Two quads by Akatieva

The first day of the starting stage of the Russian Grand Prix in figure skating left a large number of questions.

In particular, in what physical form is Kamila Valieva, who did not perform the triple axel in the short program, and also how well deserved the advances that Sofia Akatieva received earlier.

The 15-year-old figure skater was frankly nervous in her debut performance at the adult level, which also affected the overall impression of the composition.

However, in the free program, the athlete coped with emotions.

And after she managed to perform the triple axel, which she plucked the day before, she completely relaxed.

Therefore, her two quadruple sheepskin coats turned out to be very clear and confident.

The judges did not stint on the scores and gave 163.98 points for the composition Welcome to Earth.

Valieva, unlike Akatieva, announced only one quadruple sheepskin coat, but she could not perform it cleanly.

The athlete did not jump high enough and touched the ice during the last rotation.

The fall did not unsettle Camila.

The rest of the elements she did cleanly.

The ending of the composition, which is dedicated to the doping scandal at the Beijing Olympics, again drew attention to itself.

If at the test skates the skater burst into tears after the performance, now she tried to end the skate with a different emotion.

With her piercing gaze, she seemed to be telling the audience: “All this is in the past.

I got through everything."

The music has also changed a bit.

News inserts have disappeared from it.

But, as the athlete explained, this is temporary.

“I don't know which turned out better.

I can’t say that I like everything, as after any rental.

Coaches will already sort out the program.

In principle, I'm glad to go to the sheepskin coat.

It turned out to be very exciting, as if I was jumping for the first time.

But it worked out at the six-minute mark, so everything will be fine.

There were no thoughts not to take risks, such thoughts were in the Olympic season.

Now I want, on the contrary, to make jumps, ”said the skater.

A mistake on the sheepskin coat did not allow the Olympic champion to win the free program (160.74), but Akatieva's lead unexpectedly turned out to be not so significant, despite two quadruple sheepskin coats and a triple axel.

As a result, in the sum of two performances, Valieva confidently outperformed her rival, as she had a backlog of 11.22 points.

As the choreographer Ilya Averbukh explained after the performances, Sofya still has to work on the components so that in the future she will not lose to Camila with such jumps.

“This is a very talented girl, but, firstly, she is quite young.

Also, in addition to jumps, there are still a lot of elements in figure skating, such as components, rotations, step sequences that Valieva performs best in the world, ”RIA Novosti specialist quotes.

At the same time, the Olympic champion in ice dancing Natalya Bestemyanova is worried about the psychological state of Valieva.

In her opinion, Camila is still under a lot of stress.

“She recovered a lot, and this, in my opinion, is a consequence of a bad psychological state.

Therefore, now it does not matter at all what exactly she rides.

The main thing is that she can get in shape and jump her quadruple jumps.

Otherwise, she will lose to both Sofya Akatyeva and the rest of the girls, no matter what music she skates to, ”Bestemyanova said in a conversation with RT.

As for other athletes, only two more girls announced quadruple jumps - Anastasia Zinina and Alina Gorbacheva, but both of them could not cope with them and were significantly behind the pupils of Eteri Tutberidze.

The failure of Tarasova and Morozov

Not without a sensation at the Grand Prix stage in Moscow.

It happened at the competition of sports couples.

Silver medalists of the Beijing Olympics Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov confidently performed in the short program, beating yesterday's juniors Natalia Khabibullina and Ilya Knyazhuka by eight points.

However, the free performance turned out to be a failure.

The skaters synchronously made a mistake on a parallel triple salchow, and then the partner fell after the ejection.

There were other blots as well.

"Very ashamed.

I don’t even want to say anything, ”Tarasova admitted after the rental.

Khabibullina and Knyazhuk, on the contrary, skated their Ave Maria very emotionally.

At the very beginning, they cleanly performed a sequence of a triple lutz and two double axels, and then a triple loop and all the throws.

The audience gave a standing ovation at the end of the performance.

The composition was highly appreciated by the judges.

As a result, according to the sum of the two programs, the skaters were ahead of Tarasova and Morozov by three points.

And, as Natalya and Ilya admitted to reporters, they were shocked by this result.

“We had something like this at the Russian championship when we won by a point.

Here the gap is slightly larger.

We don't really know what to say yet.

We did not hope for this at all, ”Knyazhuk said.

Aliyev's triumph

Stubborn struggle unfolded in the competition of men-singlers.

Four athletes claimed the victory at once: Gleb Lutfullin, Dmitry Aliev, Alexander Samarin and Mikhail Kolyada.

The first on the ice was the 18-year-old pupil of Alexei Mishin.

The day before, he was able to make two quads in the short program, but in the end, due to low marks for the components, he remained outside the top three.

This time, the skater went even further and announced four quads, but only three were completed, instead of a sheepskin coat, a “butterfly” turned out.

In addition, when the Salchows landed, he twice had to touch the ice with his hand.

Nevertheless, there were no falls, which has recently been rare for Russian single skaters.

“We will work, I think everything will be clean by the next stage.

Now the task is to skate cleanly, and there, as the judges say.

I really want to be the first, but I need to skate the program well so that I can be appreciated worthy.

Yesterday I didn’t do it the way I can, if I had done everything well - all the spins and jumps, then the points would have been higher.

I made a mistake myself, there were two quads, but there is still sliding, rotation, ”the athlete explained.

Unsuccessfully performed on Sunday Alexander Samarin.

After a great quadruple lutz, a very unpleasant fall followed.

It could even scare the audience, but not the skater.

He landed the rest of the jumps, but lost a little to Lutfullin in the sum of two programs.

Dmitry Aliev, unlike the pupil of Elena Sokolovskaya, was able to avoid disruptions of the elements.

Of course, not everything turned out perfectly, several trips after the jumps turned out to be blurred.

However, he also made three quads and overtook Gleb by more than 15 points.

"Everything is fine.

Satisfied with the first half of the rental.

There was an inner silence.

It all comes down to self-confidence.

As for the second half, I relaxed, let myself go.

This led to blurry trips on triple jumps.

But overall very satisfied.

I'm on the right track," the skater said.

Bypassing Aliyev was within the power of Mikhail Kolyada, who was confidently leading after the short program.

However, Alexei Mishin's ward failed miserably for the first time in a long time.

The very first jump led to a fall, and then the athlete simply fell apart, landing on the ice again and again, even in simple situations.

What happened to the skater remains a mystery.

When communicating with reporters, he only threw the phrase: "It happens."

And quickly left.

Kolyada did not get on the podium, remaining only fourth, 20 points behind Samarin.

Original supports of Kaganovskaya and Angelopol

As expected, Annabel Morozov and David Narizhny won in ice dancing, who took part in the official start together for the first time and looked very confident the day before.

On Sunday, they skated to "Moonlight Sonata" and earned 117.67 points for their performance.

However, the free program of the new duet impressed not everyone.

So, Averbukh noted that the guys still need to “look for their face”, and this time the athletes could not surprise him with anything.

“This couple has formed.

They have great potential.

But time can't be fooled.

Dances require rolling, searching for their elements, originality, ”the specialist said on the air of Channel One.

Figure skaters themselves understand this.

As Annabelle admitted, it was important for them to finally show the new duet to the judges and the audience.

“Not ideal, of course, but I am very pleased with how our first competition went together.

We are happy to ride with each other, and I liked how everything went, ”said the athlete.

An interesting program was shown by young Vasilisa Kaganovskaya and Valery Angelopol.

They eventually became second and lost only four points to the winners in the free dance.

The guys impressed the audience in the first place with their unusual support.

One of them, when the partner soars in the air upside down, and the young man rolls on one leg, the skaters took from Averbukh.

“At first they wanted to do it like Papadakis and Sizeron, then they tried to try something like Vika Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, but in the end we saw it with Ilya Izyaslavich at the Ice Age.

Alexander Enbert did this with Olga Kuzmina.

He did the element on two legs, I came with this video to Anzhelika Alekseevna: “I will do it on one leg,” Angelopol explained.

So far, the guys have blots in other elements, caused, among other things, by a lack of experience and youth.

But this is definitely the duo to keep an eye on in the future.