly).

– For training on the springboard, the guys do six to seven jumps each. In three years, they begin to jump from K-95. In general, the results of athletes in ski jumping are very dependent on the sports facility. We have springboards – there is a result. And Irma Makhinya, and Diana Toropchenova, who won the Continental Cup in Beijing. Look at the Finns: their entire infrastructure is outdated – and immediately there are no results. And the Norwegians are constantly updating ski jumps, so Lindvik is an Olympic champion, – said Sergey Zyryanov, head of the Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Federation of the Krasnodar Territory.

It turns out, here it is, the real result of the post-Olympic legacy. It would seem, raise new champions. It’s only been six months now that the pupils of the Sochi sports school No. 14, and there are about thirty of them in the ski jumping sections, have not been training on the Olympic ski jumps.

When will training start?

– In August 2021, the Olympic ski jump complex was transferred to the Sirius Educational Center. We don’t have access to the facility today. Moreover, we can not only use ski jumps – we were asked to take out all the equipment. We can’t even do some kind of preparatory training – for coordination, for ski training. For now, we just work out on sports grounds, do exercises to develop coordination, and so on. But we don’t have jumps. During the season, not a single competition of the level of the Krasnodar Territory in ski jumping took place, – Sergey Zyryanov noted.

The press service of the educational center “Sirius” explained the current situation with several reasons at once. The first is the limited working state of the ski jumps.

– The actual technical condition and performance of the Russian Hills ski jump complex require careful study and a comprehensive expert assessment. The object was handed over in a limited working condition in terms of metal structures, as well as without special technical equipment, without an artificial snow-making system for the landing and roll-out mountains, which radically limits functionality and reduces the loading of the complex, the press service of Sirius reported.

Also, during the transfer of the facility, it was discovered that the K-30 ski jump, on which the championship of the Krasnodar Territory was held last year, was installed with violations, without technical coordination with the organization – the designer of the complex, without carrying out calculations for the possibility of additional constant load on the supporting metal structures, which may adversely affect the safety of training sessions for underage athletes.

– There was no certified medical center in the Russian Hills ski jump complex, which posed a threat to the life and health of those involved, since the injury risk of ski jumping is high. From the first days of owning the ski jumps, the Talent and Success Foundation urgently began the process of certifying a medical office at the facility and organized the duty of medical personnel, the press service of the Sirius Educational Center noted.

Today, a survey is being carried out at the sports facility for reconstruction. It will include: restoration of the functionality of the Olympic ski jumps, construction of a line of small ski jumps K-5, K-10, K-20, K-40, creation of a training infrastructure – gyms, gymnastics halls, strength, speed-strength and motor-coordination training, hotels different levels – a sports hostel, a ski hotel.

– There are and will be trainings for children at the ski jumping complex. There is an agreement between the federal territory of Sirius and the Krasnodar Territory on joint sports training and the exchange of quotas in free children’s sections. For older boys and girls, at the age of sixteen – seventeen to nineteen – twenty years old, who have achieved high sports results, an experimental school of the Olympic reserve will be created, as part of which it is planned to open a ski jumping department. This project is also being implemented in close coordination with the All-Russian Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Federation, the press service of the Sirius Educational Center promised.

In the meantime, adults continue to figure out who is right and who is wrong, little flying skiers are waiting for the opportunity to make their first jumps. The silver medalist of the Beijing Winter Olympics, who won a medal that has not been seen in the country for more than fifty years, will soon take part in the World Junior Championships. Post-Olympic legacy in action.

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