The Russian biathlete came to the sport at a young age. Having become a multiple champion of Europe and Russia, thanks to his perseverance, talent and enviable zeal, he continues to delight fans with his high results Alexey Volkov. The biography of this young man is full of sporting achievements.

Carier start

Alexey was born on April 5, 1988 in the town of Raduzhny, Tyumen Region.

He was early interested in cross-country skiing, which he successfully engaged in under the vigilant supervision of coach Andrei Kolisnechenko.

Over time, Alexey Anatolyevich Volkov, together with his younger brother, began to attend a biathlon school. Volkov worked for two years with Ivan Zelenin and Petr Dubasov before joining the junior team in 2009. And it became a real find of the Russian championship, which was held in the Tyumen region in April 2009.

In December 2009, Alexey Volkov, a biathlete, participated in the World Cup in Sweden for the first time. But didn't show much. good result(was 74th).

At the Junior World Championships in 2009 in Canada, Alexei got a silver medal for participating in the individual race.

In 2009, being essentially a novice athlete, he had a rather impressive number of medals. In addition, Alexei was awarded a large prize awarded by the governor of the Tyumen region. Volkov Alexey Anatolyevich received a new car.

To new heights

The Russian athlete strove for victory. The ambitious young biathlete took his first place at the European Junior Championships in Ufa. Second Golden medal didn't make me wait long.

The very next year, at the 2010 European Championships in Estonia, Alexey Anatolyevich Volkov takes medals in all four disciplines: first place in the pursuit race, second place in the sprint and relay race, and third place in the individual race.

In February 2011, Alexei participated in Open Championship Europe and won silver and gold in the sprint and pursuit, respectively.

The career of a young athlete was rapidly going up. And already on December 18, 2011, Volkov took part in the race for the first time as part of a mixed team and won the competition. A year later, he made his debut in the men's relay.

But the life of a successful biathlete does not consist only of training and training camps. Volkov Aleksey Anatolyevich graduates from South State University with a degree in Physical Culture and sports". During his free time from competitions, Alexey likes to get acquainted with the architecture of other cities, visit historical places. For psychological relief, he often listens to music. He prefers Russian rap and hip-hop.

Undoubtedly, big sport- this is daily hard work, overcoming oneself, testing the personality for strength. We hope that the young biathlete Alexey Anatolyevich Volkov will continue to bring new medals to the Russian team and conquer the steep peaks of the sport.

He ran only 12 races, winning full set medals: gold and silver in the relay, bronze in the individual race. At the World Championships, he will start his performance on Thursday with an individual race. In an interview with R-Sport correspondent Elena Sobol, the biathlete spoke about how the season turned out for him, what form he was in before the main start and what had changed in his training with the CSP specialist Andrey Kryuchkov, as well as how the Russian team was joking young fathers.

"I would like to more races"

- How is the mood on the eve of the start? Didn't wait your time?

Everything is fine! Of course, I wanted to run more races this season, but since this is how we initially prepared for the 20 km, I will try to live up to expectations.

- Did you manage to adapt to the ragged rhythm of starts?

It doesn't quite work out sometimes. It seems to be a lot, but a little is not enough.

- This year, the work in the Kryuchkov group with Anton Shipulin and the one who joined was no longer crumpled as it was last year due to an injury?

Summer is perfect for me! And the whole roll-in more or less passed. The only thing that at the beginning of the season there were no starts, probably affected - the lack of combat experience. Because it is during the start that you understand how ready your opponents are, and you can somehow tease yourself at a distance in order to show higher speed. And when you train alone, do speed training, fight with yourself.

- Did you communicate with the coaches on this matter, so that maybe they would give you more opportunities to start?

The coaching staff together made a decision on each of the stages. My wishes, of course, were taken into account, but at the same time, this year we have guys who performed well at the IBU Cup, they were pulled up by someone. At the beginning of the season, it was necessary to determine the combat composition that would go to the starts, about 15 athletes needed to be “rolled back” for the first starts.

I would have made more restrained selections at the beginning of the season, I would have brought there not 15, but ten people. This would be more or less correct, because everyone has a different form by the start of the season. Someone "shot" at the selection, arrived at the stage and got lost, there is no person. And if one of the leaders failed the selections, send him to the IBU Cups - they say, go for a ride - and the person will get lost there ... Like skiers, a certain group is formed by the end of the season, which starts next season with a guarantee, for example, three stages. Approximately such a system, I think, should be in our team.

Before the relay here at the World Championships there will be only one start - the individual race. If put in the relay, enough physical condition? In one race will you have time to "scatter"?

I think yes. I'm here not just riding every day, but doing some kind of re-speed training. The training camp in St. Petersburg also went very well for me, all the trainings were according to plan. I don't see any problems for myself.

"I reached successful shooting with my own head"

- And what would you mark with a plus sign for yourself this year?

It seems to me that in technology I have made very great progress, but there is still something to strive for. There was one failure in shooting at Anterselva, when I "shot" four pieces. The season has not ended, but in terms of accurate shooting, I am already doing better than last year. I haven’t looked at the distance speed yet, but according to my personal feelings, it has increased compared to previous years.

- This year you run mostly long races. Do you think they suit you better?

There is no such thing that long ones are easier to run. Probably, races are considered from the point of view of shooting, such as relay races, individual races, mass starts. Those types where shooting decides much more than the move. Therefore, if I have a predominance of shooting, we decided to prepare for these distances.

Often, experts note your shooting qualities. Did you have such a relationship with the rifle from the very beginning?

No, I will not say that I immediately started shooting. When I came to biathlon, there were many mistakes. I just hit something with my head. I won’t say that I have an ideal shooting technique, it’s just ... There are thoughts that I have embodied for myself, they suit me.

- How has your work with Andrei Kryuchkov changed? Anton Shipulin, for example, noted that there was more trust.

Yes, probably a lot more trust appeared. That year, at some points, if something was apprehensive, now I trust it completely in principle. I like the fact that we can change some approaches in preparation, improvise somewhere - add something or, on the contrary, remove it. There is no strict plan. We start from a lot - from the state of health and the state of the track and the weather.

- Do you still train according to your plan, even when you are with the national team?

Yes. I'm not saying that the training is radically different. If, for example, the guys have repeated work, then we do it. The only difference will be the time and duration, the number of segments. We individually calculate this according to who is ready at the moment.

Such a program suits me better because it is completely individual. I will come today, we will discuss tomorrow's training. She was alone in the plan, and I want to change something a little, that's no problem. If we consider that it would be more correct to do so, if we come to a common agreement, then yes.

- Does the fact that you can always correct your work yourself relieves you emotionally?

Yes. You can't be under a coach you don't trust. He tells you - go accelerate 10 km, and you know that you don't need it, and you still go and do it. And what will be the result after that? You should always train with complete confidence, if there is a misunderstanding somewhere, then there will be no benefit from such training.

"Not a father? You don't get into the national team!"

- Not so long ago, you and your wife Evgenia Volkova had a daughter, Arina. How did it change life?

It is now much harder to leave for training camps and competitions. Since children are the great joy of life, it is now much harder to be somewhere for more than a month.

- One might say, a club of young fathers has formed in the national team - you, Anton Shipulin, Evgeny Garanichev, Dmitry Malyshko. Do not discuss children from time to time?

Sometimes we joke that next year the selection criterion for the team will be paternity. "Father? No? That's it, don't come!"

- Did it happen by chance that everyone somehow became fathers at the same time?

Well, yes, I won’t say that everyone planned, they say, let’s go this year! It happened.

- And what has changed in your head?

Probably more responsibility.

- How is your wife? Missing workouts on your own?

Everything is fine, she is raising her daughter. Sometimes he trains. But he doesn’t get bored especially without training camps and starts. He says he watches biathlon and cross-country skiing on TV, so far there is no obvious desire to go for a run.

The rapid career of the Honored Master of Sports, biathlete Alexei Volkov did not go unnoticed by the public. For 6 years, the athlete became the only six-time European champion and eight-time Russian champion in history. Alexey is an Olympic champion, multiple European medalist and two-time champion peace. What is the secret of such success?

Athlete's family

Alexey Volkov (biathlete) was born on April 5, 1988 in the city of Raduzhny, Tyumen Region. Parents are not native residents of the city, they came to Raduzhny to work. Alexei's father is an electrician, his mother worked as a machinist.

According to the athlete, he did not study very well at school, after the ninth grade he was simply hinted that he would not finish the eleventh. But this did not stop the athlete from graduating from a professional lyceum as an electrician, and then getting a higher education. Alexey is a graduate of Surgut State University.

The wife of Alexei Volkov is a biathlete, master of sports, European silver medalist. Before the wedding, young people met for several years, the marriage ceremony took place in April 2014 in Khanty-Mansiysk during the Russian championship. In October 2015, Alexei and Evgenia had a daughter. The athlete says that children are a great joy in life, it is now much harder to leave for training camps and competitions for a long time.

Skiing is a childhood hobby

Aleksey started ski racing at the age of 9. The first coach is Andrey Kolisnichenko. In 2003, a biathlon school was created in Nizhnevartovsk, which recruited successful skiers. In the same year, Alexei's father was awarded a trip to the World Cup, where Alexei Volkov saw such competitions for the first time. The athlete recalls that upon his return, when the coach came to record in the section, Alexei, without hesitation, switched to biathlon.

The athlete recalls that they were running cross-country skis in the park, and he wanted to ski. Three weeks later, he got bored with it, so he stopped attending the biathlon section. A year later, the younger brother Sasha went to a biathlon school, his coach invited the best skiers to the team training camp, including Alexei Volkov.

The biathlete says that at that time leaving Raduzhny was a huge event. The coach promised to take Alexei to the training camp, provided that he did not miss a single training session during the year. At that time, the young athlete did not even think about the Olympics. I just understood: he would train well - he would be able to go to the training camp.

First fees

Aleksey Volkov (biathlete) remembers the first training camp in 2003 in Kazakhstan well. He recalls that at that time it was difficult with equipment, and it all came down to a hat and gloves. In parallel, the athlete was engaged in polyathlon - this is skiing for a ten-kilometer distance, pneumatic shooting while standing from 10 m and pulling up. Therefore, the athlete shot well.

Alexey persuaded the coach to take him to the training camp in Khanty-Mansiysk, since he was no longer in the group due to his age. The athlete went to the collection at his own expense. Then he took first place at the Championship, which surprised everyone, since these were his first competitions. So Alexey got into the biathlon team of the region.

Rapid success

Alexey Anatolyevich Volkov got into the junior team in April 2009 and became a real find of the national championship - he was ahead of all participants in the number of medals. In addition, he wins the prize of the governor of the Tyumen region - a car - and becomes the youngest owner of such a prize. In December of the same year in Sweden, the athlete participates in the World Cup.

Alexey is distinguished by his constant desire to win. The 2010 European Championship brought the athlete medals in four disciplines. In February 2011, participation in the European Championship brings him silver in the sprint and gold in the pursuit. In December of the same year, Alexey Anatolyevich Volkov takes part in the race and wins the competition. Sports career biathlete is rapidly going up:

• In 2012 Alexey wins individual race and the pursuit race in Uvat, takes second place in the mass start, in the relay team race becomes the six-time champion of the country.
• In 2013, Alexei is the silver medalist of Russia, the relay brought the athlete a silver medal.
• In 2014 he receives silver in the individual race.
• In 2015, he became the silver medalist of Russia in the pursuit, relay and mass start.
• In 2016, he took second place in the relay at the World Cup.

The World Cup started in Sweden in November 2016 and will end in March 2017 in Norway. The Russian team took second place in mixed relay. Alexei Volkov is also a member of the team. The biathlete says that after IBU Cup There were only 2 days to recover. I did not feel very well, but I was satisfied with my performance. The plans are to participate in the IBU Cup individual race in Arber.

Biography

Alexey Anatolievich Volkov(April 5, 1988, Raduzhny, KhMAO, Tyumen region) - Russian biathlete, Honored Master of Sports, four-time European champion, six time champion Russia.

At first he was engaged in cross-country skiing under the guidance of Andrei Ivanovich Kolisnechenko. In 2003, Alexei, along with his younger brother Alexander decided to switch to biathlon: in Nizhnevartovsk they attended to the creation of a biathlon school, where successful, high-speed skiers were recruited. In Nizhnevartovsk, Alexey worked for two years with Ivan Fedorovich Zelenin and Petr Nikolaevich Dubasov. Then he got into the district team, and then into the junior team of KhMAO to the coaches Valery Pavlovich Zakharov and Sergei Aleksandrovich Altukhov. To biathlon Alexey Volkov came in 2003 from cross-country skiing. First coach Volkova became Zelenin Ivan Fedorovich. And he has been involved in training with the main team of the Russian national team since the 2009-2010 season.

In collection Alexey Volkov: - 3 gold, 3 silver and bronze medals of the Russian Championships - 2 silver medals of the World Junior Championships - 3 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals of the European Junior Championships

First race Volkova at the World Cup stage took place on December 5, 2009 in Ostersund, Sweden, and the best result Alexei is 4th in the sprint at the Oslo-Holmenkollen stage in Norway on March 18, 2010.

Currently Alexey Volkov represents the CSPSKYU of the city of Khanty-Mansiysk and is a student of SurSU, and his coach is Sergey Altukhov.

Interesting: sibling Alexey Alexander Volkov is also a biathlete.

Volkov debuted in the World Cup in December 2009, but was unsuccessful. After the Olympic Games, he was again called to perform in the World Cup: in one of the sprint races, he came close to the podium - 4th place. It is distinguished by a combination of high rate of fire and accuracy on the firing lines. So in the 2010/2011 season, he became the most accurate biathlete - 90% of hits.

In 2009, at the Biathlon World Championship among juniors, he won a silver medal in the individual race. In the same place, as part of the Russian national team, he took 2nd place in the relay.

At the European Junior Championships in Ufa, he earned gold in the relay and took third place in the pursuit.

At the 2010 European Championships, Volkov won medals in all 4 disciplines. He took first place in the pursuit race, became the silver medalist in the sprint, relay race (team line-up: Volkov, Malyshko, Semakov, Vasiliev) and received a bronze medal in the individual race.

April 2009 Alexey Volkov was the opening of the Russian championship in Uvat. By age, he is still a junior, but in terms of the number of medals he was ahead of absolutely everyone: he has two golds, a silver and a bronze. In addition, Alex won Prize of the Governor of the Tyumen Region", becoming the youngest owner in 15 years of existence.

In December 2009, he took second place in the individual race of the Russian Championship.

In April 2011, as part of the first team of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, he took third place in the relay at the Russian Championship in Tyumen, losing in the last meters of the distance to the Udmurt athlete Vyacheslav Alypov.

In April 2012, in Uvat, Aleksey made a double gold, first he won the individual race, beating Andrey Makoveev by 8 seconds, and then the pursuit race, beating the same Andrey Makoveev for a minute already.

In April 2012 in Tyumen at the Open Cup of Russia - the prize of the Governor of the Tyumen Region, Alexei became the second in the sprint, losing 20 seconds to Timofey Lapshin, and then won the pursuit race, receiving the main prize. At the 2012 Russian Biathlon Championship that continued in Tyumen, A. Volkov first became the second in the mass start, and the next day he became the 6-time champion of Russia, having won the 4x7.5 km relay race with the team of the Khanty-Mansiysk District ( A. Trusov, D. Yaroshenko, A. Gusev, A. Volkov).

In March 2013, at the Russian Championship in Uvat, he became the silver medalist in the sprint, shooting without a miss and losing to the winner Evgeny Garanichev 3.5 seconds. A day later in the pursuit, he also finished second with two penalties, losing to the same Evgeny Garanichev 35 seconds. He also won a silver medal in the relay as part of the KhMAO team ( A. Trusov, A. Gusev, M. Boyarsky, A. Volkov).

December 5, 2009 - made his debut in the World Cup in the sprint race in Östersund, showing the 74th result (5th out of 6 among Russian athletes).

On March 18, 2010, he took 4th place in the sprint race in Holmenkollen and got into the “flower ceremony” for the first time.

On December 18, 2011, at the stage in Hochfilzen, he made his debut as part of a mixed relay team and immediately won the race.

On January 5, 2012, at the World Cup in Oberhof, he made his debut as part of the men's relay and took second place along with Anton Shipulin, Evgeny Garanichev and Evgeny Ustyugov.

November 25, 2012 at the World Cup in Östersund in the mixed relay won the race with Olga Zaitseva, Olga Vilukhina and Evgeny Ustyugov

On January 4, 2013, at the World Cup stage in Oberhof, he won his first victory as part of the men's relay team.

Sochi 2014 Olympic champion, biathlete Alexei Volkov temporarily settled in Chelyabinsk

The correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda sat down on the champion with questions about the environment and training until you drop. Found out - what kind of weapon does he dream of shooting, how much does a bullet and a rifle cost, how does it run along the tracks of Europe and where did the “golden” Olympic Mercedes go?

... In the collection of Alexei Volkov, there are six gold medals from the World Cup stages. The same number of victories at the European Championship. According to this achievement, he has no equal on the planet. Top two podium finishes at the World Championships summer biathlon, multiple champion of Russia ...

So far, the main victories in life, according to Alexei, are the birth of Arina's daughter and the relay "gold" at Olympic Games in Sochi.

Few people know that Volkov and his wife Evgenia have been living in one of the new buildings near ChelGU for a year now. This winter, as a guest of honor, he visited the competitions of local skiers, awarded top athletes diplomas.

It turns out that in Chelyabinsk there is more for one Olympic champion. What more! Let him play for Khanty-Mansiysk ...

YOU JUST WORK IN TRAINING

On the Internet today so much has been written about Chelyabinsk, I don’t even know who and what to believe, - Alexey Volkov sits down more comfortably. - They talk about emissions. Maybe we, athletes, are used to everything, but I don’t really notice anything. An ordinary metropolis filled with smoky vehicles. You need to professionally approach this issue. Take instruments, measure the purity of the air. What are the substances, where do they come from? And punish the guilty to the fullest extent of the law. Instead of screaming and blaming…

- Do you also react to criticism if our biathletes are scolded?

I react well to criticism. Detailed criticism, as a rule, comes from people who are involved in this sport, they know biathlon cuisine. This kind of criticism helps.

Are you starting to train even more?

Miracles don't happen. You have to plow in training. Our season has already begun. Were at the training camp in Bulgaria. Altitude under 2000 meters. Trained with Anton Shipulin and Olympic champion By cross-country skiing Zhenya Dementiev.

On one of the shock days, we went uphill on roller skis for more than 30 kilometers. Classic plus skate. We climbed for two and a half hours. It is something! Now we will train under Peter. The tasks are about the same volume, but we will increase the intensity.

IN CHELYABINSK I HAVE A BAD ORIENTATION

You train for yourself and for your spouse (she used to run for the national team - author's note) ... Have you been together for a long time?

Eight years. We met at the training camp in Khanty-Mansiysk. Now we are raising our daughter. They named her Arina. Just liked the name - and we and grandmothers.

- Almost everyone in the biathlon team is already married!

Main lineup yes. But now there are many young people. They are not yet married (laughs).

- Why did you decide to settle in Chelyabinsk?

My wife's parents live here. They have their own outfitting center. And in Khanty-Mansiysk there is no one to help with a child in case of my absence. Vacation spent on Southern Urals. They visited my parents in Yekaterinburg.

- Do they recognize you on the streets in Chelyabinsk?

It happened a couple of times. But I travel by car more. From home I run to the Shershnevsky forest park across the bridge. I ride roller skis along the track near the Yelesina stadium. I don't know my way around the city yet. But I'm slowly learning.

- Have you heard about the plans to build a ski stadium in Chelyabinsk?

I know that they are choosing a place for construction. There is an option at the Carp Pond. The slopes are pretty steep. Everything must be done thoroughly.

- After training, Alexei Volkov returns to Chelyabinsk. Does the wife meet her husband with borscht and dumplings?

I won't refuse either. But usually I order a little.

- Do you cook yourself?

I love to cook. I watch cooking shows and read recipes online. If there were more time, I would be happy to stand at the stove.

SECOND LOVE

- For the victory at the Olympics, all the champions were awarded SUVs "Mercedes". Where is the car?

I sold it without hesitation. I just decided to take another car.

- They say that our biathletes will start running with rifles from the Kalashnikov concern?

Several people are already running around with domestic rifles. The same Garanichev, for example - with BI-7-4. I'm with the German Anschutz for now. A rifle for a biathlete is a second love. Only I don't sleep with her (laughs).

- A quality rifle worth its weight in gold!

A small glitch and you're out. One barrel alone costs 150 thousand rubles. The quality of the barrel is when it is clamped into a special machine and 10 shots must accurately hit the same point. Our manufacturers can achieve this quality.

- Manufacturers make elite rifles to order for a specific athlete. How is that?

Under its anatomical features, - shoulder girdle, back, neck, head, facial bones. Lots of other subtleties.

By the way, my friend and I opened a small production of rifle parts - the stock, the base is made of aluminum, the hinged parts are made of wood and carbon. We make for a specific athlete. We can fulfill any whim.

- Biathletes do not use optics?

This is prohibited by the rules.

DONT AGAINST SHOOTING FROM RPG

- Several miscellaneous questions. Have you had any funny things at the shooting range?

The biathlete on the shooting range must hold the rifle only towards the installations. For violation - disqualification in the race. Once, in my youth, I turned to the trainer at the shooting range with a rifle in my hands, but immediately realized my mistake and pointed the rifle towards the installation. Then I was forgiven, but strictly warned.

- Is it true that in Europe fans along the track “kill” competitors by releasing tobacco smoke in their faces?

This happens at the stages of the World Cup. For example, in the German Oberhof. Thousands of fans stand on the first long climb. But they are not from evil, they come to enjoy the atmosphere of the holiday. Mulled wine is brewed, cigars are smoked. There is a smell there, I'll tell you! Everyone is trying to quickly run into this mountain, otherwise, you can get drunk (laughs).

Some may relax, everyone has a different concept of rest at the end of the season. I would like to return home as soon as possible.

The legendary Bjoorndalen ran around hot corners in training, and then sometimes immediately fired at targets ...

Bjoorndalen was my idol. Now we compete with him side by side, but this did not make him any less great for me. By coals? Extreme! I am not a supporter of such things. But if it is necessary for training, then I would run over the coals. Europeans, probably, lack drive, so they are swaggering. If they were born and lived in Russia, then they would not even think about coals (laughs).

- The weight of your rifle?

A little over four kilos. Previously, it was generally 4.5 kg. And so the rifle according to the rules should be at least 3.5 kg.

- Do biathletes try their hand at shooting from other types of weapons?

I confess I haven't tried it yet. I dream of shooting from some kind of "sniper" for example SVD, so that 300 meters into the bull's-eye. You can also use a machine gun, a machine gun, an RPG ... I would like to test my shooting skills on a different caliber.

- Maybe we can organize it at the tank training ground near Chebarkul.