Penza, 25 June 2016. PenzaNews. Victoria Andreeva will be skipping the Russian Swimming Cup stage in Penza on June 27-29 due to a strained back, her coach Galina Dolgova informed PenzaNews.

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“Victoria’s back still hurts, we are working on it. Trying to train and recover at the same time. […] We don’t have the time to just rest. […] I decided to stay away from the Cup to avoid straining the back even further. We still have a good chunk of hard work ahead of us,” she explained.

The swimmer will be taking part in two more competitions before the Olympic Games – first as a representative of the Far East Federal University, and then the Russian Cup finals, she noted.

Currently, Victoria Andreeva is training at the swimming grounds of the Olympic reserve sports school in Akhuny, at the same location as the Russian swimming team captain Anastasia Fesikova, Galina Dolgova clarified.

According to her, the athlete will take part in the 20-days-long training camp in the Krugloe Lake sports facility, followed by a double acclimatization period.

“First, we go to Portugal for a week, then we will spend a weak in San-Paolo, […] then moving to Rio on August 5, and begin the competition on the 6th [of August],” Galina Dolgova clarified.

Describing the swimmer’s level of preparation for the victory, the sports coach told a PenzaNews reporter that Victoria Andreeva intends to fight for victoryl.

“We were ready to keep winning – but then the luck showed itself, we had a strained back, an acute strain. Should have stayed away from straining it at the competition, which was what I intended to do, but we had the orders from the higher-ups. Other than that, what exactly are we seeking there, you ask? Not loss, definitely. Obviously, we go there to fight for the victory, even in our current condition,” Galina Dolgova concluded.