coronavirus at the beginning of the season ruined Ulyana’s entire preparation

Ilshat Nigmatullin, coach and husband of biathlete Ulyana Nigmatullina, explained the reason for the lackluster results of the Olympic medalist last season.

“Ulyana’s preparatory season was excellent both in terms of strength and functional performance. In November, she contracted coronavirus and simply struggled with fever for two months. There were problems both in training and in competitive practice. Somewhere we missed stages. These two months completely destroyed all her preparation. That’s why the performances are so lackluster. Secondly, the child takes a lot of energy. And the child was with us at all the preparatory stages and during the competitive season.

We have already decided everything regarding the preparatory period for the next season. First we will go to Elbrus, then we will hold a shooting training camp in Izhevsk and so on. Nothing will change, the main thing is to avoid diseases. If we go through the preparatory and competitive periods without illness, I think there will be no problems and the results will be much higher,” Nigmatullin told Metaratings.ru.

Nigmatullina is a silver and bronze medalist at the 2022 Olympic Games, as well as a champion in the pursuit and bronze medalist in the sprint at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck.

In the completed season of the Russian Biathlon Cup, the representative of the Tyumen region took 18th place in the general classification with 197 points.