Sofia Diakova: ‘The weather was a bit sad’

Diakova with three medals became the leader of the Russian team

The pupil of the Kazan sports school Delta competed in Samorin on 4 July with a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle. Bianca Nanucci from Italy and the Spaniard Maria Dasa finished faster than her. Dasa is more of a sprinter, so her advantage at the end of the heat is not surprising, but it was more important for Dyakova to overtake her teammate from the national team Ksenia Misharina, who finished fourth.

The following evening, Diakova won gold in the 800m, overtaking the Italian Emma Gianelli and Amelie Bloxidge from England. In this regard, Diakova was lucky that the medallists are inclined to the longer distance of 1,500 metres, where Bloxidge and Gianelli outpaced everyone, winning first and second places, respectively.

Finally, on 6 July, in the 400-metre race, Dyakova had to compete with Ksenia Misharina, overtaking everyone, including the Italian Gianelli. In addition to Diakova, Tatarstan was represented at the European Championship by breaststroke swimmer Ralina Gilyazova and Anastasia Kolpakova (butterfly), who were left without medals.

It is better to swim in a thunderstorm but fly without accidents

At the morning meeting, Sports Minister Vladimir Leonov was worried about the swimmers returning to their homeland without problems: Diakova and Kolpakova to Kazan, Giliazova to Naberezhnye Chelny. That is what happened in the end, which is also important from the point of view of Diakova’s recovery for the World Championship. Although the same Kolpakova admitted that she was not in her best shape for the Junior European Championships, swam under load, not preparing specifically for the past starts.

“Now we will compete at the Russian Championships, and I will reach my best shape closer to the World Championships in August. As for the competitions in Slovakia, the weather was good almost every day. Only on the last day of the starts there was rain, to the accompaniment of which Sonya started. Her start was postponed, which I was very worried about, sitting in the stands. But in the end, Sonya did an excellent job, won the gold medal,” Kolpakova said.

It is a pity that the team of the sports school Akvatika did not meet their student the way the representatives of the sports school “Delta” did. We hope that Gilyazova will also be warmly welcomed in Chelny, after all, the girl was one step away from medals, finishing fourth in the European, international start, where Russians had not been for four years. And there had never been any representatives of Akvatika before Kolpakova's debut, she is the first fish from the school, who is only ten years old. So what if there are no medals. But in Kazan, all the swimmers took part in the flower ceremony, as is customary for biathletes and skiers, where bouquets are received by athletes who finish in the top six. The head of the department of high-performance sports of the Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan Raif Vafin worried in vain that all the attention would be drawn to the heroine Dyakova and the other two swimmers would be left without bouquets. Everyone was presented with flowers. But Diakova is a real heroine.

“The weather was a bit sad. When the storm hit, our starts were postponed. In the call room (the place where athletes warm up), they turned on the Macarena, and everyone tried to somehow relax, not worrying about the forced postponement. As for the swim itself, I tried not to pay attention to the wind, although it interfered with the stroke. I tried not to think about it and show my best. Moreover, all the girls swam in equal conditions, it was not easy for everyone,” said Sofia Diakova.

Heading for Singapore, hopes for Otopeni

Russian swimmers took second place in the team championship, behind the English. Diakova acted as the leader of the team, followed by a trio of swimmers. Grigory Vekovishchev from Obninsk and Georgy Yakovlev from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (both gold and silver medals), plus Mikhail Shcherbakov from Yessentuki (gold and bronze). Vekovishchev, as well as newly-minted medallists Kira Manokhina from Perm, Maria Osetrova from Belgorod, Serafima Fokina successfully competed last year at the BRICS Games in Kazan, when the coaching staff of the Russian national team fielded a junior team against competitors and national teams.

Before the junior championship, Samorin, Slovakia, hosted the European Youth Championship for athletes in the 19-23 age range. These competitions were included in the international calendar only in 2023, during the period of suspension of Russian athletes from international competitions. Therefore, the Russians did not compete in them, simply not having time to include them in their own calendar, which implies a number of organizational hassle, including visa processing. As soon as she finishes her junior career, Diakova plans to try her hand at the youth level, while giving priority, of course, to adult starts.

In the meantime, the stars of world swimming, Romanian David Popovici, Portuguese Diogo Ribeiro, and Lana Pudar from Bosnia and Herzegovina, a good friend of Deputy Director General of the Directorate for Sports and Social Projects Ranko Tepavcevic, started competing at the youth championship. Tepavcevic told our newspaper: “Lana successfully competed in Kazan at the European Short-Course Championships, and before last year's Olympics, she trained with my friend Deni Mandic. But you were right in saying that she is a fellow countrywoman, but not a teammate, since, like her father, she represents another well-known sports club, Velezh, from the city.”

The senior world championship in aquatic sports starts on 11 July, but at first synchronized swimmers, divers, and high divers will compete there. The swimming part is planned for the second part of the tournament from 27 July to 3 August. Therefore, there should be no worries about the recovery of the participants of the European championship before participating in the world championship. A similar practice has already been tested in the Olympic seasons, when swimmers first compete in the European championships, after which they start at the Games.

However, regarding Diakova, we need to focus on the well-known idea that the main thing is not victory, but participation, and plan medals for the world championship among juniors, which will be held from 19 to 24 August in the Romanian city of Otopeni. And medals with Singapore minting are expected from two representatives of Sintez sports club: swimmer Andrey Minakov and diver Nikita Shleikher.

As for Diakova herself, she approaches her preparation sensibly, assuming that she needs to reach her peak form at the Junior World Championships in Romania, where she will have a better chance of winning medals.