Evgenii Udin: “Each battle is like the last one for me”

- How is your preparation for the World Championship going, who helps and advises you (coach, friends, and family)? How many times do you train per day?

- The preparation for the Championship is under well way, I feel good and I am pleased with my training process. I still have to lose weight, so there is still a lot of work ahead. I train twice a day, in the morning and evening. I would like to thank my University and faculty for supporting me, therefore, I could fully devote myself to preparing for the upcoming competition. During this period, I will still study, but I have an individual schedule.

- When preparing for various competitions, do you keep to any diet? What food do you exclude from the diet?

- I do keep to a diet, a month before the competition I exclude flour products and products with high sugar content, such as bread, chips, soda, chocolate, etc. My coach advises me many useful things about it. He is an experienced man, so I trust him completely.

- How do you recover from a grueling workout? What is your favourite method?

- My recovery methods are massage and sauna, like for everyone else. However, I prefer massage to sauna, because it helps to relax the muscles and significantly helps to recover.

- What role does sports nutrition play in your training? What supplements can you recommend?

- Sports nutrition plays a vital role in my training, as I spend a lot of strength and energy during training, and nutritional supplements help me to fill it. I mainly drink BCAA and amino acids, vitamins and fish oil as well. I still buy it with my own money, but we should have training camps from November 12, and I hope that there we will be given sports nutrition.

- Is it an advantage for you that the World Championship is held in Yakutsk? Do you agree with the opinion that home ground helps?

- Of course, this is an advantage for us, but it is also important to remember that it is a great responsibility. Our spectators are very demanding, and we have to go the extra mile for them and please them with our performances.

- How important is your mental attitude? How do you tune before going to the platform? Do you have any ritual, amulet or charm?

- I always tune in the same way to competitions. I do not label opponents strong or weak. Even if the opponent has only recently started training, I will prepare for the battle with him as the strongest opponent. For me each battle is like the last one, I always do my best (100%). To be alone before the battle is also important for me, to gather my thoughts. Sometimes, it happens, people come up, clap on the shoulders and say farewell expressions. Of course, it is nice, but it is also confusing and harmful at the same time, so I like to be alone before the battle.

- How well do you know your future opponents, do you follow their performances? What are your predictions about your performance or the distribution of places in your weight category?

- I know some of my opponents, I have watched videos with them on social media. I have already met some of them at the European Championship. Of course, there will also be "dark-horse candidates", so they can be a big threat. There are many our battles on the Internet, they can study us, analyze; there are lack of their videos, therefore, we do not know what to expect from them. But we will be ready for any obstacles.

Small quiz:

- When did you last read a book?

- Timofet Smetatin’s “Egor Charin”, it is about a Yakut sniper.

- Let’s say that you have a time machine. With whom would you like to talk face-to-face? Why?

- I would talk to legendary Bruce Lee.

- What would you choose - outdoor activities or lazy sunbathe on the beach?

- It is, of course, outdoor activity.

- What superhero would you like to be?

- I do not even know, but probably the Iron Man (laughs).

- The World Championship’s gold medal or 5 million rubles?

- I will choose the gold medal, because these 5 million will end one day, and world champion title will always be with me. So here, the choice is obvious.