Impeccable Valieva, bright Yametova and confident Mozalev: how short programs ended at the Grand Prix stage in Kazan

Confident performance by Valieva

Unlike the stage of the Russian Cup in Sochi, which could not gather full stands of spectators, Kazan pleased the skaters with a full house.

Although, of course, one must take into account the fact that the arena in the capital of Tatarstan can accommodate only a little more than three thousand people, and the Iceberg stadium - 12 thousand. 

Fans gathered on Saturday first of all to watch Kamila Valieva live.

The athlete performed at her home and was able to please the audience with a clean skate.

This time she performed the elements with greater ease than in Moscow, but with the same incredible energy.

“Today I was just in the program.

I liked that I was finally enjoying myself.

I tried to skate for the audience and follow the elements.

Lutz - sheepskin coat was, of course, interesting.

The coaches told me that they were a little nervous.

But I saved him and, of course, I am happy with myself.

The body was slightly thrown on the lutz.

If it was an easy season, I would just save a good constriction.

But now it’s impossible not to do it, and I’m trying to exclude it, ”said the skater.

Camila's rental ratings were several hundredths lower than the first time.

However, high enough for a program without a triple Axel.

However, in Kazan, even without him, the Olympic champion in team competitions confidently took the lead, since the rest of the athletes also did not dare to declare this element.

Valieva's main rival this time was to be Ksenia Sinitsyna.

Her last season was not easy, and the skater even tried herself in pair skating, but eventually returned.

The girl demonstrated a very lyrical composition to the music of Tchaikovsky, and thanks to a clean performance she earned 70.54 points.

“There is something to work on - on the speed of rotations, so that there are more difficult trips and jumps to complicate.

The coaches said - well done.

Fought to the end.

There will be no fourth jump tomorrow.

There is a task to execute the program cleanly.

First she, and then complication.

I train the quadruple, but I don’t show it in the programs yet.

There was a lot of thinking about whether to continue or not during the off-season, but the support of the fans helped.

There was a desire to please them, ”admitted Sinitsyna.

However, Veronika Yametova did not give Xenia the second place.

The representative of the Sverdlovsk region conquered everyone with her short program in Sochi.

She turned out to be just as unstoppable this time, delighting the audience with her spectacular splits and performing a cascade that she did not succeed last time.

The athlete completed the rental to the thunderous applause of the fans.

The skater and the judges were impressed, they gave her 75 points.

At the same time, the girl did not initially plan to perform in Kazan.

“How did you end up at this stage?

Quite by accident.

Since some of the girls withdrew from it due to injuries, they called us and asked us to come.

We agreed and I'm here.

Is it difficult to ride two stages in a row?

For me, no, I'm getting involved.

It’s even easy, ”Veronica explained.

Alas, neither Sinitsyna nor Yametova have ultra-c elements in their arsenal yet.

Therefore, a miracle must happen for them to bypass Valieva.

It is all the more interesting to see if Camila will take risks on Sunday and add a quadruple sheepskin coat to the free program, which she did not succeed in Moscow.

Successful rental of Mozalev

The most stubborn and unpredictable struggle has traditionally unfolded in men's single skating, where several athletes at once claim victory in the stage.

Of course, it was interesting to see if Arthur Danielyan, who had recently moved to St. Petersburg to Evgeny Rukavitsyn, had already managed to get in shape.

Unfortunately, while the Russian is only looking for himself.

He made blots in almost all jumps: he made a step out on the quadruple salchow, made a blot on the triple axel.

An unimaginable mistake happened on the cascade: the skater almost stood on the second element, but at the very end he still fell on the ice.

As a result, he was only in fifth place, far behind the leaders.

At the same time, Arthur is sure that the errors are not caused by his physical condition at all, but by psychology. 

“Head failed.

But the non-jumping elements from the side turned out fine, we will look at the printouts.

In previous times, there weren’t really any non-jumping ones

.

How long have I been doing quads in training?

Okay, last week.

And then once a week I will miss it somewhere.

Precisely well - this week and at the end of the last one, ”Danielyan explained. 

Again, Dmitry Aliev could not perform all the elements of ultra-si.

If in Moscow the skater pulled off only one, then this time there were much more problems: at first he almost lost a cascade of quadruple and triple sheepskin coats, and then fell on a triple axel.

Rukavitsyn's student earned five points less for his performance than two weeks ago.

However, this was enough for second place.

Aliyev explained his mistakes at the box office by feeling unwell. 

“It was hard in the morning.

Painful condition.

It looks like it, although I can’t say that I’m sick.

Generally upset.

Didn't burn out.

It's been like this since the flight.

At four in the morning I fell asleep, the regime was a little off.

This was reflected in the condition, and it may have affected the rental.

I will endure, ”the athlete promised.

But Andrey Mozalev turned out to be almost flawless that evening.

He performed this season for the first time and demonstrated the composition to the song Led Zeppelin.

So far, in terms of energy, everything does not look as bewitching as that of Kamila Valieva or Evgenia Tarasova with Vladimir Morozov, but the pure performance of the jumps certainly pleased.

The skater made a combination of a quad salchow and a triple toe loop, and also jumped a quad toe loop separately with a small step-out.

The judges were generous with their assessments, the athlete scored 98.21 points and won the short program with a big advantage.

Confrontation of former partners

Annabelle Morozov and David Narizhny won the rhythm dance.

Unlike the first stage in Moscow, they earned a little less for their performance - 81.50 points.

Nevertheless, the athletes themselves liked the second rental more.

“Now it was better.

More time to work, fix some mistakes.

As I always said, we must first look at everything together, discuss it, and then it will become clear.

Slowly we roll into the program, into the season.

How about mutual understanding?

Everything is fine, ”Narizhny said.

The main competitors of the duet in Kazan were Pavel Drozd and Elizaveta Shanaeva, who performed with David last season, but the couple broke up.

Wards of Alexander Zhulin showed a very dynamic dance and lost a little more than two points to their rivals.

“It seems that the audience liked it.

It is very pleasant that the stands are almost full.

And when the audience began to applaud in time with the last part, it charged even more energy.

I want to give myself more, ”explained Drozd.

At the same time, Shanaeva admitted that for her the rivalry with Narizhny is now fundamental.

“Personal accounts?

Of course they are.

Tomorrow we will try to recoup.

Everything will be known tomorrow, we'll wait and see, ”said the athlete.

The relationship between the guys, it seems, after parting, is really not easy.

According to Narizhny, she and Elizabeth have never even looked at each other after the breakup of the duet.

Not everything is so simple for Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov in sports couples competitions.

The silver medalists of the Beijing Olympics won the short program, once again evoking incredible emotions with their Ave Maria.

However, the partner made a mistake on the triple sheepskin coat, which did not go unnoticed by the judges.

“The performance was not the best.

There was a gross mistake on the jump, we will have to look at the technical part.

Ratings?

It doesn’t matter, it’s at the box office, ”Tarasova admitted.

As a result, the couple won less than a point against Yasmina Kadyrova and Valery Kolesov.

Young athletes from St. Petersburg made mistakes during parallel rotations, but in all other elements they looked very convincing.

Therefore, Tarasova and Morozov should not make mistakes in the free program this time.