Big challenge ice: ISU will lose not only skaters, but also Russia’s money

Alena Kostornaya, Maya Khromykh, Daria Usacheva will not appear at the starts either. But then there will be: Kamila Valieva, Alexandra Trusova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Mark Kondratyuk, Evgeny Semenenko, Mikhail Kolyada, Andrey Mozalev, Evgenia Tarasova – Vladimir Morozov, Anastasia Mishina – Alexander Galliamov … There are also three Sophias: Samodelkina, Akatieva, Muravyova, Adelia Petrosyan …

How do you like this slogan: “The best tournament on earth?”. There is no yet, and nothing foreshadows, admission to international tournaments. But skaters know how to arrange such notches at internal starts that you can’t take your eyes off. About the passions around and around – you can not remind. And now a lot of money is pouring into domestic figure skating.

Director General of the Russian Figure Skating Federation Alexander Kogan announced the amount of the total prize fund for Russian skaters in the new season. Everyone understood even before his words: it won’t be enough. But 100 million rubles sounds victorious.

To be honest, the voiced millions somehow even stunned. And it’s not that you want to always be in opposition: there is no money – to scold, they found money, and a lot – to scold again. But this prize fund, after all, is designed more for leaders who have both contracts and sponsors. Of course, we will not say now who will perform and how, but we can assume. For example, will Trusova go to the competitions in order to show herself in a disassembled state? Or Valiev? And there is nothing to say about Tuktamysheva, we have already seen her, together with the traditional axel, at the rentals in St. Petersburg.

There are no stupid calls to give this money back to sponsors or not to collect so much, and there cannot be. God forbid. In the end, it’s not the budget that someone is pulling, but the honestly found by the federation and honestly given away by those who want to be close to figure skating in Russia. But, perhaps, it is worth thinking about the distribution of funds in the future. We have a big country. Schools are different, as are conditions. Many live not so richly, to put it mildly.

And besides, why is material motivation presented as the main one? Again, for whom? For well-to-do leaders? Not so long ago I had a chance to talk with the head coach in another sport: artistic gymnastics, in which our teams, as you know, are Olympic champions. I asked Andrei Rodionenko (as it is now, alas, accepted) what to do with motivation. He suddenly said: and the training became more intense, more active and more responsible. I ask: because they took away the opportunity to speak? Answered: no, not only. Just now any athlete can literally make a breakthrough. Previously, you had to get into the team to go, for example, to the European Championship. And now: instead of Europe, you can get the same bonuses at the Russian Championship. And any gymnast can do this, not only from the selected six who would start at the European Championships. “And this means: guys, go ahead, tear! You can compete with anyone on an equal footing and take a place on the podium.”

Yes, in figure skating there are no separate types, as in gymnastics, but no one canceled the breakthrough, as well as the reputation of the athletes themselves and coaching schools. Once again – I’m not at all talking about the fact that prize money is not needed, besides, not one skater who performs directly on the ice receives it, followed by a whole team working for the result. But still, the idea expressed by the recently illustrious skier and president of the ski federation, who brought the most medals at the Beijing Olympics, Elena Vyalba, also has a serious basis. Each of the athletes of the Russian national team is a statesman who receives a salary, this is his job. And talk about prize money is the creation of an informational occasion.

From reasoning to specifics. The prize fund in figure skating today is not high, but very high. Leadership positions must not be missed, interest in figure skating must be fueled from all sides. And everything is logical: the most popular winter look brings the biggest money.

And everyone has already managed to compare: in biathlon, victory in the summer stages of the Commonwealth Cup is estimated at 150 thousand rubles, second place – 135 thousand, third – 120 thousand, from fourth to sixth places – from 100 to 65 thousand. But in winter, these amounts will be multiplied by two. And the total prize fund for the championship and the Cup of Russia will be 20 million rubles.

As Alexander Kogan emphasized, there is not a penny of budget money in the prize fund, it was collected from the funds of the FFKKR partners. By the way, Olga Chernosvitova, director of the Channel One Sports Broadcasting Directorate, says that if earlier a large amount of sponsorship funds were spent on the purchase of international rights, now all this money is spent on the development of our figure skating and its display. “Everything that the ISU does not receive will now be received by Russian athletes.”

And the last sounds, which is already there, somehow especially pleasant. By the way, the fund, and this is emphasized by the FFKKR, will make it possible to distribute money not only among adult athletes, but also among young skaters: “we must remember that we expect them at the next Olympic Games.”

Grand Prix is ​​not ISU, but Russia

Our athletes will have new competitions in the season. After the test skates of the team members, we will see this, perhaps, “the best tournament on earth.” Russian Grand Prix series. Yes, there will be no other Grand Prix series – the International Skating Union – for Russian skaters, the participants have already been distributed there. And, if by some miracle, somewhere in December, the ISU takes back its ban on performance and allows the Russian skaters to the January European Championships and the World Championships in March, the skaters will no longer go to the ISU Grand Prix anyway.

In total, there will be six stages of the Russian Grand Prix, the final of the series will be held in Sochi from March 3 to 5. After the skates of the national team, the distribution of its skaters into stages will take place. And the final composition of all participants will be formed after the regional federations submit their applications. One athlete can participate in only two stages. No more than 12 single skaters, the same number of single skaters, 10 dance duets and 8 sports couples will take part in each stage. This is to have no more than two warm-ups in each event.

“The Russian Grand Prix is ​​not an analogue or likeness of the ISU series. But in Russia, highly qualified athletes, I want to be seen constantly and it would be interesting to watch the rivalry, – emphasizes Alexander Kogan. – Moreover, we have also tied Russian competitions among juniors to the stages of the Russian Grand Prix, which will be held before the adult competitions. We will hold all stages of the Grand Prix in large palaces. The competitive days themselves are Saturday and Sunday, every week there is a start, there will be no demonstration performances. The Grand Prix Final will be held in the same format.”

The stages of the Grand Prix will provide an opportunity to qualify for the Russian Championship, the Russian Cup final, the Grand Prix final and the Russian national team for the next season. Juniors have the same pattern. And again we are approaching the very monetary and motivational reasons, they are also informational. The winners of the stages of the Russian Grand Prix will receive 500 thousand rubles, for the second place – 300, for the third – 200 thousand. The winner of the final of the Russian Grand Prix – 1 million rubles, the second step of the podium will be valued at 750, and the third at 500 thousand rubles.

And the winner of the Russian championship will be given 2.5 million rubles, for the second place – 1.5 million rubles, for the third – 1 million rubles. Especially impressionable and willing to have fun in terms of, I don’t know, however, at what exchange rate of the ruble, for comparison: the World Championship, the main tournament of the season, brings the winner 64 thousand dollars.

Even Russian figure skaters will be assigned rating points, which depend on participation in the main and additional tournaments. Points will be awarded for a place in each tournament. And here, too, there are prize money for the top three: 5 million rubles, second place – 2.5 million, third – 1 million rubles. “There is something to fight for, it’s like an added bonus to the season.”

Show during the World Cup

Jumping tournament will not surprise us anymore, we saw it last year in Saransk. But here’s the format – you can. The Russian Jumping Championship will once again call for the participation of not only single skaters, but also couples who will show throws, spins, parallel jumps.

But the open show program tournament in March (when the World Cup takes place) is an innovation. The participation of foreign skaters is also possible, but those who have completed their careers should not be afraid of the reaction of the ISU due to entering the Russian ice. According to Alexander Kogan, “a unique tournament is planned, which will evaluate the creative component of the programs. Its format will exist apart from the ISU. Everyone can compete on it in all types, regardless of status: even conditional Evgeni Plushenko with conditional Kamila Valieva. And it is necessary to show a completely new program, which the skaters have never presented anywhere before. Many of the skaters of past years, according to them, have already thought about participating in this show. But it’s still a tournament – entertainment. And yet, it’s a beautiful idea.

And the season on the competitive ice will, of course, be difficult. But with or without such a huge prize pool, to be honest, it didn’t cause a restless expectation of stagnation. There is resentment at the non-participation of our stars in international competitions, but there is no anxiety. “I came to the ice today at 10:00, and left at 19:47. Okay, that’s good. Working is good,” wrote Kamila Valieva the other day. And this is also a slogan. All our figure skating.

The composition of the participants in the test skates on September 24-25 in Moscow

Dancing on Ice:

Vasilisa Kaganovskaya – Valery Angelopol (Moscow);

Ekaterina Mironova – Evgeny Ustenko (St. Petersburg);

Annabel Morozov – David Narizhny (Moscow);

Elizaveta Pasechnik – Maxim Nekrasov (Moscow region);

Sofia Tyutyunina – Andrey Bagin (Moscow);

Irina Khavronina – Dario Chirizano (Moscow region);

Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva – Yegor Bazin (Moscow region / Samara region);

Elizaveta Shanaeva – Pavel Drozd (Moscow).

Women

Sofia Akatieva (Moscow);

Kamila Valieva (Moscow);

Sofia Muravieva (Moscow);

Adelia Petrosyan (Moscow);

Sofia Samodelkina (Moscow);

Alexandra Trusova (Moscow);

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (St. Petersburg).

Couples

Karina Akopova – Nikita Rakhmanin (Krasnodar Territory);

Yulia Artemyeva – Alexey Bryukhanov (Perm Territory);

Yasmina Kadyrova – Valery Kolesov (St. Petersburg);

Anastasia Mishina – Alexander Gallyamov (St. Petersburg);

Anastasia Mukhortova – Dmitry Evgeniev (Moscow);

Daria Pavlyuchenko – Denis Khodykin (Moscow);

Evgenia Tarasova – Vladimir Morozov (Republic of Tatarstan / Moscow);

Natalya Khabibulina – Ilya Knyazhuk (Moscow).

Men

Dmitry Aliev (St. Petersburg);

Petr Gumennik (St. Petersburg);

Artur Danielyan (Moscow);

Alexey Erokhov (Moscow);

Makar Ignatov (St. Petersburg);

Artem Kovalev (Moscow);

Mikhail Kolyada (St. Petersburg);

Mark Kondratyuk (Moscow);

Gleb Lutfullin (St. Petersburg);

Andrey Mozalev (St. Petersburg);

Alexander Samarin (Moscow);

Evgeny Semenenko (St. Petersburg).