Only a few knew that Alexander Legkov was preparing for his triumphant Olympic Games in Sochi according to the plans of this German specialist. Officially, Reto Burgermeister from Switzerland and the physiotherapist Isabelle Knaute, who helped him, were considered his mentors. And only in 2015, Markus Kramer came out of the shadows, becoming the official coach of the Russian national team with his own mini-group, in which his sparring partner Sergei Turyshev began training together with Alexander Legkov. Another season later, Markus Kramer's group became the largest in the Russian national team. Three men are already training there: Legkov and Turyshev have been added multiple champion World Junior Championships, participant of the Vancouver Olympics (8th place) Petr Sedov, as well as the strongest Russian skiers: Natalya Matveeva, Yulia Chekaleva, Natalya Zhukova, Polina Kalsina, Anastasia Sedova, Natalya Nepryaeva and Yulia Belorukova.

Naturally, at the very beginning of this conversation with Markus Kramer, I was interested to know how his collaboration with Alexander Legkov and the Russian team began.

This happened in 2010, says Markus Kramer. - ​It was the beginning of the first summer after the Olympics in Vancouver. I was at home in Germany, Alexander Legkov - with the Russian men's national team, which Oleg Perevozchikov began to coach, in a training camp in Ramsau. At the same time, Isabelle Knaute began working as a physiotherapist with this group. One day Isabel and Alexander talked to each other and called me with a question: is it possible for me, as a coach, to work with Alexander?

- How did you take this call and question?

Oh, this was a big surprise for me! They explained that Alexander wants to change something in his training, while remaining a member of the Russian national team. But it is very difficult to prepare according to individual plan and at the same time be on the main team. I told them that all this needed to be coordinated with the country’s sports leadership: with the President of the Russian Ski Racing Federation Elena Vyalbe and other authorities... Two months passed after our first conversation. And in September I was invited to come to Moscow for negotiations. We met with Elena Vyalbe at the airport, talked and decided that Legkov would go to the training camp with the main team, but train according to my plan. At first the agreement was like this. But later we decided to change something.

- And then you decided to create a small group?

Yes, because soon we were faced with a number of problems. And first of all, with the fact that the places for the training camps that I planned for Alexander did not coincide with the places where Perevozchikov’s team trained. And I began to look for a guy who could travel with Alexander to training camps and work with him according to my plan. This was in 2011. I decided to talk about this with my former mentee from the Swiss national team, who had just finished actively training and competing - ​Reto Burgermeister. I asked Reto if he was interested in trying himself in such a role? At first he replied that he didn’t know what he needed to think... But then he still agreed. However, Elena Vyalbe insisted that there should be more than one Legkov in the group. So Ilya Chernousov, Mikhail Devyatyarov and Sergei Novikov were added to this mini-team. And we started working.

- Did you already know Reto as a coach?

No. Reto had neither coaching education nor a diploma, and he had never tried himself in this field. He was good athlete, a member of the Swiss national team along with Dario Cologna, and knew what it meant to train well. At the time I invited him, he was working in a sports store in the Engadine and was a cycling guide there (leading mountain bike tours).

- When you started working with Legkov, you already knew Alexander as an athlete. What was your opinion about his condition: physical, technical?

The first time I saw him was in 2005 in Slovenia at the World Youth Championships, when he trained with Yuri Borodavko. I was a coach at the time youth team Germany. And then I immediately noticed to myself: what a strong guy, especially physically. Alexander was in very good athletic condition! But his technique was not very good. But it was still clear that he was strong. However, the same as now.
Then, in 2009, I remember him at the World Championships. Just at that time I was the coach of the Swiss team... And everyone remembers the story when Sasha was the leader in the race from the mass start, fell on the descent and finished fourth...

- These falls haunted Alexander for many years: first at the world championships, then at the Olympics in Vancouver. Was it a psychological problem, physical or something else? He has never medaled in individual races at world championships or Olympics. Finished fourth and further... Why do you think?

Unfortunately, Alexander’s problem is that he cannot yet realize 100 percent of all his physical strength and strength in technology. Because of this, he could not win then. But a great athlete must be able to cope with losses and move on. This often happened to him: he was very well prepared, ran the race in a very good position, in the group of leaders, but for a moment he lost concentration and... fell. The same thing happened to Cologna in Vancouver, when he finished either eighth or ninth... But this is sport. And we must understand that this can happen to anyone.
In addition, you need to prepare for such situations in racing training sessions. As for Alexander, until 2010 I didn’t know how he trained: a lot or a little, too short or too long, whether he modeled in training critical situations that can occur in competitions... Therefore, it’s difficult for me to say why he is so strong athlete, failed to win individual medals at the world's largest forums. Perhaps in Turin he was not yet experienced enough, and it is normal that he did not become Olympic champion, and Evgeniy Dementyev won gold.

But I understood and expected that this could happen in 2014. However, at the Sochi Olympics there were about fifteen very strong athletes, who could also win. Therefore, we had to work in such a way that luck was on our side. So that it is Alexander who becomes the lucky one, so that it is he who wins.

- When you started working with Legkov, did you look at his sports diary to find out what he did in training before?

No, I didn’t look at his diary, but I asked him a lot of questions: what did I do in training, how many hours a month did I train, how, with what intensity? And he told me about this in as much detail as possible. I asked what he thought about all the training that he did... It was important for me that he himself analyzed the path he had taken and understood what was wrong.

- Has his training system changed much after that?

We have a completely different training system than Alexander had in the Russian team. On the team, Yuri Borodavko did a lot of almost daily strength work: in the gym, on roller skates, on skis. And this work had a different focus: both on maximum strength, and with cylinders from machines for strength endurance...

We do a lot of interval aerobic work. And all strength work- ​only in the hall, and only with maximum weights to develop maximum strength. Although the amount of work being done is no less.

- How long do you think Alexander will continue skiing? Until what age is he able to show maximum results?

After the Sochi Olympics, when Alexander left Swiss group and decided to prepare with me individually, I flew to him in Moscow and first of all asked about his plans for sports career and what he wants to achieve: in the World Cup, at the World Championships or in some other competition. He replied that he did not yet have a single individual medal from the world championships and that the World Cup was also a good ski trophy that was worth fighting for... However, we understood that after Sochi there could be some decline. I think it’s normal that an athlete, who has denied himself everything for so many years for the sake of a goal, having achieved it, wants to devote time to his family, his little son, his home, friends and something else besides skiing. But Alexander is still motivated in sports, he works well in training, sometimes a little too much; sometimes, on the contrary, it doesn’t make it... But after spending last season (by various reasons) without podiums at the World Cup, he is serious about next season.

Besides, such a pause won't hurt him. Before the Olympics in Sochi, Legkov did a lot of work. We both believed that we were moving in the right direction. And the race before the Games at 15 km in the classical style at the World Cup stage in Toblach was confirmation of this - he confidently won it. This was an indication that we were going in the right direction, although on the eve of the Olympics at this cup stage we did not really count on victory. But it turned out that we won. That is, we got a 100 percent result.

Same thing happened with Dario Cologna in Vancouver when he won gold medal. We didn't think at all about such a high result in this race. “Maybe,” we thought, “we can take a medal in the 15 km freestyle...” Moreover, two or three weeks earlier, Dario told me that he did not want to run this 15 km race with a skate, that he would prefer to start in a sprint. But I convinced him that it would be better for him to start in this race, since there he would have a better chance of luck... But he still had doubts and continued to think about the sprint.

Ten days before the Games we were at the World Cup in Canmore. And Dario came third there twice: at 15 km and in the sprint. After that, he came to me and said: “You’re right, I’ll run 15 km freestyle!” As we now know, he won this race in Vancouver! And after the victory, he thanked me for convincing him to run the fifteen-kilometer race.

- Unfortunately, in Russian team It is very difficult for an athlete to be guided by personal desires. The management decides a lot, since the team has many high-level athletes competing for participation in each race.

Of course, this is a big difference: Switzerland has a small team, Russia has a big one... But in a small team the situation is better with an individual approach to each athlete. At the same time, there are also many athletes in the Norwegian team, and every start for them is a competition among themselves for a place on the team.

I think that it would be good for a coach to draw up a training plan with certain goals, for example, specifically for successful performance at the Tour de Ski or at the Olympic Games... But we don’t have such an opportunity, so we have to sacrifice some competitions for the main goal of the season . Or, for example, when Alexander started the Tour de Ski, he did it very well every time. But one year he could win the entire tour, and another year he could not, because there were more classic style races planned. And they were a particularly weak point for him: in one race, Sasha could lose up to two minutes to the leaders. And we needed to improve these weak points for the Olympics. We found very good system, which helped and is helping to cope with this task. And in those three years before the Sochi Games, Alexander was especially motivated to do this.

- In the season when Legkov won the Tour de Ski, the situation at the World Championships in Val di Fiemme was not very good (he became fourth in the 50 km race and sixth in the skiathlon)…

Val di Fiemme needed special conditions. Although, I think, at a distance of 50 km, Sasha could well have won a medal. But bad skis (bad lubrication) and various tactical mistakes did not allow him to become a prize-winner of the race. Moreover, that year Alexey Poltoranin was very strong at the finish line...

- It seems to me that Alexander made, first of all, a tactical mistake there, controlling only Northug’s running during the race and missing the spurts of other competitors who went into the lead...

Yes, yes, absolutely! For example, I believe that Dario Cologna is one of the best in tactics, he calculates all competitions. Sasha is not always able to decide with lightning speed what to do in difficult situation, which may arise during the race. Therefore, a year before Sochi, before the World Cup stage in Holmenkollen, I talked with him and said that one and a half kilometers before the finish he should push very hard and continue to increase speed until the finish, then there will be a chance to realize himself in this race. As we all remember, Alexander then won the 50-kilometer marathon with good advantage. And Ilya Chernousov became third. And in Sochi, at the same distance of 50 km, Alexander was also very strong in the last kilometer!

Then, in Val di Fiemme, Olsson, together with Cologna, constantly pulled the peloton and went into breaks. But Cologna fell... And he was catching up with the leader together with Legkov. And Poltoranin got hooked with them. In principle, Alexander could have won bronze, but the race was a classic, where Legkov was not yet very confident in himself, and Poltoranin was a classist, and he was very, very dangerous in the finishing spurt.
In general, anything can happen at 50 km. Sometimes Alexander was not very lucky. Although it is well prepared, as, for example, in Val di Fiemme. But I always tell him when we work: “Sometimes we may lose, but one day we will still receive a big gift for our work!” And this happened in Sochi. Because he prepared very seriously and worked very hard. It would, of course, be good to become a world champion in Val di Fiemme, but it would be much better to become an Olympic champion in Sochi, Russia, at a very difficult mountain distance of 50 km.

- What do you think about the Russian system of training in cross-country skiing from adolescence, junior and youth? Do you know her?

Yes, I am familiar, but maybe not that deeply. I think they are similar, for example, to the training in East Germany, where there were sports schools for boys from 14 years of age...

- In Russia they start at the age of nine...

Is it true?! In Norway it’s generally 16! I think that 14 years is too early to go to a sports school. Our children go to a regular school, then come to train at the ski club. Even small towns like mine, where the population is 320 people, have their own ski club. When I was 10 years old, I went to small training sessions two or three times a week. I can say that if childhood It's too early to start training too hard and too hard, kids get bored. It becomes too hard for them. They begin to think that there is so much interesting stuff around, and they have to waste energy on these exhausting workouts. It is because of this, I think, that in Russia there is a very large dropout of skiers at senior youth and junior ages.

In Germany, children under 16 years of age are currently enrolled in a ski club. In the summer they go to training camp for about 1 week. The family pays a club fee of approximately 80 euros per year. It's not very much money. And in addition to these contributions, clubs conduct their own business activities: they hold special events at which they earn money for the needs of the club. For example, in the summer they organize large running competitions, for which they then receive money. They hold some kind of festivals, where there can be dance parties and treats - these are all opportunities for earning money for the sports needs of the club. The state does not finance clubs, so you have to earn money yourself.

I can say that those athletes who are today in the top 6 at international races did not have podiums at world championships for this age when they were teenagers and juniors. This can be said about Martin Jonsrud Sundby and Marit Bjorgen...

- Approximately how many skiers compete at German cross-country skiing championships?

Juniors and women - ​maximum 15 people.

- Why?

Because cross-country skiing not so popular in Germany. They were very popular in East Germany, there was a galaxy of skiers who became Olympic champions. Barbara Petzold became twice: in personal race and in the Lake Placid relay in 1980. At that time, Marlies Rostock, Carola Anding and Veronika Hesse ran with her in the GDR team. In those years, in East Germany, a lot of attention was paid to sports, and the system was built on the Soviet type. The sport was funded by the country's government. And this ensured good results athletes for international level. Now that Germany has united, the government no longer allocates so much money for the development of sports. The German ski federation has no money from the government at all. The situation is approximately the same in biathlon, since it is in the same federation as cross-country skiing. Everything is financed by sponsors and television. Moreover, the largest part of the money comes from television. Television promotes sports and, accordingly, sports receive an influx of money. There is a result - even more money. No result - no money. And this, of course, is not the best situation for the systematic development of sports. And this is the main problem of German sports.

- However, the Germans have no problems in football!

Pfft!.. Football is football! There is money there because football is super popular in Germany. And they show a lot of football on TV, and there are a lot of fields in Germany, and so do those who play football. Football is like madness...

- Is your training system close to the Norwegian one, or is it some kind of synthesis?

I think it's a synthesis of different techniques. I was lucky to have the opportunity to work with various national teams: Italy, Switzerland, and also with some strong Norwegians. In addition, I have worked with German national teams for a long time. And I always tried to choose the best from the advanced techniques of leading ski countries, took the best from the Germans, the best from the Norwegians. The more I worked with these completely different coaches, the more I found my own path, my own direction.
In addition, sports science is very good in Germany. We have a large sports science institute in Leipzig, and there are many developments specifically for cross-country skiing and biathlon. Thanks to the specialists of this institute, we have the opportunity to conduct medical examinations, and I believe that in this regard, Germany has a very good system.

- You coordinate your training plans with scientific experts? Do you listen to their advice if they say something needs to change about them?

I have several consultants at the Leipzig Sports Science Institute with whom I discuss my plans. I worked with the Swiss team for ten years, and there are also good scientific specialists from the sports institute, with whom I also discussed various trainings before. In particular, interval, stretching, various foreign techniques... I discussed how useful they can be, in what proportion and volume. But I did not strive to contribute too much from year to year major changes. Every year I tried to introduce some small details to improve something.

- How often do you test athletes on running, rollerskiing treadmills and other testers?

Last year we tested twice over the summer in Germany. They did it there because the database of this laboratory already contains the results of past tests of Alexander Legkov and Ilya Chernousov, which they underwent for several years before the Sochi Olympics. And I was interested in comparing what happened with Alexander’s current condition.

- Is twice a year enough for testing?

- You don’t conduct testing in winter?

No. This may be necessary only if something in the training process does not go as planned. Based on testing, in principle, you can understand what adjustments need to be made: add long training or, conversely, add intensity. If we are going in the right direction, if the athletes are doing well, then there is no need for testing.

- Norwegian leaders - ​Northug and Sundby - ​at a coaching seminar last year in Trondheim, they said that they conduct tests almost every month in order to evaluate their condition with their help...

In Norway this is not a problem - there are a huge number of places where you can conduct the same tests to see progress in training and evaluate how the training system works. In addition, they can take portable units with them, thanks to which they can analyze their condition during training camps in the mountains of Italy, in the same Val Senales.

- Sprinters carry out similar tests uphill on roller skis in Ramsau in September.

Last year, when we trained in parallel with Yuri Kaminsky’s sprint group, we also tried something new there to see if it went well or not. I always try to combine such testing with good training; testing for the sake of testing is not interesting to me. But together with training this can give good effect, and this can be repeated again and again.

- Why do you think skiing has become so popular in Norway? Thanks to popularity or victories in adult sports?

In Norway, cross-country skiing is a national sport, just like football in Germany. And he became like this thanks to high level Norwegian skiers in the world - ​since the team began to dominate cross-country skiing: individual and team. For several years, the Norwegian team became the best national team in the world. This naturally inspires the population of the country. Thanks to this, many people are interested in skiing and take their children to ski clubs... In Germany, for example, when our team became the world champion in football, the whole country knew about it and rejoiced. And since then people have been watching en masse football matches, I, too, and my family root for ours.

- I think the natural and climatic situation also played a role here: Norway is a northern and mostly cold, snowy country, and Germany is much more southern and warm. Not such a large area in Germany is covered with snow: mainly the Alps and areas near the Czech Republic (Ore Mountains).

This explains the number of skiers in Germany. There is little snow and few places where you can ski. But in Norway you can study throughout the entire territory, from north to south and from west to east. That’s why it’s much easier for them to train, they don’t have to travel far - they leave the house and start skiing. And they are very happy about this fact.

- But twenty years ago skiing wasn’t so much in Norway. national species sports...

Yes, skiing has become especially popular since about 2009, as far as I remember... Not that long ago. Before this, the Norwegians were not so dominant in the world championships. But then they decided to change coaches and carried out a serious reorganization within their sports system. They analyzed all stages of preparation from small to large and realized that in recent years they had not been training quite correctly. They reduced the number of hours spent at work and improved their quality, changing the approach to the entire multi-stage training system. And since about 2011 they have been going in the right direction, only improving their results. They have created a very good scientific system for analyzing training, results, working with sports reserve. In Germany we have a lot of talk, but nothing really changes. That’s why the Norwegians are much more serious in this regard: they do an analysis and change everything for the better.

I had a period when I worked as a head coach national team Switzerland in parallel with two Norwegian coaches (Trond Nystad was responsible for the sprint, and Fredrik Åkland was responsible for the distance athletes). And I was wondering a similar question. And then I asked them who was responsible for popularizing cross-country skiing in the country, as happened in Norway. From that conversation, I realized that this is not done by some people from the outside. Everything comes from the star athletes themselves. I found confirmation of this in conversations with such ski stars as Vegard Ulvang, Marit Bjorgen, Petter Northug...

Now regarding the results achieved. I asked my Norwegian colleagues: how do you achieve your results, what do you do for this, show me this in training. And I saw that they combined absolutely everything into a system. The best athletes do about a thousand hours of training a year. Of these, only eight percent are intense training, and a very large percentage of stretching training, aerobic work...

- Thousands of skiers in the world train a lot, do many kilometers and spend many hours at work, but only a few become champions...

Sometimes the best athlete in the world doesn't train much differently from the average athlete. But the result in competitions very often depends on what is going on in the athlete’s head. And the strongest in this component becomes the best in the competition. If we take Dario Cologna for comparison, he is not often distinguished or simply noticed in the training group, because he is very rarely in the lead. Dario feels his own body very well, he always knows when he can or cannot work in training in full force. The same as in competitions. He understands when he should work to the maximum, and when he can take care of himself, based on his well-being. And I already said above that he is an excellent tactician.

- As far as I remember, you were at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City?

Yes, I was the coach of the Swiss women's team.

- You, of course, have not forgotten the doping story with Mülleg? Do you know him? Have you ever worked with him?

Yes, he was on my German team in 1988. When I first started coaching, I had a big team. A few years later he moved to the Spanish team. Of course he is crazy!

- Why?

He had a conflict with the coach of the German national team. He was not satisfied with the technique, which, in his opinion, did not produce results.

- When Alexander Legkov began training according to your plans with Reto and Isabelle, did you control how they worked?

I wrote a plan for them for every day, and every day we were in touch: we talked everything out together, discussed...

- Is it very difficult when other people work according to your plan with athletes and you don’t see it every day?

But I had very good and almost daily contact with both Iza and Reto, and with the athletes. And I'm sure they did everything fine.

- Last season, when you started working directly with Alexander Legkov and his sparring partner Sergei Turyshev, turned out quite well. True, it is somewhat ambiguous for Alexander, since for a number of reasons he did not have bright races, and more successfully for Sergei. In the new preparatory season you now have the largest group in the Russian national team: three men and seven women. Why did you decide to do this and what do you think about your new team?

I think that last year we worked well together with Alexander Legkov and Sergei Turyshev. When you have only two athletes in your group and Egor Sorin as an assistant, with whom you are on large quantities training camps and competitions, it becomes quite difficult psychologically, since in communication and work we were closed to each other. I believe that it is much better when there is a large circle of people for teamwork, interaction and communication.
Last winter, Elena Vyalbe asked me many questions: why have Russian girls not been so successful in recent years and can’t get out of stagnation? I told her that I don’t know, because I only see the results in the protocols and have no idea what they did in training. After that, I told her: “Maybe it would be better for Russian female athletes to train in the same group with men? Especially for women, this can be beneficial because it will provide more experience and emotional communication.” I know how difficult it is when your team consists only of women. Many years ago I had experience working with women's teams in Germany and Switzerland. When you have only girls and women on your team, this can create a number of problems. I think it's much better when the team is mixed. This thought developed more and more in my head. And I thought: perhaps some women might also find it interesting to try training with us. And somewhere in November this idea began to develop. Elena Vyalbe and I discussed each candidate before the athletes joined my group. Honestly, I have never refused anyone, because the main thing for me is ​the motivation of athletes. Because a working atmosphere can only exist when people strive for something. Initially, we discussed with Vyalbe a group of five-member athletes. But in fact there were more of them (laughs).

We held the first installation meeting in Peresvet, near Moscow. It was very important for me to show all the recruits what the main idea of ​​our training methodology and loads is, because it is very important to maintain high motivation in each of them. Only now Egor and I and all the guys on the team can help them with their training, because later, during the competition, they will need to move forward on their own and achieve results with high motivation. The main thing is to teach them and show them what is really important.

- What do you see in the eyes of athletes?

I see very, very great interest because they will learn a lot of new things. I like that they are all very motivated to work and are keenly interested in the things we talk about with them. I really hope that all this will remain in them until the winter, because we will be training a lot, and sometimes doing very hard training.

- What language do you speak?

In English. At first, of my “newbies,” this was only possible with Peter Sedov. The rest were helped by Yegor and other translators. But the girls got serious about learning English and everything became much easier... Sometimes sign language helps (laughs).

- How did you start working with them?

First of all - ​from acquaintance. I talked a lot with each and studied them. I have known a number of athletes since last winter; I saw some, especially young girls, several years ago, during the period when I worked as a coach in a German youth team, and I saw Russian athletes at the Junior World Championships. But now it was important for me to see their technique, to understand what we can do with them in the gym at strength training. But the most important thing for all of us is to understand what we want to get from each other.

Since there is a lot that is unclear to them when working with me, it is necessary to convey to them the objectives of the training so that they accept and feel the system by which we work. I really hope that I will succeed. Because, as I said at the beginning, it is very important that they understand why and why they are doing this or that work. We can help them in many ways, explain the main idea of ​​​​the work, but I also need to get good results from them themselves in training. This should be a mutual process.
It is important for me to understand what they think about their training, how they feel, especially young girls, because sometimes the work can be too hard for them. This means they have to tell me that this is too hard for them, that they are already at their limit. Maybe they need an extra period of rest to recover or something more. They must understand that they do not have to work like soldiers, that we will pay attention and help to them, because they are not robots or machines. As a coach, I can judge the condition of athletes only by what I see externally, but we don’t know what’s going on inside them. This means that girls should be as frank as possible with me and should constantly convey to me information about their well-being. Everything in our joint work must be interconnected.

In this preparatory period after Peresvet, we visited Otepää, mastered the ski tunnel in St. Petersburg, ran through the swamps in Norway (took part in roller ski races there, my charges showed themselves quite well in these starts), held a training camp in Davos, trained in the ski tunnel in Oberhof. We did not go to Ramsau in September because last year the snow conditions on the Dachstein glacier were not very good, so we decided to spend September in the ski tunnel so that we could have good conditions For ski training. We will still spend a few days in October in Ramsau to get winter equipment and new equipment, after which we will take part in a serious training camp in the mountains, on the snow in the Italian Val Senales. And after that we will move to the Finnish Saariselka. Two weeks of training there, and then we will definitely take part in the FIS races. For Russian athletes these will be qualifying starts, according to which a team will be selected to participate in the World Cup stages.

- Now in your female half of the team there are both very experienced skiers, such as Yulia Chekaleva and Natalya Matveeva, and young athletes, the so-called underers (U23). Do they need a different approach to training?

I have known Yulia Chekaleva for quite a long time, although she has now returned to training after a break associated with the birth of her second child. But I remember that she always had good technique skating. I see that she is very motivated and ready to work hard to return to her high level.

Natalia Matveeva is also highly motivated. She is seriously interested in many of the nuances of our training program and constantly delves into the details of preparation. She strives to become the best and always tries to work at her maximum, doing everything in her power to achieve this. I believe that they are both very important for our team, as they have become good examples in the approach to training process, leaders for young female athletes. I hope that both Natalya Zhukova and Polina Kalsina, based on the results of all the work done, will have good results in the upcoming season.

- Can you compare the young Swiss skiers with whom you worked before with our young athletes with whom you have started working now?

Oh, it's very difficult, because they came out of absolutely different systems basic training. For me, the Swiss are almost the same as the Norwegians, they know a lot about their training, they understand the methodology, unlike Russian girls who don't understand this yet. In addition, the Swiss women do not have personal trainers at home, and it is absolutely normal for them to train at home individually according to the plan given to them by the national team coach. They know a lot about training because they are alone every day. Almost all Russian athletes have a home personal trainers, and when there is such support, they feel much more comfortable. But comfort is not needed in sports, and an athlete must be able to do a lot on his own in order to begin to understand what he is doing and why. A coach can help, but the athlete must do most of the work independently. This is their main difference.

Then in communication with Russian athletes I got the maximum full information about what they have done in training over the past two years. We held meetings that were attended not only by athletes, but also by servicemen, doctors, massage therapists, and physiotherapists. We talked about how we are now a team in which everyone is equal. And in this team everyone must understand and feel that we are all working together as a single whole. And everyone needs to feel this in order to work well every day and get the most out of it.

- How do you monitor the condition of athletes during training?

Naturally, with the help of monitors heart rate. And we also usually take lactate, most often during intense training, but also during long training. We do this so that athletes themselves learn to control their condition, correlate it with lactate numbers and, if necessary, either reduce the intensity or, conversely, increase it. This is necessary primarily for themselves, so that they can train productively. They need to feel what lactate level they are at and how they should perform.

We will monitor blood biochemistry mainly in the mountains. This is especially important for girls. I think once every four weeks will be enough. But for me it is much more important to monitor the athletes every day at every training session and discuss their condition with them. This is the so-called pedagogical control. I usually ask how the athletes slept, for how long. The athlete must interact with the coach. For example, they feel unwell, have poor appetite, cannot eat something... They must definitely come to me and tell me about this problem of theirs. I remember that Sergei Turyshev had some internal problems last year. Despite this, he continued to work well and, in general, succeed in competitions. Nevertheless, he came to me, and we discussed the current situation with him and made timely adjustments. I think this is also why he performed so successfully last season - we had very good contact, we constantly discussed something and interacted. It is much easier for anyone to train when they have contact with a trainer.

- In such a large team as you have now - ​ten people - ​is it possible to have an individual approach to each athlete?

Yes, of course it is possible. For me, a large team is not new at all. When I was the head coach of the Swiss team, we also worked with both men and women together. And it was great. At training camps we have a lot of time to communicate with each athlete. We have the opportunity to study each other, hold meetings and decide what we will do, in which direction to move next.

- What tasks have you set for the athletes for the upcoming season?

I told the young athletes that they, of course, should strive to get into the women's team at the World Cup stages, and maybe even at the World Championships in Lahti, but their primary goal is the World Youth Championships. I proposed to the coaching council that if one of them wins medals at the World Youth Championships, they will automatically be included in the national team for the World Championships in Lahti. I hope this will happen.

- I can’t help but ask about the doping sensation, the author of which was former director Russian anti-doping laboratory. He stated that Alexander Legkov and a number of others Russian skis niks performed at the Sochi Olympics using doping. How do you feel about this?

- (laughs) This was a big surprise for me! Knowing the history of the man who became the author of this sensation... It all looks like a comedy set in the Wild West, at least for me. This is my personal opinion. This judgment was expressed by just one single person, who is now very far from Russia, lives in the USA and from there attacks your country, blaming the Russian system. And at the same time, when he lived in Russia, worked here, everything was okay for him here. I just don't understand it. I have known Alexander Legkov well for several years. I know how much he trained and with heavy loads all these years. He was in Central Europe for ten months a year under constant control of foreign doping services. I wasn’t home for months because I persistently pursued my goal. I know exactly how hard he worked for the four years before he won the gold medal in Sochi. Moreover, a year before this triumph, he brilliantly won the Tour de Ski, won the Royal Marathon in Holmenkollen, and won several World Cup stages in the previous and current season on the eve of the Games. Ten days before the Olympics, he won the World Cup stage in Toblach... And many times that season, both at the World Cup stages, and in Sochi, and after the Games, he took doping tests, which were negative.

I don’t understand at all why anyone would accept the idea that skiers can use anabolic steroids in a cocktail with whiskey before the start, and even in the mountains?! To do this you have to be absolutely crazy! This generally contradicts the entire ski racing system. Just some kind of nonsense! The story of a madman...

Interviewed by Tatyana Sekridova,
Saariselka - Peresvet - Otepaa - Moscow

The name of German coach Markus Kramer is hardly known to a wide circle of people, but in the world of cross-country skiing it is extremely popular. This specialist trained several strong athletes; his students demonstrated the highest results at major and prestigious competitions. One of these wards is the Swiss Dario Cologna, who won gold at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

For the last few years, Kramer has been working with the Russian national team. And now he is preparing the team, including Alexander Legkov and Evgeniy Belov, who were banned for life from participation in the Games, for the start of the new Olympic season. The first stage of the World Cup will take place in Finland from November 24 to 26, but for now the group is working in Gällivare, Sweden, where competitions will be held under the auspices of the International Federation from November 17 to 19 skiing(FIS). Cologna, as well as three-time Olympic champion Markus Hoelner from Sweden and world champion Alex Harvey from Canada, are planning to compete at this tournament.

Russian skiers have been disqualified by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but they have the right to compete at competitions under the auspices of the FIS, so they will compete on an equal basis with everyone else at the tournament in Gällivare, Sweden.

During the break between intensive training RT managed to talk with Kramer, who did not hide his indignation at decisions taken regarding Russian skiers.

“There is no doping - just their hard work! They are very motivated and work as hard as they can. Skiers undergo so many drug tests - before, during and after the season! In fact, the anti-doping service took samples from us literally this morning. We have no problems with doping!” - assured the German specialist.

• Training of Russian skiers under the guidance of Kramer

“I’ve been training them since 2010, when Alexander Legkov first approached me after the Olympics in Vancouver. Any modern coach constantly takes samples from his athletes. It is absolutely impossible that they could have taken doping at some point, and I did not pay attention to the results of their tests and did not suspect anything. The decision of the IOC disciplinary commission is based on the testimony of Grigory Rodchenkov, who told how he prepared cocktails for athletes from anabolic steroids, including for my skiers. But in our sport, such cocktails are of no use, any specialist will tell you this. And to accept this just before the Olympics is pure madness,” said the coach of the Russian team.

At a distance of 50 km at the Olympic Games in Sochi, Legkov took first place, and Maxim Vylegzhanin took second. However, the IOC canceled their results. As a result, the title of champion passed to Russian Ilya Chernousov, who took third place. Kramer believes that a situation in which one athlete takes doping, but his compatriot does not, is impossible.

“We spend 250 days a year training, traveling and competing, mostly outside of Russia. Over the past few years, my athletes have been drug tested dozens of times, and the results have always been negative. Legkov generally underwent a thorough doping test immediately upon arrival in Sochi. The IOC took away the medals from him and Vylegzhanin. It turns out that the championship title should go to Chernousov. But this is absurd: Ilya and Legkov trained side by side for four years! Can you imagine one taking doping and the other not? Everyone is talking about urine samples taken during the Sochi Olympics. But, in addition to this, the athletes’ blood was also taken for analysis. What happened to these samples? Have they been checked? And if so, where are the results? - Kramer is perplexed.

Opponents of the German specialist may well claim that Kramer protects Russians because they pay him. The coach has a ready answer to such comments.

“If anyone has any suspicions, I invite everyone to come to our training base and see what we are doing there. There is no doping there and never has been! If someone tests positive, if someone is caught doping, this, of course, can and should be condemned. But if tests do not show the presence of doping and never have, then making clean athletes suspect is a very bad practice,” he said.

• Russian skiers in training

Kramer is trying to find an answer to the question of who might benefit from the removal of Russian skiers. Initially, he ruled out a political motive in this story.

“Now it seems to me that someone is looking for a reason to exclude Russia from participating in the Olympic Games. It doesn’t matter what exactly you will (or won’t) be able to dig up. Athletes in this case are simply pawns, the least protected. But convicting one athlete is not enough to ban an entire country from competition. So they are trying to remove as many athletes as possible and have settled on skiers. I would not want to be like them and make accusations against someone without having convincing evidence in hand. But if you read and listen about corruption in the IOC, about how sports officials took bribes for the right to hold the Olympics in this or that city... How can you trust such people from this system to judge athletes?” - Kramer asks a rhetorical question.

Davos - Russian skiers who are allowed to participate in the Olympic Games will do so.

The German coach of the Russian team, Marcus Cramer, spoke about this in an interview for Dagens Nyheter.

He continues to insist on the innocence of the suspended skiers, and he may have an acute crisis in the leadership system.

From time to time, somewhere in the distance, in a hotel in Davos, Switzerland, a pianist plays the piano, several tourists laugh together, sitting on sofas in the lobby, and at a table made of pine wood in a rustic style, the head of the Russian ski team trying to pull himself together after the news received about a day ago.

Russia as a nation was excluded from the Olympic Games. But Russian athletes can participate in competitions under a neutral Olympic flag.

This was the decision of the International Olympic Committee after the story of large-scale state-led doping, which culminated in Olympic Games, in 2014, held in Russia itself - in Sochi.

“The feeling is very difficult. Especially considering that we don’t know which athletes will be allowed to start and which ones will not. We don’t know what rules the group that will make the decision will be guided by,” says Markus Kramer.

“The skiers are in a bad mood. Their dream and main goal was the Olympic Games, and now, on December 7, they don’t know whether they will be allowed to go to the start line. Of course, it’s hard to focus on today’s training.”

However, he knows something else. Something that might concern Swedish biathlon team coach Wolfgang Pichler.

“The coaches, doctors and physiotherapists who were on the Russian team in Sochi will not be able to attend these Olympics,” says Markus Kramer, who joined the team in 2015.

“I will lose at least three coaches and another four to five people from the management team. It will be very difficult to get organized for the Olympic Games. It's good that our skiers have a chance to take part in Olympic competitions, but for many athletes it is important that their coaches are with them at this large-scale tournament.”

Dagens Nyheter: Have you already started looking for new managers?

Markus Kramer: No, I only learned about the leaders today. We'll have to start from scratch.

— Do skiers have motivation to go to the Olympic Games?

- Yes. The Russian people are proud of their nation, and it is important for Russian athletes that today they received support from the Russian government in connection with this trip. This gives them motivation.

We have many talented young skiers. This is the future of Russian skiing long distances. If we are not able to participate in the Olympic Games, this will mean problems for the sport in Russia in the future.

— Do you think the Russian team in Sochi used doping?

“I can only say what my skiers have already said. They say there was absolutely no doping.

Context

You can't survive the Russian winter without the Olympics

Itromsø 07.12.2017

I'll write on my helmet that I'm Russian

The Washington Post 12/06/2017

Russian skiers are cool and doping-free

Dagens Nyheter 10/26/2017

Suspend everyone or none

Dagens Nyheter 01/05/2017

Russian sports corrupted, but so is the Olympics

The Guardian 12/07/2017 Nobody asked them to take additional tests. Nobody told them that any samples needed to be replaced.

Markus Kramer started talking about the Olympic champion at the 50 km distance, Alexander Legkov. He is among the skiers suspended by the International Ski Federation and the IOC.

— Legkov won the last race before the Olympic Games in Dobbiaco, and samples were taken from him then. Why did he need to dope if he was already a winner? It was also tested in Lahti, immediately after the Olympic Games.

— But if there was doping, perhaps the athletes simply didn’t know about it?

- It's possible. I always ask skiers: “What happened?” and they always answer: “Marcus, I didn’t take any doping.”

— What can you say about the information of Grigory Rodchenkov (former head of the anti-doping laboratory in Sochi, and now a key IOC witness) that skiers rinsed their mouths with a doping mixture that should not have been detected?

— Alexander Legkov says that he never met this person and did nothing of the kind. I got to know Alexander well, traveling with him 250 days a year, and I trust him.

- But you can do something secretly, behind your back?

- Yes, everyone can do it. But when you travel together so much, you become kind of like family. When a grown man cries and says he knows nothing about any sample manipulation, I believe him.

I think the problem is that so much of it seems to be based on information from one person, Rodchenkov. But we don’t know whether he’s telling the truth.

In my opinion, the IOC is most responsible for the safety and testing of samples during the Olympic Games. Not Russia like olympic country and certainly not the participants.

I don’t understand why so much time has passed and we still haven’t learned anything new. They (IOC) say they believe that we (the Russian team) know what happened in Sochi, they have Rodchenkov's words and scratch marks on the test tubes. But there are no positive results.

— But traces on test tubes are a violation of doping rules, right?

- Yes, but I have heard forensic experts say that such marks can occur during production or when the test tube is closed.

It seems strange to me that some of those who participated in the Sochi Games are suspended, while others are not. If the samples were switched, why did they choose one skier and not another?

— How do you ensure that skiers stay motivated and concentrate on training?

“I hope they don’t pay too much attention to everything that’s going on around them.” They can read about it on the Internet, but I try to talk to them only about what they need to do to develop.

— How many of them will take the starting line at the Olympic Games, do you think?

“I hope six women and six men.”

“And they want to go and compete under neutral flag?

— Those with whom I managed to talk have the motivation to go. Especially because they want to show that they are clean and can still achieve good results, they believe that this is important for Russian skiing.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editorial board of InoSMI.

Alexey Avdokhin - about the German coach Markus Kramer.

Who is Markus Kramer?

The 54-year-old German coach joined the headquarters of Russian skiers in the fall of 2015. Before that, he had a contract with the German Ski Union and secret collaboration with Alexander Legkov (about five years), who worked not only according to the plans of Burgemeister and Knaute, but also according to Kramer’s notes.

Who did Kramer work with before Russia?

Run it coaching career in the late 90s coincided with the appearance of the eccentric Johann Mühlegg in German skiing. Over the next two decades, Kramer crossed paths with almost all the Bundesgrandes; eTobias Angerer (4x Olympic medalist), Jens Filbrich (7 World Championship medals), Rene Sommerfeldt (2001 World Championship silver in the marathon), Axel Teichmann (two World Championship victories) collaborated with Kramer at some point.

Later there was a short work in Italy and a contract with the Swiss during the heyday of Dario Cologna (until 2010). Then another five years - in the native team with young people who are now trying to restore glory and honor to German skiing - Jonas Dobler, Peter Tscharnke, Lukas Begl.

Who brought Kramer to Russia?

A phone call from physiotherapist Isabelle Knaute caught Kramer in the middle of his transition from Switzerland to Germany ski union in the summer of 2010. Isabel received a job in Russia a few days before the uncompromising Elena Vyalbe sat on her throne, and offered Marcus cooperation with Legkov, who was looking for a change in his stalled career.

Kramer agreed, but wanted to meet with the management of Russian skiing. A couple of months later, Vyalbe invited the German to secret negotiations at Sheremetyevo airport - there an agreement was born that Legkov would prepare for the new season using Kramer’s notes. But as part of the Russian national team.

Later, the German convinced Vyalbe of the need for individual work with Legkov and offered former student Reto Burgermeister, who had recently completed his studies, as a personal trainer. ski career and worked as a cycling guide in a Swiss sports store.

Vyalbe and the head of the Center sports training Alexander Kravtsov agreed, but demanded that Legkov’s group be supplemented with three more skiers – Chernousov, Devyatyarov and Kravtsov’s son-in-law, Novikov.

When did Kramer and Ustyugov learn about each other's existence?

Perhaps earlier, but it all started after the Olympic nightmare in Sochi, where Ustyugov fell in the sprint final and was not trusted with other races. Ustyugov finished that season extremely nervous and asked not to be reminded of his problems.

Having barely completed the season of torment, Ustyugov called Vyalba and confronted her with the fact of transferring to the group of Burgermeister and Knaute. It was only possible to escape from the cramped role of a sprinter, no matter how much the president of the federation opposed it, in this way - and in the new Olympic cycle, Ustyugov became acquainted with Kramer and his training programs in absentia.

The results came almost immediately - Ustyugov finally reached the cup podium in a long race (15 km at the stage in Rybinsk), and a year later he became a winner of the Tour de Ski. Then they started talking about him seriously as the main hope of Russian skiing.

When Ustyugov began training with Kramer

In September 2016, almost a year after Kramer’s official move to Russia, news suddenly broke out - three skiers trained by Burgermeister and Knaute moved to Kramer, and their previous group disbanded. One of these skiers was Ustyugov.

There were rumors about dissatisfaction with the volume of previous and future workloads, about strained relationships with coaches, but neither Ustyugov nor Belov and Volzhentsev explained the reason for this decision for a long time.

Only in January, having already won the Tour de Ski by one wicket, Ustyugov admitted that he often had to listen to accusations of laziness and unprofessionalism from Knaute and Burgermeister, no matter how hard the work was done. There were so many fights that I had to run away.

What is the secret of Kramer's training?

Kramer uses a complex methodology, in which much is taken from the Norwegian system - individual programs for every athlete, constant communication in search of feedback.

Everyone who came across Kramer at work noted his scrupulous attitude to planning and scientific support. His training programs are analyzed by specialists from the Leipzig Sports Science Institute (by the way, TsSP analyst Egor Sorin works as Kramer’s assistant), lactate is constantly monitored (some skiers even wondered why in previous seasons blood was taken 2-3 times per season, and under Kramer almost daily), and athletes are constantly offered new exercises.

However, Kramer does not torment the team with excessive loads: the same Ustyugov still performs about 900-950 hours of training work per year - the standard for a skier of his age.

- We have no secrets. We train a lot and hard, and we have adopted some things from the Norwegian system. My approach is to develop more individualized programs and communicate well with each athlete. It is very important to receive feedback and constantly engage in dialogue. This is what I changed in the team.

I made it clear that Russian skiers can be the best without doping. You can beat the Norwegians without cheating. Now athletes understand this. We are no better than Norway, but we are getting close.

You can take Ustyugov as an example of how hard they work. He hasn't been home since November 6th. He does everything to be so good skier, as far as possible. He sacrificed his home life to achieve success because it is better to train in Northern and Central European countries than in Russia. It's too cold there.

What did Kramer give to Ustyugov and Russian skiing?

Believing in one’s own strengths – perhaps the main changes occurred in Ustyugov’s head. He finally gained calm and confidence, turned into a self-sufficient skier who is not afraid of anyone or anything, but on the contrary, looks at those around him slightly condescendingly, from the height of the strongest.

The German specialist sums up the results of the Olympic Games and talks about his prospects in Russia. Team Russia exclusive.

The season is almost over. All that remains is the Russian Championship, which will be held in Syktyvkar from March 24 to April 1. Are you planning to go there?

Necessarily. The championship starts on Saturday. The first starts are sprints for men and women. I'll arrive the day before. I am very interested to see both the athletes from the national team and the nearest reserve. The level of competition will be high. Two years ago I went to the Russian Championship in Tyumen, and last year to Khanty-Mansiysk.

It was announced that Sochi 2014 Olympic champion Alexander Legkov, one of the team leaders Sergei Ustyugov and other skiers who were unable to take part in the Olympic Games will take part in the competition. Are you interested in their form and mood?

Certainly. Ustyugov did not go to the Olympics, was ill, did not train enough before the last stages World Cup and ended up missing them too. I will be glad to see him in action again. Let's talk to the guys about next season.

- And about the future in a more distant future?

Sergei Ustyugov is young(On April 8 he will turn 26 years old.-Team Russia) . He must prepare for the Olympic Games in Beijing. As for the 34-year-old Legkov, it is clear that he will not be able to compete in four years, but hopefully he will find motivation for one more season. The World Championships in Seefeld, Austria, are ahead.

You said that you would like to sign a new contract with the Russian Ski Federation. When might this happen?

We discussed the issue with President Elena Vyalbe, including the other day in Falun. It remains to agree on some details. The President wants me to continue working in the national team. I, in turn, am very motivated because I know that Russia has a strong and promising team that is capable of showing good results in the future. I hope to be able to work with her for the next four years.

- Four years? Until now, you have signed contracts for a period of one year.

Now we are talking about a four-year agreement.

- How does your family in Germany look at this?

She always supported me. My daughter is already 23 years old and has an independent life. The wife knows that the work of a coach involves business trips. This has been going on for over 30 years, so nothing new is happening for them.

- Do you have an apartment in Moscow?

What are you doing? Housing in Germany. Training camps and competitions are often held in Western Europe, including relatively close to home, and then my wife sometimes joins me for a few days. Sometimes, however, you have to spend 4-5 weeks away from home, but this is the nature of the job.

In Pyeongchang, Russian skiers won eight awards - three silver and five bronze. Did you expect such a result?

Of course not! When we flew to Korea, I thought that maybe we would win one or two medals. But everything worked out for us from the very beginning. The young team fought, strived for the maximum result, the skis were well prepared - and the athletes seemed to have grown wings. They felt they could compete with and beat the best.

In addition, the guys fought for each other and for those who remained at home. They wanted to show that the Russian ski team is strong, that they achieve success without doping.

You apparently dreamed of one or two medals after Ustyugov, Legkov, Vylegzhanin, Matveeva, Chekaleva and other leaders were not allowed to attend the Games. And before that?

Initially, of course, I was counting on more - at least five medals, like in Sochi(at the home Games, Russian skiers won one gold, three silver and one bronze.-Team Russia) . But for the youth team, it seemed to me, a much more modest result would have been good.

A year before the Olympic Games, the ROC organized a trip to Korea for the World Cup for a group of specialists from the ski federation, including service providers, who had the opportunity to test the snow and study the slopes. Was this experience useful?

Yes, it turned out to be very useful. Then the Skiathlon World Cup stage in Pyeongchang was won by Pyotr Sedov, who was part of a group of athletes who train with me. This is a thoughtful guy who knows how to notice the subtleties of the route. He told me in detail about its features and noted what I needed to pay attention to. We also studied the sprint track.

In general, our team had very high-quality preparation for the Olympic Games. And already during them, the servicers showed themselves to be excellent. Although we had to work with a truncated roster compared to the World Cup stages. I was the only coach, so together with manager Yuri Charkovsky, we were engaged in all the organizational routine from morning until late at night. It wasn't easy.

- What result in Pyeongchang surprised you first?

Denis Spitsov took bronze in the 15-kilometer freestyle. I knew that this young guy showed good results at the World Cup stages. But the Olympic Games are a special case. In general, he gave me a big surprise. And then they pleasantly surprised Alexander Bolshunov, taking silver in the team sprint. But we took a risk. It was planned that Alexey Chervotkin would run together with Bolshunov. But after his illness, he was not 100 percent ready. Therefore, we decided to use Spitsov.

Another surprise is the women's relay team. It was important for me that the four would perform successfully not only among men, but also among women, since the results of the skiers have so far been quite modest. And the young girls gave battle to the strongest. Natalya Nepryaeva led the race from the first stage, and Yulia Belorukova was the first to pass the baton.

Bolshunov, like Chervotkin, came to Pyeongchang after an illness - and suddenly immediately won bronze medal in a sprint. Do you have an explanation for this?

Very good job done by coach Yuri Borodavko. After Bolshunov and Chervotkin left the hospital, he flew with them to a training camp in Seefeld, Austria, and watched how they recovered step by step. Chervotkin arrived in Korea a few days later than Bolshunov, and it was the right decision Yuri. He knows very well what is best for his skiers.

You took risks not only when determining the team sprint lineup, but also earlier when you included Chervotkin in the relay team. Was the risk worth it? Still, Alexey did not go through his stage in the best way.

There was certainly a risk, because it was not known exactly how ready the athlete was. But I think we did the right thing. Chervotkin was not in the best shape, but still in pretty good shape. If Ustyugov and Legkov had come to Pyeongchang, there would have been more choice. As it was, we didn’t have many opportunities.

The whole country regretted that Bolshunov failed to win the marathon. Did he make a mistake by deciding not to change his skis before the finish?

100 percent. Obviously, I thought: “While Niskanen is changing skis, I’ll run into a small gap.” Bolshunov is a young racer who has not run many marathons in his career. His mistake is understandable. Next time he will definitely not allow it.

- Over the past season, has the gap between our ski team and the Norwegian team decreased?

Without a doubt. In the Nations Cup standings at the end of the World Cup this season, Norway is first in both men and women. Russia overall is third, but among men it is in second position. I spoke the other day in Falun with the Norwegian Tour coach Arne Hetland, Olympic champion in Salt Lake City 2002. He praised our relay team and directly said that Russia is now the main competitor.