The athlete remembered the meeting with the roe deer at the Paris Half Marathon

Over two thousand runners and professional athletes will gather in the Southern Urals on May 28 to conquer the distances of the Paris Half Marathon again

One of those who will go to the start of large-scale competitions is Nikita Pavlov, a graduate of the Magnitogorsk Sports School, the winner of the Russian championship in athletics, who is familiar with these tracks firsthand.

In addition, last year the young athlete from South Urals took part in the summer Spartakiad of Russia’s strongest athletes in athletics. And already this year, Nikita Pavlov can perform at the home championship of Russia, which will be held in Chelyabinsk in August.

— Nikita, recently a lot of young and promising athletes have appeared in the Chelyabinsk region, but we know almost nothing about them. Tell us how your sports path began, how did you get into athletics?

— I have a cousin older brother, with whom we studied in the same class. Once, at a physical education lesson, the teacher said that he had good data, recommended that he go in for athletics. I decided to go with him so that I could keep up with my brother. I was then 12 years old, we lived on the left bank, and, accordingly, came to the left-bank FLC. But it turned out that athletics is only available there until the age of 14, so we were sent to the FLC on the right bank. It so happened that my brother and I got the wrong address, and ended up here, in the FOK “Rovesnik” with Irina Nikolaevna. Since then, I have been training here, it turns out, since 2015.

– In 2022, at the Russian Championship among juniors, you won the 3000 m race. Do you remember your impressions and what happened on the last lap?

– Impressions are good. If you compare all my races and participation in championships, then this one is probably one of the best. I felt great all the distance and did everything tactically correctly, as taught. It was important in the last 200 meters to be the first to reach the last turn. I did just that and won. Enough of both speed and preparation.

– You also participated in the Spartakiad of the strongest athletes of Russia, which was held in Chelyabinsk. What did these starts mean to you personally?

– The atmosphere was very charged. I think I showed a good time because of her. They put on a beautiful show. I did not experience such emotions as there even at the Russian championship. It seems to me that this Spartakiad can be put on the same level as the Russian Championship.

— Several times you participated in the Paris Half Marathon. What distances did you run?

– I ran three times, first five (distance 5 km. – Auth.), And then the half marathon itself 21 km. On the half (as athletes call the half-marathon distance. – Auth.) I made my debut, and in general I think that I ran well.

What do you remember most about the half marathon?

– First of all, the track. On the “Paris” it is different from all the others, that is, you do not run on the highway, but on rough terrain. Once I had a funny incident: somewhere on the 18th kilometer I was running through a forest belt, and in front of me, about two meters away, a roe deer slipped through – it scared me a little. I also remember support groups. Throughout the distance, people stood, clapped, some were even in national costumes with musical instruments.

Last year, participants came at a fairly high level. I know that there were guys who ran a half marathon in 1.07, which is considered a pretty good time. The competition is strong enough, only the strongest athletes in Russia were missing.

How are you preparing for the upcoming Paris Half Marathon?

– Now we are preparing for distances of 5 and 10 km, and that year we were preparing for 3 and 5 km. Accordingly, this year we run more and do everything to improve the results at longer distances.

– You run different distances – 3, 5, and 10 km. What is your favorite?

– If you call the top 3, then in the first place I still have three kilometers, in the second, probably ten kilometers. I still don’t like five. At long distances, there is time to think, build tactics, see how the opponents behave. At the sprint distance, there is no time to think, there you need to run right away. It seems to me that long distances are more suitable for calm, reasonable people.