 Natallia Tsylinskaya on a 2004 Belarusian stamp | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Natallia Tsylinskaya |
| Born | (1975-04-30)30 April 1975 (age 50) Minsk, Belarus |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1] |
| Weight | 73 kg (161 lb; 11.5 st)[1] |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Track & Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Professional team | |
| 2007– | Safi – Pasta Zara – Manhattan |
Medal record | |
Natallia Tsylinskaya (Russian:Наталья Цилинская; born 30 August 1975) is a former internationalcyclist who specialised in tracksprinting. Tsylinskaya is an eight-timeWorld Champion and anOlympic bronze medalist.[2] She now serves as the chairwoman of theBelarusian Cycling Federation [ru] and a state coach for the National Olympic Training Center for cycling.[3]
Tsylinskaya was born inMinsk, then part of theSoviet Union. Under the direction of her trainer, Alexander Beljatsky (who rode for Russia's road racing teamDynamo), Tsylinskaya won the Youth USSR Championship at the age of 14.[4] At 16, in 1993, she travelled toPerth, Australia, to participate in theJunior World Championships, where she won a bronze medal.[5]
Tsylinskaya stepped away from professional cycling to start her family, but Belarusian authorities convinced Natallia to return to competitive cycling during the winter of 1998.[6] As Minsk did not have a track or adequate training facilities, Tsylinskaya moved toMoscow, where she trained.
At the2000 World Championships inManchester, England, she won gold in both the500mTT (time trial) and theSprint,[7] but these results alone were insufficient to qualify for the2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. In 2001, she teamed up with Russian trainer, Stanislav Solovyev (Станислав Соловьев), who remained her coach throughout her career. She won gold for both the sprint and 500mTT events at three of the fourworld cups in that year but did not gain a medal at the2001 World Championships inAntwerp, Belgium.[8] She also suffered a severe crash during the sprint qualification rounds, in which she broke her collarbone.[9]
Riding for the first time in international competition under her maiden name of Tsylinskaya, she began the 2002 season by winning both the sprint and 500mTT events at theWorld Cup races inMonterrey andMoscow. She followed this by winning gold in both the500mTT and sprint events at the2002 World Championships inBallerup, Denmark.[10]
At the2003 World Championships inStuttgart, Germany, she won gold in the500mTT event, posting her personal best time of 34.078 seconds.[11] However, in the sprint event, Tsylinskaya competed against Russian track cyclistSvetlana Grankovskaya in the final, and lost in two straight heats, taking second place.
In 2004, the focus was on theAthens Olympics that took place in August. After victories inWorld Cup races earlier that year, at theWorld Championships inMelbourne, Australia, in May 2004, she collided with British riderVictoria Pendleton's wheel in the sprint and bruised her right hip in the crash.[12] Inthe following 500mTT competition, she finished eighth, withAnna Meares winning the event.[7] On 20 August 2004, Tsylinskaya took the bronze medal, her only Olympic medal, inthe 500m time trial, with a time of 34.167 seconds.[13]
At beginning of the new season, Tsylinskaya expanded her training routine to incorporateKeirin racing. She began the season by appearing at the Los AngelesWorld Cup, winning gold in the 500mTT and the sprint and winning bronze in the Keirin (losing to Victoria Pendleton and Anna Meares).[14] One month later, in January 2005, Natallia rode at the Manchester World Cup, where she won gold in the Keirin event.[15] TheWorld Championships were held in Los Angeles. She won gold inthe 500mTT race over Anna Meares by .014 seconds[16] but was beaten in the sprint byKerrie Meares, after being relegated and subsequently disqualified in the quarterfinals for performing a dangerous manoeuvre. In the second round of the Keirin event, Tsylinskaya fell whilst trying to gain the lead.[17] Tsylinskaya sustained mild, superficial injuries as well as a moderateconcussion.
The2005-2006 World Cup season began in Moscow where Tsylinskaya won gold in both the 500mTT event and the sprint.[18] At the Manchester World Cup, she earned gold in the 500mTT on the first day of the competition.[19] A day later, she came second in the sprint, losing toVictoria Pendleton after being relegated in the final.[20] In the Los Angeles World Cup, Tsylinskaya again won the 500mTT and the sprint events.[21]
At the2006 World Championships, Tsylinskaya won gold in the500mTT event, posting a time of 34.152 seconds.[19] At the later sprint event, Tsylinskaya also took the gold in the sprint event, beating Victoria Pendleton in the final.[22]
The 2007 track cycling season commenced with Round 1 of theWorld Cup series in Sydney, Australia, from 17 to 19 November 2006. In the Sprint competition final, Tsylinskaya competed against the British champion, Victoria Pendleton, resulting in a closely contested third ride, with Tsylinskaya eventually securing the gold medal.
The second round of the World Cup series was held in Moscow, Russia, on 15–17 December. As in Sydney, Tsylinskaya made it through to the final, where she finished ahead of 19-year-old CubanLizandra Guerra. Tsylinskaya won second place behind Guerra with a time of 34.802 seconds in the 500m time trial.[23]At the2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing, she qualified seventh fastest in the preliminary heats forthe sprint event. Tsylinskaya was placed sixth overall at the end of the competition.
As of 2023, Tsylinskaya serves as part of the Management Board of theUEC, the European confederation of national cycling bodies. She also serves as the head of the women's commission of the UEC.[24]
Through cycling, Natallia met her first husband,Alexander Markovnichenko [d], aUkrainian bicycle racer who, at the time, was a World Champion in the combined team of theUSSR.[6] They married in the mid-1990s, moved toDonbas, Ukraine, and Natallia gave birth to their daughter, in May 1996.[5] She returned to Minsk occasionally to attend the Academy of Physical Training and Sports, where she studied in absentia and which she completed in 1998.[4]
Tsylinskaya thereafter began a relationship with Russian bicycle racerAndrey Minashkin. The couple wed on 18 October 2002 in a ceremony inMinsk.[5]
