Even if the summer is the best time for relaxing and taking a well-deserved vacation, our Pro Teams and their athletes are usually busy training at their summer camps. Russian Winter Team is no exception as they started their first get-together on July 1.

The Pro Team had a successful season last winter as they finished fourth in the Pro Team competition, and Ermil Vokuev was the fourth best in the Champion competition with one victory and three third places while Maxim Vylegzanin finished 9^th in the overall competition by being in the top 10 four times last winter.  In the women’s competition, Olga Tsareva was 11^th, three times in the top 10, Anastasia Rygalina 15^th, three times in the top 10, and Anastasia Vlasova 18^th, a solid top 20 performer.

According to the team’s director Andrey Tyuterev, the athletes trained on their own in May and June. During that time, both Anastasias got married and they are now happily preparing themselves for the upcoming winter. Rygalina performed extremely well at Russian National Championships at the end of the season, and she is now a part of the National Team. Therefore, she is focusing on the Olympics, but hopefully she will be seen in some of our Pro Tour events as well.

At the beginning of this month, the team got together and started their first summer camp in Raubichi, Belarus, where they’ve been roller-skiing and training hard. There are some young recruits in the team, and Andrey has high hopes for these new skiers. Next month, the Russians will move to the Caucasus mountains for their second training camp, and they hope to get some intensive sessions under their belt there.

“We really hope that this fall comes with some clarity regarding the pandemic,” Andrey states wishfully. “Hopefully with vaccinations and certificates, we’ll get a chance to safely travel around Europe allowing us to have training camps there as well. And we’d like to participate in some roller-ski races, too!”