Russian championship : After the coaching council, the FFKKR announced such a composition in ice dancing for participation in the European Championship: Stepanova – Bukin, Davis – Smolkin, Sinitsina – Katsalapov. First substitutes: Khudaiberdieva – Bazin.
The reigning world champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov did not become Russian champions for the second year in a row. The duo had to withdraw due to back problems with their partner. Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin won again very beautifully. In second place – Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin, in third – Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva and Yegor Bazin. For those who like to count the points – here they are: on the sum of the two programs, Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin received 223.37 points. Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin – 207.70 points. Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva and Yegor Bazin – 195.75 points.
It is unlikely that the dance tournament in St. Petersburg should have surprised someone with a fight for the first two places. Rhythm dance in St. Petersburg Vika and Nikita were shown in the same breath. “At the box office, I was staring at Vika, and she was looking at me. I didn’t want to stop at all. ”
But before the free program, I had to stop in the literal sense of the word. “Even in the morning at training, we skated gorgeous, soared over the ice and got high, but at the end of the skate I realized that if I did one more lift today, I would not get 100% more bend”. If this is reinsurance, then it is quite acceptable. Taking risks – with all the need for this word in sports – cannot be taken a month before the Olympic Games.
Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin, already in rhythm dance, showed that, having entered the season late and twice being the third at the Grand Prix stages, they rushed to the Olympic Games with a new mood. A whole group of coaches stood by the side – their relatives Irina Zhuk and Alexander Svinin were joined by Nikolai Morozov and Alexey Gorshkov. Everything from Sasha’s new dress to her mood worked as a plus. As Sasha said, we went against the latest trends, when all the dancers go out on the ice in dark black colors, the whole team decided that they wanted something bright.
But, of course, it’s not the costumes. Ivan emphasized that the duet worked a lot with the coaches before the Russian championship precisely on the energy of the dance, on its presentation. And not even that. The dancers, or rather their coaches, went against not only trends, but also traditions. Different trainers have united in the work for the sake of the result. A trifle that one does not see will be caught by another, and there are two more pairs of professional eyes. Working with a group of trainers is a worldwide practice. Yes, advice from the outside is good, that is why there are rentals, trainings for which specialists come. But hand-in-hand work can bring the greatest effect. Cooperation.
In rhythm dance, Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin announced their claims to the podium. Their names are now generally explosive. It’s such a strange thing – when the thrown-in cry “they are beating ours” begins to work with might and main, regardless of who and whom considers “ours”.
Already in rhythm dance at the Russian Championship, Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin surpassed Tiffany Zagorski and Jonathan Gurreiro by almost five points, a duet that has been considered the third couple in recent years. (Tiffany and Jonathan’s grades for components were higher than those of Diana and Gleb, but they lost a lot in technique.) Yes, Tiffany cried after the rhythm dance. They shouted from the stands, supporting and responding to the assessments: “not enough.” But the very appearance on the ice for Zagorski was the result of overcoming: “I’m just very happy to be here, I didn’t think it was possible.”
Tiffany and Jonathan came to Peter “on a thin”. Their Olympic fate was practically determined in the fall by the illness of their partner – the athlete was admitted to the hospital with pneumococcal meningitis. The duo did not perform during the season. Were there any chances to qualify for the team, when they even showed a free dance entirely for the first time at the Russian Championship?
Their free dance became heartbreaking. Tiffany’s strength was not enough for him. Jonathan twice suggested that she stop, she refused, fell, injured her knee, at the side the coach held out a cotton swab with ammonia, then Zagorski was carried away in her arms, doctors were running down the corridor. This is – if it is laconic. A statement of a hard fact: it was impossible to go out on the ice in such a state.
Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin kept the rhythm dance they won in the free program. And, taking into account Sinitsina and Katsalapov who dropped out of the fight, they moved to second place. It is impossible to forbid anyone to argue about how justly this duet is progressing so quickly, which is being prepared by the recognized “techie” Igor Shpilband. The question is: what is the purpose of reasoning? To suspect the Russian championship of unfair play is an excellent informational source for replication.
And very offensive for the entire dance community in Russia. And in our country, in fact, the president of the federation is the first owner of Olympic gold in ice dancing, Alexander Gorshkov, and the coaching council is headed by the great Elena Tchaikovskaya, and so on …
This year, before the Russian Championship, Diana and Gleb have already performed at four international competitions, where they were assessed by foreign experts: two tournaments in North America, two in Europe. In St. Petersburg, the dancers did not allow themselves to make mistakes. Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva and Yegor Bazin ended up by 12 points after two programs. Yes, Yegor Bazin threw bad words: not only one couple is trying to qualify for the Olympics, “we give our whole life for this chance, but this chance is taken away from us.” Having specified: “who and what, everyone knows perfectly well.” Then he still had to concretize: he did not mean anyone, everyone does their job, all athletes give themselves up to the profession entirely.
The nerve of the Russian championship is high. Dancing for value judgments from the podium or couch is too difficult. And each of us, except for those who are inside the dance process, is a philistine in this form, as the actor Boris Smolkin aptly called himself. And bewilderment about the marks of disgruntled coaches or athletes is a common thing.
Finding a breakthrough from repetitive situations – and in the ability to find a strategic way out. At least try to look for it. As recently as at the stages of the Grand Prix, Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin, together with the coaches, did not understand what needs to be done to break through on the international ice. “The most underestimated duet” – this has already become a cliché, so often hopeless words sounded in the information space. And let us note – from the lips of specialists. Now, after the cooperation of famous coaches, I really want to see the assessments of Sasha and Ivan at the European Championship. Are there conspiracies in our heads or in reality?
The free program of Stepanova and Bukin is really a masterpiece of this season. She was good from the very first run, and at the Russian Championship the impression became stronger. Sasha said that the dance is not about showing the judges, playing to the audience, it has a huge palette of emotions that needs to be conveyed in four minutes. They passed on.
And by the way, about the dance community. The daughter of Nikolai Morozov (namely, his duet Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov are still the last medalists of Russia at the Olympic Games in personal performances) lost the bronze medal of the Russian Championship with such a margin: Khudaiberdieva and Bazin – 195.75, Annabel Morozova and Andrey Bagin – 195.65.
Diana and Gleb themselves behave extremely dignified. Gleb, in response to the question: “Are you thieves?”, Answered very clearly. “We are thieves, yes, we have famous parents.” It is strange that this question never came, for example, to Ivan Bukin, the son of Olympic champion Andrei Bukin. But it can be addressed in general to any skater who, from birth, finds himself in a certain circle of people, and, it turns out, from childhood appears in the profession. But nevertheless, it is not connections that come out, not mom and dad in the dance.
Gleb says that the duo has a sense of readiness to compete and the main thing for them today is that they are trying to squeeze out the maximum. “Our task is to develop so that success is not a surprise, but the result of natural work.”
The FFKKR announced after the coaching council the following lineup in dancing for the European Championship: Stepanova – Bukin, Davis – Smolkin, Sinitsina – Katsalapov. First substitutes: Khudaiberdieva – Bazin. A new battle will be tested by everyone.
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