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Stage of the Russian Grand Prix in figure skating ended in Krasnoyarsk on Sunday. There were a lot of wonderful and positive things there, but, alas, I remember the last one, and it is not the most pleasant. Sports correspondent — with details.
Injections did not help
The day began with the expected sad news. Annabelle Morozova, who had received a cut on her leg the day before during the warm-up before the rhythmic dance after a collision with Elizaveta Shanaeva, went to the morning official training of the free program, but was only able to do a few laps. In tears from pain, the figure skater and her partner Igor Eremenko left the ice without even trying to dance to the music, after which a decision was made to remove the duet from the competition. Although on Saturday coach Anzhelika Krylova said that the athletes want to compete.
Alas, the injections did not help: the wound turned out to be too deep, and, as is known, the peak of pain does not occur immediately with such injuries. On Saturday evening, on adrenaline, the figure skater was still able to cope with the rhythm dance, but in the morning everything got worse. All that remains is to wish Annabelle a speedy recovery. The couple will still have the opportunity to gain the necessary points to qualify for the national championship and the Grand Prix Final.
However, even after the removal of Morozova and Eremenko, intrigue remained — did the injured Annabel Shanaeva and Pavel Drozd communicate with her, did the figure skater apologize to her? After all, the day before, Elizaveta said in the mixed zone that she didn’t notice anything and generally assumed that the injury was caused by her partner. However, she promised to ask for forgiveness if it was her skate that cut her opponent’s leg. The answer to this question had to wait until the evening — dancing completed the tournament program.
There is gunpowder in the flasks
Just like the day before, the men were the first to enter the free program. The main mystery here was whether Russian vice-champion Pyotr Gumennik would be able to get out of the hole into which he had fallen. Let us remind you that the skater completely ruined his first competitive skate to the Russian cover of the banned song Sonne by Rammstein, scoring 70 points typical for girls’ tournaments.
The answer turned out to be positive: Gumennik performed a free program in the image of Dorian Gray with a single blot on one of the three quadruple jumps.
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“Yesterday there was no airbag due to acclimatization. I didn’t perform the maximum content,” this is how the skater explained Saturday’s failure.
And regarding Rammstein he said:
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“I think the topic is closed. I’m no longer “worried” about this.”
Gumennik's 172 points for the free skate is a worthy result, but quite affordable for the country's leading skaters. However, no one came close to such indicators on Sunday. Dmitry Aliev and Alexander Samarin, who call themselves veterans of Russian men's single skating and took first and second places, were quite wrong. Only thanks to the reserve after the short program were we able to maintain our positions.
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“Sasha Samarin and I are the only children of the 90s left, the rest are younger. Now quadruple jumps start early, like Mark Kondratyuk, they have a body like a young potato, it’s easier for them. We already have foulbrood. But it’s nice to win in such a company, you prove to yourself that you are capable of something else,” that’s how Aliyev assessed the result.
Samarin also echoed him.
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“It’s great that we, veterans of the ice and stage, can still do something,” stated Samarin, adding that his current motivation is to enjoy figure skating. “Studies and some other moments have disappeared, I’ve never had this happen before, so that there is one sport. I want to enjoy this moment, see the reaction of the audience, catch contact. There are not many moments like this when you can get high. At first it’s stressful, but then, when the program ends, you feel the fruits of your work, it’s very nice.»
Experienced skaters also won in pairs skating. Alexandra Boykova and Dmitry Kozlovsky, as in the short program, were not without mistakes. The day before, my partner fell on a parallel jump, and on Sunday — from a throwout. However, the safety margin in the form of a high second score was more than enough for the two-time Russian champions and ex-European champions to get ahead of Elizaveta Osokina/Artem Gritsaenko and Yasmina Kadyrova/Valery Kolesov.
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The champions of the Krasnoyarsk stage in pair skating, however, did not show much joy. Actually, they themselves confirmed this.
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“The mood is neutral,” stated Kozlovsky. “We completed the minimum task. Mistakes were made, they must be avoided in the future when it comes to fighting serious opponents. We did a tremendous job, we were absolutely ready, there is no point in complaining about any problems We will work towards clean and ideal skates.»
Khromykh lost her quads, but remains in figure skating
In recent years, in conversations with singles guys, the topic of competing with girls in the number of quadruple jumps has come up every now and then. The same Aliyev, half jokingly and half seriously, said that he was ready to play “quads” with Alexandra Trusova. But in Krasnoyarsk something almost unheard of happened — not a single figure skater entered at least one quadruple in the free program.
To some extent, this, of course, is a coincidence, because we still have “quadists”. At the first stage of the Russian Grand Prix in Ufa, for example, Adelia Petrosyan claimed quadruples, and in Omsk — she, Alina Gorbacheva and Maria Paramonova. It must be noted that very few people manage to go against nature. The trend, unfortunately, is obvious. Either the girl grows up and loses her quads, or figure skating loses the girl. And often both occur in combination.
Maya Khromykh is one of those whose quads have disappeared like last year’s snow. But figure skating, fortunately, did not lose it. The figure skater missed more than a year and a half due to various injuries — her last official start dates back to December 2021. Her return took place at the tournament in Krasnoyarsk.
We have to admit that Maya is not up to the quadruple. I would like to stabilize the triples. Student Eteri Tutberidze made mistakes in both programs. But she has a plan to remember the quads, as Khromykh, who ultimately took fifth place, said.
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“Everything is fine now, I’m training, perfecting my programs. Of course, during the break I wanted to jump, skate and perform like girls. And I came to training either with a cast or with a belt. I cried a lot at home, I was worried, but I’m glad that things are getting better now “everything,” the skater noted.
Probably everyone has an answer to the question whether the competitions of girls without quads in Krasnoyarsk were less exciting. It seemed to me personally that no — the intrigue turned out to be twisted even in the short program. And there was plenty of drama here too.
In the free program, the fight was for every point, and Veronika Yametova, Maria Agayeva, and Elizaveta Kulikova took part in it, but in the end Anna Frolova turned out to be the strongest, who performed against the backdrop of a cold. After the skate, she even asked to be released from the mixed zone early due to poor health. Moreover, here each medalist went through a triple burden: he had to communicate not only with the written press and the staff correspondent of Channel One, but also with Olympic champion Alina Zagitova, who was filming a vlog.
«Sorry» didn't sound
Finally, the culmination came — free dances. This time, a bloody drama during the warm-ups was avoided: the skaters were extremely attentive to each other, and after the removal of Morozova and Eremenko, there were four duets in both groups. There was practically no intrigue in the competition itself. As expected, Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin, who returned to the sport after a seasonal break, won a convincing victory. Shanaeva and Drozd retained second place.
A mini-sensation occurred in the fight for bronze: it went to Ekaterina Mironova and Evgeniy Ustenko, a duet unique in that it represents the St. Petersburg school of ice dancing. For those who have been following figure skating for a long time, this is an oxymoron: such a concept as “St. Petersburg dances” was absent for a long time as a class. Mironova and Ustenko managed to get ahead of Sofia Shevchenko and Andrey Yezhlov, who were training in Elena Maslennikova’s group. Even the arrival of Ilya Averbukh, who stood behind the side during the skate, did not help the latter.
Well, about the main thing. Shanaeva and Drozd, entering the mixed zone, said that they met Morozova in the morning at the hotel, inquired about their health, expressed sympathy and wished a speedy recovery. However — this was noticed by all the journalists who asked questions on the hot topic from different sides — no words of apology were heard.
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“In any case, we definitely want to wish you good health. Yesterday, when we entered the mixed zone, it was not clear what happened. Unfortunately, our sport is dangerous for injuries. In the morning we crossed paths with Annabelle, it was unethical to climb right away, we asked about our health, and wished us recovery.” , said Drozd.
“I treat the hate normally, I saw what they wrote, supposedly my words were not entirely correct, I need to publicly apologize. I abstracted myself from it, read it and closed it. I went out to the free dance competition calmly,” Shanaeva noted.
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In response to comments that Elizabeth should still apologize, the partner expressed regret about the negativity addressed to her.
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“It’s a pity that people not seeing the situation, they choose a convenient version for themselves,» Drozd said. “Yes, we understand that they were preparing for the tournament, but we were also preparing. Nobody is an animal. They humanly expressed their sympathy. If they had defiantly climbed in front of the doctors, it would have been would be a performance. As I already said, many people practice energetic warm-ups. I even remember that in my junior career the Americans did this. We have always been supporters of proving everything at the box office.»
Well, All that remains is to state — and, however, nothing new. Figure skating has been a wonderful serpentarium, and remains so.
The author’s opinion may not coincide with the position of the editors