Averbukh's confidence in Valieva

Giving forecasts on the eve of major competitions is, as you know, ungrateful business.

Especially when it comes to domestic women's figure skating, where, according to Olympic champion Yekaterina Bobrova, six or even seven athletes will fight on equal terms for getting into the Olympic team.

And in Beijing, it is the Russians who will turn out to be the main favorites.

Ilya Averbukh was not afraid to make his prediction: among all the skaters, he singled out the winner of Skate Canada-2021.

“Kamila Valieva is absolutely out of reach.

If she skates cleanly, it is impossible for almost anyone to compete with her.

I don’t think I’m revealing a secret to anyone here.

Valieva can only lose to herself, "the choreographer said in an interview with Gazeta.Ru.

He also wished a speedy recovery to Daria Usacheva, who was injured on the eve of her performance at the Grand Prix stage in Japan, and advised her not to speed up the recovery process, but to tune in to the next Olympic four years.

“Dasha Usacheva is undoubtedly the most talented girl, and now the most important thing for her is to recover.

And maybe not even chasing the Russian championship.

Because objectively, we have fierce competition, and we all understand who it will develop between.

And Dasha is our continuation, she is young, talented and can go to the next four-year cycle, ”the specialist emphasized.

Averbukh also closely follows "his" kind of figure skating - ice dancing.

The current season's debut performance by the current world champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov took place in Tokyo last weekend, which the choreographer praised quite highly.

In his opinion, the Russians are quite capable of overcoming the seemingly unattainable French Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron - they just need to get in shape.

“Their free program should, as they say, spin in energy and speed.

This production is competitive against the background of Papadakis and Sizeron, and we measure our guys according to the French.

A very serious struggle will unfold between them already in the Grand Prix finals.

We are not only competitive, we can and must beat them, ”Averbukh emphasized.

Disrupted arrival of Hanyu in Sochi 

Literally on Tuesday, Russian figure skating fans rubbed their hands together - the audience's favorite from the land of the rising sun was supposed to arrive at the Grand Prix stage in Sochi, and, possibly, demonstrate a clean quadruple axel, which has been working on for a long time.

“The tickets have been bought, he has received a visa, we are waiting for him in Sochi,” said the general director of the FFKKR Alexander Kogan at a press conference.

But not even a day had passed when an absolutely opposite message came from Japan: Hanyu did not have time to recover from his injury and was withdrawn from the competition.

According to Tatyana Tarasova, this was expected, because Yuzuru even missed the home stage of the Grand Prix.

“If he could perform at the Olympic Iceberg, it would be beautiful, but there is nothing to talk about now.

I would have done the same in his place, "- quotes the coach" R-Sport ".

The two-time Olympic champion himself thanked the fans for their support, noting that he was trying his best to respond to all messages.

“While driving, I still feel pain, but in everyday life it does not bother me.

I'm not ready to perform yet, but I'm still moving forward.

Thank you for your support, I try my best, ”Hanyu Sponichi quotes.

But another fan favorite, the American Johnny Weir, flew to Russia.

He attended trainings at Khrustalny and even skated on the ice of the ice palace with Eteri Tutberidze.

“Today I visited one of the iconic figure skating schools in the world.

I am very grateful that I was able to enjoy the great skiing.

Thanks to Sambo-70, the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation, the Tutberidze team and the skaters for your welcome, ”he wrote on Instagram.

Weir came to Moscow to meet with Khrustalny pupils Anna Shcherbakova and Kamila Valieva and interview them for NBC, where he works as a commentator.

His publications on social networks these days were inundated with enthusiastic messages from Russian subscribers.

“Johnny, you're great!

Glad that you love Russia so much!

Come more often! "," We really miss your performances! ", - they wrote.

View this post on Instagram

Posted by JOHNNY WEIR (@johnnygweir)

Tarasova's harsh statement

On the eve of the decisive match of the Russian national football team in the qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup, the renowned coach said that she did not understand why domestic players were trying to get there.

“I think there is no football in our country, and there is nothing to talk about.

Why should our footballers go to the World Cup?

How can they prove themselves?

Take last place "?

- quotes the words of Tarasova "Match TV".

The words of the legendary coach caused a violent reaction among fans and specialists.

So, the honorary president of the Russian Football Union, Vyacheslav Koloskov, noted that Tarasova's statement was due to her emotionality and uncompromising attitude.

“She is a maximalist and recognizes only the first place and nothing else.

But we are still far from the first place in football.

In 2018, our team reached the quarterfinals of the World Championship for the first time in history.

We played in the final stage of Euro 2020.

We played poorly, but we made our way there.

Therefore, the statement that there is no football in Russia is an exaggeration, "- quotes the words of Koloskov" Moscow-24 ".

Ex-figure skater Emma Gadzhieva also spoke in defense of the famous specialist.

“You understand, Tatyana Anatolyevna and her great father Anatoly Vladimirovich went to the World Cup to win!

They had no other installation and could not have!

Even the thought that you can go ... just take part ... was not there.

Hence such a comment, "she wrote on Instagram.