The expectation of the strongest dance warm-up at the Russian Championship was overshadowed by the news that the leaders of the tournament, the current holders of the world and European championships Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, were withdrawn from the competition due to a partner's injury, exacerbated during the morning training session.
Answering my phone call, the coach of the couple, Alexander Zhulin, explained that in fact he decided to play it safe.
The back injury has bothered Katsalapov for a long time, it has worsened several times at the most inopportune moments, including this season.
Now, when the Olympic training has actually reached the home stretch, it was decided not to take risks and do with what is called a little blood: to give up the performance of an arbitrary dance, and with it the completely real title of champions of Russia.
“Otherwise, you can stay without the Olympics at all,” the coach summed up.
If we recall the prehistory of the already numerous injuries, in St. Petersburg the skaters were somehow especially unlucky. Four years ago, at exactly the same pre-Olympic national championship, Vika and Nikita disrupted the short program, flying to fourth place, and withdrew from the free dance due to a partner's leg injury. Subsequently, it turned out that the injury was more serious than it seemed at first (doctors diagnosed a ruptured ankle ligament) and the duo was forced to end the season.
Katsalapov's back problems began later. In September 2020, the couple was forced to withdraw from open rentals, and immediately after that a new attack fell on the skaters - the coronavirus, which Sinitsina suffered very hard, unable to recover for the national championship. Actually, in many respects for this reason, the title of the reigning champions of Russia belonged to Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. In St. Petersburg, the duet of Irina Zhuk and Alexander Svinin got a great chance to add a double addition to the title.
The removal of leaders in ice dancing, where all kinds of conspiracy theories were always welcomed, could not but entail another version.
Namely, that Zhulin, having removed his pair from the final, kills two birds with one stone, saving the skaters from rivalry that is unnecessary at this stage.
This season there was a lot of talk about the fact that Stepanova and Bukin, with their free production of Romeo and Juliet, are as good as ever - a very strong impetus was given to them by cooperation with Nikolai Morozov, whom the coaching staff decided to involve in the preparation, that is, the battle was coming serious.
Going to it with a sore back and, accordingly, the risk of being below your capabilities, and possibly losing, would definitely be superfluous.
But the beauty of the ending was greatly diminished by what happened.
The possibility of withdrawal from the tournament was also considered by the pair of Tiffany Zagorski - Jonathan Gureiro.
According to the mother of the partner, Tiffany had not fully recovered from the meningitis suffered not so long ago, and there was a fear that she might simply not get to the end of the free dance.
Moreover, the skating had to be the most difficult program, set by the Olympic champion of Sarajevo, Christopher Dean.
Without exaggeration, it was real heroism, which already consisted in the fact that the partner managed to return to the ice after an illness that could knock an athlete out for years.
But from the point of view of the result, the miracle did not happen: the overall result of Zagorski and Gureiro was only eighth.
Regarding the tournament debutants Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin, their coach Igor Shpilband said after the rhythm dance that even at the beginning of this season he did not admit the option that the skaters would be able to fight for a place in the Olympic team.
And that only later, when, in addition to really serious results, there were very positive comments from colleagues and specialists from all over the world, did the coach have an idea that this was possible.
The Russian Championship became a happy one for the young couple.
In addition to the won silver medals, Diana and Gleb set new and very high personal records on Friday: in an arbitrary dance they scored 123.71 points and for the first time crossed the grandmaster level of 200 points (the total result was 207.70 points, and the previous highest achievement was 199, 90).
But the main heroes of the day were the champions.
Even if we made some allowances for “home” refereeing, it was obvious that Stepanova and Bukin, who finally scored their best, although not maximum conditions, is a level that everyone will have to reckon with this season, including four-time world champions Gabriel Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron.
The world record for the French in free dance is 136.58 points, but dated 2019.
At the Grand Prix stage of the current season in Grenoble, that is, at home, the legendary French earned 132.17 in this type of program, and in total - 221.25.
For Stepanova and Bukin, the figures turned out to be comparable: 134.61 and 223.37.
And none of these metrics were clearly excessive.
The most fierce battle unfolded for the bronze: Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva and Yegor Bazin, who came in third, were only 0.1 points ahead of Anabel Morozov and Andrei Bagin.