Nothing reminds of the coronavirus pandemic in Stockholm.
Perhaps the number of people on the streets has greatly decreased.
But all without masks.
The rarest exceptions are couriers delivering food on bicycles, and that's not all, it's good if every fifth person.
Stockholm airport also surprises with empty spaces: a flock of taxi drivers on arrival, like sparrows starving during the winter, beats for every traveler leaving the building: “Here, please, here, to my car.
Fixed price, inexpensive. "
The Globe Arena, where official training has already begun, resembles a theater of military operations against this background: two entrances are side by side.
In one, upon presentation of a "home" PCR test, they write out a referral for another study, charge 350 local crowns (about 3080 rubles) without contact, and send them to the door next door, seeing off the words "Please, gentlemen, do not go inside if you have there are more than two people standing. "
The test is taken as quickly as possible, and after 15 minutes a message with the results is sent to the phone.
The final touch to accreditation is glued with a sticker, and you are a full participant in the event without any restrictions in terms of movement.
If you want - sit on the main arena, if you want - go to the training ice.
There are two of them, both side by side.
There is only no direct access to those who are in the “bubble”, but before the start of the competition it is useless.
Surprisingly, on the first training day, that is, on Monday, the first sold-out happened at the training of Japanese singles not on the main one (there was women's ice early in the morning), but on the “working” rink.
The second mass invasion was expected in the same place, but late in the evening, when the two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu was supposed to appear on the ice (the Japanese missed the morning workout).
But when, an hour later, Ricky Kihira and the company appeared on the ice three Russian girls - Anna Shcherbakova, Alexandra Trusova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, the media balcony was striking with emptiness, although there was something to see.
Shcherbakova successfully completed her most confident quadruple flip, including in a combination with a triple toe loop, although the first jump attempt ended in a fall.
The figure skater did not succeed in the quadruple lutz at the free program rental to the music, she fell again, but it must be admitted that Anna is almost the only athlete in the world who is capable of throwing jumps in training, but brilliantly performing them in a competitive format.
Trusova “warmed up” with a cascade of three jumps (quadruple lutz - triple toe loop - triple rittberger), performed several lutz separately high and in flight, but the free skate in full format with five (!) Quads did not work for her either: after an excellent flip and salchow , Sasha fell twice from the lutz, and then from the sheepskin coat, leaving open the question of interest to everyone: how many ultra-si elements should be expected from her in the competition.
By the way, during the first training session, the skater demonstrated the triple axel so confidently that it looks like she still intends to go all-in on Wednesday in the short program.
According to Rafael Harutyunyan, the coach of the two-time world champion Nathan Chen, who respects the Russian figure skater for her lack of fear of quads and a constant desire to take with difficulty, this will be justified.
“I always said: the more an athlete has in his pocket, the more he can get out of there at the right time.
Alena Kostornaya had a triple axel, but it crumbled, and there was nothing left at all.
So Sasha is great for trying the maximum difficulty, ”said the specialist.
Against the background of Trusova and Shcherbakova, the third Russian participant almost disappeared, which, in fact, was understandable: Liza was never distinguished by her desire to scare her rivals by jumping in a training mode, to compete with younger ones in terms of technical equipment, she was not too capable of, and therefore, there was no need ...
Perhaps she is right: the competition will show who is who.