Wagner's outrage

Former figure skater Ashley Wagner was outraged by the presence of Russian coaches at the World Championships in Japan. The American did not like that the Khrustalny team came to Saitama - Eteri Tutberidze, Daniil Gleichengauz and Sergey Dudakov. They accompanied their wards - the Italian Daniel Grassl, as well as Maurice Kvitelashvili and Nika Egadze from Georgia.

"Explain to me why Russian skaters are suspended and Russian coaches are not?" wrote Wagner on one social media platform.

In the comments, the silver medalist of the 2016 World Cup was asked why she does not care about working with American figure skaters Rafael Harutyunyan and Igor Shpilband. Wagner did not think about the fact that the first number of the US team in women's skating Isabo Levito was brought up by coaches from Russia Yulia and Vyacheslav Kuznetsov.

Tatyana Tarasova reacted to the statement of the American woman with her characteristic directness.

"She just wasn't asked where Russian coaches should go and where not. Next time we will ask her if we can drive. Who is she? It's a fool." An unintelligent girl, "RIA Novosti quoted the famous coach as saying.

But the Japanese figure skater Kaori Sakamoto, who became a two-time world champion in the absence of the Russians, on the contrary, said that she was waiting for the return of the main stars to the world stage.

"I tried to follow how Russian skaters perform this season. When they are allowed to compete again, I think it will definitely give me motivation – and I will have to work even harder. I look forward to this moment," Sakamoto was quoted as saying by Sports.

Six quads of Malinin

Meanwhile, at the World Cup, it was Rafael Harutyunyan's ward Ilya Malinin who made a real splash. The 18-year-old skater with Russian roots performed a total of eight quadruple jumps in two programs - two in the short and six in the free skate, including an axel of four and a half turns, which no one else in the world does except him. However, this was not enough for gold: the American became only the third, skipping ahead of the Korean Cha Joon Hwan and the Japanese Shoma Uno.

For many, this situation reminded the story of Alexandra Trusova at the Olympics last winter, when she became a silver medalist, for the first time in history performing five quads in the free skate. So, Alexander Zhulin said on this occasion that in figure skating you still need to "not just run between the elements, but also own your body."

"But it's all within reach. I once considered Nathan Chen to be absolutely wooden at the beginning of my career. He just jumped and waved his arms. Then in two seasons he turned into just a divine skater. That's it. The main thing is to work," Match TV quoted the coach as saying.

Trusova, by the way, said that most of all at the tournament in Saitama she liked Malinin's skating, but did not comment on the result.

"I don't know how the grades are set, I didn't understand whether there are add-ons that were put. He fought for all the jumps, in the first half his body went forward on the jumps, but he did not fall, he pulled everything out ... It takes energy. But in the second half he made more quads, a sequence with a triple axel, "the figure skater shared on the air okko.

Tatyana Tarasova, in turn, noted that the performance of the American should be recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.

"The boy is amazing, shown how they will jump in the next decades," she said.

Dances of the Russian Rocket

Trusova herself is far from optimal form and does not look too far into the future when it comes to competition. The other day, the figure skater was on the air of Children's Radio, where she was asked about the prospects for performing at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan. The Queen of the Quads could not definitively answer whether she would succeed.

"It's very far away, I live for today, work, train, perform in shows. Now there are a lot of them. In winter, there will be "The Little Mermaid", there will be many more rooms in April, "said Alexandra.

She also admitted that she considers it possible to perform a five-time jump. According to Trusova, she tried to perform it, but did not learn it on purpose. Instead of multi-turn jumps, the vice-champion of the Beijing Olympics now pays more attention to choreography and strip plastics. In particular, she became interested in the direction of frame-up. Recently, the figure skater published in social networks her new dance of this style, which she learned under the guidance of Anastasia Yurasova. And the skater made her first steps in this direction almost a year ago.

"Then we learned just a routine. Well, now she has learned and danced the whole choreography very decently. Sasha isn't the only skater who dances frame-up. But the correct technique and aesthetics are kept only by her. In general, another pride for the student, "Yurasov commented on the progress of the Russian rocket in the social network.

Shcherbakova's birthday

Anna Shcherbakova celebrated her birthday. On March 28, the Olympic champion of Beijing turned 19 years old. She met him in the company of Alina Zagitova, who congratulated her friend one of the first - just after midnight - performing a fragment from the famous song Happy Birthday on a synthesizer.

"The best gift," Anna commented on the gift.

Later, Shcherbakova published a photo on social networks with gifts and flowers, under which colleagues and fans showered her with congratulations and good wishes.

Anna received a separate message from the coaches in the already traditional poetic form, and in the "Crystal" she was waiting for a huge bouquet of red roses. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva published a photo of Shcherbakova with a birthday cake in the locker room on the social network and wished that they would once again be able to celebrate Anna's birthday at the World Championships. The first time this happened was two years ago in Stockholm: then Shcherbakova won gold two days before her 17th birthday, Tuktamysheva took silver, and Alexandra Trusova won bronze.

Also, Shcherbakova did not forget about the birthday of Spartak, a fan of which the athlete became this season.

"We congratulate the Olympic champion in figure skating and the fan of Spartak on the holiday and wish all the best!" the club said in a message in the Telegram channel.

Stepanova became a mother

One of the main newsmakers of the last week in the Russian figure was Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. First, the silver medalists of the European Championship 2022 announced the transition from Irina Zhuk and Alexander Svinin, who raised them from childhood, to Alexander Zhulin, and just a few days later Alexandra announced that she had become a mother.

For many, this was a complete surprise, because for a long time it was claimed that the athlete does not perform this season due to an exacerbated back injury. And it turned out that for nine months she successfully hid her "interesting position".

Stepanova published photos from the discharge from the maternity hospital in the Telegram channel, but did not report either the date of birth or the sex of the baby. However, according to Tatiana Tarasova, a significant event occurred a month ago and Alexandra has already managed to return to the ice. Probably, so far she is engaged only in light rolling, since the pair has not yet started working with a new coach.

"First of all, I want to congratulate Sasha Stepanova. After all, the birth of a child is happiness. I'm so happy for her. I want to say that I have a good experience in working with those who have given birth. Tanya Navka became an Olympic champion after the birth of a child. So I wish Stepanova the same. As soon as he comes to his senses, he will appear on the ice, "Match TV quoted Zhulin as saying.

In turn, Ilya Averbukh positively assessed the prospects for the return of Stepanova and Bukina. In his opinion, the couple's cooperation with Zhulin can bring a good result.

"It's important what kind of face the guys find. But it just won't. Kaganovskaya and Angelopol amazingly broke into the top of our dances, I really like their performances with a modern breath, high-quality elements. And they're not going to give up a leading position. On the contrary, they will grow up and become more interesting. It will not be the case that everyone will spread out in front of Stepanova and Bukin. There will be a struggle. We have a lot of serious couples," Sport24 quoted the choreographer and director as saying.

Medvedeva spoke about the advantages of defeats

Evgenia Medvedeva visited the session of the lecture hall "Knowledge" and shared with the participants how she was affected by the loss of the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. This topic, as you know, was devoted to her piercing program at the recent tournament of show programs.

She noted that each person perceives silver or bronze differently, depending on what he originally counted on in a particular tournament.

"Someone goes out and marks for the average result, for the sixth or seventh place, and he is in the prizes! Wow! And he stands and cries with happiness: wow, I'm the third. And when you go out to lead and take the prize place, and this has already happened, there is no escape. Of course, if it upsets you, you can suffer, you can experience, these are human emotions – we have the right to do this. The main thing is to accept it and understand that nothing can be changed, "the vice-champion of the Games shared.

Evgenia noted that this is exactly what she had to do: accept the inevitable and look for advantages in the current situation.

"There are some painful moments when it hurts me - of course. It's my past, there's nothing you can do about it. I found in this silver the motivation to move forward and prove to myself that it is not a single medal, and a person is built in society. There are a huge number of paths on which you can go and develop, become better, become an example for yourself. Therefore, this experience because of the loss can be translated into motivation, "Medvedeva emphasized.

At the same time, she also expressed the opinion that in life situations are useful when a person was a little short of some great achievement.

"I want to note that sometimes it is not enough for me. That's when a little bit was not enough, in life it is painful, but it helps a lot. I achieved something, but no, not much. Something is constantly missing. Maybe that's a good thing," the two-time world champion concluded.

Averbukh wanted a break from the "Ice Age"

The ideological inspirer of "Ice Age" Ilya Averbukh admitted that he would like to pause in the release of "Ice Age", but the decision remains with the leadership of the First Channel.

"It seems logical to me to make a transition. Everything must come together, you need to rest, gain emotions to reach a new level. But if the offer comes, I will work. Although purely energetically I believe that the project should be temporarily released, "the specialist said in an interview.

However, Averbukh, who not so long ago seriously engaged in coaching and opened his own school, was not against participating in the children's version of the popular show.

"The project "Ice Age. Children" would be useful and important. Many guys who passed through it are already knocking on adult teams and even becoming leaders - Sofia Akatyeva, Arseny Fedotov, Nastya Zinina, Vasilisa Kaganovskaya - these are all children of the "Ice Age" - the choreographer reminded.