|
Post by Admin on Dec 29, 2020 5:03:41 GMT
Men: Kolyada on a comeback It’s been a comeback season in full for 25-year-old Mikhail Kolyada, who won his third national title with two superb skates in Chelyabinsk under new coach Alexei Mishin.
Kolyada is the perfect combination of technical and artistic skating, and the Russian is making up for lost time after missing all of the 2019-20 season with sinusitis and subsequent surgery. He added to his Rostelecom Cup gold last month with another national title, outpacing the men’s field by some 30 points.
It will be interesting to see who joins him in Stockholm: Makar Ignatov and Mark Kondratiuk were second and third respectively, but reigning Euro champ Dmitri Aliev was out due to COVID with reigning world junior champion Andrei Mozalev finishing fourth in Chelyabinsk.
What’s clear though: Kolyada is the leader of the pack and hunting another medal at Worlds after his bronze in 2018.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Dec 29, 2020 20:44:43 GMT
Pairs: Tarasova and Morozov show renewed resolve It’s not just about the young guns in Russian skating. Kolyada showed that in the men’s event and three-time world medallists in pairs, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, did so too, beating out a field of rising teams to claim their third national title.
Since switching coaches to Marina Zueva in Florida last season, it’s been a roller coaster for the duo that was fourth at the 2018 Winter Games, but Tarasova and Morozov skated with a kind of resolve and precision not seen from them in a while.
A fall on their final throw element in the free skate was unfortunate, but it did not detract from the message they conveyed this weekend: that they're back and willing to fight.
Fight they will have to in what remains a vastly competitive pairs discipline with Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii taking silver ahead of Daria Pavliuchenko and Denis Khodykin.
Throw in Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov as well as Apollinariia Panfilova and Dmitry Rylov, and you have one seriously fierce race for places in Stockholm.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Dec 30, 2020 20:47:27 GMT
Dance: Stepanova/Bukin win gold – finally The seventh time is a charm, isn’t it? After six podium finishes – two bronze and four silver – Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin are finally Russian ice dance champions, turning in two strong performances to seal their victory.
It comes with a small asterisk: Chief rivals Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov – champs at Rostelecom Cup in November – were not in attendance in Chelyabinsk, out themselves with lingering COVID symptoms. When both teams are fully fit and healthy – perhaps at Worlds – it will be intriguing to see who bubbles to the top.
A pleasing event too for Tiffany Zagorski and Jonathan Guerreiro, who won their first silver medal at nationals after five previous top-five finishes.
Watch out for... Anastasia Skoptcova and Kirill Aleshin, the bronze medallists at nationals who may not have had a standout weekend of skating, but are surely on the rise when it comes to ice dance in Russia.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Dec 31, 2020 21:17:24 GMT
Russian figure skater Anna Shcherbakova shared her impressions of her victory at the Russian Championship, which was held in Chelyabinsk from December 24 to 27. “After these competitions, when I read that the spectators, the fans write, I could also have tears. Because people felt the same thing that I felt, they were imbued. You always want to share your joy and other emotions with someone. And now I have a complete feeling that an unreal number of people shared the emotions with me. Perhaps many worried about me even more than I was about myself. Of course, this is just incredible. Many people were worried after the short program that I was breathing heavily. But this is a sport. If I had not performed at these competitions, they simply would not have seen. I would breathe heavily in training in the same way, rolling out the programs. And every day several times, I would still redo it. This is how programs are developed so that they do not see how we breathe heavily. When they see that the program is over and the athlete is not very tired, this does not mean that it is not hard, ”Shcherbakova said in an interview with Channel One.
|
|