“The Human Torpedo” Denis Pankratov and some of his Russian teammates are battling a flu epidemic at a training camp near Moscow as they prepare for the World Cup in less than two weeks.
Pankratov, the double Olympic butterfly champion and world record-holder, had had a touch of flu which prompted him to cut back on his training. Luckily, he should be ready for a World Cup event in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on February 1 and 2.
The “Russian Rocket” Alexander Popov won’t travel to Germany. He has returned to train in Australia after recovering in Moscow from a stab wound in the stomach he sustained in a dispute with a watermelon vendor last August.
World 200m backstroke champion Vladimir Selkov and Olympic 200m breaststroke silver medalist Andrei Korneyev will travel to Gelsenkirchen next week.