Victory of Gumennik in St. Petersburg
While all-Russian figure skating competitions are on pause on the eve of the Spartakiad of the Strongest, the attention of fans is focused on local championships. In particular, last weekend the championship of St. Petersburg took place, in which many domestic stars took part.
Unfortunately, a new duel between Pyotr Gumennik and Evgeniy Semenenko did not take place within its framework, since Alexei Mishin’s student fell ill right on the eve of the tournament. Meanwhile, the student of Veronica Daineko for the second time this season broke the 300 point mark in the sum of two programs and won a landslide victory, ahead of Gleb Lutfullin and Matvey Vetlugin.
But Peter performed in the short program after a sleepless night and passing a calculus exam. On it, the athlete, according to him, fell just short of the top five. There is room for progress, both in studies and in figure skating, although with the current set of elements, Gumennik does not yet count on even higher grades.
“What is the maximum I can score? Probably, with such content this is the maximum. 320, 330 points? We must approach them gradually. I have overcome the 300 bar, I need to go to 310 now. I set two best results of the season, but did not win the Russian championship? Yes, it's a shame. I still won some important starts, it’s true, but not the main one. But the motivation to hone the jumps only increases more,” shared the bronze medalist of the 2024 Championships.
Among women, for the second year in a row, gold went to Ksenia Gushchina. Anna Frolova took second place, Sofia Zakharova took third place. Kirill Davydenko’s ward called this victory significant, and also admitted that she was worried about the need to confirm her title.
“The preparations were in full swing, there were more emotions than last year, this time the competition is higher. I was worried that I needed to repeat the result, I really wanted to, I hope that next year it will work out too. Growing up is taking its own course, but it’s still in process,” Gushchina shared.
Frolova, in turn, complained that she was unable to compete for first place, and explained this by the illnesses that crippled her after the December Russian Championship. The athlete suffered from bronchitis and bilateral sinusitis, and after recovery she went to perform in the show, so before the tournament she had time to train for a week and a half, and on new skates.
At the same time, the winner of the Russian Grand Prix stage in Krasnoyarsk noted that she expects to be in “ringing” shape at the Spartakiad, and next season she would like to master the four-revolution jump. The jumping championship motivated her to do this.
“I really liked the jumping tournament. I watched it with one eye, because on weekends I’m usually all about studying. From what I saw, I concluded: I need to do a quadruple jump in order to get into the participants next year,” Match TV quotes the figure skater.
Ksenia Gushchina performs her free program in women's single skating at the VI stage of the Russian Grand Prix of Figure Skating "Golden Horse of Moscow".
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© Alexander Wilf
Trusova's new novel
The championship of St. Petersburg turned out to be bright not only in terms of competition on the ice, but also in terms of behind-the-scenes events. Alexandra Trusova attended the competition, and the media hastened to report that the 2022 Olympics vice-champion had come to support her new young man. Alexandra’s chosen one was named Makar Ignatov: it was his jersey that the girl held during the award ceremony.
According to Sport Express, the athletes’ relationship began before the new year. By the way, Trusova admitted in a November interview with Evgenia Medvedeva that she was in love, although at that time her relationship with Mark Kondratyuk had already ended.
Fans joke that the next event will be Alexandra’s transition to Evgeniy Rukavitsyn’s coaching group, because after the Olympics, having started dating Mark, she moved from Khrustalny to his coach Svetlana Sokolovskaya. True, lately Trusova appears more often in Plushenko’s Angels than in CSKA, because her main occupation at the moment is performing in the show of the two-time Olympic champion, and not participating in competitions.
Figure skaters Alexandra Trusova as the Little Mermaid and Evgeniy Semenenko as the Prince perform in Evgeni Plushenko's New Year's ice show "The Little Mermaid"
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© Alexander Wilf
Kutovoy's book
Also, after the St. Petersburg tournament, they discussed the novel by Andrei Kutovoy. Only in the case of the 18-year-old figure skater, we are not talking about a romantic relationship, but about a literary work. As you know, a talented person is talented in everything, so Andrey tries his hand not only on ice, but also in writing.
“In my free time I write. I am recording my thoughts on paper, writing a book that I hope to publish. This will be my second literary work. I won’t publish the first one - it’s too personal. The book will be a mystery novel. This is not fantasy - I don’t read that genre. The only thing I read was Stephen King, two of his novels. And so, I love fiction more,” said Kutovoy.
According to the athlete, his favorite authors are Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Maria Corelli. It was while reading their works that he realized that he wanted to write books.
“I’m attracted to the process itself—putting thoughts into words, sharing a story that people will then read and be inspired by,” Andrey noted.
Andrei Kutovoy performs in a free program at the final of the Russian Figure Skating Cup in Moscow
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© Vladimir Pesnya
Medvedeva's admiration
Evgenia Medvedeva has not competed for almost four years, but for many skaters she remains the standard of women's figure skating. She is especially admired by last year's US champion Isabeau Levito.
At the last national championship, which ended last weekend, the student of Yulia and Vyacheslav Kuznetsov fell three times in the free skate and was unable to defend her title, losing to Amber Glenn and Josephine Lee. At one of the press conferences, the skater was asked which of the legendary figures - living or dead - she would like to meet, and the American named the two-time world champion from Russia.
“It could be Evgenia Medvedeva, I like her so much! I really enjoyed watching her perform while growing up. She is my favorite figure skater in the world, my idol. I've always really liked her. I would like to be like her, especially in terms of artistry,” said Isabeau.
Nicole Della Monica, a participant in the Sochi Olympics in pair skating, also spoke about her admiration for Evgenia.
“When Medvedeva first reached the adult level, for me she was a queen. She never made mistakes and was always on top. Her skating was mesmerizing. Perhaps she was the one I liked the most (of the Russian figure skaters. - RT),” RIA Novosti quotes the Italian.
Russia's answer to Netflix
A documentary series about sports similar to those produced by the famous Netflix platform will soon appear in Russia. In particular, their project “Break Point” about tennis thundered loudly.
“There will be a series about the “Battle of the Schools.” This will be a very interesting series, a reality doc, it’s filmed in Netflix quality, I’m not exaggerating. The series is not about Olympic champions, but about children, about those who work every day, different destinies and stories. The author of the idea is Nina Moser. This is being filmed with private money, we are making a more truthful story,” said Anton Abdurakhmanov, president of the Moscow Figure Skating Federation.
“Battle of the Schools” is a tournament in which young students from the best Moscow figure skating academies compete. To perform at these landmark competitions, athletes undergo internal selection, and this, according to Abdurakhmanov, is the real engine of progress.
Pogorilaya's maternal dreams
Perhaps among those kids who will take part in tournaments such as the “Battle of Schools” in the future will be the daughter of the 2016 World Championship bronze medalist Anna Pogorilaya and Andrei Nevsky, Eva. The girl recently turned three years old, and she is already taking her first steps on the ice under the supervision of her parents. For this purpose, she was even specially brought skates from Canada.
“I don’t really know how to train my child. I want my children to go to gymnastics first, to strengthen their bodies - this develops them comprehensively. And then into the sport they want. If they tell me: “I want to be a figure skater,” I won’t be against it. As a child, my parents also gave me a choice. Eva is a very conscious child; if she doesn’t want to do something, she won’t,” Anna said in an interview with Match TV.
The former figure skater, now working as a coach, admitted that it is difficult for her to be objective towards her own child. She even believes that she will treat her daughter more strictly than the rest of the students. At the same time, Anna has no dreams of any outstanding sporting achievements for Eva.
Anna Pogorilaya performs in the women's singles short program at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in Chelyabinsk
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© Pavel Lisitsyn
“When children of famous parents start studying, there is automatically a certain stigma attached, high expectations. I don’t understand how this is connected... I don’t want to break a child’s psyche with my dream. There are many examples when parents really wanted their child to become a figure skater, but the kids themselves did not need it. This only makes things worse for everyone,” Pogorilaya said.
Now the athlete is expecting her second child. A new addition to the family is expected in May, but for now Anna continues to work on the ice with the kids.
ISU Ideas on Simplifying Programs
The Technical Committee of the International Skating Union is discussing proposals to simplify the rules in singles and pairs skating. According to TASS, the decision could be made in June at the organization's next congress.
In particular, it is proposed to reduce the number of mandatory jumps from seven to six in the singles free program, and also to allow the same jump to be performed three times, and not two, as was previously the case. The number of cascades and combinations can be reduced from three to two, as well as the number of supports for greenhouses. Duets may also lose one solo jump.
In Russia, where lately there has been a tendency to complicate programs, this idea was met with hostility. So, Evgeni Plushenko called this proposal “sheer nonsense.”
“Figure skating is first and foremost a sport. Of course, this is art, ballet and theater, this is understandable, but still it must remain a sport,” the two-time Olympic champion emphasized.
According to Tatyana Tarasova, with such proposals the ISU is trying to give weak athletes the opportunity to participate in competitions and win.
“More or less capable skaters will compete with those who can do everything. But perfection cannot be undone, no matter how much they love us. I think this is a temporary measure of the stupidity they are doing. Stupidity and unprofessionalism. We will still learn something new, we will not stop. But within the limits of these rules,” TASS quotes the coach.
At the same time, she emphasized that at internal competitions, the FFKKR can maintain the old rules - or introduce its own - “this is our business, our question.” By the way, Irina Viner has already taken this path in rhythmic gymnastics, where the international federation also simplified the athletes’ programs. At Russian tournaments, gymnasts perform more complex routines, which are evaluated differently.