sums up the test skating results of the Russian junior figure skating team among the girls, which ended on August 18 at the Olympic base in Novogorsk.
Due to the lack of international starts, the entire calendar for Russian athletes was shifted by two weeks. The traditional time for the training camp of the junior team in Novogorsk and the test skates taking place there is the beginning of August. This time we waited until the middle of the month. Despite this delay, most of the skaters are still in the process of getting in shape.
After a short program with strict rules of elements in the free program, the holiday of quadruples has come. 7 out of 13 participants went to ultra-difficult jumps, that is, in fact, more than half. This is close to what adult girls demonstrate at the Russian Championship.
But juniors still have some problems with the implementation. There are few pure attempts — both pre-season suboptimal form and excitement affect. However, this is the case when it is worth praising even for the intention.
The two main schools that supply us with both stars and newsbreaks received a total of five places at the box office. Veronika Zhilina, Sophia Titova and Kira Trofimova acted from Plushenko's Angels. From the headquarters of Eteri Tutberidze — Alisa Dvoeglazova and Margarita Bazylyuk.
In the tacit battle of the quads, Bazylyuk got the individual victory. She skated to the musical «Les Misérables» and showed three quads without falling. The program looks ready to be shown even tomorrow at any start of the planet.
The girls from CSKA also pleased with their mood. Alisa Prineva finished the magnificent quadruple lutz and added a double sheepskin coat. Maria Gordeeva twisted the quadruple salchow, but still fell off it.
It's nice that not only girls from the leading metropolitan schools go for difficult jumps. Victoria Morozova from Lyubertsy near Moscow, despite her model growth, tried to make a quadruple loop. Elizaveta Labutina from Yekaterinburg jumped a triple Axel under rotation.
If we talk about leaders, Bazylyuk, Titova and Trofimova look the most ready at the moment. The latter, due to her newcomer status, left a particularly pleasant impression, somewhat reminiscent of Alena Kostornaya in her debut season. In the free program, she has a dramatic explosive song by Sevara “There is no me there” — few young athletes can withstand such a pressure of meaning and energy, but Kira did it.
Veronika Zhilina at her 15 years old could already be expected at the master level. She looks quite mature, and she started jumping her first ultra-si even when Kamila Valieva did not have time to reach adulthood — in 2020.
However, for some reason, the coaching staff, headed by Evgeni Plushenko, decided to leave her in the juniors. This means that the team has time to work on Nika's psychological stability, and on stability, and especially on the expression of emotions. For all her million-dollar virtues, Zhilina seems too shy and closed for a sport where you have to shove your elbows in order to be noticed. In juniors this may not be the most important factor, but in seniors you will have to shine in order to win.
Many of the girls' programs were left over from last season, which somewhat dampened the spectator appeal of the rentals. Everyone's reasons are different. Alisa Dvoeglazova missed a lot due to injury, so the programs did not sound in full voice. Other coaches in the spring could still count on Russia being admitted to international competitions. So, in front of new judges at new tournaments, the old programs would sparkle with new colors. And yet they were well-executed. When it became clear that the International Skating Union was still not waiting for us, there was no time to update the programs.
One way or another, close to mass repetitions of last year's programs make us think that there are problems with motivation and inspiration. We usually think that athletes lack motivation, but this is clearly the case with coaches and choreographers.
It would seem that this is something — let them ride for another year in the same image that they showed last season. All the same, there are no international tournaments, why invest morally and financially in something new?
There is one but. In productions, especially junior ones, the educational role is great. Each new program should develop an athlete, make him learn something previously unfamiliar — from books and musical works to plastic language. Only through this diversity, new connections and elements, approaches and emotions can a young talented athlete grow into a great champion and artist.
So even if our skaters still perform only at internal competitions, neglecting their development is the surest way not to find yourself one day at the head of world figure skating. It is unlikely that we would like this.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.