Shcherbakova versus Trusova, Kolyada versus Aliev: how Zagitova and Medvedev divided the skaters at the Channel One Cup

On the starting day of the Channel One Figure Skating Cup, not only the winners of the jumping tournament were determined, but the line-ups of the teams that would fight for the main prize of the competition on Saturday and Sunday became known.

Alina Zagitova gave preference to her friends in the group Eteri Tutberidze, while she and Evgenia Medvedeva equally divided the reigning champions of Russia in four disciplines.

The draw took place immediately after the girls won the jump tournament.

Right on the ice of the Megasport arena, the host of the event, Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin, suggested that the captains of the two teams make a choice in favor of certain athletes.

However, first it was necessary to determine who would start first.

This dispute was resolved by the CEO of Channel One Konstantin Ernest - during a phone call from the presenter, he determined that Medvedev should start the draw.

Perhaps his decision was influenced by the demonstration performances of two athletes before the jumping tournament.

Alina fell in them once, and Evgenia skated cleanly.

The captains could choose anyone from the list of participants, guided solely by their own motives.

Medvedeva decided to gather the maximum combat strength and immediately included the reigning champions of Russia in ice dancing Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin into the team.

Zagitova chose Tiffany Zagorski, with whom she has long been friends, and Jonathan Gureiro.

Of the rest of the ice dancing representatives, Medvedeva preferred Anastasia Skoptsova with Kirill Aleshin and Sophia Shevchenko with Igor Eremenko.

Zagitova's team included duets Annabel Morozov - Andrei Bagin and Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva - Yegor Bazin.

It is worth noting that Medvedeva's dancers in total scored much more points at the national championship in Chelyabinsk than their future rivals in the First Channel Cup.

Then the captains switched to men.

Medvedeva took the athletes who took first, third and fifth places in the Russian championship - Mikhail Kolyada, Mark Kondratyuk and Alexander Samarin.

The two-time Olympic silver medalist was not embarrassed by the fact that shortly before this, Kolyada tore off the cascade in the jumping tournament.

However, all the singles that Zagitova inherited also made mistakes on Friday.

Her team included Dmitry Aliev, Makar Ignatov and Andrey Mozalev.

Among the sports couples, Medvedeva took Tamara Moskvina's students: the duets of Alexander Boykov - Dmitry Kozlovsky and Anastasia Mishina - Alexander Gallyamov, and Zagitova went to the reigning champions of Russia Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, as well as bronze medalists Daria Pavlyuchenko and Denis Khodykin.

Perhaps the greatest intrigue concerned the drawing of lots for the girls, because the captains had to make a choice among their closest friends and colleagues, with whom they themselves had recently competed.

This time, two of the best skaters of the last Russian championship went to Zagitova - Anna Shcherbakova and Kamila Valieva joined her team.

To the three athletes from the Tutberidze group, in which the Olympic champion trains herself, another junior Daria Usacheva was added.

The leader of the women's trio for Medvedeva should be Alexandra Trusova, who twice cleanly performed the quadruple lutz in the jumping tournament and once made a mistake on it.

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, on whom the two-time world champion also chose, made a mistake on Friday.

Finally, Medvedeva was not afraid to take the "dark horse" of the First Channel Cup - Maya Khromykh.

The 14-year-old figure skater became a participant in the competition after Alena Kostornaya refused, although she was preparing to perform at local competitions in Moscow.

Perhaps the student of Tutberidze will try to perform the quadruple salchow and sheepskin coat, which she is actively practicing in training.

The winner of the Channel One Cup will be determined by the sum of all points scored in short and free programs.

Due to the fact that Zagitova and Medvedev have chosen a fairly even composition of participants, the intrigue of the competition will have to hold out until the last performances, and the fate of the prize fund of 10 million rubles will be determined at the very end.

Before the start of the short program, fans will also need to know the names of the opposing teams.