Bolshunov In Rare Tell-All Interview About Klaebo, King And Training In Crimea

On the day of his last official race of the season and right before departing on the tour of Norway that will include him running in Kobberløpet and in Janteloppet , Alexander Bolshunov gave a television interview

A 22 year old Russian sensation could be many things but he is not exactly a fan of long sit-down interviews – it took us at Dailyskier a bit of effort to convince him back in a day

This time he made a rare exception for the Russian Siberian skiing-promoting project На Лыжи! ( roughly translated as Put Skis On!) and could be found & watched in full here

Those not quite fluent in the language of Leo Tolstoy & Fyodor Dostoyevsky have an option of acquainting themselves with the highlights, in chronological interview order:

– The King ( Harald V of Norway) looked openly disappointed after Holmenkollen. I was meant to get a cup as a 50k winner – but it appears he just forgot to give it to me – so officials brought it to hotel later.

– We are “closed team”, we train by ourselves. Who will come to train alongside us in Crimea, for instance?

– No, I’m not interacting much with Johannes Klaebo outside the tracks. Let him learn a bit of Russian – then we shall talk.

– Klaebo’s strength as skier in his downhill technique but also in the way he accelerates on the track. He does it just once on the distance – but exactly when it’s needed…He “explodes” and immediately creates a gap between himself and the rest of skiers, myself included. And that’s enough to win over and over again.

– Yes, I could offer an apology when I feel that I was wrong. Last time is was in Quebec when I cut off a Swedish at the finish

– When we were leaving the ski stadium in Quebec, the organizers provided one bus for everyone. The bus was full, the only free place was next to me – but Johannes passed it by, went further back to look, did not find anything. Then another Norwegian did the same. I’m like “ whatever, if you prefer to be standing in the bus rather than sitting next to me that’s your call!”

– One reason I am often seen leading the pack in sprints is that we didn’t train much the final acceleration and coming from behind to win. We just need to work on it more. Norwegians work on it all the time, film it , analyze it and know every detail of any specific sprint trail.

– I hope nothing will change in the next year’s World Cup schedule. As is it looks very interesting ( = promising) to me

I really like to compete on off-World Cup races such as Blink. Especially in Norway. Of course, it’s done when and if my coach , Yuri Borodavko OKes it – it shouldn’t get in a way of the main goals.