Russian swimming president Vladimir Salnikov said the Russian team “bet on team discipline” at the 2016 Short Course World Championships in Windsor, Canada, to very good results.
The Salnikov quote is one of many published this week by Russia’s RSport news service. “The boys bet on team discipline,” he said, in a rough translation of the Russian. “I think it was a viable solution. The results shown will be a good guide to prepare for the World Championships in 2017.”
Here’s a few other major quotes from RSport’s reporting:
The star sprinter and reigning World Cup champ said the Windsor pool (built into a hockey arena) swam better than the 2014 European Championships venue, which was inside a biking velodrome.
“I don’t have the most pleasant memories of Berlin,” he said. “There was a round ceiling. I swam the 50 back and constantly crashed into the lane lines.” When asked about swimming inside a repurposed hockey arena, Morozov joked “the water is cold, but I don’t think it has to do with the fact they play hockey here.”
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko said he was encouraged by the showing from Russia’s youth.
“Post-Olympic season, many world leaders passed on the meet or sat out to solve their health problems, as was the case with Yulia Efimova,” he said. “But the fact that we were young, that the guys who won the 4×200 free relay were young is, of course, encouraging.”
Sergei Komogorov
The national head coach Sergei Komogorov looked forward to next year’s World Championships in Hungary:
“In general, we evaluate our performance discreetly and quietly. But at the same time, we are optimistic. We all know that the main launch will be at the World Championships in Budapest, and now we know our strengths and weaknesses.”
Kirill Prigoda mentioned Russia’s will to fight, especially in a medley relay battle with the Americans:
“We took most of the relays in Windsor,” he said. “The Americans intended to… but they were disqualified for violating the rules. We proved that we can fight. Now we are becoming a team. We are young and ambitious, and very soon, we will start preparing for the next Olympic cycle. The key to next season for us will start at the World Championships in Budapest.”
If yall even allowed toswim in Budapest lol
On a more positive note, is Kirill Prigoda the son of Gennadii Prigoda, who swam in the ’88 and ’92 Olympics? Gennadii won bronze in the 50 behind Biondi and Jager in ’88.
This sounds like cold war rhetoric. I would like to hear Salnikov’s opinion on the systemic doping charges against all Russian sports agencies.
I’m usually very vocal regarding Russia, but can you really blame their rhetoric? Talk on both ‘sides’ is becoming increasingly cold-war like, it’s not a one-way thing.