The Russian Figure Skating Championship, which kicks off in Krasnoyarsk on Thursday, is unique in that it hasn't been like this for many decades.
Ask any skater what the national championship is, and you will hear in response, this is perhaps the most insidious and definitely the most nervous tournament.
The Russian championships of 2014 and 2018 nearly ended the career of Liza Tuktamysheva, a figure skater whose uniqueness is recognized by the entire figure world.
At those pre-Olympic selections, Lisa failed to climb the podium (in the first case she took tenth place, in the second - seventh), and both times the team went to the Games without her.
In December 2021, Tuktamysheva again “failed” the selection, having received a record amount of points in her career in the Czech Republic, but by that time she, one might say, had come to terms with her fatal Olympic bad luck.
It certainly wasn't the end of her life.
At least, I wanted to believe in it, looking at the zeal with which Lisa continued to explore new horizons for herself in the form of quadruples.
There have been many such dramatic stories, but never before have skaters come to the Russian championship with the feelings that prevail now.
It will not be qualifying and, it turns out, completely loses its usual meaning.
Will the competition be less interesting from this?
Not at all.
The vector has simply shifted: the national championship has turned into a commercial start with unthinkable prize money: two and a half million rubles for a victory have never been awarded in Russia.
If earlier, by analogy with the well-known phrase, people fought for metal, now they will fight for money.
And it is not yet known which of the incentives is stronger.
There is more than enough intrigue in the upcoming championship.
All of them are known and have been voiced more than once, as well as possible arrangements on pedestals.
But there are also hidden ones: will Tuktamysheva perform quads?
Of course, you need to start: firstly, you won’t find a better environment for a debut.
Secondly, with such strong rivals as Adelia Petrosyan, three Sofyas - Akatiev, Samodelkina and Muravyov, Alexander Trusov and Kamil Valiev, without an ultra-si kit, you can easily remain sixth.
Will sports couples go to the complication of programs?
The recent jumping tournament, which took place in St. Petersburg in early December, showed that even veterans of the workshop Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov have quads in their arsenal (they performed a quad twist at the show jumping tournament in St. Petersburg).
Although it is not a fact that the vice-champions of the Games in Beijing will be able to get ahead of the duets of Tamara Moskvina: Alexander Boikov - Dmitry Kozlovsky and Anastasia Mishina - Alexander Gallyamov.
How easy it is to lose, we saw this season at the first of the stages of the Russian Grand Prix, where Tarasova - Morozov lost to a very young couple Natalya Khabibullina - Ilya Knyazhuk.
Will Eteri Tutberidze complete the golden double?
In addition to the pair mentioned above, the Khrustalny coaching staff put up only three athletes for the championship - Valieva, Akatieva and Petrosyan, which means there is a chance to occupy the podium in the girls' competition.
Another question is, are they capable of it?
Are judges being rehabilitated in the eyes of the public?
A series of internal Grand Prix in dances was judged by the servants of the Ice Themis in such a way that it was time to think: is it by chance that none of the arbitrators managed to confirm their qualifications in the International Skating Union (ISU).
Even the famous dance coach Alexei Gorshkov spoke on this score.
“Previously, all skaters, including juniors, went to certain competitions at the beginning of the season, and the marks obtained there were, as it were, a guideline for judges at all subsequent starts.
Now everyone is in a closed space.
After Alla Shekhovtsova retired, any control disappeared.
None of the six tournaments of the Russian Grand Prix was adjudicated in dancing so that this did not raise questions, ”the specialist noted.
And this is a very soft wording about the work of dance judges and technical specialists.
In their opinion, the role of Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron of the Russian spill is clearly assigned to Lisa Khudaiberdiyeva and Yegor Bazin.
Perhaps the tournament in Krasnoyarsk will refute this, despite the fact that the competition is rather bled by the absence of Diana Davis - Gleb Smolkin, who remained in America, and Annabelle Morozov - David Narizhny, who broke up without even a year together.
A separate category - guys.
The competition in men's single skating this season has grown so much that even experts will not undertake to predict the strongest.
Mark Kondratyuk is still the main irritant, as a man who earned himself an aura of greatness at the Olympics.
Preparation for the national championship at the ward of Svetlana Sokolovskaya was actually disrupted: due to a back injury, he had to deal not so much with training as with treatment.
But even without the reigning champion of the country, there are half a dozen contenders for victory in Krasnoyarsk: Dmitry Aliev, Evgeny Semenenko, Gleb Lutfullin, Pyotr Gumenik, Andrey Mozalev and Alexander Samarin.
In addition, the men's tournament is the only one where you can see all quadruple jumps, except for the axel.
And it's definitely worth a look.