The Russian Figure Skating Championship in Krasnoyarsk has taught that miracles on it are still possible. The men's competition ended with a shuffle of all participants, as a result of which Arthur Danielyan climbed to second place from 13th, and Alexander Samarin, even with falls in the free program, could become a bronze medalist and get into the national team. After such an expectation from the final day of the tournament, they could be very different, especially considering that during it awards were played for sports couples and women.
A promising duet by Anastasia Mishina - Alexander Gallyamov fell into a situation where he must recoup his strength after failure in the short program. This couple has been playing for the third year together and only the first at the adult level, and has already managed to become the bronze medalist of the Grand Prix finals and become one of the favorites of the Russian championship. The eighth result on the first day inexorably pulled them down, but the lag behind the prize three was still not critical - a little less than nine points.
Mishina and Gallyamov outwardly very calmly proceeded to their rental to the ominous music from the series “Master and Margarita”. The judges habitually appreciated the twist to the third level, but could not further stand in the way of the couple - the flip flop, a wonderful cascade with two triple salchows, and a triple sheepskin coat were made cleanly. Despite the insufficiently complex support, the release of a triple rittberger finally returned athletes to the fight for medals. For just one free program the world champions among juniors scored 145.12 points - for the world scene these are fantastic numbers. In total, they also received a solid 212.85 points.
At the end of the performance, the skaters admitted that they were saved by a break between the two rentals. Short rental took place on Thursday, while free rental on Saturday.
“It's good that there was a break day. Of course, the evening after a short one was quite complicated. The mood was not very. But over the weekend we were able to recover, get used to the second warm-up and get together for an arbitrary, ”Mishina said.
At the same time, Gallyamov admitted that he was very nervous after a short program, as a result of which he fell asleep only at five in the morning.
“It was cold to walk on the weekend, the frost was just terrible. I had to put on almost a muzzle, gloves, sweatpants over jeans, one jacket on the other. We tried as much as possible to get distracted, only supported the guys in the competitions. Today we are well tuned and drove normally. After the first day you should not give up, on the contrary, you need to work even harder. Without take-offs, there are no falls, you need to be normal about it, ”Gallyamov said.
The strongest warm-up of four pairs was demonstrated by Alisa Efimova and Alexander Korovin. At these competitions, students of the Olympic champion Oleg Vasilyev lost the experience only to Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, but again failed to translate this advantage into a successful hire. Mistakes and falls on jumps and emissions cost the pair very expensive - it dropped from fourth to ninth place.
Daria Pavlyuchenko and Denis Khodykin to confidently get on the podium needed to cleanly roll back their very complex program, which was not an easy task for the couple. This season, they could not bring their plans to life, and in the final of the Grand Prix they completely failed. But in Krasnoyarsk they did not miss their chance - the skaters started with an excellent triple flip, followed by the future of pair skating, and a cascade with three sheepskin coats. Small blots on emissions did not affect the position of the duet - although he lost to Mishina and Gallyamov at the box office, he pushed forward in total, gaining 219.72 points.
Tarasova and Morozov performed without much pressure - the unofficial world champions could not worry about getting into the prizes. And when, after an air twist and a triple salchow, both skaters could not cope with the cascade, their emotionality and mood did not disappear from their skating. The judges liked the rest of the rental, and they would be happy to help the couple exceed the world record in the overall assessment, but they could not. Eugene and Vladimir got 233.19 points and naturally came out on top.
But Alexandra Boykova and Dmitry Kozlovsky, who closed the competition, still had such a chance. The free program is their trump card, which in the future will still have to face the best couples in the world. After the Grand Prix finals, the students of Tamara Moskvina did an excellent job of mistakes and did not make a single one in Krasnoyarsk. In addition, they added in a purely pair skating while recreating scenes from the James Bond saga on ice.
Boykova and Kozlovsky were fully rewarded for their return - they received 233.66 points. This did not allow them to exceed the achievement of the Chinese Sun Wenjin and Han Tsun (234.84), but this was enough to win the Russian championship. In the debate about who is the best couple in the country, skaters from St. Petersburg again prevailed.