The triumph of the St. Petersburg school: Mishina and Gallyamov were ahead of Boykova and Kozlovsky and won the Chechen Republic in pair skating

The first half of the pairs competitions at the Russian Figure Skating Championship practically met all expectations.

All those who deserved it not only in the current season, but also at least in the previous one - Anastasia Mishina and Alexander Gallyamov, Alexandra Boykova and Dmitry Kozlovsky, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov - entered the intermediate three after the short program.

Pair skating turned out to be away from all sorts of sensations, intrigues and unexpected turns that were full of competitions in all other disciplines.

Perhaps the only deviation from the usual order of things was that the fourth place was taken by Yulia Artemieva and Mikhail Nazarychev.

But a young couple from Perm had the right to do this, because she twice became the winner of the Grand Prix stages and almost made it to the final.

From the strongest warm-up in the free program, they squeezed out the much more experienced Daria Pavlyuchenko and Denis Khodykin.

They fell behind after the first day by less than a point and did not lose hope of becoming at least the main reserve pair, if the students of Tamara Moskvina and Eteri Tutberidze would not allow them to get into the national team.

In this they were supposed to be helped by the expressive "Black Swan", which is noticeably different from the performances of other couples.

Hire began for Pavlyuchenko and Khodykin, it didn't matter - in the jumping elements there were enough mistakes both for her and for him.

But all of the following elements of the skaters were sharply honed, especially the supports and high throws, for which the judges sometimes gave fives.

The final 144.78 points for the program indicated that the couple was still allowed to save face with the help of such a worthy mark, but it was still impossible for them to re-engage in the pursuit of medals.

When Artemyeva and Nazarychev came out on the ice, it was appropriate to recall why they never made it to the canceled Grand Prix finals, having silver and bronze in individual stages. The couple was hindered by the fact that she had not yet learned how to score high points. When the six participants were determined, it turned out that the Perm figure skaters were noticeably behind the leading duets in terms of their technical equipment. Artemyeva and Nazarychev have an interesting cascade of a double axel and a triple salchow through an oiler, which they gladly showed in St. Petersburg, but they failed to shine with anything else. The fall of the partner on a triple sheepskin coat only confirmed that the couple has a future, but not in this Olympic cycle.

There were no further reshuffles following the results of the short program. Tarasova and Morozov, with their enormous potential, could in theory compete for a place higher than third, but they failed to realize it again. Throughout the season, the couple tried to master a cascade of three sheepskin coats, which once turned out at the very beginning, but almost every subsequent time it brought fewer points than even the choreographic track. The ripped combination was also supplemented by the roughness on the rittberger ejection, which should not have existed at all.

The judges well accepted everything else that was rich in the program of Tarasova and Morozov - for all other elements they never received marks below three.

This even allowed them to score almost the same points in total that brought them victory in the Russian Championship last year - 228.20.

Only now Tutberidze's students could not count on a new title with them.

Boykova and Kozlovsky went on the ice next and showed the same difficulty skating as the previous pair.

Only he was perfectly clean, with completed jumps and throws, dynamic lifts and high-quality backspin.

Moskvina's students managed not only to perform the entire program from start to finish, but also to produce that rare stunning effect that only a few are capable of in pair skating.

Its natural consequence is generous ingredients, which the European champions have never had an argument in the dispute with Tarasova and Morozov.

Boykova and Kozlovsky scored 157.03 points for the free program, and in total they received 239.87 points - the couple added two more unofficial ones to their official world record for short skating.

However, they did not last long.

The performance of Mishina and Gallyamov to the most famous melodies of Georgy Sviridov was just as bewitching.

It did not allow to be distracted by all sorts of errors, which simply were not in this box office.

But in it there was a more complex cascade of triple salchows and two surges, for which the couple received the best marks in their entire career.

At that moment, it seemed incredible that a year earlier, Moskvina's students were only fourth, and their Olympic prospects were not clear enough.

Since then, Mishina and Gallyamov have not lost a single tournament.

In their native St. Petersburg, their winning streak continued, and the final result confirmed their title of the best couple in the world - 243.74 points are a completely unattainable result.