Figure skater Gumennik lost after winning the Russian Championship: “I’ll be angrier”

Thank you very much to the stages of the Russian Grand Prix. Because they gave us the opportunity to observe it live: how many athletes, including leaders, move from the disassembled state to the main start of the season. (Although not everyone succeeded – for example, Roman Savosin or Mark Kondratyuk cannot boast of this championship.) The short program failed many. But after it, the time has come to show yourself, even if not in the fight for the podium.

For example, Gleb Lutfullin – “approached the free program with a cool head,” did four quadruple jumps, “came out with a smile: “I’ll try to skate on chill, on relaxation.” Andrey Mozalev – performed three quadruples, showed a program in which he disappeared and dragged the stands along with him, however, the judges turned out to be merciless – they saw a lot of under-rotations. Makar Ignatov impressed with his performance of quadruples (four in the program), he was disappointed with his sixth place, but now he needs to “finish off” both the non-jumping elements and the presentation. Daniil Samsonov returns to fighting condition – two quadruple Salchows, an Axel (butterfly on the second) and an excellent presentation…

But medals awaited other athletes. And – either a drama in the end, or a thrill, or some kind of higher justice (however, it’s just different for everyone). After the first day of competition, Petr Gumennik was behind the leader (Vladislav Dikidzhi), second place (Evgeniy Semenenko) and third (Dmitry Aliev) by approximately 7 to 13 points. (After the short program: Vladislav Dikidzhi – 102.70; Evgeniy Semenenko – 101.19; Dmitry Aliev – 99.20; Petr Gumennik – 91.84).

From the outside, the free program for Peter was almost a ride of life. “Almost” – because he himself will always find something to complain about. Three quadruple jumps, two axels and an absolutely gorgeous free “Dorian Gray” (choreographed, by the way, by Daniil Gleikhengauz and Eteri Tutberidze). And her enchanting performance was already his victory, no matter what happened later. Gumennik raised the audience, whose life belonged to him during all the minutes of the free program. He received crazy points for his free program: 200.58, which he eventually won over his opponents. But, alas: in the total points, everything was decided by that very “stupidity,” as Gumennik called the failure of the axel in the short program.

When skating without your opponents falling, it’s difficult to earn ten points. And Dmitry Aliev gave up third place by mistake. At the beginning of the program, suddenly, instead of a quadruple sheepskin coat, a “butterfly”, hated by everyone in figure skating, flew in… Having made a mess, she, fortunately, left the ice, and Dima squeezed all the emotions out of himself and the audience. Amazing performance with two more quadruples, an axel and the soul of Aliyev, which knocks on every heart. But – fourth place.

Peter Gumennik, after the cultural shock and the final result, “kept his face.” He said that so far it’s like this: this year at the Russian Championships he won the free program, last year he won the short program, now all that remains is to win everything in general. And he modestly noted (confirming the thought that he himself would not call the free skate in Chelyabinsk a life skate): he scored high points, although “he could have skated a little better, but overall I’m happy.” Although, yes, there is “a little feeling of incomplete satisfaction.”

And then Peter made a conclusion that was wonderful for our figure skating: but next time “I will be even more angry, I will have more motivation and inspiration to train in order to still win.”

Evgeny Semenenko, having already declared in the short program that he had gained shape for the Russian Championship, did not allow himself to relax in the free program. He later said this: in such competition there is no time to even think – you need to go out and skate only cleanly. “I should have not given up the title. Well, I didn’t give it away.” This is his second title, which he knocks out of his opponents with his skates in a very difficult fight. Luck? Rather, stability.

Yes, figure skating is a double event. Semenenko survived. Both of Zhenya’s programs this season are good. Evgeniy may not have the strongest jump set possible, but Alexei Mishin’s coaching staff knows this even without prompting. And in the current competition of Russian men’s single skating, this headquarters will find something to surprise next season.

By the way, Alexey Mishin “produced” not only champions during his career as a coach, but also mentors. Only at the Russian Championship in Chelyabinsk, his former student Arthur Gachinsky brought Semyon Solovyov (eighth place) to the main start of the season, and another student trains Vlad Dikidzhi – Oleg Tataurov.

Vladislav Dikidzhi remained almost true to himself in Chelyabinsk: jumping without question. In the free program, he showed a quadruple Lutz and two Salchows in a shockingly clean manner, and a triple Axel was also in place. But Vlad was still mistaken – and this was already surprising. In addition, the axel with two turns suddenly showed obstinacy (in a cascade with a triple lutz) – he decided to steal half of himself, and only got a single one. This would even be funny in another situation, but not in the fight for gold at the Russian Championship, taking into account Vlad’s score for components that has not yet been achieved; even without a broken axel, he lost a lot here.

Dikiji, already recognized by everyone as the “opening of the season”, will not tirelessly pat himself on the head after the Russian Championship, having won silver in this fierce battle, he will wish himself “nerves of stone” in the new year. But he admits that he is satisfied, although not everything was successful. He won’t hide it – the result is still unexpected for him. And he will voice a conclusion that will show what starts are like for an athlete (in his case, exactly those very stages of the Grand Prix of the season that he won). I understood that if “you work, if you plow, there will definitely be a result, and if my parents had hammered this into my head earlier, maybe it would have happened earlier.” In general, his attitude towards life has also “changed a little,” so everything together affects progress.

But now Vlad will work even harder. Above the weak point – the components, doubly so. (Everyone already knows that the now famous figure skater is also a TikTok star and dances for a million views. But now this question is a trend, Dikiji will not get rid of it for a long time, so he will have to transfer the movements from the floor to the ice.) He told how, in preparation for the championship, the coach urged him on during skates, reminding him: speed, speed, hands… And how he himself “squeezed every last drop of sweat out of himself.”

He also admits: he’s seen enough of the “raspberry” ones – they jump, they say, whatever they want, the last element. And because of the obstinacy of the failed jump, Vlad also wanted to try in the end – not a double, but a triple axel. He smiled while telling this and made a promise: “but it’s okay – I’ll show you later.”

…When the champion and prize-winners of the Russian Championship in men’s single skating were shown one of their joint childhood photos (which had appeared on the Internet a long time ago) and asked if they remembered the time when they were together in their youth, Gumennik immediately joked – yes, we are not old yet . This trio is about the same age: Peter is a little older, he is already 21, Vlad is a little younger – he is 19, and Semenenko is again in the middle, 20 years old. There was a time when we trained in the same group.

And then three amazing skaters repeated the photo from their youth in front of the cameras, standing as they did in the photo, which seemed to predict the result of this season: Zhenya was in the center, Dikidzhi and Gumennik, as befits the silver and bronze medalists. But this photo is unlikely to be the last, but two of them will, of course, try to change the places in it.