“Kostornaya is the standard of women's skiing”: in Russia they admired the performance of Tutberidze’s students at the Grand Prix stage in Japan

The final stage of the Grand Prix in figure skating once again proved the superiority of Eteri Tutberidze's students over her rivals. A confident victory was won by Alyona Kostornaya, and Alina Zagitova, who managed to rehabilitate herself for failure in the short program, won the third place. Summing up the results of the tournament, choreographer Daniil Gleichengauz congratulated the wards on a successful result.

“The sixth stage of the NHK Trophy Grand Prix series has ended! Gold and bronze at our beautiful girls! Congratulations to Alena Kostornaya and Alina Zagitova with medals and reaching the Grand Prix finals! Thanks to all our fans for their support, ”the coach wrote on his Instagram page.

Despite the absence of quadruple jumps in the Kostornaya program, many experts give her the first place in Russian skiing. The famous trainer Tatyana Tarasova emphasized that the athlete had only recently included triple axels in her official competition numbers, but she had already shown significant progress in their performance. This brought her the world record in the short program, and then the gold stage.

“Kihira (runner-up at the Japanese Grand Prix. - RT ) has been riding them for years. Alena’s second axel didn’t come off, it was just a step-out. But this element has a great height, and I like the quality of workmanship more than that of a Japanese woman. And flip sheepskin coats in the second part of the program are simply fantastic. And how she works with her right hand! To compete with her, Rika needs to jump in fours, ”Tarasova shared her opinion on the air of Channel One.

The Russian woman herself noted that in the future she would like to master the quadruple jumps. According to the trainer Konstantin Menshov, she will become completely inaccessible to her rivals if she strengthens her program due to these elements.

“Alena for me at the moment is the standard of female figure skating. She shows that with triple axles and without quadruples you can gain such high scores. What a skate, hull, cool steps, cool transitions! And her jumps are powerful, male. I am delighted. Yes, and it is clear that she has a reserve for a quad. I think that Kostornaya is already doing them in training, ”RIA Novosti quoted Menshov as saying.

As for Zagitova, the experts admired her character, thanks to which she not only won the medal of the stage in Sapporo, but also made it to the Grand Prix finals. Tarasova noted her impeccable rental in the free program, which did not leave anyone indifferent.

“This is what she rolled, jumped. She showed the whole program. Yesterday, for some reason, it didn’t work out. Look, not a single person sitting in the hall! What a fellow! Alina has done a lot for herself. She knows that in a difficult situation she can get together. Great clever. We are looking forward to clean and classy rental from her, ”said the specialist.

Zagitova’s number was also rated at the International Skating Union (ISU).

“This smile! These movements! Alina Zagitova is stealing hearts! ”, The organization said on a message posted on Twitter.

😊 That smile! Those moves! Alina Zagitova 🇷🇺 stealing hearts! 💞 # GPFigure # FigureSkatingpic.twitter.com / N8cu6CxNT7

Choreographer Ilya Averbukh noted several strengths in the figure skater’s number at once. According to him, he was most impressed with the way out of the double axel, as well as the cascade of triple lutz - triple rittberger.

“We saw an amazing Zagitova. The general impression of perfection, magic. It was clear that Alina was in control. Somewhere dumped emotions, somewhere added. In my opinion, everything is fine, ”the specialist said.

In turn, Menshov admitted that he did not expect a different result from the athlete.

“I am very happy for Alina that she gathered in an arbitrary and showed her character. There was a feeling that she didn’t have confidence in the short one, and there was already no doubt about the arbitrary one. Despite the fact that it is very difficult to compete with young girls, Zagitova is trying to complicate her content as much as possible. She had disruptive starts, but she pulled herself together and sports anger appeared. She admitted that no one forces her to train, ”said the trainer.

Sofia Samodurova took sixth place at the Grand Prix stage in Japan. Despite the not very successful result, her mentor Alexei Mishin was pleased with the performance of the ward. At the same time, in his opinion, the judges underestimated her grades, depriving them of fourth place.

“The strictness of the judges to her jumps can be explained by the fact that the native walls were supposed to help Japanese women, who, in the opinion of many experts, were not quite right above her. Because in terms of infallibility, it is simply unique, and from the point of view of emotionality and charisma it is a pure “five,” - quotes the words of the TASS coach.

Stability Samodurova noted and Tarasova.

“She's not breaking anything. Does everything that needs to be done. Learned and begins to add. Be patient and step up the jump. You have a character, ”said the expert.

According to Averbukh, the student Mishin progresses from start to start, in connection with which it is too early to write off.

“Her program looks brighter and brighter. Previously, many thought that Sophia would be an athlete of one season, but she adds. She performed all her jumps unmistakably, although they were not so high by estimates. I’m sure that Samodurova will work to complicate her free program, ”said the choreographer.

The 2002 Olympic champion Aleksey Yagudin did not stand aside from the success of the Russian figure skaters. He turned to them in a video that he posted on his Instagram page.

“And I said: we must forget the short program. With new powers - to new heights, and everything will be fine. Well done, Alinka! Hooray, Alyonka! Krasava! Samodurova - well done, Zagitova - smart girl. Well done! ”, Yagudin shared his emotions.

Summing up the Grand Prix stages, the four-time bronze medalist of the European Championships Victoria Butsaeva emphasized that at the moment it is not easy to determine the leader of the season.

“But who will win from the skaters of the Tutberidze group with clean rentals is hard to say. Kostornaya, Anna Scherbakova, Alexandra Trusova are all three different girls, with different jump sets. At one start it can turn out like this, at another - vice versa, ”the ex-athlete shared her opinion.