One of the eternal controversy in figure skating concerns the representation of countries in the main tournaments of the season. At the Olympic Games, World and European Championships, no more than three representatives from one team can compete, which somewhat limits the level of these competitions. This compares favorably with the Grand Prix finals, where there are no quotas, which, for example, Russian skaters took advantage of in 2017.
Usually, a conversation about the representation of strong countries in their disciplines ends quickly - still, more than three people on the podium will not fall. But the doubles tournament in Minsk gathered only 11 participants. So little has not been since 1989, when the USSR still existed, and only three duets could represent it. At one of the main tournaments of the year it was not possible to collect even three full-fledged workouts.
Fill the gaps could well be Russian couples. At the recent national championship, five duos scored more than two hundred points at once, while around the world in the current season four foreigners achieved this. Let the national championship is not taken into account when talking about assessments, but the picture is still indicative.
Of course, it’s not worth talking about exclusion for Russian couples, however, the fans would definitely prefer to see in fact not the 39-year-old British Zoya Jones, who paired with Christopher Boyadji scored 45.33 points for the short program, but someone from the promising of ambitious yesterday's juniors.
However, specifically at this tournament, the problem of an oversupply of high-quality Russian couples was not so acute. Natalya Zabiyako and Alexander Enbert withdrew from the European Championship due to injury of a partner, and they were replaced by Daria Pavlyuchenko and Denis Khodykin. Aleksandra Boykova and Dmitry Kozlovsky performed with them in the second group, while Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov traditionally had to confirm the status of the favorites.
The first to compete with the rest of Europe were students of Tamara Moskvina Boykova and Kozlovsky. For the current season, the couple chose “Black Eyes,” and it was hardly the time when the Russians thought that this song, which was well recognized and loved, would be the best to start the great “Minsk Arena”.
Skaters later admitted that they felt like the Olympics. And the result they have got is such that it would not be a shame to show at such a tournament. Boikova and Kozlovsky exceeded their personal record, gaining 72.58 points. And these figures would be even higher, if they received maximum levels for spin and todes.
Pavlyuchenko and Khodykin also didn’t perform as well - a young couple who learned the most about their participation in the European Championship later, let the flip out. 16-year-old partner struck the ice and almost fell. In addition, the judges did not come to a common opinion about the components, and this indicator also “sank” among Russians. As a result, they fell behind the current leaders by almost seven points, gaining 65.89 points. One of the reasons for this performance, the couple called the lack of time to prepare.
“We would like to start preparing earlier, take a ride before the European Championship at some tournament. And so had to speed up the training process. When I learned that we were going to Minsk, I thought: “OK, let's get ready”. There was no surprise, everything happens. I had to pull myself out of plans that were set up both physically and morally, ”said Khodykin.
While the young Russians were almost simultaneously giving out comments, the strongest duets of the European Championship came out on the ice. The main contenders for gold - Vanessa James and Morgan Sipre from France - ambiguously made a spin - the judges scored six points. But the ideal performance of a parallel toe coat pair seemed to confidently stand on the victory rails.
The crown of their program was a rather late flip shot, which ideally coincided with a pause in dramatic music. The pair did not count on a smaller than a broken personal record. The judges granted their requests, awarding a score of 76.55 points. If before James and Sipre were perceived as a duet, well only katyu arbitrary program, now they have reached a new level for themselves, which was already prohibitively high for many competitors.
Following Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, it was extremely difficult to surpass this result, although just the Russians have a short program that is always better arbitrary. But after a successful performance at the Russian Championships, Maxim Trankov’s charges decided to abandon the performance of James Brown in favor of last year’s second concert of Sergei Rachmaninoff. The coach pushed them to this, and the skaters themselves agreed with him.
It would be possible to recognize the change of the program as a successful decision, if not one “but”: it was not possible to execute it purely. Tarasova fell on the sheepskin coat, and in the middle of the rental there was a long rassinhron on the rotation. The Russians received 73.90 points, after which they began to defend their choice, insisting that the mistakes were purely technical in nature.
“The rental was normal, but there was a blunder on the jump, it was severely punished for it. Received not the points that should. This is a bit frustrating. Program change does not matter. We frustrated an item, losing five to six points. We liked last year’s production, and the coach insisted on it. We checked the other one at the beginning of the season, how the judges perceive it, and came to the conclusion that we need to return, ”said Morozov.
In addition to the fact that the current European champions were left behind the French, they still barely kept second place. Italians Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarize skated flawlessly and lost only 0.20 points to Tarasova and Morozov. Such a minimal difference between them will not remain for long - in exactly 24 hours, an arbitrary program will determine how couples line up on the final podium of honor.