Russia announces its 2021/22 moguls squad

Earlier this week the Freestyle Federation of Russia announced its moguls team for the upcoming 2021/22 season. The national team consists of eight athletes led by the 2021 World Championships gold and silver medallists Anastasiia Smirnova and Viktoriia Lazarenko, who will be joined by Anastasia Pervushina, Polina Chudinova, Nikita Novitsky, Artem Shuldyakov, Nikita Andreev and Mikhail Aleinikov.

The youth has been on a rise in recent years for the Russian moguls team with the biggest success coming this past spring at the FIS World Championships in Almaty (KAZ), where Smirnova and Lazarenko stormed to unexpected, nevertheless very impressive 1-2 punch to grab the respecitve gold and silver medals in dual moguls.

The Russian team also has a strong history of good results at the Junior World Championships, and just in 2021 the Russian squad claimed eight medals including two gold medals in moguls and dual moguls alone at their home venue in Krasnoyarsk.

The team will now continue preparations for the Olympic Winter Games led by the team's head coach Nikolai Shimbuev, who will work along coaches Andrey Volkov, Dmitry Marushchak and Sergey Lazarenko, as well as team doctor Evgenia Zharikova and team  physiotherapist Mikhail Solpanov, and the specialist Vladimir Kukushkin. Irina Prusova works with the reserve team in close relationship with the regional and personal trainers.

The national team held the first training event in Kirovsk with the the second training event currently being held in Sochi.

Source: Freestyle Federation of Russia