By André Santos
In the current situation, many professional athletes are forced to cancel their projects all over the world.
Russia and Italy are some of the most affected countries, so we talked to Pro Team directors Andrey Tyuterev, Russian Winter Team, and Bruno Debertolis, Team Robison Trentino. The Pro Teams must adapt to a new reality and fight hard to be on top, in season XI.
Now that we are in May and elite athletes are beginning their training towards the next season, there is still a lot of uncertainty about how this training phase will be. Every year long-distance skiers have a lot of variety during their summer training, organizing training camps and training at high altitude in order to improve their performance. They also participate in roller ski races in the summer where it´s possible to check how summer training is going for all the other athletes.
But with lockdowns, social distancing, and other restrictions. How will elite athletes adapt to this new reality? How are this affecting Pro Teams and their financial needs?
Since Russia and Italy were some of the most affected countries we talked to two Pro Team Directors from these countries: Andrey Tyuterev, Russian Winter Team, and Bruno Debertolis, Team Robison Trentino.
According to Andrey Tyuterev their main sponsor has already confirmed the same funding as in the previous season.
“The problem is whether the Russians will be able to travel to Europe and the consequences of travelling all over the world,” says Andrey.
Russia has closed its borders and its citizens can’t even move between regions without medical permission.
“Because of this, it’s difficult to predict fees. Now all athletes are training at home and there will be no training camps until the end of summer”.
Andrey hopes the authorities will remove some restrictions for professional athletes in June, in order to get back to normal training.
“Corona virus has influenced our training plans, but we will solve all problems along the way and will fight for top places,” says Andrey, with his strong Russian spirit.
Bruno Debertolis says that Team Robison Trentino is working towards the next season and the sponsors are confirmed, he recognizes that the situation has been hard in Italy and the future is uncertain.
“Many people lost their jobs and many companies are in financial trouble/difficulties, but we Italians are strong and will be back as before,” says Bruno, a proud Italian.
“We will have some weekend training camps, but we don’t know when because of restrictions. All our training camps will be in Trentino”.
Despite having forces against them, teams do adapt to a new reality, Covid-19 hasn’t put these teams out of business. Russia and Italy may be suffering due to the pandemics, but Pro Team directors are fighting hard to be on top, in season XI.
