Russia’s Abakumova not rushing into summer battles

2011-05-01 15:45 by Administrator

Russian javelin star Mariya Abakumova and Miklos Nemeth

Mariya Abakumova always seems to start the season well and the Russian javelin thrower currently leads the world with her 65.12m effort she threw at the Russian national winter throwing championships in Adler back in February. 

Now the challenge for the 25-year-old from Stavropol, although she competes for the famous Luch Moscow club, is to be more consistent than she was in 2010.

She stood on the podium at the 2008 Olympic Games and 2009 World Championships, where she got silver and bronze medals respectively, but the former European record holder for the event couldn’t take her best form to the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona last summer and finished back in fifth place.

She also only finished third at the 2010 SPAR European Team Championships although her failure to get maximum points was one of the few less-than-impressive results for a Russian team that romped its way comfortably to the title and replaced Germany as Europe’s top nation in the sport.

In an interview with the Russian athletics federation website www.rusathletics.com, the amiable and often forthright Abakumova, one of the Russian athletics media’s favourite interview subjects, talks about her plans for the summer and her rivalry with the Czech Republic’s Olympic champion, world record holder and former world champion Barbora Špotáková

Q: Mariya, this winter you have thrown in one competition so far, the Russian winter throwing championships. Why did you decide not to go to the European Cup Winter Throwing?

A: To be honest, I love competitions at this time of the year and I’ve won at the Cup three times but this winter we have, with my coach, decided to change some of my preparations for the season ahead. I’m not going to do so many early competitions and that means I also have time to do a lot of other work. I am very glad that in Adler I threw only 65.12m! Last year, at this time, I was showing results over ​​68 metres; that was too much too early.

Q: So what have you now been focusing on in your preparations for the season ahead?

A: I am improving my scores in almost all my exercises by very decent amounts. In the weights room, I’m pushing an average of 10 kilogrammes more than I was doing last year, I’ve made particularly serious progress in the bench press, from 115 to 140 kilogrammes.

Q: You are really bench pressing 140kg?

A: Of course. What do you think, perhaps that mark’s going to be the envy of many other throwers, some of them are not going to be able to sleep at nights (laughs). But it’s important to recognise that strength alone is not the only aim, though it’s a pre-requisite for long distances. Now comes the difficult part. It’s a very delicate and difficult process for me and my coach to transfer my power to my technique and, consequently, to make long throws with the spears. We will be working on this next month (May).

My first competitions will be a check to see how I’m doing. My first start will be on 26 May at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Rome; then I will go to Ostrava (Czech Republic) on 31 May and on 4 June I start in at another Diamond League meeting in Eugene (United States).That’s three prestigious competitions in 10 days with serious rivals; plus they are not short flights. After that, I’ll be able to look at how ready I am for the rest of the season.

Q: Last season was a mixed one for you: you lead the world rankings but then only finished fifth at the European Athletics Championships. However, in your final meeting you won at the Continental Cup for Team Europe in Split. How important for you was it to finish on a good note to end the season?

A: Certainly it was a good thing. From this point my mood immediately rose. I seemed to recover from the season faster, and the work I did in the offseason was performed with greater enthusiasm. Also participating in the Continental Cup was for an unexpected gift, as (Czech Republic's world record holder) Barbora Špotáková couldn’t compete. I thought my season was over, then I got a phone call, and the result was also excellent (68.14m).

Q: Your rivalry with the Olympic champion, world record holder and former world champion Špotáková always arouses great interest and this year you have again got an invitation to Ostrava. Perhaps the Czech local organisers aren’t worrying too much about you beating their star on home territory?

A: I think they are not seriously afraid although I'm sure that in 2009 they were all very disappointed when I beat Barbora at home. Incidentally, last year I was not invited to Ostrava but, this season, I’m starting there. The (Ostrava) organizers are proudly reporting that in our personal meetings, it’s 10 to six in favour of Barbora. Apparently, she’s well prepared so it should be an interesting competition.

source: european-athletics.org

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