The World Figure Skating Championships ended on Saturday in Saitama, Japan. Its bright point was the crazy jump of the Russian American Ilya Malinin — a clean quadruple axel, which no one had ever performed before him at world championships. But the unique achievement did not allow Malinin to rise to the highest step of the podium and in general made me think that the current judging system, which has been operating in figure skating for 20 years, does not bring this sport one iota closer to the triumph of objectivity, but, on the contrary, often becomes instrument of violence.
Do they fall in ballet?
The ice dancing competition at the World Championships suddenly reminded me of the domestic season, although there were no prerequisites for this. Russian figure skaters have been suspended from participating in the World Championships, but it is unlikely that any of our dance couples that are currently in the ranks could compete even for getting into the top six.
At the Russian Championship in Krasnoyarsk, having received another portion of negative materials from the media, Khudaiberdiyeva and Bazin arranged an informal conversation with journalists after the final press conference. Then they agreed not to publish its content, but the topic was already disclosed, and it is almost philosophical — is it the fault of the skaters that they live within the existing judging system, where sometimes they become its victims, and sometimes beneficiaries. Yes, Khudaiberdiyeva and Bazin made mistakes in tournaments, but, really, how could this affect the final result if they are stronger in all elements and the artistic part, and only one point is taken off for a fall?
Dancing is, by and large, a demonstration of the mastery of choreography. But how many falls have you seen in ballet or in the performances of the Moiseev Ensemble? Probably, they happen, but this event is extremely unfortunate from the category «everything happens.» And it will certainly spoil the artistic impression very much. Same with ice dancing. A work of art, which the program in this discipline should become, ceases to be one if the skater for no reason turns out to be the fifth point on the ice.
Perhaps it would be worth considering the issue of toughening the punishment for falling in dancing. It would be possible to take not one point, but, for example, three. Especially when the fall is not on the element. Or lowering the mark for the «sliding skill» component is not symbolic, but real. But while the «deadactions» in all types of figure skating are the same — you have to put up with the fact that the dance duet can easily become both the champion of Russia and the world champion, falling out of the blue.
Points for quadruple axel — chickens laugh
The current judging system in figure skating, which has recently ceased to be called «new», has been in operation for 20 years. But its imperfection still manifests itself. And in men's single skating, perhaps most clearly at the present time. American figure skater Ilya Malinin performs a unique four-and-a-half-turn axel jump, but receives only 12.5 base marks for it. Just one point more than a quadruple lutz brings. A jump that the girls have already mastered.
The injustice is not just that Malinin is the only one in the world like that. In public training, the quadruple axel, although with underrotation, was also performed by the two-time Olympic champion Japanese Yuzuru Hanyu. The former champion of Russia among juniors Artur Dmitriev, Jr., also tried to jump him. The reason for the uniqueness of the four and a half turn axel is that it is closest to the limit of current human capabilities. Any scientific jumping coach will tell you that the only way to do a quad Axel is to feel for the almost impossible combination of forward speed on the ice and angular speed of rotation in a jump. Otherwise, there will be no exit from the jump.But it turns out that Malinin, demonstrating his special skill all season long, does not, in fact, receive any profit from this. For a clean triple axel, which has long become an ordinary jump, they give 8 points in the base, and with standard allowances you can get 10-11. In a free program in Saitama, Ilya earned 12.86 points for an unmistakable quadruple axel. This, roughly speaking, is a laughing matter for chickens — given the incredible concentration and the highest skill that requires the execution of this element.
The American at this World Championships, in addition to the quadruple axel, tried to perform five more quadruple jumps in a free program. Two of them turned out clean — sheepskin coat and salchow. Flip, solo lutz and lutz in a cascade — with blots of varying severity. Nevertheless, Malinin scored the highest technical score among all participants. But in terms of points for the components — they are also the artistic side of skating — he lost to his main competitors — the Japanese Shoma Uno, who took the second gold of the World Championship in a row, the silver medalist of the Korean Cha Chung Hwan and a good dozen more skaters, remaining in the end with bronze. Probably, Malinin really didn’t dash off for gold in Saitama. But, of course, a strange story: the judging system, it turns out, punishes the skater for focusing on jumping — the essence and salt of men's single skating, but at the same time forgives the grossest mistakes in dancing, where they should not be at all.
Let me remind you that for four days in a row we have been figuring out what places the Russian skaters would have taken if they had not been suspended for political reasons. As a model, we take the example of their performance in the Final of the Russian Grand Prix — the closest domestic start in terms of dates. So, if we proceed from the quality of the rentals themselves, then Peter Gumennik, who won in St. Petersburg, could claim fourth or fifth place at the World Championships. Mark Kondratyuk, who did not perform very well in the free program in the Russian Grand Prix Final, would have been about seventh, and Alexander Samarin would have entered the top ten. Thus, the Russians, if they participated in the World Championship, had to take away six medals from it — two gold, silver and bronze, as Alexandra Boykova/Dmitry Kozlovsky, Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Gallyamov, Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov, Kamila Valieva, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Sofya Muravyova with those skates that they showed in early March in St. Petersburg, would have taken podiums in pair and women's single figure skating.
But these are all virtual estimates. In reality — and this was evident all these four days — many who in one way or another were connected with Russia, at the World Championships, the judges pressed with all their might. We have already talked about how Russians Maria Pavlova and Alexei Svyatchenko representing Hungary were strangled in pair skating. There were other examples as well. For the purest free program, Vladimir Litvintsev, a native of Ukhta, who plays for Azerbaijan, but trains in Moscow with Victoria Butsaeva (Volchkova), the referees cut off at least 7-8 points compared to other skaters who showed performances of the same level. Kazakhstani Mikhail Shaydorov, who works in Sochi under the leadership of Olympic champion Alexei Urmanov, was robbed of 12 points. Both skaters should have been in the top ten and with a large margin, but landed outside of it. Yes, even the Italian Daniel Grassl, who came to the World Championships under the leadership of Eteri Tutberidze, put down in the protocol all the shortcomings that they could find, and lowered him to 12th place, although the man made two of the most difficult quads — lutz and rittberger.
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Even after last year's World Championship, Russian experts who visited it in jackets of other teams said: many are happy with our absence, because at last others have the opportunity to take back the medals that we have received all these years. But our country has become a supplier of athletes for the whole world for a very long time, and our coaches come for consultations and for permanent work from the USA, Canada, and Europe. Figure skating is a sport from which Russia cannot be excluded.
Those who cannot put up with it are furious. «Why were Russian athletes removed from the World Cup, but there are no coaches?» — American Ashley Wagner asks herself on Twitter, who, by the way, achieved her main successes under the guidance of Rafael Harutyunyan, a representative of the Russian coaching school. And the judges echo her, working silently and punishing with points those who cannot be punished in other ways. you have to prepare properly. We will definitely not be met with flowers at international tournaments. They'd rather be beaten. And in response, as in a song, we must fly.