Nikita Zakharov - Russian luge and bobsledder. Behind him are dozens of international starts, including the Olympics. At the age of 19, he completely switched to bobsleigh, where he was a pilot and performed both in the deuces and the fours.
Biography: early years
Nikita Vladimirovich Zakharov was born on June 14, 1987 in Dmitrov, near Moscow. He came to the luge section thanks to his older brother, who was successfully involved there. Nikita was already 11 years old. His first coach was Olga Istarova. Thanks to his good physical condition, he almost immediately began to show good results.
He practiced sledding for seven years, "matured" to a candidate for master of sports. Zakharov was included in the main team of the junior team of Russia. He competed in single sleighs.
In 2005, Nikita lost its former shape. For this reason, he had a disagreement with the coach. It was decided to switch to a related sport - bobsled. Then in Russia he was in a deep decline, and before the high-profile victories of Zubkov and Voevoda several years remained.
After leaving sledding, Zakharov ended up in the Moscow bobsled team. Nikita trained under the guidance of two famous trainers: Oleg Sokolov and Alexander Shcheglovsky. At first they tried it in the role of a dispersing bean. However, for this role he lacked speed. Then the coaches decided to transfer Nikita to the pilot's seat. Sokolov and Scheglovsky did not fail.
Career
Performances in bobsleigh Zakharov began with junior competitions. In 2010, at the World Championships in Swiss St. Moritz, his crew took second place. Two years later, the “four” Zakharova in the Austrian Igls repeated the result.
At important "adult" international bobsleigh starts, Nikita made his debut in the 2012/2013 season. So, at the world championship in the American Lake Placid, his “four” was not quite enough to the top ten - she took 11th place. Zakharov himself was pleased with the result. In an interview, he noted that this is a good place for a debut. But in the “deuces” Zakharov and his partner Maxim Meleshkin showed the 19th result.
That season, Nikita did not manage to get into the main team of the Russian team, but this only tempered his character. Zakharov began to work hard on technology.
At the stage of the World Cup 2013 in Lake Placid, Nikita showed the best result in the races of the “fours” among all the crews from Russia. His car came to the finish line fourth. However, he failed the second attempt, eventually closing the first ten.
At the Sochi Olympics, Zakharov piloted the third bean of the Russian team. His “four” was able to take only 15th place.
In 2017, Zakharov completed his sports career.
