Our hobby: the main intrigues of the Russian Figure Skating Championship

The current national champion Adelia Petrosyan is up against Dvoeglazova, Sadkova, Zakharova and her own fours. Pyotr Gumennik is preparing for the Olympics, but he has never become the best in Russia — and Semenenko, Dikidzhi and Kondratyuk are also aiming for gold. On December 18, the Russian Figure Skating Championships will be held in St. Petersburg, which remains the main start of the season in conditions of international isolation. Vouchers for the Olympic Games are not awarded here, but that is why the competitions can turn out to be very revealing. Read more about the main intrigues of the national championship in the most beautiful winter sport in the Izvestia article.

Women

The women's tournament looks particularly interesting this year. Adelia Petrosyan remains the favorite and comes to St. Petersburg as the current champion of the country, but the season turned out to be difficult for her. Injuries, work on complicating the content, and the need to stabilize the quadruple jumps create additional challenges, especially in the second half of the free skate.

— I think she is a very demanding athlete. Adelia always gives her best. Self-criticism probably comes from what other girls have shown before her at their best box office. For example, Anna Shcherbakova with quadruple jumps. Petrosyan is always distinguished by the fact that he criticizes himself very much, but this also gives an increase in results. And so, of course, the bar for our girls was high," coach Tatiana Mishina told SE.

The competition has also intensified. Dvoeglazova, Sadkova and Zakharova have quadruple jumps, Khusnutdinova, Elisova and Nelyubova have triple axel. This makes the tournament more intense. So far, Petrosyan remains the leader, but now she must show high stability against the background of strong rivals. A separate question is how the judges will evaluate her.

Men

The men's tournament in the domestic arena has recently become unpredictable, and this season only confirms the trend. Petr Gumennik approaches the start as one of the favorites, since he will go to the Olympics. But the title of national champion has not yet been submitted to him — a couple of years ago, only 0.01 points were missing. St. Petersburg will be an important test of our readiness to consolidate our leadership status.

It turned out to be a difficult season for Humennik. Working on the most difficult content, participating in the Grand Prix stages, and trying to remove the flaws and mistakes from the quadruple jumps added both physical and psychological stress. This championship will have to show that all these efforts have not been in vain. Moreover, Peter is returning to the tournament from an internship in the USA with Rafael Harutyunyan.

The competition among singles remains tight. Evgeny Semenenko, Vladislav Dikidzhi and Mark Kondratyuk will definitely compete for high places until the last seconds of the free skate. Even with a high level of Gumennik, victory is not guaranteed — much will depend on the stability of the rentals.

Couples

The situation in pair skating this season is not developing according to the most predictable scenario. Anastasia Mishina and Alexander Gallyamov have been setting the level within the country for a long time, but in the fall they faced a number of difficulties. Technical failures and emotional stress affected the stability of the performances.

However, their experience remains a significant factor. The question now is not about potential, but whether it will be possible to restore confidence to a key start and solve the problem within the team — the partner has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the partner and the training process.

Alexandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovsky are approaching the championship in good condition and look like one of the most stable couples of the season. Their programs are highly complex — they even have a quadruple discharge. This duet logically attracts the attention of experts. Nevertheless, pair skating rarely forgives even small mistakes, and the final placement of places will depend on the little things. Other couples are also close, including Ekaterina Chikmareva and Matvey Yanchenkov.

Dances

For dancers, the situation remains the most stable. Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin retain the status of the country's number one and continue to win domestic competitions. Their experience and recognizable style still provide a noticeable advantage.

However, the season is gradually changing the general background. Young duos are becoming more competitive, especially Vasilisa Kaganovskaya and Maxim Nekrasov. Their progress is obvious, and at the Russian Championship it will be interesting to assess how close they can get to the leaders in terms of total points. So far, it is difficult for them to storm the first place, but they must get closer to it, at least gradually.

Russian Championship schedule

Thursday, December 18th

16:00. Dances. Rhythm dance.

19:00. Couples. A short program.

Friday, December 19th

15:30. Men. A short program.

18:45. Women. A short program.

Saturday, December 20th

13:00. Dancing. Free dance.

16:10. Couples. Any program.

18:45. Women. Any program.

Sunday, December 21st

15:00. Men. Any program.

19:00. Demonstration performances.

Preliminary list of participants

Women: Ksenia Gushchina, Alisa Dvoeglazova, Maria Elisova, Maria Zakharova, Eva Zubkova, Arina Kudlay, Elizaveta Kulikova, Anna Lyashenko, Maria Mazur, Sofia Muravyeva, Kamilla Nelyubova, Adelia Petrosyan, Maria Pulina, Daria Sadkova, Ksenia Sinitsyna, Anna Frolova, Dina Khusnutdinova, Veronika Yametova.

Men: Matvey Vetlugin, Peter Gumennik, Artur Danielyan, Vladislav Dikidzhi, Makar Ignatov, Artem Kovalev, Mark Kondratyuk, Gleb Lutfullin, Alexander Melnikov, Andrey Mozalev, Roman Savosin, Daniil Samsonov, Nikita Sarnovsky, Evgeny Semenenko, Semyon Solovyov, Nikolai Ugozhaev, Grigory Fedorov, Damir Cheripka.

Pairs: Yulia Artemyeva/Alexey Bryukhanov, Alisa Blinnikova/Alexey Karpov, Alexandra Boikova/Dmitry Kozlovsky, Veronika Merenkova/Danil Galimov, Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Gallyamov, Anna Moskaleva/Artyom Rodzyanov, Anastasia Mukhortova/Dmitry Evgeniev, Elizaveta Osokina/Artem Gritsaenko, Valeria Khodykina/Daniil Butenko, Ekaterina Chikmareva/Matvey Yanchenkov, Maya Shegai/Andrey Shaderkov, Taisiya Shcherbinina/Artem Petrov.

Dancing: Alisa Abdullina/Egor Petrov, Varvara Zhdanova/Timur Babaev-Smirnov, Vasilisa Kaganovskaya/Maxim Nekrasov, Anna Kolomenskaya/Artem Frolov, Milana Kuzmina/Dmitry Studenikin, Sofia Leontieva/Daniil Gorelkin, Taisiya Lynchevskaya/Dmitry Shcherbakov, Ekaterina Mironova/Evgeny Ustenko, Elizaveta Pasechnik/Dario Cirizano, Ekaterina Rybakova/Ivan Makhnonosov, Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin, Olga Fedorova/Pavel Drako, Sofya Shevchenko/Andrey Yezhlov, Elizaveta Shichina/Pavel Drozd, Anna Shcherbakova/Egor Goncharov.