The Junior Final of the Russian Grand Prix, also known as the Federation Cup, ended on Friday in Sirius. Sports talks about competitions in the two most popular types of figure skating at the tournament — women's and men's singles.
Lazarev's record
After the short program, the young men were tightly positioned in the standings. The gap between Lev Lazarev, who took intermediate first place, was only two points from third place. Everything was decided in the free program.
The first of the leading three to take to the ice was Eteri Tutberidze's student Arseniy Fedotov. He immediately showed a serious attitude towards a gold medal: two cleanly executed quadruple jumps. Another quad raised minor questions from the judges, but the tracks and spins to the maximum fourth level allowed him to score 188.74 points, which is the best result of the season.
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“Winners don’t reveal secrets. I didn’t have this form before the Russian Championship, but now I’m better. I was confident in my abilities,” Fedotov told reporters.
Nikolai Ugozhaev, it seems, used Fedotov’s methods. Only two very difficult jagged quadruple jumps brought him 26.75 points, but even this did not allow him to remain in second place. It seemed that the skater himself was pleased with the result and even joked that he came to Sochi to relax.
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“It was important to put everything together at such an important start, to prove that I can do everything. I came in Sochi, the feeling that there is no start, essentially to rest for three days, and then skate the program,” he shared his impressions.
Lazarev had a different attitude towards the tournament. It was important for him to defeat his principal rival Fedotov. This season he succeeded only once. It seemed that such responsibility could add additional excitement to the skater, but as soon as he went to the start, it became clear that he would do everything he planned. As a result — four quadruple jumps, a record for technique in a free program among Russian figure skaters (112.42 points) and first place in the Grand Prix Final.
The leader of the season intends to do the job at 110%
The short program in the girls' competition did not go well for everyone. Margarita Bazylyuk, who took exclusively first places this season, fell from a triple Axel and took intermediate last place. Before the start of the free skate, it was unclear whether the skater would be able to cope with such an unexpected situation, but Bazylyuk once again proved that she has a fighting spirit. She went for three quadruples and with her skate was able to win back a gap of more than twelve points. But Bazylyuk is one of those skaters for whom there can only be first place, everything else is a loss for her.
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“A little upset. It wasn’t the difficulty of the season. I just didn’t get myself together, I was distracted a lot in the program. I will try to do my maximum, I want to do everything 110%. I will try to show stability,” she admitted to reporters.
Opposite emotions were experienced by Sofia Dzepka, who scored the maximum points this season and was satisfied with her performance. But she also noted that she has something to work on.
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«If they had told me that everything would work out so well, I would have worked even harder. Now I plan to make the content more complex. Which ones exactly? jumps are still a secret, but I hope that soon we will see a cleanly executed quadruple at competitions,” she said.
Alice Dvoeglazova also had good emotions after the skate. At the end of the season, she reached the peak of her form and took the risk of going for three quadruples. As it turned out, she made a decision right during the performance, which she directly admitted to journalists.
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“I tried to get high and show emotions. I had to redo the program during the performance. I was thinking about whether to go for the second sheepskin coat or not. , but in training I succeeded. I told myself that I know how and I can, why not do it,» Dvoeglazova said.
But the risk worked, and she added one more to her piggy bank gold medal.