Shcherbakova's gold, two silver duets, bronzes of Aliyev and Tuktamysheva: how the Russians performed at Skate America

Triumph of Shcherbakova

Even before the start of Skate America, Anna Shcherbakova was focused on the closest attention. Thanks to her incredible jumps in four turns, the 15-year-old athlete immediately joined the fight for the title of the strongest skater on the planet and was considered as one of the favorites of the competition. As a result, she was able to confirm her hopes and immediately win gold at her first stage of the Grand Prix in her career.

Neither experienced opponents in the person of Elizabeth Tuktamysheva and Brady Tennell, nor the mixed result in the short program could stop her. According to its results, she took only the fourth line, but was able to rehabilitate in an arbitrary. Shcherbakova practically made no shortcomings, and the main moment of her performance was the first two pure quadruple lutz in history, one of them in a cascade with a triple toe loop. At the same time, the audience was most admired by the spectacular moment with the change of dress.

The judges were also impressed, who gave Anna 160.16 points. This helped her to collect a total of 227.76 points and firmly establish herself in the first position. Thus, she showed the sixth result in history in terms of the total number of points, losing only to the Japanese Rika Kihira (233.12) and her compatriots Tuktamysheva (234.43), Alena Kostornaya (234.84), Alina Zagitova (238.43) and Alexandra Trusova (238.69).

"I was very happy. Until the end of the program I traveled with the thought: “Tolerate, endure, not relax.” I didn’t want to have any flaws, stupid mistakes. Having got into the last position, I finally exhaled, relaxed and was very happy, ”Sport24 quotes Shcherbakova.

Silver went to the hostess of the competition, Tennell, who, although she tried to impose a struggle, could not compete. As a result, the American lost more than 11 points. Moreover, after a short program, she was ahead of her young rival by more than seven points.

The bronze went to Tuktamysheva, who presented the public with two triple axels, one of which was made in combination with a double sheepskin coat. In general, Elizabeth acted quite successfully and received premiums for almost all the elements. The only exception was the three-turn ritberger with a slight undercooking. Thanks to this, the Russian woman scored 138.69 points for arbitrary rental and 205.97 in total, only 3.5 points ahead of Sakamoto.

“I wanted to finish Skate America on a good note. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I skated badly. The beginning of the season was good, and if I made any mistakes, they would not be technical, but stupid, emotional. Therefore, she was very concentrated, ”said Tuktamysheva.

The main failure of the Grand Prix stage was Stanislav Konstantinov. If in the short program she showed the penultimate result, then this time she was in the very basement of the tournament table. Hopes for a successful performance crossed out the falls during the performance of the double and triple Lutz, as well as the touch of ice when leaving the double axel.

“Two starts took place in some sort of total stress and failure. I think that you need to get together for a start, then roll back as many starts as possible ... Just build up confidence, competitive experience and get out of this hole. Two such bad tournaments hit hard on self-esteem and reputation, ”the skater admitted.

Bronze Aliyev

Before the start of Skate America, Dmitry Aliyev’s chances for medals were considered very modest, but after a short program he was second, second only to the recognized favorite Nathan Chen. At the same time, at a distance of only 0.23 points was the Canadian Keegan Messing.

As a result, Aliyev was not able to purely present an arbitrary program and was grossly mistaken in the performance of the triple lutz and axel. In the first case, he did not count one turn, and in the second, he simply lost the jump. He saved his cascade of quadruple and triple sheepskin coats, as well as another sheepskin coat in four turns, for which he received substantial allowances. As a result, this helped him to gain 156.98 points for the rental and to win bronze with 253.55 points.

“A little disappointment and a little happiness. The first is due to the fact that two key jumps that could give me second place did not work out. And the second, because finally the rental was over, there was such a difficult period, I didn’t speak very badly, ”the athlete said.

The expected gold went to Chen, who conquered the audience with a quadruple flip, sheepskin coat and salchow, and silver unexpectedly went to his compatriot Jason Brown. In a free program, he showed an excellent performance and beat Aliyev. Messing was not so successful and moved to fourth place.

Sadly, as in women's competitions, the last place for men went to the representative of Russia. 19-year-old Roman Savosin could not cope with the pressure and made a number of gross blunders. So, he unsuccessfully performed three jumping elements at once, and not the highest level of complexity of the program did not allow him to impose a serious struggle on other athletes. As a result, 182.16 points in total and more than 100 points behind Chen.

Silver medals of Russian couples

In doubles, domestic skaters also did not remain without awards. In anticipation of the free program, the Russians took second places in the tournament of both sports and dance duets, and could well count on gold. But in the end, neither Daria Pavlyuchenko with Denis Khodykin, nor Alexander Stepanova with Ivan Bukin could not break out into the leaders.

Before the final rental, Pavlyuchenko and Khodykin were inferior to Cheng Peng and Jin Yang a little more than half a point, but did not perform very well and lost the chance to catch up with their counterparts. The reason for this was the fall of Daria during an ejection on a triple flip, which cost them 2.5 points. As a result, in the free program, they became only third, skipping ahead of the Americans Haven Denny and Brandon Fraser, but in the overall standings they remained on the second line. True, their lag behind the Chinese rose to 3.91 points.

“In training, we felt more confident. We felt that we can. Added clean programs. The support before that was quite simple, which we did on juniors last season. This step is also on the podium, ”Khodykin said.

Unlike their compatriots, Stepanova and Bukin put up more fierce resistance to future triumphs. So, they almost unmistakably skated an arbitrary program and were 0.08 points ahead of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donoghue, but this was not enough for the final success. The Americans also did not make gross mistakes and were able to keep their first place.

“I would like to thank the audience for the warm welcome. It was incredibly nice to ride. Today we are more satisfied with ourselves than yesterday. Fought to the end. Therefore, it is worth recognizing that this start was not bad for us, ”said Stepanova.

After a short program, another Russian duet claimed Trony Zagorski and Jonathan Gurreiro for bronze medals. Their lagging behind the third line was about eight points, which left them hope for high places. But not the most vivid random rental brought them to nothing, and the athletes remained on the fifth line.