MOSCOW, February 8, Pavel Levkovich. The judges underestimated the short program of Russian figure skater Evgeny Semenenko at the Beijing Olympics, said Olympic champion Natalia Bestemyanova. Semenenko is in seventh place (95.76 points) after the short program at the Beijing Olympics. Mark Kondratyuk is on the 15th line (86.11), Andrey Mozalev is on the 23rd (77.05). The winner of the short program was the American Nathan Chen (113.97 points), who set a new world record.
"Semenenko is underestimated by the judges. He skated perfectly, it's a pity that he did not get into the last warm-up. Well, nothing, a lot also depends on the free program. As for Kondratyuk, apparently, he is absolutely devastated. His skates in the team took away not physical, but emotional energy. He did his best, I hope that he will come to his senses in the free program and perform in the best version. But Mozalev skated badly, frankly badly. He didn’t succeed, most likely he was nervous", said Bestemyanova.
The Olympic champion also appreciated Chen’s world record. “He skated fantastically, absolutely unique. But Nathan should have skated the only way, we all remember the failure of his short program in Pyeongchang. Nathan overcame himself psychologically, did it, surpassed himself. I was able to pull myself together and skate a short one,» the agency's interlocutor added.