“They can complicate the programs even more”: Boikova and Kozlovsky became two-time champions of Russia in the competition of sports couples

At the end of the sports couples finals, everyone sobbed.

Alexandra Boykova and Dmitry Kozlovsky are happy: they were the champions of Russia only once, in 2019, and in the next two seasons they remained second.

Nastya Mishina cried because of her mistake in the jump - this is what prevented the world champions from winning for the third time in a row.

Yasmina Kadyrova and Vitaly Kolesov lamented the honestly won, but left them third place.

In other words, there is drama.

There was only one happy ending in it.

The highest result of the four pairs of the first warm-up was shown by Elizaveta Osokina and Artyom Gritsaenko.

At one time, Lisa was remembered as a very unusual and promising single skater, but her then coach Elena Buyanova decided not to keep an athlete who has a pronounced tendency to grow up in single skating, and convinced Osokina to try herself in pair skating.

Of course, this was a certain risk.

Putting two even the most talented single skaters in a pair is not a guarantee of success, since pair skating is not only difficult, but also scary.

In addition, you can overcome all the difficulties of rolling, and then belatedly understand: a partner is not suitable for you.

With Osokina, this is exactly what happened.

At first she worked with Andrey Rud, then Vladislav Antonyshev, but only with Gritsaenko it became clear: this couple is capable of a fairly high result.

Why is there so much attention to the duet, which does not yet claim serious positions?

Simply, with the exception of the top four of the strongest, the rest mostly act in the same status as Osokina and Gritsaenko.

And they all need time to attract attention.

When Canadians Megan Duhamel and Eric Redford first became world champions, their coach Richard Gauthier remarked that the pair needed about three years to slide.

And skaters, relatively speaking, do not need to turn their heads in the direction of a partner in order to understand where he is.

This is exactly what happened at one time with Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who also skated with Gauthier, and in 2002 became Olympic champions, sharing the podium with Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.

According to the coach, when you start working with a couple, the first year is usually spent on realizing whether people are capable of skating together.

On the second one, you can already deal with complex rebuildings, paired elements.

But the third is already a truly creative work.

The mentor already knows in advance how quickly the athletes will be able to do the proposed.

Their reaction to comments and behavior at competitions is understandable.

“Working with a couple on a permanent basis is very interesting, but it is inhuman work.

It is necessary not only to teach people the technique so that they do not kill each other on the ice, but also to constantly develop in them the ability to communicate with each other.

Working with a couple, you essentially teach people about life.

The way you need to talk, express your thoughts and desires, without offending your partner.

You can blurt out: "You're throwing me wrong" - and run into a scandal, or you can just say: "You know, it's not very convenient for me to land when you throw me like that," Gauthier summed up that old conversation with him.

Without exception, all participants in the Russian Championship have already managed to ride at the stages of the Russian Grand Prix this season.

Moreover, many performed not only in the senior category, but also in the junior category, gaining competitive experience.

Based on the results of the entire series, a possible scenario for the national championship was approximately formed with three strongest duets, two of which became medalists of the 2022 Olympics, and Natalya Khabibullina / Ilya Knyazhuk as the first catch-ups.

Still, it was this duet that overtook the vice-champions of the Games Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov at the debut stage.

The short program ordered quite differently.

Khabibullina and Knyazhuk, having the highest basic difficulty of the program, came in sixth, leaving behind the St. Petersburg couple Yasmina Kadyrova and Vitaly Kolesov, as well as Ekaterina Chikmareva and Matvey Yanchenkov from Perm.

Two-time Olympic champion in pair skating Artur Dmitriev noted, talking about the not-so-successful performance of his pair Victoria Vasilyeva and Roman Zaporozhets, that the short program is quite easy for skaters with extensive experience, but becomes a terrible test for debutants.

Too much responsibility and fear of failure.  

According to Dmitriev, the national championship is always a very special start.

“I still remember my first national championship, which was held in Vilnius.

I have not yet skated with Natasha Mishkutyonok, but with Vika Troitskaya, and we took 11th place.

Moreover, I did not really remember the rental itself.

We plucked something, although not critical, but a feeling of fear was stuck in our memory.

After all, they always say that the national championship is the most difficult and responsible start of the season.

And that's why he's special.

When you constantly hear all this from all sides, it is impossible not to succumb to doubts, ”the ex-skater explained.

I would not argue that in the free program it was easier for the participants in the first two warm-ups.

Khabibullina and Knyazhuk dirtyly performed the most difficult cascade of triple lutz and two double axels (Natasha touched the ice with her hand), after which the partner fell from the triple rittberger.

In general, the athletes skated unusually hard and constrained.

Chikmareva and Yanchenkov started easily and very well, but in the second half of the program they broke support, and besides that, they also fell together.

These mistakes did not prevent Pavel Slyusarenko's wards from leading the protocol, ahead of Khabibullina and Knyazhuk by 1.91 points.

However, everyone who skated in the second warm-up turned out to be higher than the leaders of the first.

But the real championship of Russia began, of course, with the strongest group, where three St. Petersburg pairs of Tamara Moskvina and Artur Minchuk opposed the Moscow one - Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov.

This four could well decorate the strongest group of any world championship.

If Kadyrova and Kolesov had completed the entire program the way they had done with the first half, they might even have pushed one of the luminaries on the pedestal.

But there was a most unfortunate mistake: the usually stable Yasmina did not cope with the landing of the second release-rittberger.

On this, the pair lost at least 2.5 points from the base value of the element and received a penalty for falling.

A much more unpleasant setback befell the vice-champions of the 2022 Games.

The fact that Tarasova is not too in tune with triple jumps was traced back in the warm-up, but it often happens: flaws before the performance, on the contrary, spur the athletes on, help them concentrate.

This time it turned out differently.

Zhenya doubled the salchow, then the sheepskin coat in the cascade (Vladimir made a mistake there too), landed in a step-out after the ejection.

The lifeline was still thrown to the couple.

Thanks to the judges' scores, Tarasova and Morozov were ahead of Kadyrova and Kolesov by 0.6 points, and there is no need to ask the question "Why?".

I suspect that no one in the audience would have an answer.

Arguing before the final about the chances of the strongest, Dmitriev leaned in favor of Anastasia Mishina and Alexander Gallyamov.

“They skate very precisely, confidently, they do all the elements without doubting themselves.

Although from what I saw in training, Boikova and Kozlovsky are in very good shape, ”the specialist explained.

The failure of the Olympic season, in which Boikova and Kozlovsky were left without a medal, greatly spurred the skaters.

They complicated the program, and most importantly, they stopped looking for reasons for their own failures from outside.

According to Dmitriev, the couple can become even more difficult, and not only due to quadruple throws and twists, but also thanks to more difficult jumps.

Actually, one of these elements - the triple loop - Boikova and Kozlovsky showed in the short program and performed it for good pluses.

The final rental in Krasnoyarsk was a perfect success for the couple.

There was a small blot in the cascade and on the landing of the partner from the release, but this did not spoil the program at all.

It is difficult to say what shook the confidence of Mishina and Gallyamov, but this time there was no usual reliability of skating.

The salchow cascade is the same as that of Boikova and Kozlovsky, the judges downvoted more, the rest of the elements turned out to be of very high quality, but the caution in the movements was somewhat dissonant with Elvis Presley's hit.

In terms of technique, Nastya and Alexander lost a little more than two points to their rivals, and the second score, although it turned out to be higher, was not enough to keep the first place.

However, the fight turned out beautiful: the difference between gold and silver was only 0.51.

At the same time, according to Kozlovsky, luck was on the side of the couple, since the accident could affect the rental of the program.

“We became not only two-time champions of Russia, but also two-time champions of Krasnoyarsk - we also won our first victory here.

In fact, we are very lucky.

In the morning workout after a single salchow, a hook flew out of my boot.

And this can really be called luck.

If I had been lighter, the boot might have been able to withstand the workout.

But then the hook would have taken off in the competitive box office.

So we just grabbed luck by the tail, ”said the athlete.