National team head coach: We continue the race for the Olympic license!

 
Olympic.kz: How was the Asian Championship in Japan?
 
N. Usipbekov: The team of the Japan Triathlon Union organized  championship at the required level, taking into account the existing restrictions due to the coronavirus. There are no complaints about the TO job.
 
Olympic.kz: There were many restrictions on the championship. What do you think about this?
 
N. Usipbekov: Yes, there were many restrictions. I believe that most of them could have been omitted. The pre-launch quarantine was poorly organized. The organizers did not provide any conditions for the training of athletes, as I mentioned earlier. But these moments did not interfere in any way, the team was ready for such a development of events. The only thing we weren't ready for was food. The athletes ate, to put it mildly, extremely poorly: the food was exotic, and the portions were low-calorie for our athletes, although we previously worked out this issue with the local organizing committee, discussed the menu in advance. Our team agreed that they would bring us Mediterranean cuisine. Unfortunately, this did not happen. Athletes ate sports nutrition as much as they could, to which their body was adapted, but nevertheless, they had to receive habitual and wholesome food too.
As a result of such measures, the national teams who served the quarantine in relation to the Japanese and Chinese athletes performed worse than their capabilities. Last year's champion Oscar Coggins, who runs as fast as Daryn, who is the fastest in Asia, lost to three Japanese in his crown form - running. The coach of the Hong Kong national team was very indignant at the Coggins result.
 
Olympic.kz: Are you satisfied with the results of the athletes?
 
N. Usipbekov: If we'll talk about absolute result, of course, I'm not. According to the plan, under normal conditions, Daryn Konysbaev should have been in fifth place, Ayan Beisenbaev - in eighth, and Arina Shulgina - in the top three. Considering that due to such a quarantine, Arina had food poisoning right at the start, I consider her performance to be successful. I was pleased with the result of Ekaterina Shabalina, who worked for the team. Throughout the entire distance, she helped Arina, although her strength allowed her to compete for a medal. Shabalina clearly understood that the set of points for the license is more important and did everything possible to ensure that Arina was at the highest possible position in the final protocol. In the last meters, thanks to Katya's efforts, they overtook the Hong Kong athlete Brown, thus earning more points. Based on the situation created by the Japanese colleagues, I am satisfied with the overall result. The performance was not super successful, not a failure, but good.
 
Olympic.kz: The issue of a license for the Olympic Games has not been resolved, what other competitions will the members of the national team have?
 
N. Usipbekov: In the case of Ayan Beisenbayev, the race for a license is over. The personal trainer objectively refused to perform at the stage of the World Series in Yokohama. There are no more races where Beisenbaev could have scored enough points against Coggins. In the case of Arina Shulgina, we continue the race for the Olympic license! We are planning to perform at the World Cups in Italy and Mexico. In the near future, the athlete will miss the national championship for a complete examination of the gastrointestinal tract, after which we will decide on further training. With regular starts we hold continental cups in Nepal and Tunisia, where we are only interested in victory.

Photo: Japan Triathlon Union