The snowboarder Natalia Soboleva won the bronze in parallel slalom at the World Cup stage in Bad Gastein, Austria. And this is two weeks before the Olympic Games in Beijing, where she definitely has a chance to get a medal. Read the material by Metaratings.ru about one of the best snowboarders in Russia.
She started snowboarding because of her brother
Natalia Soboleva was born on December 11, 1995, in the city of Tashtagol. When Natalia was five, her parents took her to a skiing club, and at 13, she switched to snowboarding, looking at her older brother Andrey – one of the leaders of a local slalom team.
Natalia achieved her first results in snowboarding quite quickly. She trained hard to achieve results. At the age of sixteen, Soboleva made it into the national team and debuted in parallel slalom at the European Cup.
Bet on Beijing Olympics with 1xBetA couple of months later, she got a chance to prove herself at the World Cup in Moscow and took 34th place.
Taking part in international competitions
Natalia got into a flower ceremony a year and a half later, having taken fourth place at the stage in Austria. In 2013, she debuted at the World Cup: she became the seventh in parallel slalom.
A year later, Natalia won two gold medals at the World Junior Championship. The Olympic Games in Sochi became the first in her career, but it wasn't successful: she took only 15th place. In her interview with the Russian News Agency TASS, she shared her emotions after the performance:
In general, I am satisfied with the way I snowboarded. My parallel slalom was always better than parallel giant slalom. Although I aimed to get closer to the medals, I had lots of experience, I wasn't so worried even at the World Cups.
In 2018, the Olympics were held in Pyeongchang. It was unsuccessful both for Natalia and her brother Andrey. The snowboarders in the parallel giant slalom discipline didn't even manage to qualify.
As we know, there are usually ups after downs. In 2019, during the World Championship in Park City, USA, Natalia became a silver medalist in parallel giant slalom. In the final race, the athlete lost to the German Selina Jörg.
The brother's support during the competitions
Natalia's older brother Andrey, the world champion in parallel giant slalom, helps her during the decisive races.
"Andrey and I support and worry about each other. When I made it to the semifinals in Park City, he encouraged me before the race. I am glad I did well here at the main start of the season. Now, this medal is the most significant and precious in my career," she told Russian sports channel Match TV.
In her free time, Soboleva travels across the world and Russia. She posts her photos from numerous trips on Instagram. Natalia can easily compete with the host of a travel show in the number of vacation photos.
The Olympic Games in Beijing will be the third in Soboleva's career. The snowboarder approaches the tournament fully armed, and the bronze of the World Cup in Austria confirms it. We keep our fingers crossed for the Sobolevs, charming snowboarder Natalia and her older brother Andrey.
