He is not the first to go from running to biathlon. Pleiades of athletes got burned in the process, it does not apply to her yet and she is following in the footsteps of successful defectors Denise Herrmannová-Wicková, Kati Wilhelmová, Magdalena Forsbergová and, most recently, Anamarije Lampičová.
Even as Mekryukova, the young Russian tried to establish herself in the cross-country team, she achieved partial success, she scored sporadically in the SP in the 2020/21 season in the sprint. She made her mark in the youth category, last year at the under-23 world championship she won a sprint medal. But she also got married and made a fundamental change in her sports life.
In less than a year, she mastered the complicated combination of shooting and running so much that the specialists just stare and remain in the field of losers. She won the Sprint in Siberia this week with flawless shooting, controlling the fighter with a single error by a minute.
According to foreign media, even the husband of the competitor, Alexei Shevchenko, admitted that he was shocked by her performance.
Two-time Olympic champion Olga Medvedtseva (Pylev) said Shevchenko made a big impression on her. “She could achieve even better results than me. She is young, she is an excellent skier, she has all the prerequisites to be successful. The way she worked on the range even after that one mistake was impressive. I’m amazed, she’s been doing this sport for less than a year and she’s already able to win two national titles,” said the former famous competitor.
One of the coaches of the national team, the sometimes tight-lipped Sergej Bashkirov, took Shevchenko to heaven. “Her performance on skis is not surprising, but her shooting is, especially in the fighter. Not only she deserves a big round of applause, but also her coaches. Let’s say we can define it as a discovery.”
Even the competitor herself was surprised, but not completely. “I didn’t expect the first season to be so successful. But during that trip over the past year, I realized that winning a race is realistic,” said the ex-runner.
How did she manage to combine running and shooting? “There is probably a bit of talent, a predisposition. I learned step by step,” she explained.
She also surprised the ski coaches with whom she remained in contact. “They congratulated. And (senior) coach (of the Russian team Yuri) Borodavko is pleasantly surprised,” she said.
She is offered a chance to win another individual discipline at the Russian Championships – the mass start. And he definitely doesn’t count on returning to skiing. “Everything suits me here,” she reveled in the new biathlon company.
However, competing in the popular classical style is over for her, she only skates in biathlon. “A lot of skiers ask me if I miss it and if I also ski classic during training. I say yes, we do it, but not so often. I’m used to it,” she said, but she admitted that she was afraid of the transition. For those who cannot succeed in cross-country skiing, biathlon can be another way and motivation.
So why not try it? “Jelena Valerievna (Russian skiing boss Vjalbeova) probably won’t like it if she’s counting on you. But if it doesn’t work, you can go back. I didn’t know what was waiting for me. But it’s about taking initiative. And it’s also clear that during the transition, a lot depends on how well the coach treats you,” Ševčenková added.
