In figure skating, the off-season has begun, which means it's time to change coaches or partners. More recently, it became known that one of the strongest dance couples in the country at the moment, Ivan Bukin and Alexandra Stepanova, decided to move from Irina Zhuk to Alexander Zhulin. The duo have not performed since September. Initially, the suspension of the career was explained by the health problems of the partner, however, as it turned out recently, it was not at all about the injury - at the end of March, the athlete gave birth. And now Denis Samokhin announced the departure of Russian champions Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva and Egor Bazin from his group.
"This happens when the result does not meet expectations. But here is the reverse case. It's just that another three-year deadline has come to change something. In any case, we wish the couple success with the new mentors, we will believe that they will be able to repeat their result next season and in this combination. We continue to look with enthusiasm to the future with newly opened opportunities and challenges for our team!" the coach wrote in a farewell message.
As it turned out, the initiator of the transition was Elizabeth. And as a new mentor, the duo considers the same Zhulin. At the same time, according to the expert, everything will finally be decided on April 10.
"Let's wait and see! A very nice couple, I like it. I don't mind working with them. Athletes have a very short age. They are always looking for where they are better," the coach told Sport24.
Although Khudaiberdieva and Bazin became national champions, and the stages of the Russian Grand Prix won for a clear advantage, the athletes throughout the season were criticized because they performed unstably. Both Elizaveta and Egor repeatedly fell during the rides, which is unacceptable for ice dancing. And according to Samokhin, the gold medals did not give anyone positive emotions.
"When we flew to Krasnoyarsk, I was sure: if the guys do everything cleanly, they will be the first. And now... I have no joy that we are the champions of Russia. Rather, there is a regret: again they could not, again they could not cope with the programs. The occupied place here is secondary, "the coach admitted in an interview with RT.
First of all, everyone was concerned about the physical and emotional state of the partner: the figure skater has lost a lot of weight recently and, according to experts, because of this, there were problems with coordination. In addition, she psychologically failed to cope with the burden of leadership, which implies in addition to the first lines and increased attention. Khudaiberdieva herself admitted this after the Russian Championship.
"I was not at all ready for the amount of negativity and discussion of my every movement on the Internet, comments and other charms. And my body broke down. I stopped sleeping, constantly cried, a week before the championship of Russia I fell ill, "she wrote in social networks.
It seems that in the months that have passed since the trip to Krasnoyarsk, the duo has not been able to find a way out of this situation. The tournament of show programs did not help either, where the skaters were not particularly memorable. And the only way to radically change something was to switch to another mentor. As explained by coach and choreographer Betina Popova, such a step can positively affect the motivation of athletes.
"In any case, a change of coach is always a special story. The reasons may be different: they did not agree on the characters, I wanted to find a new approach to training, it can be anything. And this situation itself pushes the athlete. There is additional motivation, because you come to a new place, feel different, open up from the other side. Therefore, we will see what will happen to Elizabeth and Egor, "said the interlocutor of RT.
The choice in favor of Zhulin, on the one hand, is quite logical. He worked with the strongest domestic duos who won Olympic gold in team competitions: Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov. And according to the honored coach of the USSR Tatyana Tarasova, she knows how to grow champions.
"Zhulin is a professional specialist. He has the experience of nurturing an outstanding duo. So everybody goes to him. I also had a few pairs and everyone skated great. A lot of people went to me too, and I tried not to let them down. They came in good, and I made them stand out. So for Elizaveta and Egor it is a step towards professional work, "Tarasova said in an interview with RT.
On the other hand, the specialist has already taken a duo in his group, which next season is likely to be the main competitor of Khudaiberdiyeva and Bazin. However, according to Elena Vaitsekhovskaya, a conflict of interest in this case should not be expected.
"Stepanova and Bukin need, first of all, outstanding productions in all respects, otherwise skaters may simply be unable to stick in the current world six. But Lisa and Egor need to be put in order in terms of both the physical condition of the partner and psychology: Lisa in this respect is an extremely problematic comrade, with which partner she is not put. Samokhin tried to do this all the second half of the season, and, apparently, not very successfully, since the skaters still left him, "the RT columnist believes.
At the same time, Vaitsekhovskaya has doubts whether Zhulin in this situation will want to spend energy and energy on the rehabilitation of athletes with obvious problems. After all, in recent years, the work of the coach has been aimed primarily at the result.
"This is long and requires constant personal involvement, and most importantly - if there are such clear leaders in the group as Stepanova and Bukin, it simply does not make sense to invest in reservists," the Olympic champion said.
According to Vaitsekhovskaya, Elizaveta and Egor would have won more if they had gone to Natalia Linichuk, who had just returned from the United States and intended to rebuild her career in Russia.
"Of course, if the specialist has already found ice. The main advantage of Linichuk in this situation is that she has absolutely nothing to lose. Taking the current national champions, she would automatically get one hundred percent employment, and with coaching ambitions there was always everything in order, "the RT columnist explained.