Rental Leaders: which of the skaters of the national team surprised at the test starts
The test rentals in the current format are a purely Russian invention, there is no such large—scale event at the start of the season in any country in the world. And it has its own specifics — on the one hand, there are no points, places and medals. But when everything is in one place and programs are shown in a row, there are sometimes more conclusions than after the official launch. Especially now that most Russian figure skaters have access to international competitions again. "Izvestia" correspondents made five main conclusions after watching two days of rentals.
1. Trusova is a clear favorite in the fight for participation in the World Cup
Before the season, most people in the world of figure skating believed in Valieva's return rather than Trusova. Those who tried to argue were told: where is there when Camila has both components, and axel, and fours — a complete set. Of course, the rentals are just one start, but Alexandra won them outright from everyone — no one even came close to her in terms of power and technique.
In the short program, Trusova looked confident, and in the free skate she landed a clean quadruple lutz and rolled back the program to the music from "Very Strange Cases" with almost no mistakes. Considering that Russia has one quota for the European and World Championships, and the national championship is already in December, this is a serious bid for leadership. Yes, it's September, but the head start is too big.
Against the background of the poor physical condition of Adelia Petrosyan, Kamila Valieva, Alice Dvoeglazova and Maria Zakharova, it seems that there are no other options yet. It was not for nothing that Anton Sikharulidze emotionally congratulated Eteri Tutberidze on the sidelines and hugged her tightly. There was a reason. But at the same time, it's nice that the girls have grown up: the same Adelia is no longer a "baby with four", but a person with adult emotions and programs.
2. Humennik has five fours, but competitors are nearby
After an unsuccessful international start, Peter Gumennik needed a strong response, and he gave it. In the free skate, the skater planned five fours at once: flip, two lutz, Rittberger and Salchow. Not everything turned out perfectly, but the sheer complexity of the program shows how high Humennik is going to raise the bar.
However, no one will allow him to go ahead calmly, and there will be no Olympic handicap at the Russian championship. Gleb Lutfullin showed several fours at once, Nikolai Ugozhaev went to two lutz and a sheepskin coat, Vladislav Dikidzhi once again confirmed stability on complex content. Evgeny Semenenko remains a competitor due to his quality and experience.
Even Matvey Vetlugin, who competed in Italy at the Lombardia Trophy, scored a decent 254 points. And Mark Kondratyuk, who does not have a neutral status yet, lit up with two fantastic programs so that Alexandra Boikova joked in the mix zone that he stole a concert from Kanye West in Russia. Mixing Chopin and rap is not just brave, it's very brave. It's a pity that the ISU keeps such a monster locked up.
3. Boikova and Kozlovsky on horseback
Boikova is not only joking, but also a great skater. In pairs, everything goes back to her and Dmitry Kozlovsky's confrontation with Anastasia Mishina and Alexander Gallyamov. But Ekaterina Chikmareva is actively intervening in it./Matvey Yanchenkov.
So far, Boikova and Kozlovsky have done the main thing — they have performed the quadruple salchow cleanly. This element can give not so much a technical advantage as a reputational one — and the guys are actively promoting it (it would be strange not to do this).
Mishina and Gallyamov respond with their main weapons — reliability, synchronicity and high quality of basic elements, but they looked more faded at the box office. No wonder — for them, the season has just begun after misunderstandings with a neutral status, and their rivals have already passed two tournaments in Japan and the USA.
I liked Taisiya Shcherbinina in the second echelon/Artem Petrov, diligent guys.
4. Dancing is chaotic.
The most incomprehensible situation after the rentals is in dancing. Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin did not speak, but watched the events from the stands. Vasilisa Kaganovskaya and Maxim Nekrasov withdrew after an unpleasant episode in the warm-up, when they collided with Anna Shcherbakova and Egor Goncharov and Maxim suffered a hand injury. About everyone is fighting for the next places in the hierarchy.
Irina Khavronina and David Narizhny returned after a pause: they are good, but we need to roll out the programs. Pasechnik and Cirizano again showed bright support, but after the arbitrary Lisa even cried. Shcherbakova/Goncharov were spectacular, and Leontieva/Gorelkin managed to both fall and roll over the program due to problems with the dress. Mironova/Ustenko is just beginning to recover from the setback in Tokyo.
It is difficult to determine the real distance between the duets without the judges' assessments.
5. We prepare programs not only for our audience
For several more years, control rentals existed almost separately from world figure skating. It was possible to discuss quads, music and costumes, but the comparison with the international level remained theoretical. Now the situation has changed. This, by the way, affected the selection of music: Russian has practically disappeared with a few dance exceptions. The vast majority are English speakers.
At the same time, there were a lot of innovations in the hall — the skaters were filmed by a drone, before the performance they themselves told the meaning of the program. That is, the production and operation of the First Channel are visible. I would not like a return to the international arena to reduce interest in Russian startups. Judging by the mood, it shouldn't. And there are more than enough intrigues for September.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
