“I’m dwelling a extremely fascinating life,” grins Vlad Loginov. His thick moustache, pointed at each ends, bounces on his higher lip as he speaks. “Life is simply going with the stream. However at some second, if I begin eager about it, it’s like, ‘Wow, life is nice.’”
Inside a velodrome full of profession athletes, Loginov stands as an exception. Whereas his lots of his opponents joined expertise pathways as kids, working their means up by the age ranks, he did not discover biking till he was in his mid-twenties. Earlier than that, elite sport was by no means on Loginov’s radar. No, earlier than that, the Ukrainian-born Israeli was an expert folks dancer.
“I used to be working in a tutorial ensemble of Ukrainian music and dance… folklore,” he says. “I used to be working in a theatre, and part-time I used to be finding out in a regulation academy. So I’m a lawyer, additionally a dancer, and one way or the other a bike owner.”
Loginov, now 29 years previous, started dancing when he was seven. He carried out repeatedly all through his teenagers and early twenties, and skilled intensively, too. “All Ukrainian dance relies on squats, jumps, a whole lot of actions like that,” he says, dropping right down to the ground and springing again up in demonstration. “I simply transferred it to biking, and it’s going fairly properly.”
This week, Loginov is racing on the UCI Observe World Championships, his second look on the occasion in his quick biking profession. His introduction to the game was serendipitous, coming six years in the past, when he purchased a motorbike on a whim in a Black Friday sale.
“I moved to Israel [from Ukraine], and I didn’t have any buddies,” he says, “so I discovered biking. Biking is remedy for me to adapt to a brand new nation. I used to be working, I used to be studying Hebrew, and I used to be biking. That was actually one thing particular for me, as a result of I might get away from all the things, like psychological remedy, let’s say.”
Within the early days, Loginov would do his dance performances within the morning, after which prepare on his bike within the afternoons. Rapidly, he started to understand, the 2 worlds weren’t as completely different as they first appeared.
“I like biking as a result of it’s just like theatre,” he says, and gestures to the crowds within the stands. “You have got the viewers.” He then appears to be like over his shoulder on the observe. “That is the stage, and also you’re performing. In my first coaching, I bear in mind I used to be like, ‘Oh, it’s simply theatre, simply on a motorbike. How cool is that?’”
That is maybe why Loginov discovered it really easy to adapt to his new sport. In 2021, three years after taking on biking, he received an elite nationwide highway race title, beating riders on WorldTour groups. The victory got here not lengthy after he in the reduction of his dance exhibits, the coronavirus pandemic placing a pointy pin within the performing arts trade.
In the present day, he says, he nonetheless dances “only for enjoyable – I’ve a ballet present that I carry out with generally.” Principally, although, Loginov earns his cash as a barista in a café in Tel-Aviv.
“I’ve coaching on the observe twice per week, so these days I don’t work, as a result of it’s all day observe and gymnasium,” he says. “And all the opposite days, I attempt to do a exercise within the morning, after which my barista shift within the night.
“It’s fairly arduous after the exercise. While you’re standing for seven hours in your legs it’s simply ouch, ouch, ouch. It’s not the very best, however nonetheless, it’s higher than nothing.”
After ending fifteenth within the scratch race on Thursday, Loginov’s consideration has now turned to Sunday’s Madison, when he’ll grow to be one half of Israel’s first pairing to compete at a World Championships. His ambition past that’s to do the identical on the Olympics.
“Madison is my ardour, and hopefully we will make it to the Olympics,” he says. Loads can occur within the four-year cycle to Los Angeles, nevertheless, as Loginov is aware of. There can be many extra barista shifts, ballet performances, and household duties at dwelling – he and his spouse predict a second baby in March.
“That is what motivates me to offer my greatest, as a result of I understand how a lot I’ve sacrificed,” the 29-year-old says. “I’m actually joyful we made it [to the World Championships], and let’s see. We’ll attempt to make it to the Olympics. Hopefully I’ll nonetheless be biking then.”
