…When Yulia Belorukova won the very first official race of the last season, many a fan said Wow! here come the true challenger to Swedish-Norwegian duopoly in sprint. Alas, the rest of the season was as impressive for a 24 year old Russian. Although far from a failed one ( bronze in relay in Seefeld where she held Ebba and Heidi Weng’s all-out leap at the first stage, overall 8th place in the World Cup season classification), Belorukova wants more next season. Wants – and makes no secret of that in our conversation, that we shall customary publish in two installments, using the photos of Yulia that we’ve taken throughout the season.
Here’s Part 1


Even if the skiing is indoors – it’s still better than any other summer training.


Next year is a special one – no Olympic Games or World Championships. Which means there is a better chance to try something new in training regimen, to experiment





We spend over 250 days a year in training camps and racing. That’s where we are at disadvantage with other girls on the World Cup circuit – they often could pop out home even in-between back-to-back weekend races. It would take me 24 hours to and 24 hours fro to get to my home and back. But that’s life and there’s nothing to be done about that – almost all races are held in Europe.

No, we don’t use team tactics in sprints and mass starts – because, quite simply, we don’t have them. The Norwegians do, it’s obvious – on Tour de Ski, for instance. But team tactics is a complicated business. I did try but I couldn’t keep up with Natalia ( Nepryaeva) and Anastasia ( Sedova) on a distance in most races.
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