• Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home Track & Field

Yuriy Borzakovskiy: the RunBlogRun Interview, by Elena Dyachkova

Larry EderbyLarry Eder
June 18, 2015
0
0 0
0
SHARES
27
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

RelatedPosts

Coffee with Larry, NCAA Div 1 is Hot after first day, Paris DL will feature BIG women’s 400m, Men’s steeple, Women’s 5,000m on June 9!

Coffee with Larry, NCAA outdoor Champs on ESPN 2, Paris DL on Peacock (June 9), Sydney McLaughlin racing 400 meters in Paris!

The Texas women bring it home from NCAA West Regionals to NCAA Finals…


Borzakovskiy_YuriySF-EuroInd09.jpg

Yuriy Borzakovskiy, photo by PhotoRun.net


Borzakovskiy Adjusts to New Role and Predicts World Records


Just two years ago, the Athens 2004 Olympic champion the 800m Yuriy Borzakovskiy was aiming to compete at the home World Championships, but a severe cold got the best of him. This summer the 34-year-old father of two is definitely going to the World Championships in Beijing, as the head coach of the Team Russia. Being in this role for just __ months, he has already won two big competitions – the European Indoor Championships in Prague and the European Cup Race Walking in Murcia. Next goal – the home victory at the European Team Championships.

Adjusting to the new role

What does the typical day in the life of the Team Russia Head Coach Yuriy Borzakovskiy look like?

– I wake up at 6.30am, feed my kids, feed my dogs, drop the kids off at school and go to the office. After the day at the office, I take care of my fitness. I either go for a run or play soccer. That is pretty much it. Sometimes, of course, I get to travel – to training camps or competitions.

How did it feel switching from being a full-time athlete to a 9-5 desk job?

– I’ve gotten adjusted by now, it feels more comfortable than it used to and the work itself feels more comfortable. Having a great team in the office helps. And anyways, we sometimes get up and walk back and forth along the corridors (laughs). 

Your first big competition as the head coach was the European Indoor Championships three months ago. How nervous were you? More than when you were competing yourself?

– You should ask my athletes whether I was nervous (laughs). Of course, I was. But the event was very well organized, all team and personal coaches as well as team physios did their job perfectly, too. We got a good result medal wise, as well, so no complaints.

Right training methodology – the key for development

We were on top of the medal table in Prague, but we still have our traditionally strong events (pretty much all field events and women’s 400m-3000m) and weak events. What is the key to making the national team more balanced?

– Some events need their training methodology restructured, deeper insights science and medicine wise. If we take, for example, men’s endurance events where I’m coming from, I had high results due to improvements in those areas. If we could apply that to younger athletes, we’ll see results.

Do you see a new middle distance star to follow your footsteps among our youth athletes?

– We do have strong boys in middle distances. Look out for Konstantin Tolokonnikov, who was second at the World Youth Championships in 2013. It’s too early to make big predictions, because they are still young, still growing. But their youth performances are promising. Some other names in the 800m-1500m are Denis Bashkirtsev, Anton Kozolv, Konstantin Kholmogorov. They are around 18-20 years old now, while their bodies start to get to full strength at 23, so we’ll see what happens. 

Do you coach or mentor any 800m runners?

– Of course, I give a piece of advice to any coach or athlete who turns to me. Head coaches for endurance events do that too, Evgeniy Pudov and Dmitriy Bogdanov. Dmitriy was a competitive runner just recently, he was my training partner. I’m absolutely confident in these people; we can provide up and coming athletes with good advice.

You are actually strongly involved with youth track & field development in Russia being the president of the Youth Spike (combined events competitions for athletes aged 10-15 and kids master classes held across the country). Is this movement growing?

– It definitely helps in track & field promotion. Every year, we have more and more participants and the results are growing, as well. School coaches are working in the right direction, but it’s important to keep the balance. Overloading such young kids can make them hate the sport forever, so we have to keep the game element in that. And we need to make sure we pay attention to coaches’ development, as well. We are planning to bring national team specialists in for seminars with school coaches.

I feel like many leaders of our team don’t compete enough abroad before the national championships, which negatively influences their media and marketing exposure. Would you agree?

– I actually don’t think it is so. We have a pool of athletes who start doing Diamond League events early in May, such as Dmitriy Tarabin, Mariya Abakumova, Ivan Ukhov, Svetlana Shkolina, Darya Klishina, Segey Shubenkov. So our leaders aren’t hiding at home.

But the lack of media attention is definitely something we have to deal with. What can we do to make our athletes more marketable?

– Would be great to have more sponsors who would use our athletes as ambassadors. Like in soccer. I respect our soccer teams, but they are not the best in the world. Still, every Russian knows the national squad members. Why? Because they are in TV ads of everything, starting from snacks to Gazprom. Track & field athletes could have been just as good at that, but they get overlooked. It makes sense though, because athletics is less popular than soccer. It’s like a vicious circle. We need more investment in athletes to make them more successful and popular and then to host a circuit of international meets in Russia to give them more exposure within the country. 

“Sub-1:40 is definitely possible…”

Do you still follow your event on the international level? What do you expect from Rudisha this year?

– I hope he recovers after his injury struggles. I’ve talked to him back when I was still competing myself. His levels of training intensity are extremely high. It’s understandable, he is going for fast times. But fast times are not always easy on the body. Every athlete chooses what’s right for him. I like him as an athlete and as a person, so I wish him all the very best.

How low do you think the world record could go?

– It’s possible to run sub 1:40. Most certainly. I probably could have tried that too on my peak. But I chose a different approach. One can run a sub-1:40 once or twice in your career and see your body give up on you. Or one can ran less stunning times, but have a long career.

Gearing up for Cheboksary and Beijing

Who are the athletes who can surprise us this season in the Team Russia?

– First of all, the pole vaulter Anzhelika Sidorova, definitely has a huge potential, we can see 5.00m from here soon. Yekaterina Koneva, Mariya Kuchina, decathlete Ilya Shkurenyov, Yelena Korobkina. In the middle distances, look out for Anastasiya Bazdyreva (Russian indoor champion in the 800m). She is 23, but she hasn’t been training as a pro athlete for that long, so she is still improving rapidly and her time is about to come. We have good 400m hurdler runners coming up, Timofey Chalyi, Denis Kudryavtsev.

Russia is hosting the European Team Championships in Cheboksary in June. We’re trying to gain the revenge on Germany at home. Can we pull that off?

– I hope so. Our athletes are very ambitious; they want to win at home. Especially as they have competed in Cheboksary’s stadium so many times during the Nationals. It definitely feels like home for the whole team. And we will definitely find the right words to keep them focussed over those two days.

Author

  • Larry Eder
    Larry Eder

    Larry Eder has had a 50-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

    View all posts

Previous Post

Over 100 hours of live TV coverage for European Athletics Team Championships

Next Post

2015 RBR Summer Cross Country Challenge! Week One, Day 5, by Larry Eder

Larry Eder

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 50-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

Similar Post

Femke Bol,  Part 2 Two World Championships in one year
Interviews

Thirteen Questions for Femke Bol

June 9, 2023
NCAA Championships 2023, Day 2: The ten-tier throwdown ends with a German national record By Sam Fariss for RunBlogRun

NCAA Championships 2023, Day 2: The ten-tier throwdown ends with a German national record By Sam Fariss for RunBlogRun

June 9, 2023
Five things that did not surprise me in Florence

2023 Florence Diamond League: Marie-Jose Ta Lou takes the 100 meters!

June 9, 2023
Faith Kipyegon smashes World Record 1500m in Florence
2023 Wanda Diamond League

Faith Kipyegon to face two other world record holders in the 5000m race at the Paris Diamond League

June 8, 2023
Oregon 22 World Athletics Champs, Day Eight: McLaughlin’s 50.68 WR is a Magnificent Highlight!
2023 Wanda Diamond League

2023 Paris Diamond League: Event by Event Previews

June 9, 2023
Noah Lyles has a long way to reach Bolt’s heights but is on the right trajectory. 

Coffee with Larry, NCAA Div 1 is Hot after first day, Paris DL will feature BIG women’s 400m, Men’s steeple, Women’s 5,000m on June 9!

June 8, 2023

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Subscribe to RunBlogRun's Global News Feed

Wake up to RunBlogRun’s news in your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll keep you informed about the Sport you love.

*we hate spam as much as you do

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
USATF / Day Four:  USA’s Assembled Team Is Ready!

Abby Steiner replies via twitter, on the curiosity about her new professional running contract

July 5, 2022
What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

July 17, 2022
2022 USATF Outdoor Champs: Melissa Jefferson takes the Women’s 100m title in windy 10.69!

The curious case of Sha’Carri Richardson: How can the sprinter turn around her career?

February 8, 2023

(RBR Archives) Coaching 101: Warm Up & Cool Down for the Jumps, by Roy Stevenson, note by Larry Eder

April 1, 2022
What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

6
Asafa Powell, Considering Longevity in Sprinting

The RunBlogrun Interview: Asafa Powell

5
2022 Munich Diary, Day Five, a Great Friday Night

2023 European Athletics Indoor Champs, The Women’s 60m, who will win the final tonight?

5
TCS New York City Marathon Broadcast to be Available in More Than 530 Million Homes Around the World on Sunday, November 6

RunblogRun Editorial: The Sorry State of Running Television Coverage, by Peter Abraham, note by Larry Eder

4
Femke Bol,  Part 2 Two World Championships in one year

Thirteen Questions for Femke Bol

June 9, 2023
NCAA Championships 2023, Day 2: The ten-tier throwdown ends with a German national record By Sam Fariss for RunBlogRun

NCAA Championships 2023, Day 2: The ten-tier throwdown ends with a German national record By Sam Fariss for RunBlogRun

June 9, 2023
Five things that did not surprise me in Florence

2023 Florence Diamond League: Marie-Jose Ta Lou takes the 100 meters!

June 9, 2023
Faith Kipyegon smashes World Record 1500m in Florence

Faith Kipyegon to face two other world record holders in the 5000m race at the Paris Diamond League

June 8, 2023

Popular Stories

  • USATF / Day Four:  USA’s Assembled Team Is Ready!

    Abby Steiner replies via twitter, on the curiosity about her new professional running contract

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The curious case of Sha’Carri Richardson: How can the sprinter turn around her career?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • (RBR Archives) Coaching 101: Warm Up & Cool Down for the Jumps, by Roy Stevenson, note by Larry Eder

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Oregon 22 World Athletics Champs: False Starts reconsidered

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Recent Tweets

Next Post

2015 RBR Summer Cross Country Challenge! Week One, Day 5, by Larry Eder

runblogrun

RunBlogRun comments on the global world of athletics, sports & ethics, and the Olympic movement. @runblogrun

Browse by Category

Newsletter

Subscribe to our mailing list to receives daily updates direct to your inbox!

  • Home
  • Archive
  • Contact Us

© 2022 Run Blog Run - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Home page
  • My Account
  • Sample Page

© 2022 Run Blog Run - All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

Select a password for yourself. (minimum length of 8)

Paste here the user biography.

Provide here the twitter screen name. i.e. @RunBlogRun

Provide here the instagram screen name. i.e. @RunBlogRun

Provide here the facebook profile URL. i.e. http://www.facebook.com/RunBlogRun

Provide here the linkedin profile URL. i.e. https://www.linkedin.com/in/larry-eder-5497253

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist