“Sasha flies to another planet”: how Russia appreciated the performances of Trusova and Medvedeva at Skate Canada

"Space performance"

The main triumph of the Canadian stage of the Grand Prix in figure skating was the Russian woman Alexander Trusova, who completed three quadruple jumps in the free program and broke two world records at once. Many experts were impressed by the performance of 15-year-old student Eteri Tutberidze.

Alexander Gorshkov, head of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR), congratulated Trusov on his first serious success in adult ice skating. He especially noted her character and determination, which allowed her to gather after the fall on Salkhov.

“After the failure with the first jump, Alexandra even more wanted to prove that she can, and she managed to realize her dream - to score more than 100 points for the technique. Our men can take an example from her - how to go out on the ice not just with the desire to fight, but with the desire to win. I sincerely congratulate Eteri Tutberidze and the entire Khrustalny team, ”TASS quoted Gorshkov as saying.

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The victory of Trusova pleased not only her fans, but also experts. Honored trainer of the USSR Tatyana Tarasova said that she sincerely worried about the athlete.

“What one must be smart, collected and trained to get up after the fall and not make a single mistake! The whole room was silent, even at the TV we could hardly breathe, because it was scary. The girl sets world records, rides on such difficulty! And she’s enjoying it all, ”Tarasova told RIA Novosti.

The famous choreographer Ilya Averbukh highly appreciated the technique of performing the figure skater’s quadruple jumps, noting especially their mathematical accuracy. In his opinion, at the moment, only one more student of Tutberidze Anna Shcherbakova can compete with Trusova.

“This is some other league, space performance. The feeling that Sasha is preparing and flies to another planet. Both she and Anya Shcherbakova are unique figure skaters. They are subject to what previously seemed simply impossible. With such a rental, Trusova is the main contender for the world championship, ”Sport24 quotes a specialist.

Similar metaphors were present in the assessment of the Olympic champion Sochi-2014 Adeline Sotnikova.

“I don’t remember men riding a program of such complexity. It was as if we all flew to another planet, watched Sasha’s performance there, patted her while standing, and returned back. In the second warm-up, I saw a completely different level for Russian girls. Our figure skating does not stand still, but develops. All athletes perform complex elements and each time complicate their numbers even more, ”said Sotnikova.

In turn, the 1999 world champion Maria Butyrskaya suggested that Trusova’s performance at Skate Canada left in amazement not only fans and specialists, but also rivals.

“As for the rental of Sasha Trusova, there’s nothing to talk about. What she does, and not only at Skate Canada, we have already seen, the performance of four quadruple jumps is simply sky-high. It’s still not clear to me how she is able to do this so easily and simply. I'm not talking about triple lutz and triple rittberger, ”Butyrskaya emphasized.

A similar position was expressed by the bronze medalist of the 2015 World Cup Elena Radionova.

“Trusova’s speech did not surprise me, it was obvious. Sasha is now showing some kind of cosmos. I was shocked by its technical base, because not every boy can cope with such content, let alone declare it. While Trusova has no equal in this regard, with such a rental she can calmly become a leader, ”Radionova is sure.

Trusova’s performance not only aroused the enthusiasm of the experts, but also made them think about the future of figure skating, in which four jumps would cease to be something unusual. So, the 2002 Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin expressed confidence that this sport "will never be the same again."

“The new generation of skaters is pushing away from the current heights, so you should not take everything that happens as isolated cases. Once we wrote letters, sealed them in envelopes and waited for them to reach, today we send them in fractions of a second using gadgets, instantly receiving a delivery notification, ”the TASS expert quotes.

At the same time, he emphasized that such evolution is a natural process that should not be disturbed.

“There is no need to kill geniuses in athletes by means of age restrictions; water will always break its way. The world of figure skating has adapted to the new rules, to the new system, waited, saved up forces, but now this dam has burst. There are difficult jumps, and there are those who are capable of doing them. Which of them will be the best this season can be judged only at its end, but this year is already a new history of our sport, ”concluded Yagudin.

At the same time, the 1994 Olympic champion Alexei Urmanov suggested that the driving force behind such trends is the desire of skaters to surprise viewers who are accustomed to simpler elements.

“Figure skating is moving forward. Our girls learned quadruple jumps, perform them in competitions, show them to the whole world. This is very good, because there is progress, movement forward. Thanks to such performances an action arises that is interesting to many, ”Urmanova quotes the“ Championship ”.

“Need to learn the quadruple jump”

Speech at Skate Canada by Evgenia Medvedeva did not remain without the attention of experts. After failing in the short program, she managed to get together and improve her performance, taking the final fifth place. Coach Brian Orser praised the ward for his character and admitted that he was proud of her.

“Eugene believed in herself, as I did in her. Together we will work on the psychological aspect of the short program. She had to go through this, ”said the specialist.

In turn, Tarasova thanked the two-time world champion for continuing the fight, despite the failure on the first day of the competition.

“Thank you very much to Wife for correcting her mood not only for herself, but for our entire multi-million country. People who love her, who support her, who believe in her, and who along with her do not want to give up. And to me too - I am absolutely happy! ”Said the coach.

According to Averbukh, at the moment, Medvedev has shown maximum of its capabilities. However, in order to continue to remain competitive, it needs to include quadruple jumps in its numbers.

“Medvedeva’s good preparation for her clean performance is noticeable. She added on herself. But to fight on an equal footing you need to learn the quadruple jump. Not just talking about it, but already starting to do it. Without such a trump card, one can hardly rely on anything now. She can afford the fourth salchow; she will immediately enter the fight for a leading position with him, ”the choreographer is sure.

After a short program, a flurry of criticism fell on Orser's ward. Some experts noted her psychological unpreparedness and even advised changing her mentor. However, Adeline Sotnikova urged Medvedev not to pay attention to such statements and continue to enjoy their rentals.

“I am very happy for Zhenya Medvedev and for the way she skated the program. She proved to herself that she was still competitive, that she could impose a fight on any opponent. It is clear that we have “experts” sitting on the other side of the television screens and people who “understand everything”, but you should not pay attention to this. There will always be criticism, ”said the ex-athlete.

Some experts suggested that failure in the short program is just an isolated case, because of which Medvedev should not be written off.

“Hire of Zhenya Medvedeva in the free program was very worthy. It can be seen that she is in good shape, from start to start will gain psychological confidence. There will no longer be such rentals as in the short program. The lag really turns out big, because in technology she is inferior to Sasha, here it is obvious. They deservedly put a lot in components, but it’s hard to catch up with Trusov’s technique, ”said Radionova.

Butyrskaya is in solidarity with her. She emphasized that it is often difficult for some skaters to prepare for competitions both physically and psychologically.

“I also remember myself - when you fail a short one, you have nothing to lose in any. So it was a natural state. It’s a pity that Zhenya didn’t manage to put himself together for two programs, ”Butyrskaya complained.