The duel of Shcherbakova and Tuktamysheva and the return of Sinitsina and Katsalapov: the main intrigues of the Cup of China Grand Prix stage

Lutz and Axel Fight

As in the first stage of the Grand Prix in Las Vegas, in China, the decoration of the women's competitions will be the duel of Anna Shcherbakova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. Youth versus experience, quadruple lutz versus triple axel, coach Eteri Tutberidze versus colleague Alexei Mishin. Again, two skaters will be on the same ice and will show the fans and the judges what they are capable of.

Shcherbakova should again be recognized as the favorite in their confrontation. Although she does not gain a lot of points in the short program, in the free program she will try to execute two quadruple Lutz, and, as shown by previous starts, it is almost impossible to fight. Tuktamysheva this season can already consistently perform three triple axels, including one in the cascade, but this jump still brings less points, even if the judges do not complain about him.

Another reason that Tuktamysheva loses Shcherbakova, lies in the components. Whatever titles the 22-year-old figure skater possesses, judges during the box office are still reluctant to reach scores above eight points. At the same time, the Firebird of the student Tutberidze managed to become one of the most favorite fan programs, and the referees somehow are not biased towards this program.

All this does not mean that Tuktamysheva is already inferior to Shcherbakova, and one skater will soon win her second stage of the Grand Prix, and the other will try to get to the finals in Turin in various roundabout ways. It is worth Shcherbakova to make a mistake on one of her Lutz, as she will incur a heavy fine for this.

In addition, the last tournament in the United States showed that at the end of a free rental it is already difficult for her to spin the jumps, and this leads to another loss of points. First of all, Tuktamysheva herself needs to skate cleanly both programs, but she can take advantage of her rivals' gifts.

Yu Yong from South Korea will try to prevent the Russian figure skaters from taking the first two places. Initially, her arrival in China was not discussed, since she deserved to participate in only one stage of the Grand Prix. But after the young figure skater became a bronze medalist in Canada, and Elizabeth Tursynbaeva was not able to come to Chongqing due to an injury, Yu Young replaced. Like Tuktamysheva, the Korean woman relies on a triple axel, but so far she has not performed it stably enough.

Japanese Satoko Miyahara has another strong side - she performs three stages in the second half of her free program, in which seven jumps fit. By today's standards, this does not create such a serious advantage as the ultra-si jumping, a stable and clean rental cannot but affect the mood of the judges. So the Japanese skater will also be a contender for medals in China.

For European champion Sofia Samodurova this week will come a moment of truth. This season began for her not at all, as fans expected. Unsuccessful performances at the test drives, scores below 200 points in two tournaments, the absence of the Finnlandia Trophy - all this is completely different from the skater, who made herself a name for the perfect execution of jumps and incendiary programs. The Chinese Grand Prix stage will be the first for her this season, and if Samodurova hopes to return to the Russian national team, she should now begin to show again that she deserves it.

Men's instability competitions

The most unpredictable competition in Chongqing will be men's skating. Several famous skaters will take part in it, but hardly any of them can boast of a margin of stability, which would be enough for the status of a 100% favorite. This means that medals can go to those who do not expect them from themselves.

One athlete is still worth highlighting. Chinese fans will look forward to the performance of Jin Boyang, who this season gave hope for his return. At the tournament in the Lombardia Trophy, he twice cleanly performed his signature quadruple lutz and scored 268.31 points with slight rough spots in the free program - this season only Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu received more. But then Jin Boyang again went downhill and failed at the Grand Prix stage in the United States. He will again miss the final tournament and will now try to convince the audience that it is too early to write off.

If the Chinese skater does not realize his plans, then Japanese Keiji Tanaka has the right to take his place. In his country, he already deserves the status of the second number, especially against the backdrop of the failures of Syoma Uno. Neither an outstanding skater, nor a quality jumper can be called him - a 24-year-old skater, at best, performs only the quadruple salchow. However, he already has one Grand Prix bronze in his asset, and this can inspire any skater to new achievements.

The stage in Chongqing can also help rehabilitate the two rising stars of the last season, who were in the background. We are talking about the bronze medalist of the Grand Prix finals Cha Jung Hwan from South Korea and the Italian Matteo Rizzo, who took third place in the European Championship. They cannot be called favorites now, but no one should stop them from returning to their level.

The only participant from Russia Andrey Lazukin will also try to show a good result. At the stage in Canada, he received a positive premium for the quadruple Lutz, but besides this jump showed almost nothing. With such powerful weapons, Alexey Mishin’s pupil could become a prize winner at every competition, but so far he can’t perform at least a short program.

Chinese pair skating warning

For China, the doubles tournament is the most important type of figure skating, and in it the country will be represented by a crazy team. For the first time since winning the World Cup, Sui Wenqing and Han Kun will take to the ice, who hold world records in the free program and overall rating. Last season, the couple did not perform at the stages of the Grand Prix, but this did not prevent her from successfully preparing for the main tournament. This time she will show the audience what she is capable of in advance.

The vice-winners of the Grand Prix finals Peng Cheng and Jin Yang will qualify for silver. They already have victories in the Shanghai Trophy home tournament and the American Grand Prix stage. At the same time, in Las Vegas, the pair was not perfect, breaking a triple sheepskin coat and throwing a rittberger, and scored a little more than 200 points. Their instability leaves chances for success to other guests of the competition - Russians Alisa Efimova and Alexander Korovin, who are in their best shape, and veterans from Italy Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise.

Wards Oleg Vasiliev this season updated their records on the Nebelhorn Trophy. 194.28 points is not the most outstanding result, but the pair has room to improve it, and in the case of clean execution of programs, it will break the mark of 200 points. For silver, this may well be enough, but still, Chinese couples will try to take the first two places themselves.

Debut Grand Prix of Sinitsina and Katsalapov

The Grand Prix stage in China will be the first this season for the Russian dance duo Victoria Sinitsina - Nikita Katsalapov. Recently, the wards of Alexander Zhulin have often visited the Celestial Empire - they have already played there at the Shanghai Trophy tournament, where the local judges were very impressed. They rated the two dances of the vice world champions at 213.54 points. If the competitions were official, then this result would be recorded as the second after the world record of Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron.

Moreover, just at the starts under the auspices of the International Union of Skaters Sinitsin and Katsalapov did not receive such good grades. At the Nepela Memorial tournament they did not score even two hundred points, which in principle is not bad for the start of the season. There is no doubt that since then the couple has been much better prepared for their return to China.

Sinitsina and Katsalapov will not have any titled rivals, but there are those who are ready to punish for any mistake on the ice. For the second place, silver medalists of the French Grand Prix stage Madison Chock and Evan Bates will compete - Americans really need another medal to get to the final tournament. The Canadian couple Lawrence Fournier-Baudry and Nikolai Sørensen will try to do the same.

Two more duets will represent Russia. Participants in the European Championships Sofya Evdokimova and Yegor Bazin will try to save the season that is getting out from under their feet - so far they cannot score 170 points, although they slightly improved their record in rhythm dance at the stage in Canada.

2017 World Junior Champions Anastasia Skoptsova and Kirill Aleshin will continue to fight for reaching the adult level. This fall, they scored 189.09 points at the Panin-Kolomenkin Memorial and will now try to earn the same marks at international starts.