Ustyugov skier biography. Ustyugov Sergey Alexandrovich. But this is a team idea

According to Ugra skier Sergei Ustyugov, his main dream is to be the best in his sport. Apparently, this is what he is consistently moving towards. In any case, Sergei, for example, was able to overcome the record of the legendary skier Northug, who during his sports career won five times the world championships among juniors and youth. No wonder, because Sergei has such qualities as determination and tremendous efficiency. And he doesn’t suffer at all from the so-called. "star fever" As it turns out, he always puts all his awards - from medals to cups and certificates - out of sight.

From boxing to cross-country skiing

Sergei Ustyugov was born in mid-spring 1992 in the territory of one of the villages of the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug, which is located 560 km from the center. Accordingly, as a child he did not have much entertainment, but the sports school with many sections for local children worked properly. At first, Sergei decided to take up boxing. According to his recollections, he studied the basics of boxing for only a month, although he showed very good results. From

According to Ustyugov, he did not like boxing at all, and his friend suggested enrolling in the biathlon section. Sergei liked this sport, and he began to purposefully master the basics of biathlon. And at that moment there were absolutely no thoughts of changing the sport. Moreover, his older brother supported Sergei in every possible way in his endeavors. True, the mother of the future champion was against it, since playing sports had already begun to affect his studies.

Once upon a time, eleven-year-old Sergei

The trainer recommended that I try myself in a form of cross-country skiing. He believed that there he had a much better chance of being in the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug team. In addition, the coach then said that you can always return to biathlon. According to Sergei, he had to seriously think about such a proposal. The young skier still went to the section suggested by his mentor.

Alas, when the first training camp began, Sergei realized that the relationship with the new coach was not working out. However,

this was quite understandable - the young man was a hooligan and did not like to be commanded. But, fortunately, something changed in his worldview, he managed to pull himself together and, when the second training camp started, he was already ready for potential victories.

In principle, this is what happened. Sergei managed to compete in many ski competitions among young athletes, more than once he attracted close attention, and as a result, it was decided to enroll him in the staff of the Russian junior ski team, where

he was able to successfully perform at the world junior championships.

You have to work hard to perform at the level

In the 2011/12 season, Sergei focused on junior competitions and the World Championships, which took place in Turkey, in the city of Erzurum. It was there that he was able to achieve incredible success. Ustyugov won victories in all four starts. And the excellent performance of the young athlete at the 2011 junior world championship in Estonia turned out to be the reason for his invitation to

the main Russian team. There he was not only able to win the sprint, but also helped the Russian team rise to second place in the relay.

In the 2012-2013 season, the twenty-year-old athlete began his “transitional age.” In a word, for the first time Ustyugov had to compete not among juniors. By and large, this is a completely different qualitative level of rivalry. Be that as it may, at the 2013 youth championship, which took place in Liberec, no one promised the athlete an easy and sweet life, but

the rivals dreamed of spoiling the Russian upstart’s statistics. Sergei himself admitted before the start that he would be sincerely happy if he achieved any medal. So it was, but only at the beginning. In the first type of program, namely the classic sprint, in which Ustyugov, in fact, never knew anyone equal, he lost in the quarterfinals. But then, with a difference of only two days, he became the winner in the 15-kilometer speed skating time trial and the 30-kilometer skiathlon. By the way, both

Sergei left behind him a member of the main team of the Russian team, the famous starter of the Russian relay team at the world cup stages, Evgeniy Belov. After this victory, Sergei, taciturn and stingy with emotions, said that last year in Erzurum he performed very well. And, accordingly, in order to perform at least as well in the current competition, he had to work hard all year.

Instead of an epilogue

Now the Ugra athlete Sergei Ustyugov is considered a skier

om world class. Since his debut performance in 2011, he has been climbing the rating scale. In January 2014, he managed to win the freestyle sprint at the next stage of the World Cup. It took place in the Czech Republic. The Winter Olympic Games are about to start in Sochi. Perhaps this will be a great chance to express yourself once again. Over the past three years, he has been moving towards this responsible start. He always dreamed of becoming the best. It seems that these dreams will sooner or later come true

Many biathlon fans know Evgeniy Ustyugov, the famous Olympic champion, very well. When they hear about Sergei, who has the same last name and is a current ski racing star, they think they are relatives. Is it so?

Is Sergei Ustyugov the brother of Evgeniy Ustyugov?

Biathlon fans immediately ask themselves this question, especially considering their small age difference. As it turned out in one of Sergei’s early interviews, they have no family ties, and they are united only by a common Siberian origin and a love of winter sports.

Evgeniy Romanovich Ustyugov, a world-famous biathlete, was born on June 4, 1985 in the city of Krasnoyarsk. Since childhood, following the example of his father and mother, he has been involved in skiing. Evgeniy came to his main sport, biathlon, at the age of 12. His first coach was Viktor Ivanovich Ermakov.

Sergei Aleksandrovich Ustyugov is a famous Russian skier, born on April 8, 1992 in the village of Mezhdurechensky, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. Here, in his small homeland, he began skiing at the age of 9 under the guidance of Ivan Bragin.

Achievements of Evgeny Ustyugov

Evgeny Ustyugov achieved his greatest successes at the Olympic Games: in 2010 in Vancouver, he won his first gold medal in the 15 km mass start discipline. The peculiarity of this race is that only 30 of the best riders in the world take part in it. Thanks to his impeccable shooting, hitting all targets, he left far behind such recognized masters of skiing and rifle as Ole Einar Björndalen, Michael Greis and Emil Svendsen. Here, in Vancouver, but already as part of the relay four, he won his second, this time bronze, medal.

Subsequently, Evgeny Ustyugov confirmed that the victories were not a coincidence: in the 2010 season, he was the best in the sprint race in Oberhof, and helped the Russian team win the relay race in Ruhpolding. Over the next 4 years, Evgeniy often took a place on the podium in World Cup races.

Evgeniy Ustyugov won another Olympic gold medal in the team race in 2014 in Sochi. This same season was the last in his professional career. After the end of the Race of Champions, surrounded by his many fans and biathlon stars, the Olympian announced his retirement from the sport.

Famous Mansi

Sergei Ustyugov is unique in everything. He is a representative of a small people living on the territory of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, whose population is less than 20 thousand people.

He began to show excellent results in cross-country skiing from his youth - he has 8 gold medals at junior world championships. Having moved to the adult category, he continued his brilliant performance.

For many years, Norwegians have been recognized leaders in skiing competitions. This is not surprising, since the entire population of Norway is fond of winter sports. This country was glorified on world stages by such famous athletes as Björn Deli, Petter Northug, Martin Sundby. Sergei Ustyugov, despite his young age, has already managed to repeat the records of the first two skiers and has repeatedly defeated the third.

The “flying” Mansi has 9 victories at the World Cup stages, 2 medals of the highest standard at the 2017 World Ski Championships, held in Lahti, Finland. In January 2017, he became the second winner in the history of Russian sports of the prestigious multi-day ski race Tour de Ski. At this race, he showed his undeniable advantage over Martin Sundby, “bringing” more than 1 minute to the finish line. Among the achievements of Sergei Ustyugov, it can be noted that both short distances and marathons are equally easy for him.

Namesakes in Sochi

Sergei Ustyugov and Evgeniy Ustyugov followed their own paths to fame, which is not surprising, since they represented different sports. But there was one common event in their careers - participation in the Olympic Games in Sochi. Evgeny Ustyugov, a biathlete, again conquered the sports Olympus in that memorable year. For Sergei, such competitions were the first in his career. Unfortunately, the success of the namesake Evgeniy was prevented by an unfortunate fall in the sprint final. As a result, Sergei became only fifth.

In 2014, Evgeny Ustyugov left big sport. His young and promising namesake, on the contrary, continues his triumphant march in skiing competitions. We can only hope that in a few years Sergei Ustyugov will again write this glorious name into the history of the Winter Olympics.

Sergei Alexandrovich Ustyugov. Born on April 8, 1992 in the village. Mezhdurechensky Tyumen region. Russian skier. Two-time world champion (2017), winner of the Tour de Ski multi-day race (2016/2017). Honored Master of Sports of Russia (2017).

By nationality - Mansi.

Some sources report his relationship with the famous Russian biathlete, two-time Olympic champion Evgeniy Ustyugov. However, they are only namesakes and there are no family ties between them.

Sergei is the youngest child in the family. From an early age I fell in love with sports. I started with boxing. Then he became interested in biathlon and trained at the Biathlon Sports School in the village of Mezhdurechensky. Since 2001, he focused on cross-country skiing, and his first coach was Ivan Bragin. Ustyugov quickly began to show very high results for his age and win at various competitions.

As Sergei Ustyugov admitted, he grew up as a hooligan, and if not for sports, his fate could have been completely different: “I simply don’t communicate with some childhood friends anymore. Some spent time in prison. Some are in prison. And I was able to rebuild. Sports rebuilt me. I was a very bad student. My mother told me: “Get rid of sports.”

From an early age, he was distinguished by his great diligence in training, determination and perseverance in achieving his goal. He himself said: “As a child, I had a very specific and conscious dream - to get into the national team of the country. In general, having achieved one goal, I set new ones for myself.”

At the same time, Sergei has a difficult character; due to his excessive love of freedom, he could remain outside the sport: “The main negative thing about me is my character. And the main positive thing... is also my character... From my first training camp they wanted to kick me out “I wrote three explanatory notes. Violation of the regime, and all that. I didn’t like that they were putting pressure on me,” he recalled.

His first big success came in 2011, when Sergei Ustyugov won gold in the sprint at the Junior World Ski Championships in Otepää (Estonia). On February 6, 2011, he made his debut at the World Cup and then for the first time got into the top ten at one of the stages (in the relay).

In 2012, Sergei Ustyugov became a four-time winner of the junior world championship in Erzurum (Türkiye). Then he won gold in the sprint, 10 km race, skiathlon and as part of the relay.

In 2013, at the World Ski Championships among juniors and youth in Liberec (Czech Republic), Sergei Ustyugov won two gold medals in the under 23 category - in the 15 km freestyle race and in the 30 km skiathlon.

At the 2013 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, together with the team, he became a bronze medalist in the relay race, and in the individual race he was 47th at a distance of 15 km freestyle. He made his first appearance on the podium at the World Cup at the stage in Davos on December 15, 2013, taking 3rd place in the freestyle sprint. The following month, he won a stage in the Czech Nove Mesto na Morave in the freestyle sprint.

In 2014, at the youth cross-country championships in Val di Fiemme, he won gold in the individual sprint. At the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi in the final of the personal sprint, being one of the main contenders for victory, he took fifth place, falling in the final.

According to Ustyugov, skiing for him is a lifestyle, not a means of making money: “I never thought that I got into skiing purely to make money. I don’t go to work.”.

In May 2014, it was announced that Sergei Ustyugov was moving from the remote Russian national team, led by Oleg Perevozchikov, to a separate group of the Russian national team under the leadership of the Swiss-German duo of coaches Reto Burgermeister and Isabelle Knaute.

In January 2015, also together with Alexey Petukhov, he won the team sprint at the World Cup stage in Otepää. At the stage in Rybinsk, he took 2nd place in the freestyle sprint and 3rd place in the 15 km freestyle individual race.

In 2016, he took 3rd place in the 2016 Tour de Ski stage race. At the stage in Nove Mesto, he won silver and bronze in the 15 km freestyle and relay race, respectively. In February 2016, at the World Cup in Falun, Sweden, he won the 15 km freestyle mass start. In March 2016, he took second place at the Tour of Canada stage race, at the same time getting on the podium in five races of the tour and losing only to Martin Sundby.

In October 2016, it became known about a conflict between Burgermeister-Knaute and several skiers - Sergei Ustyugov, Evgeniy Belov and Stanislav Volzhentsev. The President of the Russian Ski Racing Federation and the head coach of the Russian national team allowed the skiers to move from the Burgermeister-Knaute group to the group of another German specialist Markus Kramer, who at that time already trained the 2014 Olympic champion Alexander Legkov and a number of other strong skiers.

Sergey Ustyugov won the Tour de Ski 2016/2017. He performed excellently at all stages of the stage race: he won the first 5 stages and at the sixth stage (15 km KS, mass start) he took 2nd place, losing 2.2 seconds to Martin Sundby. Before the last seventh stage, Sergei had the first position and 1 minute 12 seconds advantage over his closest pursuer, Norwegian Martin Sundby. Having confidently carried out the last race up the Alpe de Cermis mountain, Sergey Ustyugov retained his handicap and won the Tour. Thus, Ustyugov became the second Russian skier after Alexander Legkov to win the Tour de Ski. Sergei Ustyugov also set a record for the number of victories in a row at the stages of one tour - 5. Prior to this, the Norwegian Sundby won the most number of races in the tour (4).

At the 2017 World Ski Championships On February 23, he won a silver medal in the individual freestyle sprint, losing only to 26-year-old Italian Federico Pellegrino.

On February 25, Ustyugov won gold in the 15+15 km skiathlon. A few kilometers before the finish, Ustyugov and Sundby created a gap from the main group. On one of the last climbs, Sundby attempted to accelerate, but broke his pole. As a result of this, the Norwegian fell behind Ustyugov by several tens of meters and was unable to compete with Sergei for gold at the finish. Thus, Sergei Ustyugov won the world champion title for the first time in his career.

On February 26, Sergei competed in the team sprint in the classic style together with two-time world champion 31-year-old Nikita Kryukov. At the last stage, Ustyugov fled from Russia. 30 seconds before the finish, he was fourth after the Norwegian Emil Iversen, the Finn Iivo Niskanen and the 2017 world champion in the personal sprint Italian Federico Pellegrino. At the same time, the Norwegian and Finn were ahead, and the Russian and Italian skiers were somewhat behind. On the way out to the stadium, the Finn drove up close to the Norwegian, and while changing lanes to another Iversen track, the athletes collided. Both skiers fell, the Norwegian broke his pole, and Pellegrino and Ustyugov drove around their fallen opponents. At the finish line, Sergei made a powerful acceleration and confidently won gold, ahead of the Italian by 2.14 seconds, Niskanen finished third. Ustyugov won his second gold medal at the World Championships, and Kryukov became the first three-time world champion in the history of Soviet and Russian sports.

Ustyugov missed the next race of the championship, 15 km time trial in the classic style. In the 4x10 km relay, Sergei ran the last leg. After 3 stages, Russia was approximately 17 seconds behind Norway, Ustyugov was able to reduce the gap to 4 seconds, but was unable to compete for victory, winning his 2nd medal in relay races at the World Championships.

The last race of the championship was the 50 km freestyle marathon, which Ustyugov, in his own words, ran only for the second time in his career. Approximately a kilometer before the finish, the trio of Canadian Alex Harvey, Ustyugov and Sundby broke away from the main group. As a result of the finishing spurt, Harvey won gold, Ustyugov became second, and Finn Matti Heikkinen won the bronze medal, Sundby became only fifth.

Based on the results of the entire tournament, Sergei Ustyugov repeated the record of the Norwegians Björn Deli and Petter Northug for the number of medals at one World Championship - 5 medals (2 gold and 3 silver). Sergei also equaled Alexey Prokurorov in the number of world championship awards (six medals each).

During his career, he was on the podium at World Cup stages more than twenty times in individual races. Ustyugov has nine victories, six times he was second and seven times third. Ustyugov’s best achievement in the overall final standings of the World Cup is fourth place in the 2015/2016 season.

“There are moments in a race when you have to step over yourself. It’s like a car, it reaches the red cut-off point, beyond which the engine explodes. And you also have such a cut-off point. And you step over it, even knowing that it is mortally dangerous. I brought myself to such a state. It all happens automatically: you get started and drive, and you get high from this state.”, - said Sergei Ustyugov.

Sergei Ustyugov's height: 184 centimeters.

Personal life of Sergei Ustyugov:

Wife: Elena Soboleva, world champion in cross-country skiing among juniors. We got married on August 10, 2019 in Yekaterinburg.

Sports achievements of Sergei Ustyugov:

World Championships:

Bronze - Val di Fiemme 2013 - 4×10 km relay
Silver - Lahti 2017 - personal sprint
Gold - Lahti 2017 - skiathlon 15+15 km
Gold - Lahti 2017 - team sprint classic
Silver - Lahti 2017 - 4×10 km relay
Silver - Lahti 2017 - 50 km
Silver - Seefeld 2019 - 4×10 km relay