Anastasia PaninaSports correspondentAll materialsWhen in three hundred years our life today will turn into a story that inspires descendants to myths, one of them will begin something like this. In the crystal castle in the middle of the stone jungle lived beautiful maidens, stronger than whom there were none in the world. These virgins possessed incredible abilities — they were beautiful as nymphs, strong as Amazons and as gold-bearing as Alaskan mines. Each of the maidens was worthy of becoming a queen, and even the sun was embarrassed to shine at the sight of their talent. But the curse hung over the crystal castle, because a short period was allotted to the virgins for their power. A short age is not talent, but health and opportunities to reveal talent — every autumn a new maiden appeared, even more majestic. The former maiden-queens faded into the shadows. The fall from the tower of the crystal castle is a dramatic outcome, which was watched with delight by the inhabitants of the stone jungle. If we leave the metaphors and put it down to earth, then nothing supernatural happened at the Grand Prix stage in Moscow — Sofya Akatieva, about whom experts began to talk about with careful aspiration two seasons ago, she finally showed herself in full force, defeating the authority of Kamila Valieva at the very first start of the season. Camila's only ultra-si for two programs — a quadruple sheepskin coat — ended in a painful fall. Sofia's triple Axel fall in the short program was a statistical error, while in the free program she showed a clean Axel and two quadruple toe loops. br>Figure skating. Russian Grand Prix. Women. Free skateNo one in the Russian national team is capable of such a thing now, including those whom Akatieva has been equal to in training at Khrustalny for the past four years. But the main thing is not so much technology as everything else. The only thing Sophia is inferior to Camila right now is the length of her arms and legs, but this is a natural reality that cannot be influenced. In terms of the work of the skate, body, quality of rotations and paths, reach and cleanliness, the skaters are already equal, and at some points Akatieva has trump cards that Valieva does not have. However, as well as vice versa. Nevertheless, we can already say that a new leader has definitely appeared in the Russian national team — 15-year-old Sofya Akatieva, who, ironically, does not have a single international title in juniors. The date of birth played against her (she was born a few days later than the ISU starting point — July 1), the coronavirus pandemic and the removal of Russian athletes from competitions after the events in Ukraine began. Kamila can only save herself by the inertial advantage of her second mark, which this time allowed her to create a backlog in the short program even without ultra-c and lose quite a bit to Sonya in the free program with an incomparable technical set. But Akatyeva's grades, with stable performance, will inevitably begin to grow, and the legend about the crystal maidens weakening every year will again receive confirmation of its veracity.
