Russians undercover: who to root for at the World Figure Skating Championships

Russian figure skaters will take part in the world championship starting on Wednesday in Saitama, Japan. No, this is not a sensation from the International Skating Union (ISU), but a reality — let ours compete for other countries. Of course, there will be not as many of them as at the January European Championship, but there will be someone to cheer for.

Will the new title help Gubanova?
Despite positive signals from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), ISU did not allow Russian skaters to the World Championships, although the International Skating Union had time to listen to the «seniors» who issued a recommendation to consider the possibility of participation of Russians and Belarusians in a neutral status. But, apparently, the ISU decided to bring the season to the end as it is, and then look at the situation.Nevertheless, Russian figure skaters and coaches will come to the World Championships. The first will represent other countries, and the second will come to the side in jackets with the symbols of these very states. And even without them: if you can talk about any coaching uniform in figure skating, then 30-40 years ago it would have been a fur coat, and today it is a fashionable expensive coat. Not the essence — the cramped world of figure skating, but with the warmth inherent in a snake ball, calling itself «family», knows perfectly well who is from where. And no patch on a jacket or a badge on the lapel of a jacket will help here — our «undercover» will be exposed.The greatest attention, and this is natural, will be riveted to Anastasia Gubanova. Of course, the first European champion in the history of Georgia in Japan will be harder than at the end of January in Finnish Espoo. Here, among her rivals will be very formidable mistresses of the ice — the winner of the Grand Prix Final of this season Mai Mihara, the bronze medalist of the Beijing Olympics and the reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto, as well as the world junior champion American Isabeau Levito. And the Belgian Luna Hendrix, who suffered a defeat at the European Championships, will strive to take revenge./

But Gubanova, after returning from the suburbs of Helsinki to St. Petersburg, which became her native, where she trains in the group of Evgeny Rukavitsyn, did not waste time in vain and spent a full training cycle. And she has experience of performing at the World Championships. Last season in French Montpellier, Nastya took a high sixth place. It seems that she has every chance in Saitama to surpass this result and compete for the top three. And the title can help her.

Of the other participants in the World Championship in women's single skating, the most «recent» Russian is Anastasia Gracheva, who has been playing for Moldova only this season. But she will not fight for serious places in the tournament — as shown by the European Championship, where Gracheva became only 28th, the selection to the free program, where 24 best participants fall on the basis of a short rental, will already be a success.

And of those former representatives of Russia, whom the audience will surely pay attention to, one can name Ekaterina Kurakova. She trains in Italy, plays for Poland, but many remember her at Moskvich with Natalia Dubinskaya, then at CSKA with Inna Goncharenko and starring in Ilya Averbukh's Alice in Wonderland show. Most likely, miracles will not happen in Saitama and it will not be possible to compete for Kurakova's medals, but the performances of this miniature (153 cm) smiling figure skater are remembered regardless of what place she occupies in the final protocol.

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Unsportsmanlike factors
It will be quite difficult for Russian viewers to choose favorites in the tournament of sports couples at the World Championships, since two duets worthy of this role will perform there at once. However, no one bothers to root for both of them, so we will present both candidates. Maria Pavlova and Alexei Svyatchenko went to Saitama, who became a real discovery of the January European Championship. The Hungarian athletes from Sochi, who train in the Olympic Park of our Black Sea resort with Dmitry Savin and Fedor Klimov, performed both programs in Espoo unmistakably, but the status of debutants and a low rating did not allow them to rise above fifth place.

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However, since then, Pavlova and Svyatchenko have won the Bavarian Open tournament in the German figure skating center — Oberstdorf, and also became the second in the Challenge Cup in Tilburg, the Netherlands, losing only to European champions from Italy, Sarah Conti and Niccolo Machia. So in Saitama, the referees will no longer look at the ex-Russians as sheep at the new gate. At least Maria and Alexey did their best for this.

< No less Russian duet at the World Championships — Karina Safina/Luka Berulava. These skaters, who won the junior world championship last year, missed the European Championship this season due to an injury to their partner. But last week, their coach, Pavel Slyusarenko, revealed that his Georgia-playing students are getting ready to start in Saitama «in the mode that health allows.»
What are the «Hungarians» and «Georgians» capable of at the World Cup? Theoretically, a lot. The technical and artistic potential allows what others to fight for the pedestal. Especially, of course, Safin and Berulava, who were fourth at the last World Championship. You can compete with the European champions Conti and Machii, with the highly experienced Americans Alexa Knierim/Brandon Fraser, with the champions of four continents from Japan, Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara. But how it turns out in fact depends on many factors, including not very sporting ones.

Axel is ours!
The medal showdown in ice dancing at the World Championships, it can be said with certainty, will take place without the participation of ex-Russians. There will be such people that even the Russian duets that are in the ranks, if they were allowed to participate, would not be able to compete. Canadians Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier and Laurence Fournier-Baudry/Nicholas Sorensen, Americans Madison Chock/Evan Bates, Italians Charlene Gignard/Marco Fabbri are the favorites of the upcoming world championship.

But Russian dancers performing for other countries will solve local problems, and our coaches will appear with them. So, Irina Zhuk will bring the Hungarian couple Maria Ignatieva/Daniil Semko to the ice. A week ago, the name of the partner, who is of Ukrainian origin, suddenly appeared in the criminal chronicle — the media reported that he was allegedly wounded in Moscow. But the information turned out to be a duck — the skaters trained in the Russian capital according to plan and flew to Japan at the end of the week.