Trusova's annoyance, Tuktamysheva's joy and Shcherbakova's nerves: what did the Russians say after the short program at the World Cup

"The whole rental turned out to be nervous"

The long-awaited figure skating world championship kicked off in Stockholm on Wednesday.

And the tournament began with one of the most intriguing competitions - the short program for women.

Of course, Russian fans were waiting for her with particular interest and hoped that after the free program, Anna Shcherbakova, Alexandra Trusova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva would take all the places on the podium.

Unfortunately, the bronze medalist of the European Championship 2020 did not start the world championship in the best way.

She tore off the triple lutz, decided not to jump the triple axel and received only 64.82 points from the judges.

This was enough for Trusova only to take 12th place.

Alexandra left the ice, barely holding back tears, and in the mixed zone she admitted that she could not cope with her nerves.

“It didn't work out today since the morning.

It felt like it was better to double jump.

Something went wrong?

I have been very worried lately.

I do not know why.

I will think and try to skate cleanly in the future.

You will see everything in the free program, ”the athlete promised.

In turn, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, on the contrary, pleasantly surprised the fans.

She skated first among the Russians and earned 78.86 points.

For a long time, Tuktamysheva was in the lead - until Anna Shcherbakova came out on the ice.

But Elizabeth was completely satisfied with her performance.

“Six years ago I did a triple axel here for the first time in a short program.

Much has passed during this time.

Over the past two years, I have become more confident in this jump.

Today's performance is better than six years ago.

Complicated the cascade.

There is progress, ”said the athlete.

She also called the decision to change the program at the beginning of the year successful.

The new one, according to the skater, turned out to be extremely suitable, since Elizabeth liked the music and she worked in training with great pleasure.

Well, Shcherbakova once again left no chances to competitors.

At the debut world championship in the short program, she cleanly performed all her jumps and was ahead of her compatriot by more than two points.

The judges rated the performance of the 16-year-old Russian woman exactly 81 points.

Even Rika Kihira (79.08) lost almost two points to her, who eventually settled between two Russian women.

“In general, the entire rental was nervous.

There was quite a lot of excitement.

Therefore, I closely followed every movement.

Most of all I am satisfied with the cascade, it was the most difficult and important jump in the program, ”Shcherbakova said after the skating.

According to Anna, the excessive excitement turned out to be due, among other things, to the absence of fans in the stands, who, as a rule, actively support the skaters and thereby help them.

Also, the silver medalist of the European Championship explained how she manages to tune in so well for the most important tournaments.

“I won't call it my superpower.

We work a lot in training.

And I want this work not to be wasted, I want to show results in competitions.

Actually, for this we work for hours on the ice, ”added the athlete.

At the same time, Shcherbakova emphasized that it is important for her not only to perfectly perform all the jumps, but also to convey to the audience the very essence of the program, to put meaning in every movement.

“It’s supposedly about the loss of a loved one.

This is not a specific character, everyone should feel something different.

The last movement symbolizes how I happily remember him, and these memories warm me.

Then I let them go, and my soul becomes hard and bitter, ”the athlete explained.

"Happy that we can compete"

After the end of the short program, Shcherbakova, Tuktamysheva and Kihira took part in the press conference.

Answering journalists' questions, the Russians have repeatedly emphasized that the very fact of the tournament is a serious reason for them to rejoice, given the cancellation of the previous world championship.

“We are happy that we are just here and can compete as this is the first international tournament of the current season.

I was upset when the 2020 World Cup was canceled.

Tomorrow we will just train, there will be time to relax, to think about the free program.

I will concentrate on this, ”Shcherbakova admitted.

Foreign journalists even asked Anna to compare the adult championship of the planet with the junior one, in which she won the silver medal in 2019.

The Russian woman noted that there is too much difference between these tournaments.

“Figure skating is harder now than it was two years ago.

I think it's already important to just be in Stockholm.

I was glad to win a medal at the YCCHM, but the current championship is more important, ”the figure skater admitted.

Tuktamysheva also did not hide her joy from coming to Sweden.

According to the athlete, she was worried before the start of the tournament because of the empty stands, but when she went out on the ice, she thought exclusively about the program.

“I am happy to meet friends from other countries.

I haven't seen them for over a year.

We are one big family.

I was upset after the cancellation of the previous World Cup, but now we are just enjoying ourselves: we have cool game rooms with table tennis and basketball, ”said the athlete.

However, according to the 2015 world champion, she still prefers to spend her free time alone in her room watching TV series.

“It is important not only for the body to rest, but also the ability to switch off.

Tomorrow we will have a day of rest.

This is good, because there will be an opportunity to take a breath on the eve of the free program, ”added the skater.

The best moment of the short, Tuktamysheva called a grounded triple flip.

“I was happy and thought to myself, just not to do anything stupid in the following elements,” the Russian woman admitted.

Finally, Tuktamysheva and Trusova were asked to recall the period of the coronavirus pandemic.

Both called it extremely difficult and admitted that then they managed to miss figure skating a lot.  

“I realized how much I love this sport and how I missed going on the ice.

At the same time, it was important to rethink your life.

Everything that happened on the one hand carried negative, on the other - positive.

You can think everything over, but you are not able to ride.

But after a long pause, you go out on the ice refreshed and strong.

Although at first it was not easy to resume training, I had to remember that I was an athlete, ”said the world champion.

Shcherbakova, in her own words, tried to work hard even during a pandemic in order to get in good shape when the competition resumed.

“It’s impossible to keep fit outside the ice.

Therefore, I was very happy to go to it again.

But, of course, it was not easy to return to the previous state, it was more difficult than before, in any case I had problems with this, ”summed up the three-time champion of Russia.