Victories without ultra-c jumps: how Valieva and Kolyada won short programs at the Russian Grand Prix stage in Moscow

Valieva without a triple axel yet

Figure skating fans finally waited for the start of the season for Russian athletes.

The first stage of the Grand Prix of the country started in Moscow.

And all the attention of the fans was primarily focused on the singles tournament, because on the ice of the Megasport arena, for the first time, two pupils of Eteri Tutberidze met - Kamila Valieva and the no less talented Sofya Akatieva, for whom this tournament became a debut at the adult level.

The short program was won by the more experienced Olympic champion in the team event.

A native of Kazan flawlessly performed her composition to the music from the film "Interstellar".

The figure skater skated very easily and at the same time emotionally.

It was clear that the athlete, as promised in an interview before going out on the ice, enjoyed the performance and was able to captivate the audience.

There is, however, one "but".

Although it was previously reported that Camila is gradually returning all her jumps, the audience did not see the triple axel in her performance.

However, even without him, Valieva confidently took first place, earning 83.92 points.

“I’m happy, today it was a little hard because of the adrenaline, because I didn’t perform for a long time.

But it's very cool to compete again.

To feel this is definitely happiness.

Why was there no triple Axel?

I still had an injury, I am very glad that I returned the quadruple sheepskin coat in training.

I think that we need to move slowly, health is more important now, there is no hurry.

The post-Olympic season is not about faster, higher, stronger, ”admitted the athlete.

Akatieva performed in front of the Olympic champion, but the starting number did not help her cope with the excitement.

Perhaps the spectators who shouted out “Sofya, the best!”

at the moment when the skater occupied the initial position.

The girl smiled and did not have time to enter the image.

As a result, she flunked her very first element: hesitantly entered the triple axel and fell, immediately depriving herself of the opportunity to fight Valieva for the first line in the short program.

We must pay tribute to Akatieva, after that she gathered herself, and skated all the other elements cleanly, also leaving a very pleasant impression.

However, her scores are significantly lower than those of Camila - 72.70.

“Of course, it’s a shame because of the fall from the axel, but I will draw conclusions why this happened, I will reflect, I will try not to repeat my mistakes.

After the Axel, of course, I was upset, but I had to keep the skate, you can’t relax.

I don’t really appreciate the performance, because earlier the axel turned out.

Glad you got it all done.

Did the coaches say that you thought too much before the jump?

Perhaps it was.

I got excited.

Probably, you need to get hung up less, ”the 15-year-old figure skater explained her failure.

Anastasia Zinina also entered the top three.

The athlete left the Angela Plushenko Academy in the summer with a scandal.

She was expelled for non-compliance with sports discipline: the girl performed jumps, although she was forbidden to do so due to injury.

But the transition to Alexei Vasilevsky did not break the skater.

She demonstrated a composition to Christina Aguilera's hit Haunted Heart and became the third and last participant to score over 70 points in a short program.

At the same time, an unexpected trend attracts attention: quite a lot of girls this time performed in dresses of purple, burgundy and black tones.

Thus, the skaters looked much older than their age, which drew the attention of RT columnist Elena Vaitsekhovskaya.

“I would ban the combination of black and dark purple colors in women's single skating by law.

There is no surer way to turn a young girl into a tragic old woman, ”she wrote in her Telegram channel.  

Men have no stability again

The performance of the single skaters that evening again took place under the traditional question of the Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin: “Where are the jumps?”

This, of course, is about the pure execution of the elements.

At the pre-season tournaments, it was clear that so far most of the representatives of the Russian team have not made significant progress: they made too many mistakes.

Alas, the situation has not changed by the first official start.

None of the athletes of the second warm-up, who declared elements of ultra-c, could not perform them without mistakes. 

Mikhail Kolyada got out of the situation as successfully as possible.

Instead of the only declared quadruple sheepskin coat, he got a not very clean triple, but the judge's element was credited to him.

It also did not affect the overall impression of the rental, which could not leave the audience indifferent.

Everyone loved his Nutcracker from the last season, but with each new performance, the program begins to play with new colors.

As a result, due to the high second mark, Mikhail outperformed his competitors without quads and took first place, gaining 95.27 points.

In contrast, Dmitry Aliev and Alexander Samarin announced more difficult jumps, but they failed one at a time.

There were other blots as well.

Because of this, both compositions did not look as holistically as intended.

The judges rated the skate from St. Petersburg a little higher (90.83), the pupil of Svetlana Sokolovskaya is still third (90.45).  

At the same time, Aliyev was satisfied that the "butterfly" on the sheepskin coat did not unsettle him completely.

Overall, though, he didn't like his performance. 

“I felt it during the program, because the energy remained.

It happens like this: you make a “butterfly” in the program, and on the element that brings you the most maximum points, there is a little despondency.

Then I didn’t stop skating ... It’s good that I added a triple sheepskin coat after the mistake - I was in the “do and fight” system.

There is disorder, but there is no darkness,” Aliyev said.  

Significantly increase in artistry is necessary for Gleb Lutfullin.

Unlike the other participants in the tournament, the 18-year-old skater was able to perform two quads: the blot on the second was not as significant as that of his rivals.

However, the young man eventually scored only 86.28 points.

The debut of Morozov and Narizhny in dancing

In ice dancing at the first stage of the Russian Grand Prix, only four duets were announced.

In the absence of the leaders of the national team, who miss the tournament for various reasons, it is first of all interesting to watch Annabelle Morozov and David Narizhny.

Athletes in Moscow perform together for the first time - they began to work in pairs only in March of this year, having parted ways with their previous partners Andrei Bagin and Elizaveta Shanaeva.

In the rhythm dance, the skaters showed a composition to the song I Like It and made the audience applaud vigorously.

The judges also rated the rental at 81.90 points.

With this result, Morozov and Narizhny confidently took first place.

However, the professionals found enough rough edges in their performance.

As Nikita Katsalapov, the Beijing Olympic champion in team competition, noted, so far two soloists are performing on the ice.

“I first saw Annabelle and David as a couple and I can say that the duet turned out to be very beautiful.

David was good for me today.

The guys look very fresh, I just want to see more partner interaction, something so incendiary that could introduce them both into this dance.

So far, in some places it is striking that two soloists are performing, not too connected with each other.

It is clear that rolling is not an easy process.

When you get up with a new partner, everything gets in the way: the difference in technique, which was laid down from childhood, the work of the hands, feet, head - everything.

So it's hard to get used to.

You need to ride a lot together so that the roughness is smoothed out, ”said the athlete in a conversation with RT.

At the same time, after the performance, the skaters were asked not about the rental, but about a possible change of sports citizenship.

Earlier there was a rumor that the couple could go under the French flag.

However, Annabelle and David denied everything.

“As you can see, we are performing here.

We stand in the symbolism of Russia.

We do not plan to change citizenship.

If they had planned, they would have already performed, ”said Morozov.

Also in the rhythm dance, the duet of the young Vasilisa Kaganovskaya and Valery Angelopol attracted attention.

The skaters took second place, losing more than six points to the leaders.

However, according to Katsalapov, they are excellent at skating.

“In terms of skating, I liked this duet more.

Athletes do all the elements almost flawlessly: harmoniously, cleanly.

Plus, the guys show great images - in this regard, I would also note a very successful production, ”added the interlocutor of RT.

Tarasova and Morozov out of competition

In contrast to ice dancing, the leaders of the Russian national team perform in competitions of sports couples, but they are evenly distributed over the stages.

In Moscow, fans saw only Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov.

Natalya Khabibullina and Ilya Knyazhuk, who left the juniors, tried to compete with them.

As noted by the athletes' coach Sergei Dobroskokov, the athletes reached the adult level, having failed to fully realize themselves last season for various reasons.

“Things didn’t go as planned for us.

They were very good in juniors, but at first, because of the pandemic, the Grand Prix final was covered, where they would have been listed as favorites, and then we were removed from the world championship.

Therefore, the guys came out into adulthood slightly shot: they didn’t sound where they should have sounded, not to mention earning money.

But we motivate, ”the specialist explained in a commentary to RT.

In Megasport, Khabibullina and Knyazhuk skated the short program confidently and were very warmly received by the fans.

Like another duet - Daria Boyarintseva and Roman Pleshkov.

Wards of Nina Moser with their composition "Spartacus" impressed not only the audience, but also the judges, who gave the guys good marks for their debut.

However, the kings of ice that evening, of course, were Tarasova and Morozov.

Like Kamila Valieva before, they captured all the attention of the audience with their impeccable skating and energy to the song Ave Maria, which suits them very well.

Athletes after the Olympics, it seems, really found a second youth.

And most importantly, self-confidence.

At the same time, the skaters themselves are not very satisfied with themselves.

According to Vladimir, the composition has not yet been fully developed. 

“In our program Zhenya is the light, I am the darkness.

At the beginning of the program, I absorb it, but in the end, the light wins, as in all good fairy tales.

Do these images fit with our characters?

Maybe, but we didn't start from that, it was just an idea.

We are a couple, we have the opportunity to play two roles compared to single skaters, so we can play.

Is this our best program?

When we roll back so that we like it 100%, then I will answer this question.

It is still a crude program, not rolled in, ”said Morozov.

At the same time, two-time Olympic champion Artur Dmitriev noted that the duo's programs are still quite simple.

But even with such components, they are inaccessible to rivals.

“Another question is whether this complication is necessary for the skaters themselves.

None of us can predict how events will develop and how soon Russian skaters will be able to return to international tournaments, and inside Russia, even with the technical set that they have, Zhenya and Vladimir are now out of reach, ”Dmitriev said in a conversation with RT .