Leadership without a new cascade
The second start of Evgenia Medvedeva this season was the Shanghai Trophy tournament, which is taking place these days in China. She became one of the six participants who received an invitation to these informal, but still serious competitions, in which it was possible to once again prepare for the stages of the Grand Prix.
The last week before arriving in Shanghai, Medvedev was sick and did not train. But this did not stop her from preparing a real surprise for her fans. The Russian skater has long been learning a new and more “expensive” cascade of flip - rittberger. In September, at the Autumn Classic, Medvedeva had not yet demonstrated it, but at a training session in China she performed both jumps perfectly together.
However, in the short program, the Russian woman decided not to demonstrate a new cascade. She began her musical performance with Muse with a proven cascade of flip - sheepskin coats, followed by a clean double axel. But then Medvedev habitually led a triple lutz - in addition to the wrong rib, the judges also saw a shortage. The jump went to minus and did not bring the figure skater the ratings that she was waiting for. As a result, she scored 72.16 points - three less than in Canada.
To please Medvedev should have been that even such a result allowed her to take a leading position. Her main rival, like at the World Cup in Japan, was Elizabeth Tursynbaeva from Kazakhstan. There were a lot of questions regarding her arrival in Shanghai, as a student of Eteri Tutberidze had long had problems with her back. But she still went on the ice for the first time this season.
It was not possible to fully fulfill everything conceived by the vice-champion of the world. She, too, was mistaken on the Lutz, and for the cascade of Salchis - she earned a sheepskin coat less than Medvedev. Tursynbaeva became the second with an assessment of 69.24 points, but if she performs the quadruple salchow in the free program, she can bypass the Russian rival, even if she shows her new cascade.
The tiny lag of Russians
In the doubles tournament from Russia, the bronze medalists of the last world championship Natalia Zabiyako and Alexander Enbert were originally supposed to perform. However, this season, fans are unlikely to see this pair. Doctors recommended that Enbert take a break and give up speaking indefinitely. Instead of this duet, Shanghai was visited by young skaters Alexander Boykov and Dmitry Kozlovsky, who have not yet participated in competitions this season.
The Russians had to compete with a strong Chinese pair Peng Cheng - Jin Yang, who beat Tamara Moskvina's wards at the World Cup and became the fourth. Boykova and Kozlovsky announced a more complex program with salch instead of a sheepskin coat and the release of a flip instead of a rittberger. But in the protocols, their basic technical assessment was equal - the judges rated the support of the Russians to the third level instead of the fourth.
In general, two pairs performed really at the same level, and the gap between them was minimal. As a result, the Chinese were a little better. Peng Cheng and Jin Yang scored 77.12 points, becoming leaders of the season, and Boykova and Kozlovsky lost only 19 hundredths of points to them, updating their personal best.
Unofficial record of Sinitsina and Katsalapov
In ice dancing, the only Russian duo worth paying attention to in the coming season were Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov. In September, the vice-world champions already performed at the Nepela Memorial in Bratislava, where they won with a total score of 198.14 points. But then the wards of Alexander Zhulin only recovered from illnesses and did not have time to prepare fully.
In Shanghai, Sinitsina and Katsalapov performed much better, subduing all five judges who worked in the competition. Their rhythm dance to the music from the musical “Singing in the Rain” received very high components - for each, at least nine points fell into the common piggy bank. At the same time, the judges were supportive of the technique as well, not having to find fault with the levels of twizzles and support. The Russians received 49.17 points - this is more than the world record for the technique of Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron, set at the last world championship.
In total, Sinitsin and Katsalapov scored 86.77 points, which is the best result in rhythm dance for the season. True, the Russians should not deceive themselves - in ice dancing the level of refereeing at such tournaments often leaves much to be desired, and nine judges instead of five could evaluate the Russian pair much more severely.