The unique Russian Challenge tournament ended in Moscow, where the best skaters of Russia presented programs specially prepared for the new show. No restrictions on the topic and artistic means — unprecedented freedom for figure skating, constrained by strict refereeing rules.
The winner was Alexei Yagudin, the second place was taken by Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, and the third — Anna Shcherbakova.
There were also special prizes from the jury. The award from Nikolai Tsiskaridze was received by Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin. Valentin Yudashkin awarded Tatyana Volosozhar — Maxim Trankov. Yevgeny Mironov noted Mikhail Kolyada, Alla Sigalova — Sofya Akatieva, and Boris Eifman — Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. The Audience Choice Award was shared by Kamila Valieva, Mark Kondratyuk and Vasilisa Kaganovskaya/Valery Angelopol.
We definitely need such a tournament on an ongoing basis, ideally once a season. It was beautiful and spectacular. At times funny and touching. It was nostalgic and made me think. Athletes who retired long ago returned to the ice and competed on an equal footing with current figure skaters.And if we completely ignore the fact that the judges had to somehow choose the best among completely different artists, evaluate performances of different genres within one competition, then the tournament turns into a kind of festival of class athletes, who for the most part really came up with soul and imagination to productions.
Someone presented numbers familiar to everyone in popular culture — Makar Ignatov embodied the image of Ivan Vasilyevich from the Soviet comedy, Alina Zagitova skated in the form of the most famous blonde Marilyn Monroe. Matvey Vetlugin generally swung at the sacred and brought together four star images — Alina Zagitova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Evgeni Plushenko and Alexei Yagudin. To do this, they sewed an unusual transforming costume for him — with a deft hand movement, the “red ballerina” turns into a “stewardess” and “jock”.
Someone really surprised, for example, Anastasia Mishina, who rolled onto the ice in the form of a giant soccer ball, and Alexander Gallyamov, whose football uniform suits no less than tailcoats and red overalls. I was struck by Kamila Valieva in the form of a shaman, saving the earth from drought, causing rain by dancing with a tambourine and her crazy energy. The rain, by the way, did spill on the ice, so the magic worked.
There was a place for the miracle of decoration work and special effects. Tarasova/Morozov had a chess board painted on the ice while they were king and queen. Several planets were built for Mark Kondratyuk, on which he, the Little Prince, traveled in search of answers to the most important questions. Sofya Akatieva flew to the performance for a month, and then she also held the planet Earth in her hands.
Petr Gumennik played the Bolero on the piano, and it was a deadly number worse than a quad loop, because only a few figure skaters in the world are capable of this.
Evgenia Medvedeva was accompanied not only by the singer Miya Boyka with a live performance of the song “Vysoko”, but also by several thousand fans, whom the figure skater herself asked in advance to sing along. Given that the issue was dedicated to Zhenya's personal history with the Olympic drama in Pyeongchang, many could not hold back their tears. Although the aftertaste of the number still remained light.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva gave not only an anguish in emotions, but also showed an excellent tango. Mikhail Kolyada merged with the music in the male version of the song Je suis malade.Vasilisa Kaganovskaya/Valery Angelopol and Elena Radionova really lit up with dance numbers. And if Vasilisa and Valera still have a long way to go, now we will miss Lena on the ice even more — she is very good in her femininity. according to the tune of the melody and the same stories. Vika and Nikita were especially heartfelt, who could have won at all: the judges liked their story about the journey of the soul with an encouraging ending so much. br>
In all this abundance, among the many truly original and beautifully performed numbers, it was almost impossible to choose one who deserved to win. But everything was decided by itself.
After the performance of Alexei Yagudin, all those present could not come to their senses for a long time. The audience did not let him off the ice, the judges almost cried, and Alexei himself was so sincerely moved that he had not been seen for a long time. In personal conversations, he admitted that at some point the ice stopped bringing him emotions that cause the right inner trembling. And now he seems to have returned to this trembling again.
In the end, the winner was a man who, at 43, remains understandable and close to everyone who is interested in figure skating. For many, it was with Yagudin that this love began, for someone, thanks to him, it became stronger. Yes, surely one of us supported Plushenko in 2002, and in 2023 he has about a thousand complaints against Alexei for his sharp tongue and some shamelessness, so Yagudin is not the one they were rooting for today. But will they dare to say that Yagudin is a bad athlete? Not a real Olympic champion? Not a fighter who retired from the sport just because he had to replace a hip joint with a titanium one? Well, and, most importantly, that today he did not cause in us a painful feeling of elusive time and the unattainability of a crystal dream? br>
The show program stated in the description of the tournament is a very vague concept. This is, in fact, any number that can capture the imagination and evoke strong emotions in the viewer. Aleksey Yagudin, who did not have complicated scenery and visual effects in his act, coped with these tasks thanks to his acting talent. And, of course, life experience. He did not have any “crutches” in the form of recognizable music or bright props, but he did not let go of the attention of the audience even when he had already finished skating. .jpg» />
Surely tomorrow there will be a lot of talk about refereeing — in the context of his bias and incompetence. We are with you, after all, in figure skating — as here without claims to the judges. But today, when it was not a World Championship or Olympic medal that was at stake, one can simply proceed from the fact that judges are people too. And they are entitled to their own opinion. And we, of course, are free to agree or disagree with them.
So let's argue about the results of the Russian Challenge for a whole year. Just before the next show.