Workout Trusova and double hit Medvedeva
The short program for the girls turned into a battle of triple axels, in which the Russians did not participate. The first place was taken by the last speaker Rika Kihira. All talk about the fact that a recent injury could interfere with her stopped at the moment the athlete performed the corporate jump. The Japanese made it very easy, as in a warm-up.
And after the most difficult stage of the program is completed, Kihira is usually not mistaken. She spent the rest of the rental for the song “Breakfast in Baghdad” flawlessly and received 81.35 points for it - this season it is the best mark for the short program among girls.
Korean Yoo Yong came up in second place. It was both unexpected and expected at the same time. The 15-year-old skater made her debut at an adult level this season and for a long time tried to perform a triple axel, but none of the many previous attempts were successful. But now she also entered the exclusive club of sportswomen who showed this element to the public at competitions.
Yu Young impressed the judges with more than that. For technology, she scored almost as much as Kihira, and if you drop the mark for the triple axel, then the Korean woman completely outperformed the more famous opponent in terms of points. But what she unconditionally inferior to is the components. Yu Young scored 78.22 points in total, and this is also a reason for pride - no one except Kihira scored so much this season.
Alexandra Trusova’s time usually comes during a free program, and so far after a short one she hides behind the backs of her rivals. The student Eteri Tutberidze can only perform the Lutz - Rittberger cascade on the first day, and at the expense of him try to reduce the lag to the maximum. Trusova performed her program under “Per Gynt” well, allowing only blots on the steps, for which she received 74.40 points and took third place.
Evgenia Medvedeva performance at the almost home stage of the Grand Prix failed. The short program began with a shortage on the sheepskin coat in a cascade, then she stumbled on landing from the axel, but the worst awaited her on the lutz. The Russian woman not only fell painfully, but then hit the side. Having heroically rolled the program, the skater darkly left the ice. She received the second mark from the end for the technique, but thanks to the components she climbed to sixth place with 62.89 points. Between her and Trusova were also imperfectly skated their programs, but American Brady Tennell and Canadian Gabriel Daleman who avoided falls.
The return of hanyu
Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu returned to his former fantastic level, when he performed quadruple jumps flawlessly, and the choreography forced the judges to set dozens. The quadruple salchow, the triple axel and the quadruple sheepskin coat in the cascade with the triple received huge bonuses, which were then supplemented with decent points for rotation and crazy points for components. Hanyu earned 109.60 points - this is the second after his own result in history, ahead of the best indicator of Nathan Chen.
The rest of the skaters could only play an intermediate second place, and he was unexpectedly taken by Camden Palkinen, the US Grand Prix debutant. With a clean four-piece sheepskin coat and 89.05 points, he beat many more famous skaters, such as Nama Nguyenu from Canada, who ended up third, Keiji Tanaku from Japan and Matteo Rizzo from Italy, who simply failed his performance.
The only Russian figure skater Andrei Lazukin became the sixth, which for him can be recognized as some success. He was the only one who made an attempt to fulfill the quadruple lutz and practically dealt with it, but the judges still withdrew half a point for the performance. There were also enough blots on the other elements, but in general, the skater from St. Petersburg performed better than in previous tournaments, and scored 78.99 points, with which you can still hope for bronze with perfect execution of a free program.
The ideal of Boykova and Kozlovsky
The best of the Russian representatives were Alexander Boykova and Dmitry Kozlovsky in pair skating. They won a short program with an impeccable performance under the instrumental composition My Way. The bronze medalists of the European Championship cleanly performed all the elements, but they were especially good at the difficult flip throw and the support of the fourth level, the premiums for which amounted to more than two points. Boykova and Kozlovsky broke the personal record for official competitions, gaining 76.45 points - only the Chinese Peng Cheng and Jin Yang performed better at their home Shanghai Trophy.
The leaders of the Russian national team Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov also performed in Canada. They have not yet been able to fully realize their plans, which is quite natural for a couple who have gone to radical changes in the offseason. But positive developments are already there. The vice-champions of the world received the best marks for the components under the Bolero, however, Morozov’s double sheepskin coat prevented him from becoming the first. The pair scored 73.57 points, and this is a more optimistic result than the Russians had at the beginning of last season.
In the free program, Tarasova and Morozov will try to rise from third place to at least second place, confronting the owners of the ice Kirsten Moore Towers and Michael Marinaro. Canadians received 75.50 points from judges, also failing to perfectly execute a parallel sheepskin coat.
Dance failures of Russians
In ice dancing, two duos fought for leadership on the first day. The Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donoghue have already managed to win the home stage of the Grand Prix, but this turned out to be not enough, and they entered the territory of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier to ensure their participation in the final following the results of the competitions in Canada.
While the bronze medalists of the last World Cup cope with their task. Judges practically did not find fault with anything, occasionally lowering the marks for individual elements. Hubbell and Donoghue still received fewer points for rhythm dance than at home, but they also had 83.21 points for first place. Gilles and Poirier showed twizzles of the fourth level, but they made a mistake on the path of steps and scored 82.58 points, which will allow them to fight further. The best in the base cost of the dance, but not in its execution, was another Canadian couple, Caitlin Hoayek and Jean-Luc Baker, who were third with 79.52 points.
Among Russians, the best result was shown by Betina Popova and Sergey Mozgov. The judges still stubbornly do not want to evaluate them on an equal footing with the rest of the participants, and for now, the dancers have to be content with 71.44 points for their interpretation of Cabaret. At their only stage of the Grand Prix, where they were allowed, the Russians so far occupy sixth place.
Sofya Evdokimova and Yegor Bazin did not even reach such assessments. The pair continues to pour in front of our eyes, although until recently it seemed that it would have a chance to catch up with world leaders. However, for the second time this season, it turned out to be an impossible task for them to score more than 70 points for a rhythm dance. In Canada, they are still in the penultimate ninth place.