The season in Russian figure skating can be considered open. Last weekend at the Luzhniki Stadium, control rentals of the adult team took place. The whole color of figure skating has gathered on the ice, except for the sick Alexandra Stepanova, who is dancing in a duet with Ivan Bukin, and Alexander Enbert, who is paired with Natalya Zabiyako.
The tradition to start the season with checking the work that was carried out in the summer has been around for several years and the fans really like it. After all, this is an extra opportunity to see all the stars in one arena. In addition to control rentals, there are not so many such opportunities - the Grand Prix stage in Moscow and the national championship in Krasnoyarsk.
Control rentals, of course, can not be compared with full-fledged competitions - the training process is in full swing, and skaters are mainly in sports uniforms, and not stage costumes. Nevertheless, there are many who want to see Russian figure skating stars.
Of course, most figure skating enthusiasts were interested in what singles would show in the new season. Not only Evgenia Medvedeva and Alina Zagitova, each with their own huge army of fans, gathered in Moscow, but also Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Sofya Samodurova and Stanislav Konstantinova, as well as three grown up figure skaters from the group of Eteri Tutberidze - Alexandra Trusova, Alyona Kostornaya and Anna Shcherbakova. This season they will debut at the adult level, and for all figure skating it will be a special event.
In short programs, athletes were not without errors. Even the always stable Samodurova fell, ripping off the first cascading flip during a performance under the fiery Bamboleo. Tuktamysheva, another student of Alexei Mishin, at the last moment changed the music of the short program. This did not stop the 2015 world champion from purely performing the crown triple axel. At the same time, Tuktamysheva tried to execute a new and more complex cascade of flip - sheepskin coats, but failed.
Evgenia Medvedeva showed the program under the beautiful composition of the band Muse. Pupil Brian Orser did not perform the entire set of elements, falling on a triple sheepskin coat in a cascade, but still the fans greeted her performance with a storm of applause. Only the next speaker Alina Zagitova received the same active support. Moreover, she soundly performed the usual set of elements with a cascade of Lutz - Rittberger and the final flip. All jumps were very easy, and it might seem that the skater is ready for an additional fourth turn on them. Medvedev also learns the fourth salchow, but in the short program, according to the rules, he still cannot be shown.
The performance of the second group of participants was opened by the champion of Russia Anna Shcherbakova with the soundtrack to "Perfume". Unlike Zagitova, she cleanly made a Lutz - Rittberger at the end of her program, which in competitions would have given her more points. Previously, this cascade was not part of its arsenal, but she needed to complicate the program - Trusova and Kostornaya were preparing a triple axel for short rental. Speaking next to Stanislav Konstantinov, she did not make a technical breakthrough and, in addition, tore off the cascade of lutz - sheepskin coat.
Kostornaya became the only skater who kept last year's short program. That choreography is its most powerful quality, from which there was no reason to refuse. In addition, when moving from junior skating to adult, this is allowed. Kostornaya performed her number cleanly and could very well have expected a victory in the components. Closing the program, Trusova returned to the cascade of Lutz - Rittberger, which she abandoned at the end of last season, and did not allow any blots for jumping.
The most interesting was to take place the next day. Arbitrary rentals nevertheless have more weight in competitions, and quadruple jumps are allowed on them. The second part of the speeches was opened by Evgeny Medvedev, and she plainly did not show her program to the music from “Memoirs of a Geisha”. Orser, who arrived in Moscow, saw his student pluck both axels and unsuccessfully land on a flip.
Tuktamysheva managed to make a breakthrough. She even overfulfilled her promise to fulfill two triple axels by adding a double sheepskin coat to one of them. If it were official competitions, then the 22-year-old figure skater would become the third in history who would submit to this achievement. The first was Mao Assad in 2010, the second last season was Alice Liu, who still has a long wait for her to reach the adult level.
Samodurova and Konstantinova, both of whom chose compositions from the musical Moulin Rouge for the second rental, made flaws in their free programs. But while Konstantinova only simplified one lutz, the European champion was able to complete only one cascade. Something new that can be presented already at official starts, two skaters did not mark.
Zagitova still relies on the Lutz cascade - the Rittberger and another choreographic masterpiece by Daniel Gleichenhaus. Epic music from the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" she combined with a bright ending.
The first attempt to show the quadruple jump, with which it will be possible to go to competitions, showed Shcherbakova. She performed only one lutz and fell on it. But on the other hand, the fans warmly accepted her staging under the “Firebird”, in the middle of which right during the rotation she changed the color of the dress. The champion of Russia had no problems with the rest of the jumps, so if she still manages to perform the lutz in the future, then her debut in adult competitions will be loud.
And what will happen when Alexander Trusov repeats his program is hard to imagine. Speaking to the music from The Game of Thrones, she cleanly performed three quadruple jumps - Lutz, sheepskin coat and another sheepskin coat in a cascade with a triple. She tried to show such a set of elements at the last year’s junior world championship, but then she fell to Lutz. The drop in the Lutz – Rittberger cascade in the second half was a little blurred by the impression, but even with him Trusova’s performance claimed a mark for a hundred points for the equipment.
Control rentals were closed by Alena Kostornaya. Under the soundtrack from "Twilight" she performed an interesting program, but made mistakes several times on jumps, but, however, did without falls.
The readiness for the new season was most clearly demonstrated by Trusov, Tuktamyshev and Zagitov. If the rentals were held in a competitive mode, then the podium would go to them. But before the start of the Grand Prix series in the US, more than a month. Although the official season for Medvedeva, Tuktamysheva, Shcherbakova and Samodurova will begin this week, the Olympic medalist will perform at the Autumn Classic tournament in Canada, and the remaining Russian girls will perform at the Lombardia Trophy in Italy.