Russian figure skaters in pair events are ready to catch medalists: “On the nerves – cool”

Don’t cling to the medal

Once upon a time, when domestic figure skaters showed strong results in dances, pairs and men’s singles, the women’s singles were considered “useless,” as one of the athletes put it. It is difficult to imagine such a situation today, but of the four species, one is always lagging behind and causes alarm. In recent seasons, the place of the useless ones has been given to ice dancing.

As has become even customary, about dancing – either nothing, or under the impression. Impressions from the Russian Championship: the movement has begun. Literally destroying themselves over the past seasons, breaking up and confusing many duets and coaching groups, who managed to give the pair into the wrong hands abroad, today our dances are still heading down a certain road. And they even created a semblance of competition for themselves.

No, Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin, who had beautifully returned to the ice, were not in danger on their way to gold; to lose it, they only had to not go on the ice. Just like Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva and Yegor Bazin, they immediately lose their stability and, in general, all their acquired skills, so as not to win silver. But bronze is the medal for which the duos fought, figuratively, to the point of blood in Chelyabinsk. Of course, the dream of such a battle for gold remains a dream for now, but we have to start somewhere.

The debutants of the adult championship Sofya Leontyeva and Daniil Gorelkin (coaches Irina Zhuk and Alexander Svinin), who unexpectedly found themselves in third place after the rhythm dance, did not forget that the silver medalists of the last Russian championship Elizaveta Shanaeva and Pavel Drozd (coach Alexander Zhuk) were left behind. Behind are debutants Irina Khavronina and David Narizhny (coach Denis Samokhin), who flew down in points due to a broken twizzle. Yes, experts say: you just need to learn twizzles. But the insidious element always turns out to be a nightmare on legs for someone.

Sonya and Daniil did everything they could in the free dance. They said that they didn’t think about medals, but wanted, and managed to do it, to show themselves to the fans, judges and the federation. And they honestly stated that for now, “with such rivals, it was probably impossible for them to get on the podium.” They finished the championship in fifth place with the words: we don’t want to cling to a medal, but we want to confidently take prizes.

Steps into the unknown

Irina Khavronina and David Narizhny were very good in the free dance. They received high marks (moreover, Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva and Yegor Bazin, former students of Samokhin, lost this dance to them). They became a duo a little less than a year ago. And after the well-deserved bronze, they admitted that it was not easy for them on their new path. “We were going into some kind of unknown, but we did not doubt our decision.”

Irina admitted: “we are happy that we found each other with David not only in life, but also on the ice.” She noted that they had “chemistry,” and this was evident in the very first training sessions. As for Chelyabinsk, the main start of the season, in the free program they managed to show the most emotional skate of the season: “we gave it our all, we were very calm.”

Elizaveta Shanaeva and Pavel Drozd lost to the debutants of the season on the sum of two programs. Having found themselves in fourth place, they did not hide: “they would be fools if they said that they were not upset because they were left without medals.” But they called their performance worthy, and, “so as not to give up completely,” they noted that “motivation can be drawn not only from medals.”

Speaking about the rivalry with Irina Khavronina and David Narizhny, Pavel Drozd did not call it principled. The dancer doesn’t want to pit anyone against each other, and “the joy of rivals is normal.” He also added that their duo “did their job very well.”

Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva and Yegor Bazin (coach Alexander Zhulin) became silver medalists, losing the Russian throne to Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. Lisa and Yegor did not allow anyone to practice their wit about their mistakes this time, as was the case last year. They approached the Russian Championship in good shape. The free dance was not without its flaws, but “it was a blemish that was noticeable only to us.” Lisa explained that even the coaches asked again: “It was or wasn’t?” And in general: “this didn’t spoil the impression, I’m happy with myself and my partner.”

Elizabeth also noted that she is completely satisfied with the changes in their lives: both the new coaching staff and they themselves are different. “Now every new day you realize that you love your job, you want to go to many more championships.” And she emphasized what was very important for her and Yegor in the season: “The leaders of the national team have returned, it’s stupid to say otherwise, we learn from the guys every day, we are glad that we have this opportunity.”

Other league

And the leaders – Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin – were happy. The return to their tenth Russian Championship turned out to be very emotional and beautiful. And the separation of the dance duet in each component of the dance impression was visible to both the audience and the judges. It’s not for nothing that the words “another league” were immediately heard.

Alexandra Stepanova said after her third victory at the Russian Championship: “We changed the coach, team and conditions. This season was responsible for us and at some points even difficult.” The words were clear. Breaking is not building. And in dancing, moving to another coaching group is always an expectation of change, and from everyone at once: judges, colleagues, spectators. When the level of athletes is so high, it is difficult to say how long it will take for these changes to be recognized by everyone, and they do not remain only at the level of sensations of the dancers themselves. Sasha and Ivan say: there is lightness, liberation, “in dancing it is very important to perform programs with such ease, we are starting to see this, we will develop in this direction.”

But the main thing today, perhaps, is contained in other words of the duet. They returned not just because of their experience and accumulated skill to take first place. Their difficult decision to move to the team of Alexander Zhulin from mentors with whom they had lived their whole life on the ice – Irina Zhuk and Alexander Svinin, was explained by the desire to learn something new, to knock themselves out of the familiar, recognizable.

They want to change further, while being excited, as if they are going on the ice for the first time. Even before the Russian Championship, Sasha said: “When you are the leader of a national team, you must maintain the level and increase it; with age there is much more responsibility.” And I remembered how Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron tuned in. “Even though they are space athletes, they were very nervous.” And Ivan then clarified: this happens when “you don’t care about your skating, when you’re passionate about this business.”

No one guarantees Stepanova and Bukin in the future that they will be unattainable, as at this Russian Championship. But they themselves guarantee the fight. And, as are the leaders, so are the pursuers. And Chelyabinsk showed: new names have already appeared in dance that surprise.

“There are two of us”

In pair skating we have two leaders who always create intrigue. But Anastasia Mishina and Alexander Gallyamov did not agree with this at the Russian Championship, won gold with impeccable programs and received scores higher than the world record. We brought all thirty-three pleasures to the audience and specialists (they can also be easily listed down to the required number). Second place was taken by Alexandra Boykova and Dmitry Kozlovsky, who gave the title to last year’s Russian champions. In third place are young Ekaterina Chikmareva and Matvey Yanchenkov.

One of the surprises of the Russian Championship is the debut and progress with which Alena Kostornaya and Georgy Kunitsa are developing. Yes, they ended up taking ninth place, but they had already crossed the 200 point threshold. And in the free program they demonstrated the most difficult jump set of all the pairs. And their paired elements, which did not look paired at all a few months ago, are completely different today. Doesn’t mean it’s on the fourth level, but not everything can be done at once.

The couple, as everyone remembers, just appeared on the ice and began the season by blaming the refereeing. Alena, in her characteristic manner, does not choose words, or rather, chooses them, but she tore and threw those that were harsher because of the low grades. But this beginning also became an experience. As many have already seen, the skaters did not give up working in pairs on the ice. And we approached the Russian Championship differently than at the beginning of the season.

In the free program – here, of course, their rivals also tried, which, however, happens often – they were ahead of many, becoming fifth. The pair is developing quickly, the main thing is that it does not stop during the out-of-competition period.

Alena now speaks more carefully. She claims that she realized that no matter what outstanding thing she has done for herself today, they “will not evaluate it now the way I want.” Also, I would like them to stop saying “single skater Kostornaya.” “There are two of us – Kostornaya and Kunitsa.”

By the way, both the husband and the partner are not silent; they also place the necessary accents. I decided to clarify everything completely: “Alena will not be the same. She has matured, she is in pairs skating. This is the new Alena.” New or old – it depends on who you think it is. But the debutants not only do not spoil the life of our pair skating, but also brighten it up with their colors.

“This never happened before”

Several couples could compete for bronze, but not everyone succeeded. Elizaveta Osokina and Artem Gritsaenko were thrown back from third place by an accident with a broken lace: they stole five penalty points at once for stopping the program. And then Lisa’s nerves dropped from the ejection… The couple approached the Russian Championship with clear ambitions to fight for bronze. And it’s very disappointing how a string interfered with serious plans, which could have shown at an earlier start: high-level athletes need to think about it too. “Of course, I felt it right away. I couldn’t jump and drive any further, it would have been very dangerous,” Artem said. – This didn’t happen before. I never used tape to wrap my shoe. I tried to meet the required stopping time, my hands were shaking, I tried to do something, the lace would not come undone. The coaches helped.”

Natalya Khabibullina and Ilya Knyazhuk did not experience such problems, but in the short program they fell from the throw, ending up in sixth place. And in the free program there was an error in the execution of the cascade. Natasha and Ilya have absolutely not erased the idea of ​​themselves as a couple who can fight for the pedestal, but for now he has moved away from them into that very future. They will catch up.

Made me nervous

When Ekaterina Chikmareva and Matvey Yanchenkov appeared on the ice and then most rapidly performed their free program, showing what elements should be in pairs skating, the fate of third place was decided. Synchronously, without effort and without mistakes, and without leaving the images. “There was a colossal struggle, there were nerves, and we are glad that we overcame them. I’ve been on nerves all day, it’s cool,” admitted Matvey Yanchenkov.

Alexandra Boykova and Dmitry Kozlovsky were unable to retain last year’s title of Russian champions, they fell behind after the short program, and made a mistake in the free program, although it was all performed amazingly. After the end of the competition, Dima said: both the opponents are worthy and the performances are worthy. And he noted the rotation and competition in Russian pair skating. “Since 2018, no one has won the Russian championship twice in a row.”

And the skater made the simplest conclusion from this observation: the current generation of winners cannot relax. “Those who want to screw us work, work, and they do it very well. The main thing for us is not to give up our position.” (By the way, the Russian championship was not complete without a quadruple twist – it was demonstrated by Yulia Artemyeva and Alexey Bryukhanov, although so far they have not been able to skate the program cleanly.)

And then, when Yanchenkov thanked for the kind words, Dima also made his words more specific. “They’re not that warm! I watched Katya and Matvey’s performance today and saw the scores. Therefore, Matvey, I don’t know how you took my words, but I’m nervous!”

Without fear and reproach

“Dreams of Love”, technical strength and stability – these are the Russian champions Anastasia Mishina and Alexander Gallyamov. They say that they never forget: all our couples enter the Russian Championship with appropriate preparation. Nastya generally believes that the Russian Championship is always a very difficult tournament, and often even more difficult than the European or World Championship.

The head of the coaching group of champions (Arthur Minchuk, Nikolai Moroshkin) Tamara Moskvina assessed the level of skating of all pairs at the national championship. The famous mentor believes that young people technically do not lag behind the leading couples of the country and the world. “Without fear or reproach, they not only perform the elements, but also demonstrate interesting programs with intricate findings, this is pleasing.” And, which is also good news, these pairs represent different regions of the country and different coaching teams.