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Sport correspondent talks about the first day of the Russian Grand Prix stage in Samara — perhaps the most starless and, therefore, did not gather a worthy audience among all the past tournaments in the series, but still gave several bright impressions.
Sorry if by the fifth stage of the Russian Grand Prix the topic of people's interest in this series had already become hackneyed, but there is no escape from it. And the statement of fact is this: in Samara with the people in the stands, alas, it turned out to be the worst. The five-thousander named after Vladimir Vysotsky, opened two years ago, was about a quarter full on the first day of the tournament among adults. There were more in Ufa, Omsk, and even Krasnoyarsk. Well, a week ago, in contrast, Kazan was completely sold out — a full house came to see Kamila Valieva, and if the arena had been more spacious, the audience would have gathered even more.
Which, of course, was yet another confirmation that the public is following the stars. In Samara, I must admit, there are none. Except for the head coach of the Russian national team, Elena Anatolyevna Tchaikovskaya, who gave a whole show at the press conference before the start of the tournament. Alas, only a dozen journalists witnessed it, but there was a lot to hear — both about the wonderful Volga Hotel, where the honored coach went 50 years ago, and about the cockroaches that are in it, judging by the publications on social networks of our juniors , meet, respond well to training. Well, about the fact that she does not observe any decline in interest in figure skating in our country.
But it exists, and this nuance was evidence of this. As soon as Alina Zagitova appeared on board, who came to Samara as a correspondent for Channel One, so did the children, and, surprisingly, the adults jumped out of their seats and rushed to the Olympic champion with requests for autographs and photos right during the athletes’ performances. Alina, of course, has an incredible magic of attraction — it cannot be denied. But she even had to stop people with signs and point to the ice — they say, there are skaters there, respect them. Without much success — the public was less interested in the speakers.
br>Zagitova, by the way, performed exhibition numbers at two of the four previous stages of the Russian Grand Prix. But the Samara tournament was the first where there was no animation in the arena. In Ufa, Omsk and Krasnoyarsk, the public was shown show programs by our stars, who had temporarily or permanently left the competitive ice. In Kazan this was not required — Valieva’s name on the poster was enough, but even there the organizers realized the concert. In Samara, at least some of this would have been useful — but there was nothing.
All this, of course, does not mean that there is no one or nothing to look at at the fifth stage of the Russian Grand Prix. On Saturday, the guys had great performances by Pyotr Gumennik and Roman Savosin — and the former finally performed his long-suffering short program cleanly to the now Russified Rammstein. A cascade of quadruple Salchow and triple toe loop, quadruple loop — a set of the highest world level. And the rating of the Russian vice-champion for one hundred points is completely deserved.
Savosin is also fine: if not for small errors, almost invisible to the naked eye, he would have scored a perfect score — as he already did this season at the first stage in Ufa. Well, Alexey Erokhov was not bad — he is third after these two. And it’s also no coincidence that Erokhov managed to establish himself at the stage in Omsk.
Out of disappointment — Andrey Mozalev. A bright, extraordinary skater, very respectful of fans and (which does not happen very often) journalists, fell from two quadruple jumps and so far only the seventh. “I’m tired of being upset. I want a joyful, happy life. Not only in sports — in general,” Mozalev admitted philosophically after the skate, not forgetting to give each reporter who came to the mixed zone a chocolate bar.
But the gap between Sinitsyna and Sadkova is less than a point — and this means that the fight for victory is ahead, and from the point of view of technical skills, the pursuer will have an advantage in the free skate quadruple jump. But for Ksenia there is an artistry that few others can surpass. The question is whether she has enough strength — after all, after the injury, she has been training fully for only a week and a half.
As for dancing, in Samara the leaders are clear, the one and only — Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva and Egor Bazin. The partner in this duet is almost local — from Togliatti. Therefore, the audience greeted Lisa and Yegor after the rhythm dance, where they were absolutely the best. And many even standing. And this beautiful ending ended a very worthy day, which, as at first it seemed, could only be saved by Zagitova distracting the audience from the ice.