The current freestyle and snowboard world championship has already become the most successful in the history of the Russian national team.
The final stage of the competition will be held in American Aspen, but even now domestic athletes can be more than satisfied with their result.
Their assets include twice as many awards as at the previous world championship, and the next gold was won in team acrobatics.
Until now, Russian freestylers have never won mixed doubles.
In 2019, the domestic troika consisting of Lyubov and Stanislav Nikitin, as well as Maxim Burov, was only the third, letting teams from China and Switzerland go ahead.
Moreover, if they lost a little more than a point to the rivals from the Middle Kingdom, then the Europeans lost over six.
Two years later, a medal dispute also unfolded between the national teams of Russia and Switzerland.
Most likely, athletes from China would have intervened in it, but they could not arrive in Almaty due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In their absence, Belarusians, who became fourth at the last tournament, as well as Americans and Ukrainians, could compete with the leaders.
Moreover, the colors of the latter were defended by the Olympic champion of Pyeongchang, Alexander Abramenko.
The competition was held in two stages.
During the first stage, the participants of each of the seven national teams made one jump.
The results of all three athletes were summed up, and the four best teams passed to the finals, which identified the medal winners.
The women performed fairly smoothly.
With the exception of Swiss Carole Bouvard, everyone scored more than 80 points, with Nikitina showing the best result.
A double back somersault with three twists earned her 88.47 points.
For men, the spread was much larger.
Irving Lewis fell on a triple back flip with three revolutions and received only 51.43 points, depriving Canada of the chance to go further.
Ukrainian Dmitry Kotovitsky and Belarusian Makar Mitrofanov could not stay on their feet either, but their mistakes turned out to be less gross, as a result of which they scored more than 78 points.
Everything was decided in a duel between Abramenko and Pavel Dick, and unexpectedly the less titled acrobat took the upper hand, earning 102.46 points for a back somersault with three screws and 11 points surpassing the Olympic champion.
As for the Russians, at the qualifying stage they confidently took first place, more than 13 points ahead of their closest pursuers - the Americans.
All three presented their elements very confidently, and the leader of the national team Maxim Burov showed the best result among all the participants (121.68).
His teammate Pavel Krotov scored only 3.54 points less, who also opted for a triple back somersault with four screws.
As a result, the national teams of Russia, Switzerland, the USA and Belarus made their way to the final stage of the championship.
Despite the impressive performance of Ashley Caldwell, who was the only woman to score more than 100 points per jump, the Americans were unable to compete for gold.
They remained only the third, more than 36 points ahead of the Belarusians.
As for the battle for medals, its outcome was largely a foregone conclusion after Bouvard's unsuccessful jump.
Her second attempt was even worse than the first and was estimated at only 66.46 points.
Given that Nikitina received 25 more, it was only possible to compete with the Russians if Burov and Krotov failed.
But domestic freestylers gave their opponents a chance to win back.
Both performed the second jump less convincingly, but if the two-time world champion in singles still showed a more than decent result (115.93), then his partner was content with only 93.36 points.
And this despite the fact that both performed in flight the same set of elements as in the preliminary stage.
As a result, Noe Roth (118.41) and Pirmin Werner (108.41) did everything possible to tip the scales to their side, but this was not enough.
The Russian national team remained at the top with a total result of 300.94 points and for the first time in its history won medals in the team competitions in ski acrobatics.
“Naturally, we have good feelings.
We did it and won today.
It was very exciting, because the rivals set the highest bar.
I am pleased with this world championship, the most important thing is that it took place, thanks to all the specialists, coaches, the Russian Freestyle Federation.
The most difficult thing today was not to let the team down.
Yes, we made mistakes, but the opponents were also wrong, it turned out that we beat them.
When I performed the last jump, I felt excitement.
Even the trembling in the body passed, for a long time I was not so worried as at this world championship, ”the press service of the FFR quotes Burov.
In turn, Krotov admitted that during the team tournament he was doubly worried about the result, and also apologized for the unsuccessful attempt in the final.
“The decisive moment is Maxim's jump, which brought us to the first line!
We are the champions ... It was very exciting.
I can admit that I was less worried in individual competitions.
Here I was worried twice as much, because I speak not for myself, but for the whole team.
Experiences do not always contribute to good, you have to restrain yourself, but it was very exciting.
The coaches are happy, everything is in order, the gold medal.
Tomorrow we will rest and prepare for the World Cup final, fighting spirit.
You can't relax, ”said Krotov.
Nikitina also shared her emotions from her performance at the World Championships in Alma-Ata.
Earlier in singles, she won bronze.
“Joyful emotions, we tried to make high-quality jumps and not think about medals.
Of course, we are satisfied with the result, but we know our mistakes, and we will try to correct them.
The higher the step of the pedestal, the more work.
Of course, I am satisfied with the result, but if we talk about individual competitions, we will work and strive for the second and first places.
The coach is also satisfied, but there is still a lot of work to be done, ”Nikitina concluded.