Speed skating competitions at the VIII All-Russian Winter Universiade were held in Chelyabinsk. 16 student teams competed for the tournament medals. For the first time, Derzhavin University team was able to rise so high in the rankings, chalking up three medals. Ilya Ivanov won a gold medal in the mass start and a silver medal at the 5000 m distance. Anastasia Semenova also had no equal in the mass start.
In addition, the students of Derzhavin University scored points in other events. Our team also showed good results in the team sprint. The girls - Ksenia Ilyicheva, Sofia Godovanskaya and Anastasia Semenova - stopped one step away from the podium and took 4th place. Nikita Barykin, Sergey Bukuev and Ilya Ivanov - finished sixth at the same distance.
“My first distance at the Universiade was the team sprint. I think we did our best in our segment, and with the help of teamwork we were able to take 4th place. The second distance was the mass start. Having familiarized myself with the list of participants, I did not expect to take a high position. I went through the first half of the distance with the idea of scoring the maximum number of intermediate points, but as I approached the finishing circle, I realized that I had enough strength to fight for the finish. Everything was finally decided in the last 50 meters, where I took the lead and won,” says Anastasia Semenova.
