It was no coincidence that the organizers of the past European Figure Skating Championships in Graz decided that women should close the competition. Throughout the world, girls' competitions are of great interest and attract the most spectators. Eternal intrigues, unexpected twists, genuine emotions and even real dramas - without this, women’s single skating could not be imagined for all recent years.
But in Austria, the usual passions around the women's tournament did not rage. It was obvious to everyone that Alyona Kostornaya, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexander Trusov were going to get medals and win them. They were not going to let anyone near the podium, and no one tried to get close to him. The strongest not only on the continent, but also in the world, figure skaters literally held a master class for the rest of Europe and gave an exhaustive answer to the question why two-thirds of the participants from Russia did not represent their native country at this tournament.
Of course, there is no fault of the students of Eteri Tutberidze in that women's skating in the Old World crushed. In the end, this is not news - for the entire duration of the European Championships more than 200 points for two rentals except the Russians scored only the Italian Carolina Costner. However, in the same way, Europe cannot be called the flagship in men's single skating, however, the results of the championship in this type of program will be remembered for a long time to come. What can we say about what happened in dancing and even in pairs, where the Russians also did not let anyone on the podium.
The fact is that Kostornaya, Shcherbakova and Trusova did not achieve something more important than high scores and brilliant medals. They did not bring anything new to figure skating and did not give a reason to argue about anything. For the fourth time in a row, the young skaters took the first three places in the tournament common for them, and in the arrangement on the European podium they completely repeated the Grand Prix finals, moreover, according to the results of the short program.
Of course, there are differences from last year's rentals in Turin, but not at all those that we should be proud of. All three athletes performed worse than before. In the free program, not one was without falls, and Trusova also allowed a blot in the short box. Moreover, none of them suffered sporting punishment for this - did not lose medals and did not even experience anxiety before announcing the grades.
All three girls remained with them, as if nothing had happened. Although they themselves were brought up with the idea that it is worth stopping for a second, and ruthless competitors will grind you, and the fans will quickly forget. But nothing similar happened in Graz. Without competition, there were no overwhelming rentals, no world records, and at least some pleasant nerve, why I would like to recall these competitions later.
Any previous rental trio of talented skaters was of interest. It was easy to find a reason to go to YouTube and review it. But why will the eye have to catch the last tournament in a stream of other performances? Just because they won medals for the first time in the European Championship? So they can be said to have won them before coming to Graz.
After these competitions, only Trusova’s speech is possible to discuss, and the reason for this is not at all joyful. Once again, we have to admit that the pursuit of quadruple jumps did not bring anything good except the bronze of the European Championship. Remember how interesting it was to follow the skater's career when she learned one jump after another, how she broke records thanks to them, how she was admired even after the falls - after all, one small mistake left hope that it would turn out next time.
But this next time there was no way. In Graz, Trusova again did not try the triple axel, but in the free program she reduced the number of quadruple jumps to three. At the same time, the skater herself repeats every time that she wants to try new things, that she is ready to become more complicated and grow, that she is not afraid of falls and injuries. But the words “queen of the quadruple jumps” are now at odds with the deed.
Trusova took on too much, and now as if she could not bear responsibility for her plans. She decided too early to go all-in, unlike the same Shcherbakova, who also non-stop learns quadruple jumps, but she came to three in one program only now. Trusova, however, managed to sink to such a number of them, and at the same time still can not cope with what in her case is a huge step back. With that, yes, the European Championship can be remembered. But hardly anyone would want this to be the only reason.
Sometimes the tournament in Graz was presented as the first start in four years, which was not performed by Evgeny Medvedev and Alina Zagitova - one of them was hindered by a broken skate, and the other decided to stop and restart her career. This nostalgia for the two skaters has every reason for it - they really are not enough, they really had the right to participate in the European Championships.
That Medvedeva, that Zagitova did not have the same performances, they did not cause the same emotions. Even if someone’s winning streak was delayed, they found a way to bring something new - to perform an extra jump, provoke someone's indignation with their superiority, break the world record or become the youngest champion. And victories didn’t come easily to them - they always paid in full for their mistakes. The current generation of skaters is too strong and therefore does not know the worries.
Perhaps, everything really rests only in the absence of strong skaters in the European arena. The World Cup - the next start for Kostornaya, Trusova and Shcherbakova - will be much higher in terms of participants, but will not be particularly different from the Grand Prix finals. And I really want the next appearance of the Tutberidze trio on ice to surprise and remember something. It already knows how to win, now the fans need something new.