The singles tournament sharply reminded the public of the old figure skating truth that the Russian championship is the worst competition of the season.
On Friday, it could be seen with the naked eye: the athletes in their short programs laid out in a way that they had never done before in any of the starts of the season.
Should we expect that the placement of the first five participants will remain the same in the final?
You can argue with that.
After all, the stress in the final form of the national championship program will be greater than ever.
What exactly athletes are experiencing during the national championship was perfectly formulated by two outstanding figure skaters of the past - seven-time European champion, winner of two world championships and medalist of two Olympics Irina Slutskaya and the first Russian world champion Maria Butyrskaya.
“The Russian Championships were the only competitions in my career that I went to like hard labor.
Subconsciously, every time the thought sat in my head that this is the very boundary that determines whether you will stay in the season or find yourself out of it.
Only once I had a case when after the Games in Nagano I did not make it to the top three and, accordingly, to the national team.
At the rest of the championships in which I participated, I was selected for the main starts quite confidently, but still performances turned into colossal stress.
It is interesting that at the Russian championships I have never set my goal to win.
I only thought about getting into the C grade.
This is probably why, with my seven titles of European champion and six medals at the world championships, including two gold ones, I became the first in the country only four times, "Slutskaya admitted.
Butyrskaya once won national championships six times.
More than any other figure skater.
But she said that for her, success in the home arena has never been anything special.
“In theory, it's cool to win the Russian championship six times.
I never had any emotions about this.
There was only the thought: "I am moving on."
And now there is no pride or admiration for those six titles.
A purely working moment, "Butyrskaya said.
According to the world champion, on the eve of the national championship, she always thought that it was necessary to perform accurately.
Otherwise, you can "stay at home and not go anywhere."
“No one has ever supported me, which means that any mistake could knock me out of the national team.
This means that the Russian championship had to be held so that no one had the slightest reason to find fault with me.
This stress was so great that I could not sleep before the performances.
And she did not sleep - neither before the short program, nor before the free program.
I understood that my fate was being decided.
But the concentration turned out to be incredibly high - all my six victories were won only thanks to her.
But then, as a rule, I failed not only at the European championship, but also at the world championship, "Butyrskaya said.
As for the Russian Championship in Chelyabinsk, the three-time winner of the European Championship expressed the opinion that it is of particular importance from the point of view of the work of judges.
“The pre-Olympic championship is always very important, because it is at it, as during the entire Olympic season, that it becomes clear who and how will be judged at the Olympic Games - for whom the judges will work, for whom not,” concluded Butyrskaya.
The girls' short program provided the audience with some pretty solid food for thought in terms of judging.
Everyone has long been accustomed to the loyalty of the referees towards the athletes of Eteri Tutberidze in figure skating, just against this background the rigidity of the referees towards the two-time world champion among juniors Alexandra Trusova (she received almost five points less than Shcherbakova for absolutely faultless rental of the short program) did not seem too justified.
On the other hand, if you start from the words of Butyrskaya, everything is understandable: you do not need to be an expert to understand that two Russian singles - Shcherbakov and Valiev - are already purposefully led to an Olympic victory in Beijing, just like Evgenia was led before the Games in Pyeongchang Medvedev and Alin Zagitov.
As for the rest of the athletes, they will have to win high positions with much more blood.
What can you expect from athletes in Saturday's finals?
First of all, that very fierce struggle in which each of the skaters has her own trump cards.
Anna Shcherbakova's advantage (in addition to a significant lead over Trusova and Tuktamysheva in the short program) is her extraordinary ease and two quadruple jumps.
As Butyrskaya noted, Anna may be interesting to someone, to someone not too much, but it is impossible not to reckon with her.
Of the minuses - recently transferred pneumonia.
Shcherbakova completed the short program with great difficulty and one can only wish that she had enough strength for a second run.
During the time that has passed since the last performance of Trusova, the skater and the coach have clearly made adjustments to the training process, focusing on maximum stability.
They did not take risks in the short program, excluding the triple axel already well mastered by the skater, the number of quadruple jumps in the free program will clearly not be the maximum either.
“Trusova is not afraid of anything and wants to be ahead of the rest of the planet.
It's good that she tries everything.
In general, I do not consider the fact that at the Grand Prix stage in Moscow Sasha disrupted all the jumps in the free program as a reason for discussion.
It's okay, this is also an experience.
Sasha has already come to an understanding that the skater must constantly calculate his actions and not strive to scare everyone, "Butyrskaya said.
“You can scare in training.
And at competitions it is worth doing only what you are absolutely sure of, you cannot rely on "maybe".
Sasha can do a lot.
And I'm sure she will show it yet, ”she added.
Slutskaya, however, could not unequivocally answer the question of whether Trusova should strive to perform as complex a program as possible, or sometimes it is worth playing it safe and sacrificing a couple of ultra-si elements.
“This is a double-edged sword.
Any difficult jump definitely needs to be trained as often as possible in competition conditions - only then the quantity quickly turns into quality.
On the other hand, everyone, it seems to me, keeps in mind that the World Cup this season can still take place.
This means that the task of staking out a place in the national team comes to the fore, ”said the silver medalist of the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
World Champion 2015 Elizaveta Tuktamysheva found herself in the most difficult situation among all the participants, since she suffered the same pneumonia most recently.
Before the illness, the athlete was determined to show the maximum in Chelyabinsk.
That is, one triple axel in the short program, two in the free program, plus a quadruple jump.
The coronavirus has crumpled these plans.
“In the fall, everything went to the fact that among the adult athletes, the fight at the national championship should go on equal terms between Liza Tuktamysheva, Sasha Trusova, Anya Shcherbakova and Alena Kostornaya, but what kind of fight can we talk about if three of these four lay in layers for at least two weeks, and Kostornaya never recovered from her illness enough to come to Chelyabinsk?
It seems to me that the federation will give the skaters another chance to qualify for the team at some competition in February.
Unless, of course, the World Cup will take place in the spring.
If not, then it will not be clear at all why athletes applying for places in the national team might need a Russian Cup final.
Is that to maintain overall physical shape ", - expressed the opinion of Slutskaya.
The last word regarding the selection criteria will be said by the Figure Skating Federation after the national championship, but for now Tuktamysheva remains true to herself: she continues to move towards her goal, not paying attention at all to what is happening around her and what new girls appear next to her on the ice.