21 year-old Vera Sobetova, one half of the K2 500m crew who won the U23 World Championship earlier this year at Niagara and competed at London 2012 in K2 500m and K4 500m, chats to Sportscene’s Russian correspondent Yuliana.

You and Natalia Podolskaya won all competitions in K-2 U23 this season and took home at the World Cups. Do you feel ‘popular’?

“To tell the truth, I don’t. I will feel popular when I start winning gold medals in senior competitions.”

Little time has passed since the last race at the U23 World Championship in Canada, was it good preparation for the World Championships? What shape are you in now?

“Everything went rather well, even though we had a long flight and had to acclimatise. We now have our longest break yet this season between competitions and even now we feel that we train a lot. As for preparation, we’ve done much work in K2, though in K4 we don’t go to the water very often. There is not enough time for everything with so many competitions this season. Our form is good. We train sensibly; our coaches sometimes reduce our training so we are not run down. Everything’s fine!”

You and Natalia have had very good results in single boats, you – on 500m, Natalya – on 200m. Have you decided to train in K-2 or do you plan to combine all boat-types next season?

“Everything depends on where we can get a medal. Now we perform well in K2, that’s why single boats have been put aside. In future we will see, depending on the situation, our performances and where there are more opportunities. We are going to improve on our distances – 500m for me and 200m for Natasha. Both distances are for sprinters and require very high speed. That is why I believe, our work will not differ much. I would like to train with canoeists, as we did this year. We had good training sessions, competing with Ilya Shtokalov. In the coming season it is unlikely to happen again, because everybody will train separately; women’s kayak, men’s kayak and canoeists. Our group will include Natalya Podolskaya, Natalya Lobova, Elena Polyakova, Natalya Proskurina, Natya Sergeeva and I,” Vera laughs.

Over which at the World Championship distance do you have the greatest chance of winning a medal; K2 500m or K4 500m?

“We reckon K2. Much depends on how the crew works together. In K2 we train for the whole season and in K4 we’ve had a few training sessions, because this crew was only just formed at the Russian Championship. This K4 team seems to be strong, we feel that it’s getting better and better after every time we train. There is also the factor of time – we don’t have enough of it!”

What are your expectations with Natalya in K2 for the World Championship? You were very close to the podium at the European Championship taking fourth, literally a few hundredths behind.

“We want to win the World Championship a lot, and we can do it. Our rivals remain the same – the Hungarian, German and Belorussian athletes. For some strange reason we also lost to the Romanian crew at the European Championship, but now, I think, it will not happen again. 200m is such a cunning distance; we can’t afford to miss any detail out. We will try for the win.”

NOTE SPORTSCENE: This interview was conducted before the World Championships in Duisburg last week. Vera finished 5th in the K2 500 with Natalya and also fifth in the K4 500.