Sergey Ardashev may win the Russian Cup ahead of schedule on his home track

What is the situation with skiers before the sixth stage in Kazan?

On the first day of the competition, January 15, women will run their 10-kilometre distances, followed by men with a 15-kilometre race. Both races will be in the free style, although these distances were previously called sprint ones. On January 17, there will be races in the modern sprint in the classical style. Finally, on January 18, there will be a skiathlon, which includes 10-kilometre races in both classical and free styles. Essentially, this is the programme of a typical stage of the Russian Cup, as the longest race planned is a 20-kilometre one in either style. In Kazan, athletes will cover this distance alternately in classical and skating styles.

The Russian Cup is travelling around the country; it started in Khakassia, continued in the city of Chusovoy in the Perm region, the pre-New Year starts were held in Kirovo-Chepetsk, and now Kazan is hosting the competition. In the future, the tournament will return to the Siberian regions through stages in Izhevsk, Syktyvkar, the capital of Komi, and the polar Kirovsk.

At the same time, the winner in the men's standings has already been practically determined. It is Sergey Ardashev from the Tatarstan team, who has scored 694 points, which is almost twice as much as the other leader, Pavel Solovyov (Krasnoyarsk Krai — Magadan Oblast), who has 362 points. He will have to compete for his current second place with another Tatarstan athlete, Alexander Bolshunov, who is only seven points behind. Behind Ardashev, in principle, everyone is close: Ivan Yakimushkin from Tyumen, Sergey Zabaluev from Tatarstan, Konstantin Tiunov from the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, and Artem Maltsev from Tyumen have scored more than 300 points. Sergey Volkov from Tatarstan has 291 points.

Four representatives of the republic are in the top ten — Ardashev, Bolshunov, Zabaluev, and Volkov have secured the victory for the Tatarstan team in the team Russian Cup. And this is without the leader Saveliy Korostelev, the only representative of the men's part of the national team from Russia, who is preparing for the Olympic start. And without Ivan Gorbunov, who has just recovered from a severe injury that almost resulted in a spinal fracture. With the points he has scored, he closes the top ten, but if he were in full order, he would be much higher in the table.

Things are much worse for women

In the women's part of the overall standings of the Russian Cup, things are not so rosy for Tatarstan athletes. The team leader Darya Nepryaeva is preparing for the Olympics, her older sister Natalya Terentyeva (by marriage) is again missing the season as she is preparing to become a mother for the second time. Her Olympic cycle between Beijing and Italy unfolded in such a way that she was on maternity leave in 2023–2024, successfully ran the last season, and is now on maternity leave again. Other skiers from Tatarstan have somewhat declined. Veronika Stepanova, who is recovering after giving birth, is in 12th place and may be at her peak by the national championship.

Lidia Gorbunova, the wife of Ivan Gorbunov, is in 15th place, Anastasia Faleyeva is in 16th, and the experienced Olga Sergeeva (36 years old) is in 21st place. Larisa Ryasina (38 years old) and Anastasia Dotsenko (39 years old) are performing even worse. There is no progress with Khristina Matsokina, who performed at her peak in Olympic Beijing and was previously called the heir to Vyalbe, mostly due to her place of birth — both are from the Magadan Oblast.

The current leaders of the standings are Evgeniya Krupitskaya (Saint Petersburg), Alina Peklesova (Vologda), Tatyana Sorina and Ksenia Shorokhova (Tyumen), and Alisa Zhambalova (Tyumen Oblast — Buryatia). Tyumen is also leading the team standings thanks to Elizaveta Pantrina, competing with the Moscow team. The Muscovites, as usual, have included «parallel athletes» in their cross-country skiing team, putting their region in first place. Alena Baranova, who also competes for the Tomsk Oblast, Arina Kosurgasheva, who earns points for Altai, Ekaterina Nikitina and Elizaveta Sholoboda, whose second region is Mordovia, are all in the top ten.

At the end of the season, the sports authorities of Mordovia, Altai, and Tomsk will report to the regional leadership on the good development of cross-country skiing, and Moscow will form a team for the relay races from their trainees, respectively, Baranova, Kosurgasheva, Nikitina, and Shalaboda. Eleven years have passed since Tatarstan abandoned the practice of parallel standings, being forced to bear the costs of maintaining high-class athletes and athletes on their own, while most regions still take advantage of this sports benefit, when there are points in the standings, but no athlete is physically present.

It is necessary to reconsider contracts with skiers in a new way

Tyumen, the famous cross-country skiing school in the Komi Republic (Stupak, Poroshkina, and Co.), and the small team of the Vologda Oblast (Peklesova, Kalicheva) also rely on their own strengths when forming their teams. Tatarstan transferred some skiers to its roster during the period when the Arkhangelsk Oblast team refused funding. As a result, Bolshunov and Korostelev, as well as Stepanova, Terentyeva, Faleyeva, and junior Yulia Orlova were left without a team, and consequently, without regional salaries. Despite the fact that Tatarstan already had a strong team, by agreement between Vyalbe and Fardiev, our cross-country skiing team became even stronger.

Tatarstan did not strive for a monopoly at the intra-Russian level in cross-country skiing, especially since it was already in a leading position even with the competitive Arkhangelsk team. But that force majeure disrupted all the plans. Moreover, it turned out that Terentyeva is missing two seasons, and Stepanova has already missed one while being part of the Tatarstan team.

The end of the Olympic cycle also marks the end of contracts with athletes, which are often concluded for a four-year cycle of preparation for the Olympics. This is how it works in Olympic sports. The Kazan stage of the Cup is the final one, where you can once again see the listed athletes, those who make up the second echelon of the republic's team, such as Olga Zholudeva from Karelia, Irina Ibragimova from the Yaroslavl Oblast, Ekaterina Meged from the Novosibirsk Oblast, and Alesya Rushentseva from the Sverdlovsk Oblast.

Only Tatarstan can boast of rosters for juniors, youth, and adult athletes

The resources of the Tatarstan Cross-Country Skiing Federation are actively used by the Volga Region University of Sports. Having such powerful bases for training skiers as «Yalta-Zay», the «Dynamo» ski and biathlon complex, and the «Mayak» base in Zelenodolsk, university coaches have simply taken advantage of the opportunities and are inviting young people to the student team. Darya Belosludtseva, Andrey Glavatskikh, Nikita Fadeev, Roman Mazunin from Udmurtia, and Vasily Chernikov from Mari El. Only Tatarstan now has complete rosters in all areas: junior, youth and student, and adult, thus resembling the national team.

It is not surprising that the roster is already being «pared down». Andrey Larkov has retired. Andrey Feller, 37 years old, ended his career last spring; by the way, his wife, Ksenia Feller, who remains in the Krasnoyarsk Krai team, seems to have also left the sport. Artem Nikolaev, 34 years old, has moved to the Perm Krai team. Yegor Kazarinov moved to biathlon, competing for the Belarusian team, and then returned to skiing, but already as a member of the Saint Petersburg team. Valery Gontar, 32 years old, plans to compete at the Olympics, representing Slovenia. Maria Davydenkova has retired, returning to her native Moscow Oblast.

Another important aspect is that the merger of federations in summer sports (aquatic sports, gymnastics) will continue in winter disciplines as well, which is inevitable. In speed skating (speed skating, figure skating, short-track speed skating) and in cross-country skiing disciplines. Ilshat Fardiev is still the main candidate for the post of republican head of the federation. Meanwhile, in ski jumping, we have Olympic medallist Danil Sadreev; recently, the Tatarstan team included Universiade medallists and Olympic participants Denis Isaykin, Niyaz Nabeev, and Ivan Panin.

Currently, there are no Tatarstan athletes in the national team, and the help of Fardiev's structures would be very useful. On the other hand, the merger of several federations under one roof may lead to a change of leadership, as happened with the water sports and gymnastics federations. With a president like Vyalbe, Tatarstan's cross-country skiing team worked well together. But a new broom may sweep out not only the former heads of federations in various disciplines — Nordic combined, ski jumping — but also reconsider Tatarstan's right to host a stage of the national Cup. Therefore, the advice to Tatarstan cross-country skiing fans is: hurry to see the starts of the best skiers while you still have the opportunity.