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The new season in figure skating begins with the test skates of the Russian team — they will take place on September 16 and 17 at Megasport. The country's best athletes will show their new programs and declare their ambitions. talks about the main characters and the exciting events of the season premiere.
Valieva and Tuktamysheva: a breakthrough is needed
Against the backdrop of dance chaos and pair intrigues, which we’ll talk about a little later, women’s singles skating looks too calm. But this is only from the point of view of possible plot twists. The cast is stellar: Kamila Valieva, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Sofya Akatieva, Adelia Petrosyan, Ksenia Sinitsyna, Sofya Muravyova and others. It is extremely interesting to see in what shape (albeit adjusted for the beginning of the season) our quad athletes are in the second year of international isolation. It is no less interesting to evaluate the creative thought of directors working with leading singles skaters. In addition to the complex elements, I would like to see at least a couple of breakthrough productions that force everyone involved to step out of their comfort zone. From the choreographer to the athlete and even the audience.
And, of course, with bated breath we will wait for Alina Gorbacheva to take to the ice. Her story with a quiet escape, a nationwide search and an equally quiet return to where she ran away from has not become clearer or simpler over the past month. How she feels, how she will skate and whether she will come out to talk to journalists — all this is still a big question. One thing is certain: Alina should receive tremendous support from the stands. Because the figure skating audience, who came to watch their favorite athletes live, is a hundred times kinder than the Internet troops in the comments.
The most scandalous type of off-season is dancing ice
Due to the situation in ice dancing, it seems that in the absence of international competitions, our figure skating is trying to survive through complete degeneration. We haven’t seen such a scale of upheaval and reshuffles in dancing as in this off-season for a long time. Every third couple from those participating in the rentals did not exist a year ago. Shanaeva/Drozd, who began to decline last season, look almost like veterans. Not to mention Russian champions Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva and Yegor Bazin and those few duets that have actually been skating together for many years.
Direct and hidden confrontations in dancing lie in wait at every turn. David Narizhny with his new partner Irina Khavronina — against his former partner Annabelle with a new boy. And this new boy Igor Eremenko is against his former partner Sofia Shevchenko with a new partner. Coaches Irina Zhuk and Alexander Svinin with the young couple Leontyeva/Gorelkin against Alexander Zhulin, to whom their students since childhood Stepanova/Bukin went in the off-season. In general, test performances for dance duets have never been so explosive.
Sports couples, although not in such large numbers, also followed the path of renewal. Someone changed the coach — Alexandra Boykova/Dmitry Kozlovsky now represent the headquarters of Eteri Tutberidze, although they will skate the free program he choreographed in Tamara Moskvina’s group. Someone changed his partner — Denis Khodykin now performs with Taisiya Sobinina. For the first time in many years, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov do not participate in the box office at all. There are rumors that they are planning to part with the sport, but there has been no such information from the couple themselves yet.
But still, the main news story will undoubtedly be the first appearance of Alena Kostornaya among the leaders of the pairs skating team. The deck is strangely shuffled: Kostornaya, although a self-sufficient athlete with titles and records, is still sometimes perceived as part of the once killer trio with Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova. Her career in single skating was perhaps the most hopeless of all — she did not make it to the Olympics or the World Championships. But now, when Sasha and Anya, emasculated by Beijing 2022, clearly do not miss competitions, Alena Kostornaya, even after a serious injury, recovery and marriage, is still eager to hit the ice.
Let her fuse be enough for more than Olympic champion Ksenia Stolbova did in her time. After the breakup of the couple with Fedor Klimov, she performed at the skates in 2019 with Andrei Novoselov and almost immediately left the sport. But in Stolbova’s case, one of the reasons for leaving was the partner’s family life — he decided to devote almost all his time to his family, and not to sports. In the case of Alena and Gosha, you won’t have to make such a choice — since August 2023, they are not only a couple on the ice, but also officially a family.
Men without Kolyada
Men's single skating has recently been responsible for stability in the figure skating team. Not a single loud scandal in the off-season, not a single change of coach. None of the guys even changed their hairstyle. The only noticeable difference from last year's rentals is the absence of Mikhail Kolyada, who announced the suspension of his career in the summer.
With so many constants it will be easier to assess his condition the sport as a whole and the progress of each individual skater — starting from Mark Kondratyuk and ending with Andrei Mozalev. Matvey Vetlugin, the artistic opening of last season, may now look completely different with his show number with a parody of famous skaters.
Guys traditionally take longer to get into the season and, in principle, make more mistakes on elements, so we will evaluate the performance and mood. At the last Russian Championship, everything was excellent with both of these parameters — Petr Gumennik and Evgeniy Semenenko “rolled” so powerfully that they scored the same points. The winner had to be determined based on secondary indicators.
Much depends on the state of health. If everyone's backs and knees are in order, it will definitely be a beautiful show.