Federico Pellegrino: Why I Chose To Train With Russians

Federico Pellegrino: Why I Chose To Train With Russians

Leaders, Newsfeed
The news of Federico Pellegrino and Francesco De Fabiani joining Markus Cramer's group of Team Russia for the full cycle of the Olympic preps is unusual to say the list. Why do the best Italians of the decade want to change their regimen so drastically - and why Russians as training partners? We caught up with the reigning World Cup holder in Sprint in Estonia: - Why Russians, and what are you trying to gain my this? - The idea was ours, mine and De Fabiani's. We had problems in our team, the last winter was hard and the Сorona pandemics didn't help us at all. We had to reorhanize and change - and that in the fourth year of the Olympic cycle. Even if my race results were good…
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Pellegrino, De Fabiani To Train With Cramer At Team Russia

Pellegrino, De Fabiani To Train With Cramer At Team Russia

Leaders, Newsfeed
Federico Pellegrino and Francesco De Fabiani will join the training group led by Markus Cramer at Team Russia. The group is led by the German coach contains more seasoned male Russian skiers: Gleb Retivykh, 29, Artem Maltsev, 27, Evgeniy Belov, 30, and, of course Sergey Ustiugov who just turned 29. Pellegrino, 30 and De Fabiani,27 will fit right in. The group also contains an extremely strong 2d coach/ squire Sergey Turyshev who sets the training tempo & leads by example. The training agreement was officiated by the special agreement signed by the Italian and Russian ski federations. Two Italians are highly unlikely to see Siberia or even set foot in Russia: most of the training in the Cramer Group is done in the Alps or Scandinavia, Covid situation allowing.
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Lahti,  Skiing,  COVID

Lahti, Skiing, COVID

Leaders, Newsfeed
The Lahti Ski Games, one of the most storied stages of the FIS World Cup, feels massively different this year. COVID re-writes the rules in this year of 2021. The organizers do what they can - all arriving athletes, officials and media are subjected to compulsory antigen throat swab with test facility open through the night. [caption id="attachment_17637" align="alignnone" width="1731"] ...the precautions are justified: at least one ahthlete tested positive on arrival to Lahti: first with antigen test, than more precise PCR one. Absolutely asymptomatic, apparently...[/caption] [caption id="attachment_17643" align="alignnone" width="1920"] ...Eirik Nossum, Norwegian head coach has a different story to tell. Or several. For reasons not entirely clear, he keeps on getting false-positive antigen test results. First time it happened the whole team was isolated - but by now the…
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Sergey Ustiugov & Last Chance Saloon For Oberstdorf

Sergey Ustiugov & Last Chance Saloon For Oberstdorf

Leaders, Newsfeed
It was Sergey Ustiugov 's last chance to jump on a wagon, departing for Oberstdorf 2021 - and he used it with his customary flair. The world's best skier of 2016/17 had an exceptionally rough season thus far: bad case of Covid hit him in October in altitude camp in Italy and, unlike many other skiers, the Russian Bear wasn't lucky enough to recover quickly. As the result, zero international races this season while the competition within Team Russia grew tremendously. Ustiugov left the Sbornya and was preparing at home, participating in local races where stunned viewers (yes, limited amount of fans is still allowed at most ski in Russia as it is an outdoor activity) had a chance to see Ustiugov run. On Thursday the 28 year old convincingly…
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Ustiugov Tells His Fans He’s Got Severe Case Of Coronavirus, Faces Slow Recovery

Ustiugov Tells His Fans He’s Got Severe Case Of Coronavirus, Faces Slow Recovery

Leaders, Newsfeed
Sergei Ustiugov appeals to his fans via Instagram, telling them that he had a severe case of Covid-19 that stopped him from competing and even training in last few weeks. https://www.instagram.com/p/CIauZQVsTNR/?igshid=1au78krzaro9l In the post to his 84000 followers on the social network, the 28 year old ex-world champion says he fell ill in late October in Val Senales, Italy, and hasn't been able to restart proper training ever since as " body refused to adequately perceive the load and and each time I fell into a hole" The Russian wraps up by saying that he feels better now, undergone an extensive screening and is slowly starting to exercise properly, hoping to rejoin the team "soon".
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