Ahead of the first World Cup season Ladies-Skijumping.com takes a close look at all national teams. Today we continue this series with Russia.
Clearly the best Russian jumper is Irina Taktaeva. Like all of the team she is always fighting to see the second round. In the last winter she achieved this goal regularly. Nevertheless she was not in her best form this summer, so we have to wait and see how she performs this winter.
The performance level of Anastasiya Veschekova is just a little lower than the one of Taktaeva. There have been many competitions in the past, where she missed the second round only by a hair’s breadth. But if she improves just a little, she has good chances to make it to the top 30 from time to time.
Maria Zotova, Russia’s most experienced jumper, did not attend any competitions this summer. So it is hard to predict, in which form she will show up this winter.
Despite the young talents Alexandra Kustova and Sofya Tikhonova already scored some CoC-points, they are not allowed to start at World Cups, because they do not reach the required age of 15 yet. So they need to concentrate on the few Continental Cups this winter, also the Junior World Championships should be in their focus.
Finally it is very nice to note, that Anastasiya Gladysheva returned to the jumping hills this summer. She had taken a long break after her horrible crash in February 2010 in Villach. Who knows what she can achieve, when she regains full self-confidence?