Snowboarder Bogdan Bogdanov is one of the winners of the 2017 World Winter Universiade in Almaty. He brought two gold medals to the Russian national team, which helped her to become the best in the overall medal standings.
Childhood and adolescence
Bogdan Igorevich Bogdanov was born on February 17, 1992 in Zlatoust. His father was a former skier. It was he who instilled in his son a love of sports. When Bogdan was barely six years old, his father took him to the local school of the Olympic reserve (DYUSSHOR No. 1). There he worked in the alpine skiing section under the guidance of coach Natalia Lapshina for eight years. During this time, Bogdanov repeatedly became the winner of various championships of the Chelyabinsk region, as well as children's competitions of an all-Russian scale.
In 2006, Natalya Lapshina recommended that her father put Bogdan on a snowboard. The sport was booming at the time. He was first included in the Olympic program in 1998 at the Games in Nagano, Japan. In Russia, snowboarding began to gain popularity only at the beginning of the 2000s. The father of the young athlete himself was fond of him, so he quickly accepted Lapshina's offer. So Bogdanov traded downhill skiing for a "snowboard". The father was the first coach. Natalya Lapshina, who was one of the first to master snowboarding in Zlatoust, helped him actively in this matter.
Sports career
In 2009, the Bogdanov family decided to move to Khanty-Mansiysk, where conditions for snowboarding were better. At that time, Bogdan had already graduated from high school. In Khanty-Mansiysk, he entered the university and at the same time studied at the School of the Olympic Reserve of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Ugra.
Natalia Podorovskaya became Bogdan's mentor. Now she holds the post of the first vice-president of the Russian Federation of snowboarding. Under her leadership, Bogdan made significant progress: he improved his technique and increased his speed. The athlete began to develop his own style of boarding. Experts point out that not every snowboarder has one. It is believed that the style cannot be taught or copied, since it is determined by the anthropometric data and the dynamics of the athlete: height, weight, movements of the arms, legs and torso. Bogdanov was easily recognized by looking at his descent from afar. For a snowboarder, this is one of the main achievements.
In 2011, Natalia Podorovskaya recommended Bogdan to try himself in the so-called parallel disciplines: regular and giant slalom. These activities are very different from traditional snowboarding. Parallel slalom involves the simultaneous rivalry of two athletes on a mountain slope. Boards in this form are many times tougher than usual, and the speeds are close to the ski values. Bogdan liked such competitions, he quickly began to show good results. At that time he was honing his skills on the slope of the Khvoyny Urman ski complex.
Among his first achievements in Parallel Slalom and Parallel Giant Slalom:
- Gold medal at the School of Olympic Reserve tournament in 2012;
- two bronze medals at the 2012 Russian Championship;
- victory in the overall standings of the Russian Cup in 2014 and 2015.
In 2017, Bogdanov took part in the prestigious international tournament - the Winter Universiade, which was held in Kazakhstan. The snowboarder brought the team two medals of the highest dignity at once. However, the path to them was not the easiest one. Bogdan was the first in qualification for two days. This was followed by the 1/8, 1/4 finals, where the Russian confidently beat his rivals. In the semifinals, at first he lost seven hundredths of a second, but a few meters from the finish line he managed to get ahead of the enemy. This is how Bogdanov declared himself at the international level. According to the snowboarder himself, participation in the Universiade gave him confidence and strength for further victories.
At the Universiade, the Russian team won 29 awards of the highest dignity. This allowed her to be in the first position in the overall medal rating. This is also Bogdanov's contribution.
Soon after the triumph, Bogdan was recognized as the best sportsman of Ugra. Then, among the nominees were:
- biathletes Daria Virolainen and Svetlana Sleptsova;
- wrestler Maxim Khramtsov;
- skier Sergei Ustyugov.
The latter took "gold" in the legendary ski race "Tour de Ski" and became the main rival of Bogdan. As a result, Ustyugov received 1,825 votes, and Bogdanov - 2,222.
Currently, the athlete continues to improve his skills in training and various competitions. Bogdanov's main goal is to get into the country's Olympic team. It is not so easy to do this, since over two decades in Russia there have appeared quite strong athletes in this sport.
Charity
Despite his busy schedule and year-round gatherings, Bogdanov constantly helps novice snowboarders from his native Zlatoust. At his own expense, he purchases the necessary equipment and brings it to a sports school, where he himself once began to take his first steps. In addition, he helps with advice and motivating workouts.
Bogdan Bogdanov dreams of building an Olympic training center for snowboarders in his native Zlatoust. To bring this idea to life, he is ready to donate his own funds, as well as attract investors.
Personal life
Bogdan Bogdanov is married. The snowboarder tries to protect his personal life from prying eyes, so little is known about his wife. The wedding took place in August 2018 in Zlatoust. Judging by the photos on social networks, the ceremony was held in the Italian style. The couple has no children at the moment.
