The fans had to wait a long time for the first appearance of Alena Kostornaya on the competitive ice: the European champion and winner of the Grand Prix finals began the season later than others.
At the final training camp in Novogorsk, held in the summer in her former group, Alena barely trained, at least as those who were present at the base said.
And then the most scandalous of the summer transitions happened: after the transfer window was closed, the reigning European champion began to skate in the Plushenko Angels - she went there after Alexandra Trusova.
The duel between these skaters was to become the central intrigue of the Kazan tournament.
You can, of course, put it differently: the tasks of the two favorites of the stage were too different to be compared.
Sasha already had the opportunity to demonstrate to the fans her own readiness and intentions: she won the second stage of the series in Moscow, and the debut showing of the triple axel in the short program took place there.
In an arbitrary, Trusova performed two quadruple jumps, and shortly after that tournament posted on Instagram a video of a successful training attempt of a quadruple rittberger - a jump that is still "ownerless" in the female performance.
The first one to make it in the competition is probably guaranteed a place in the Guinness Book of Records, but formally the place of the laureate is still vacant.
Knowing the character of Alexandra, there was no doubt that an attempt to storm the new quadruple would be made at the stage in Kazan.
Kostornaya's primary task was to get back to her usual condition after a long break.
Even before the start of the competition, Alena announced that she would try the triple axel, but only in the free program.
In other words, she made it clear that the jump is not trained enough to take risks, declaring it in the short program.
The lack of an ultra-si element did not become an obstacle for Kostornaya to lead the tournament table after the first run.
The difference between her and Trusova was less than a point, and according to the protocols it was clearly visible who of the skaters lost where and where they gained.
A blot on landing from a triple axel did not allow Alexandra to receive even its basic cost for a jump, and besides, the judges noted that this athlete had an unclear edge in a triple flip.
Alena, on the other hand, received very good pluses for almost all elements (except for the jump cascade and the second spin) and earned a bonus point on the first of three spins.
And most importantly, she quite convincingly demonstrated to the public and the judges that the feline, mesmerizing manner of riding, watching which, no longer wants to consider minor errors, has not gone anywhere.
Another question is that the standard set of elements is turning into a rather dangerous thing in the framework of the current women's competition: in order to count on a high result, you need to skate it not only flawlessly, but brilliantly.
It is enough to make a mistake once and the mistake will become fatal - as it became in Kazan for Stanislava Konstantinova.
The skater stumbled on landing from the triple lutz, because of which the cascade opening the program had to be urgently moved to the end, the second cascade jump on fatigue turned out to be double, and as a result Konstantinova lagged behind the top three by almost 15 points.
As for Trusova, she already now has a certain advantage over the same Kostornaya: while Alena is only getting close to the maximum possible difficulty for herself, Alexandra is very actively “jumping” new jumps in a competitive mode.
It is no coincidence that after the victory of this skater at the stage of the Russian Cup in Moscow, one of the most famous coaches in the world, Rafael Harutyunyan, noted in an interview that Sasha is doing very right, continuously complicating his compositions.
“To perform a complex element more or less consistently, an athlete must have two or three years of experience in performing it in a competitive environment,” the specialist said.
It is interesting that in the same interview, speaking about competition, Harutyunyan emphasized that no advantage is indisputable in sports.
The women's short program of the tournament in Kazan made me remember one more phrase of the coach: “It doesn't happen in sports that there are no rivals.
There is always someone who is able to jump out from behind "
Maya Khromykh, a representative of "Khrustalny", tried on the role of the troublemaker of the leaders in Kazan and succeeded: having in her arsenal a set of jumps, which is quite banal at the present time, the skater became the only one of 12 participants who did not receive a single judicial minus for elements.
Simply put, the short program was performed flawlessly.
In addition, on one of the spins, Khromykh earned a bonus and, as a result, turned out to be higher than the European champion Sofia Samodurova and in extremely dangerous proximity to Trusova and Kostornaya.