The number of exceptional young winter athletes who will represent Australia at the Vancouver Olympics continues to grow with 19-year-old biathlete Alex Almoukov’s selection confirmed in the early hours of this morning.
The number of exceptional young winter athletes who will represent Australia at the Vancouver Olympics continues to grow with 19-year-old biathlete Alex Almoukov’s selection confirmed in the early hours of this morning.
Almoukov, who is competing at the World Junior Championships in Sweden, was ecstatic when told of his selection.
“It’s the best feeling ever…feels like you’re on the top of the world!” Almoukov whose childhood ambition was to be an Olympian said.
“It’s just like one of those happy days that makes you smile for the whole day although this will make me smile right up to the Olympic Games and after. I feel like I have achieved something important in life.”
The Russian-born athlete has been travelling throughout Europe for months competing on the World Cup circuit along with teammate Mark Raymond for the one spot Australia hoped to be allocated. Almoukov had the better results than Raymond so the anxious wait for a quota allocation from the international federation began.
Now the wait is over but there is no time to stop and celebrate.
“I can’t stop focusing now. So I will celebrate with a good hard training session this afternoon. I’m feeling incredible!
“First of all I called my mother, and my father is with me overseas so he shook my hand and said ‘we made it’.”
His father and coach Nick, has seen Olympic potential in his son for a few years and couldn’t be prouder.
“When he was 13 he didn’t show any abilities to be an athlete. But when he turned 14 and started skiing with me a little bit I could see that he could be a great athlete and an Olympian one day. Especially, when Alex started to set up his "athletes mind" as he matured as a teenager,” Nick Almoukov, who was a cross country skier at the national level in Russia said.
Alex moved to Australia from Russia with his family when he was seven. He does the majority of his Australian based training at Mount Hotham and has a training base in Russia when there is no snow in Australia.
There have been many sacrifices along the way with Vancouver being just reward and the start of a more distinguished senior career to come.
“The biggest challenge is being so young, trying to fit in studies while you travel. It’s also hard travelling alone with my father - you get a bit lonely. But I know that this is part of my life at the moment and if I want to achieve high results I need to sacrifice.”
Biathlon section of the 2010 Australian Olympic Winter Team:
10km Sprint
12.5km Pursuit
20km Individual
15km Mass Start
