The 2022 Olympic Games have drawn a line under the revolutionary four-year cycle in women's figure skating. Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova are considered to be innovators. «Russian Rocket» from junior years surprised with technique and got into the Guinness Book of Records as the first performer of the most difficult jumps.
At the same time, Alexandra did the main thing — she won. Trusova seemed so irresistible that long before the Olympics bookmakers accepted bets on her victory.
At that time, the saturation of the program with quadruple jumps and triple axels was surprising. Reasonable questions arose. Where is women's single skating heading? How will it be won years later? What elements should you focus on? Where to prioritize?
«Spin ultra-c or lose» has been the slogan of world figure skating for the past four years. This trend best describes the mood of fans and athletes. Everyone rushed to master the quads with axels, including juniors. And after all, training and learning are easier for them. Adult skaters desperately tried to stay in the «topic» and not remain in the shadow of the «Russian jumpers».
Few have come to success. And yet, the introduction of ultra-si into girls' programs has gained momentum. The fact that the skaters were able to consistently perform elements that previously seemed impossible made the revolution justified and perfect.
Trusova can be considered the creator of the phenomenon by almost 100%. Alexandra was the first to raise the cult of quadruples to the absolute. The figure skater almost directly spoke about her sympathy for jumps, continuing to win and increase the arsenal of quads. At some point, it began to seem that the athlete would submit to the quadruple axel.
Soon, Sasha began to try the triple axel. Trusova tried to bring the technical complexity of the programs almost to the maximum possible. However, even in her debut adult season, she faced a harsh reality: the price of a mistake in oversaturated programs is too high. At all the main starts, Alexandra was behind the backs of her friends in the Tutberidze group — Alena Kostornaya and Anna Shcherbakova.
Over time, Trusova fell into her own trap. She declared more ultra-si, realizing the high risks of stumbling. However, the «Russian Rocket» no longer had a choice.
Thus, thoughts about the famous «five-quad», complicated by a triple axel in the short program, appeared. Trusova worked out the element for about three years. At the control skates of the Olympic season, it seemed that she got as close as possible. However, the figure skater again took second or third place in all tournaments.
The defeat of the peak Kamila Valieva can be justified by a little more talent in terms of the combination of equipment and the world's first components. But the loss of Shcherbakova at the Olympics looked, as according to Trotsky, betrayed by the revolution. Anna had two quads against Alexandra's six ultra-si attempt. Fans and even some athletes with coaches wondered how the judges had the result in favor of the first.
Although this was read long before the Beijing free program. And it's not about conspiracies and arbitrage in someone's favor. The role was played by the tendencies that developed in the International Skating Union (ISU). A month before departure for the Olympics, coach Sergei Davydov predicted what new trend figure skating would embrace.
«
“The fact that there will be such figure skaters who, even after 17 years, will be able to skate with one or two quads is one hundred percent. Here are three or four — already physically extremely difficult. Of course, there will be exceptions. But in general, quads in the women's singles will remain even with the tightening of the (age) qualification — it seems to me that their number will simply decrease. Just up to one or two in the free program,” Davydov told Match TV.
It was with this set that Anna won. With him, she went through her entire career. Outcome: three championships of Russia, the title of world champion and the Olympic Games. Moreover, in Beijing, Shcherbakova and Trusova were 17 years old. . It can be concluded that it was Shcherbakova who became the main creator and beneficiary of the revolution. In Alexandra's peak years, journalists considered it a duty to ask any skater with several ultra-cs if they would like to skate a program with five quads. And almost always the answer was the same: «Yes, of course, but…»
And this «but» is the essence of the previous four years.
Opinion the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.