"Jumps as if it costs her nothing": how Osokina overshadowed the students of Tutberidze at the box office of the Russian junior team

Preseason rentals are, of course, not competitions, but exclusively a working event. Its task is to identify all the flaws and flaws in the programs of the strongest and give athletes and their coaches maximum professional recommendations.

In this regard, junior skates in Novogorsk turned out to be extremely rich. Honored coach of the USSR Tatyana Tarasova called them the most important event for all Russian figure skating. According to her, the country's leading specialists, including the vice-president of the International Skating Union (ISU) Alexander Lakernik, have done a very big job.

“Every day began with a full-fledged morning workout, then there were skates, then at the general meeting the programs were analyzed, and in the evening a video analysis of each performance was made. After that, coaches and athletes were given a list of comments and recommendations for each element, where, among other things, the points set by the judges were indicated, which were not announced to the skaters in the open, "Tarasova explained in an interview with RT.

Of all the participants in the women's skates, the legendary specialist especially noted the 13-year-old ward of Elena Buyanova, Elizaveta Osokina.

“Lisa is a real opening of the season. She is as light as air, like a butterfly. Jumps as if it costs her nothing. But I remember that a year ago, when she was just taken to CSKA, she was completely different. The girl made just a huge leap in development, ”Tarasova said.

Her opinion was completely shared by the honored coach of Russia Inna Goncharenko, who also called Osokina the main discovery of junior skates.

“Of course, we all applaud Sophia Samodelkina, but we have already seen her axels, and Liza is new. I think she has the best short program of all. It is as balanced as possible, each element is displayed as a plus. This is a very profitable option for an athlete who does not yet have a triple axel, ”RIA Novosti quotes Goncharenko. 

For those who follow junior skating, Osokina is already known. The first coach Olga Arbuzova brought her to Buyanova's group the year before last, believing that there were simply no conditions in Kazan for the further growth of the athlete. Talking about working with the new ward, the specialist emphasized that the primary task for the current season was not to surprise everyone with incredible difficulty (although in training, Elizabeth is actively learning two different quadruple jumps), but to maximize the qualities that the skater possesses.

“Liza has been skating with us for only the second year, so first of all we wanted to show the originality of this skater, to develop the existing qualities. We practiced sliding - Maxim Zavozin did it, we worked a lot on choreography and jumps, which were also rather weak. Therefore, I am very glad that the girl was able to show her maximum at the skates, despite the fact that she was in the national team for the first time, she participated in the pre-season skates for the first time, and all this was very exciting for her, ”said Buyanova.

It is interesting that last year's free program for the young Kazan athlete was staged by the two-time world champion among juniors, medalist of the 2015 World Cup Elena Radionova, who, after completing her career, continues to work with figure skaters as one of the production coaches. In this regard, Buyanova noted that the mere opportunity to see such an outstanding master skating every day gives young girls a lot for their own development. And if you consider that on the same ice in CSKA for almost two months the two-time world champion and silver medalist of Pyeongchang-2018 Evgenia Medvedeva has been practicing, the army athletes are doubly lucky.

• Elizaveta Osokina
• © Frame: 1tv.ru

Women's figure skating has become incredibly pragmatic for some time now. In this regard, Osokina was not too lucky with the date of birth: she was born at the end of December 2006 and, accordingly, does not get to the next Olympics, just as Mao Asada, who was born at the end of September, did not go to Turin at one time. According to ISU rules, an athlete must be 15 years old to be admitted to the Games on July 1 of the season preceding them. And by the Olympics in Milan, Elizabeth will already be 19, which significantly reduces her chances of fighting those who will only reach the adult level in 2026.

However, Buyanova does not see the point in doing such calculations.

“This is how those coaches, in whose group there are many high-class athletes, can reason, respectively, the situation allows you to calculate on whom to bet on. We at CSKA don't have that choice, so we just try to develop the individuality of the girls we work with as much as possible. 13-14 years is the same age when you can fashion anything from a talented child, ”the mentor explained.

She added that it is for this reason that she is satisfied not only with Osokina, but also with the successful performance of Samodelkina, who is working with Sergei Davydov. Buyanova noted that the skaters not only coped with the tasks, but also became the only ones who skated cleanly and short and free programs.

“In general, I really liked both of Osokina's performances. I even deliberately crossed over to the other side of the rink in order to be able to see the programs “face”, as the judges see them. The short one remained with us last year, it was staged by Nikita Mikhailov. He was also engaged in free art, but I suggested the idea of ​​this production, as well as visits to elements, and not too well-known, unbeaten music. More precisely, our music specialist Alexander Babayan suggested, and I immediately agreed with his choice. If we talk about jumps, the goals of all coaches are now about the same, everyone understands that there is no way to go without quads. We are also actively pursuing this work, but I think it is still a little premature to say that Elizabeth has quadruple jumps, ”said Buyanova.

On salchow in four turns, only one athlete decided during the rentals - the representative of "Crystal" Maya Khromykh. The attempt did not work: the skater fell on the landing, and the jump itself looked too raw to admit that it could, in principle, be successful.

Nevertheless, Tarasova noted that she did not see anything terrible in this.

“It can be seen that some programs are simply not finished. Maya has tremendous opportunities: she is incredibly plastic, she has a big step, unfolded legs, amazing boats, good hands. The second half of the program looks heavy, but this is understandable: after all, the season was started later than usual, ”Tarasova commented on Khromykh's performance.

Logically, it was Khromykh in tandem with Daria Usacheva who should have set the tone for the current junior rentals. Both athletes participated in the junior world championship in the spring, Usacheva became the silver medalist, losing to Kamila Valieva, Khromykh took fourth place. Everything went to the fact that these three Russian figure skaters in the new season will become the next stellar project of Eteri Tutberidze, as it was with Alexandra Trusova, Anna Shcherbakova and Alena Kostornaya.

After Valieva was taken out of the framework of junior skating, being allowed to take part in adult preseason skating, Usacheva looked like the most likely contender for the place of the leader of Russian junior skating. But the first appearance of Daria on the ice in Novogorsk put her dominance into question. And it's not even about the current readiness, but rather about the programs: the free composition "Romeo and Juliet", staged by the group's permanent choreographer Daniil Gleichengauz, looks frankly secondary against the background of general lack of rolling.

In the 2018/19 season, Kostornaya performed much more impressively with a similar production (and also by Gleichengauz). And if we take into account that Romeo and Juliet with almost the same selection of music will be skating at the upcoming starts of Trusov, the comparison may well again turn out not in favor of Usacheva. Moreover, the skaters will have to meet as part of the Russian championship.

Talking about women's single skating, Rafael Harutyunyan and Valentin Nikolaev, who work in the USA, agreed that the coach should categorically not strive to ensure that his ward becomes the strongest at all starts in a row. This view is, of course, even more relevant in relation to preseason rentals. The task here is not to defeat everyone by all means. But there is another goal: to be remembered, to make people draw attention to themselves in subsequent speeches.

This is exactly what Samodelkina succeeded in brilliantly in many respects thanks to the triple axel perfectly performed in each of the programs and Osokina with her unusual and very “piece” performances. It turns out that the Khrustalny figure skaters, whom we are used to seeing exclusively in leading roles, will have to defend their positions anew. That, you see, already now gives the junior girls' season a very special intrigue.