WWhen it comes to her greatest strength, Anastasia Tatalina doesn’t have to think long: self-confidence! It’s the trust in her will, in her body and then there are the countless hours of hard training. All of this should prepare the Russian ski freestyler for her very personal highlight in Beijing – in the truest sense of the word: When Tatalina races over a frozen hill and is catapulted high into the air, then her daring program only begins up there. For the 21-year-old, it’s more than just showing off spectacular tricks.
“Our discipline, especially the Big Air, is an expression of our character,” says Tatalina in a video call to the FAZ “Every athlete expresses his innermost being with his program, his jumps. With every jump, he reveals a unique aesthetic, what his body control is capable of and how he can orient himself and move in space and height.” It is precisely in these moments that she not only feels the intoxication of joie de vivre, but also a very special freedom, says Tatalina. And this would be difficult to put into words.
As far as her sport is concerned, Tatalina is still trying to clarify things in her home country. Although there was already a federation for freestyle skiing in Russia in the days of the Soviet Union, acrobatic skiing with its five disciplines still leads a certain shadowy existence. Biathlon and cross-country skiing – that’s what people in Russia know and the successes associated with it. But freestyle?
“Of course, I often have to explain to others what I actually do. In Russia, it’s still a relatively young sport,” says Tatalina. “And unfortunately we still lack the necessary infrastructure to be able to prepare well.” Training facilities and major tournaments are still only available outside of Germany’s own borders. But you can slowly feel a change. In the past, there was certainly no shortage of medals for Russia.
jump in the right direction
At the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Illya Burov won bronze in the aerials and Sergey Ridzik in ski cross. Sergei Schuplezow and Yelisaveta Koschevnikova even won silver before that. He in 1994 in Lillehammer, she in 1992 in Albertville, where the mogul slope was part of the official program for the first time. But not everything that glitters on the podium is gold. The highest honor is still missing and Tatalina is determined to finally fill this one last gap with a win in Beijing.
She made an important leap in the right direction in 2021. Tatalina threw everything on the scales: At the World Championships in Aspen, she performed a double cork 1260, first turned to the left, then to the right on the next attempt. Tatalina was the first woman to do so and the first Russian to win a world title in big air. “I put all my joy, all my desire for freedom, into this last jump,” she says.
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