There are so many strong athletes in the group of coach Eteri Tutberidze this season that it becomes impossible to separate them at the stages of the Grand Prix. If Anna Shcherbakova and Alexander Trusova could still avoid each other, in France the Olympic champion Alina Zagitova could not avoid meeting with yesterday's junior Alyona Kostornaya, who had already loudly declared herself at the beginning of the season.

The fact that these two students of Tutberidze were together was a great success for the rivals. After all, both of them profess the same style of skiing, relying on imagery and choreography, and not on jumping. If Shcherbakova and Trusova can prove themselves only in the free program, and in the short time they surrender to more experienced rivals, then the struggle between Zagitova and Kostornaya should adorn both days of the competition in Grenoble.

True, in the short program there was no direct rivalry between the girls within the same workout. Kostornaya has not yet earned a high enough rating to immediately be in the strongest group, although she deserved it more than many adult rivals.

Recently, at the Finlandia Trophy, a 16-year-old Russian woman defeated the world of figure skating with a triple axel, which added her base value. Then Kostornaya showed this difficult jump only in a free program. Considering the attempt a success, she added it to the short rental left over from last season.

Kostornaya entered the axel from an incredibly difficult approach and landed just as beautifully from it. But the high score for the jump, which the audience saw immediately, soon disappeared. The judges saw in the attempt of the Russian woman a shortage, which is why she lost a few points. Mighty triple Lutz, too, was not left without complaints. Only for a cascade of flip - Kostornaya sheepskin coats could not be justified.

Unfortunately, small mistakes in jumping also affected the assessment for the components - the judges decided that the athlete should not be pampered, although her skating was incredibly intense and non-stop. Kostornaya’s components turned out to be slightly higher than Skate Canada’s week ago, although the difference between their skating cannot but catch the eye. The final figure skater score was 76.55 points - much lower than what she could count on.

For many participants, this result was sky-high. American Mariah Bell scored 70.25 points for her rental under Britney Spears, Wakaba Higuchi, vice world champion, limited herself to 64.26 due to errors on the lutz and flip, Kaori Sakamoto, four-continent champion, fell on the axel and received only 64.08 points.

Only Zagitova could move Kostornaya from the first line. The Olympic champion was the last to take the ice to show her short program for the first time under the soulful vocals of Yasmine Levy. Technically, the rental coincided with last year's “Phantom of the Opera”: the same cascade of Lutz - Rittberger and flip in the second half. But its content turned out to be even richer, and skating adults. From the stingy judges on components, Zagitova received 36.92 points - she received more only at the winning world championship.

But in pursuit of perfection, Zagitova stumbled on technology. In the cascade, she showed the wrong edge on the first jump and underdrew the second. Estimates for the brand element of the Russian woman were scattered from “–5” to “+1” and as a result went into minus. In addition, it turned out that the program, delivered by Daniel Gleichenhaus, does not fit into the timing. For this, Zagitova lost another point.

The final grade was 74.24 points. Zagitova was second behind Kostornaya, which came as a big surprise - from the Olympic champion one could expect that she would seize the chance and cling to first place.

But at least in her skating there wasn’t the nervousness that went through almost the entire last season. One mistake during the premiere screening is quite acceptable, although now it may affect the final distribution of medals. Indeed, in the free program Kostornaya will again try to execute a triple axel. Zagitova will have to answer with the perfect execution of her program, with which the public and judges already had the opportunity to familiarize themselves.