Georgia’s Morisi Kvitelashvili performs his Short Program at 2020 Rostelecom Cup.
Morisi Kvitelashvili of Georgia found himself in first place after a top-heavy Russian Men’s Short Program at 2020 Rostelecom Cup in Moscow on Friday. Russia’s Petr Gumennik is currently second in his senior Grand Prix debut, followed by teammate Mikhail Kolyada.
Kvitelashvili gave an excellent performance with his routine to “Amsterdam” by Jacques Brel, landing a solid quad Salchow-triple toe, triple Axel, and quad toe. The 2020 European bronze medalist also showed two level 4 spins and was awarded positive grades of execution (GOE) for all elements, earning 99.56 points.
“It has been a long preparation and I am pleased that I finally was able to compete and to present myself,” said the 25-year-old. “I am happy it worked out. The story behind my program is that I am a seaman who is on shore after a long trip and has fun, and all this happens in Amsterdam.”
Gumennik landed a solid triple Axel, quad Salchow, and triple Lutz-triple loop—all with positive GOEs—in his program to “Moonlight Sonata” arranged and performed by Hidden Citizens. The 2020 World Junior bronze medalist also displayed level 4 footwork and spins throughout to earn 96.26 points.
“I am pleased that I skated clean and got many points,” the 18-year-old said. “We originally planned to skate with two quads, Lutz and Salchow, but just before the warm-up on the floor, my coach Veronika Daineko told me we’re not going to do that. I felt relief and less nervous, because it has already become easy for me to skate the program with one quad.”
Kolyada stepped out of his opening quad toe, putting a hand down, and then turned out the last jump of a triple Lutz-triple toe. However, the 2018 World bronze medalist showed a good triple Axel as well as level 4 footwork and spins—all of which earned high GOEs. He was awarded 93.34 points for his short to “Let’s Get Loud” by The Baseballs.
“Everything worked out today except for the quad toe,” the 25-year-old said. “I enjoyed the atmosphere here and we’ll continue to work.”
Makar Ignatov of Belarus received 91.82 points for his skate to “I Can’t Go on Without You” by Kaleo. The defending bronze medalist landed a quad loop and triple Axel, but slightly under-rotated the last jump of his quad toe-triple toe.
Russia’s Dmitri Aliev landed a quad toe, but under-rotated his triple Axel in his performance to “Waltz Masquerade” by Aram Khatchaturian. The 2020 European champion also tripled a planned quad Lutz (in combination with a triple toe) and nearly fell at the end of his footwork, which was graded a level 2. He sits in fifth with 89.62 points.
Teammate Andrei Mozalev landed a solid quad flip in the opening of his skate, but under-rotated a quad toe before popping the second jump (toe) in the combination. Nevertheless, the 2020 World Junior champion still earned a decent score of 86.01 for sixth place in his Grand Prix debut.
Russia’s Evgeni Semenenko is currently in seventh (83.42), followed by teammate Roman Savosin (82.35) and Azerbaijan’s Vladimir Litvintsev (81.55).
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