“Duels between Zagitova and Medvyedeva are a thing of the past. The National Team has many athletes capable of winning. ” What to expect from the Grand Prix series
There is little time remaining before the start of the “Grand Prix” stages. Russian athletes have already managed to perform in B tournaments and made several sensations at once. 1999 World Champion Mariya Butyrskaya and European Championship medalist Viktoriya Butsayeva shared their impressions with Team Russia.
Alexandra Trusova updated world records and performed four quadruple jumps in her free program, now her technical base has reached crazy values. Anna Shcherbakova does not lag behind her. The athlete went down in history as the first to perform the quadruple Lutz in senior competitions. Alyona Kostornaya finally jumped the triple Axel in a tournament, and now her programs are the perfect combination of sophisticated technique with amazing expressiveness of skating. All three skaters won their first senior starts, and made it clear that an incredibly exciting season awaits us.
Girls whose names have long been known to fans will fight with them. Amongst them is the owner of all the titles in figure skating - Alina Zagitova. The Olympic champion of Pyeongchang 2018 has made great progress in terms of skating and interpreting the image on ice. She demonstrates beautiful feminine skating, and even when only a cascade of a triple Lutz-triple Rittberger is the most difficult element in her arsenal, one shouldn't think that younger teammates will easily beat her at the starts.
Yelizaveta Tuktamysheva did not sit idle over the summer. Alexey Mishin’s pupil added another triple Axel to her free program, and although she lost the full-on confrontation with Kostornaya, she’s not going to give up and plans to learn a quad. However, even without this, Lisa has a good chance of winning prizes at the Grand Prix.
Yevgeniya Medvyedeva, although she won the tournament in Shanghai, did so very unconvincingly. With clean skating for generous “pluses,” she may well be competitive, although it will be very difficult for her to compete with Trusova, with whom she will perform at her stages in Moscow and Canada.
Mariya BUTYRSKAYA: It is possible to fight with Trusova, otherwise everyone should best be quitting figure skating
“ Our team is represented by unique girls,” Butyrskaya believes. - In most cases, they will fight for the highest places. And this tough competition within the team is good - one can replace the other in terms of the final result.
- Can we expect a finals, where only athletes from Russia will compete?
“ It could very well be. There is no person who can really intervene in this struggle. Rika Kihira, if very lucky, will be able to make it to the finals in the Grand Prix, and our girls will win the rest of the places. There is still Elisabet Tursynbayeva, the second place at the World Cup - which is serious. But she is not quite in shape, will skip the first stages. If she can recover, she will be a serious contender.
- Former juniors have already completed their first senior starts. Do you think that at the stages of the Grand Prix, the judges will reward them generously or keep the components down at first?
" All judges know Trusova, she is already a champion in women's single skating, although it is clear by components she'll be losing to girls like Zhenya, Lisa, Alina. Zagitova is now generally one of the strongest in this regard. But four quadruple jumps ... For me, it’s a mystery how she does this. Very cool! And due to this, she will collect very big scores."
- Alina Zagitova and Alyona Kostornaya will perform at stages in Japan and France. Are they the best in the team, if we consider the expressiveness of skating?
" Alena has a very feminine, beautiful style skating, an adult style. This is not typical of former juniors, usually they first enter the elite of female skating and only then begin to add. Kostornaya will definitely have good components right away."
" It is difficult to compete with Alina, she has so many titles, she deserves the good attitude of the judges. At the same time, she started the season so well - excellent Open Test Skates, performed beautifully at Japan open. And it does not give herself slack! She has a very strong program: not a single empty place, difficult entries, exits, transition into transition. It is very harmonious, even without quadruples, you look at her program and think that maybe they aren't even needed."
- Are Yelizaveta Tuktamysheva’s programs on par with girls from the Tutberidze group or weaker, even despite the triple Axels?
" Lisa is a smart girl who didn't stand still, she inserted a second Axel into her program. If she will perform the triple Axel solo and in cascade, the technical assessment will be high."
- Aleksandra Trusova - the main favorite of this season? Is it possible to get around her when she performs four quadruples in one program?
" It will be difficult to fight with her, everyone understands this very well. If Sasha will skate cleanly, the rest should make no mistakes at all. It is also necessary to do everything at the highest levels, both sequences and spins, to earn maximum rewards from the judges on their triples. But I can’t say that Trusova is currently the national team leader. She is smart, but you can fight with her, otherwise everyone would have finished figure skating. Everyone will work, try, look for their own advantages. And everyone has them. Trusova's are her quads, but the others will have to show something."
" I wish the girls good luck, patience, they are our best. Well done, they breathed new life into figure skating. Our sport began to die, and now not only in our country it is fashionable and popular, the whole world is watching. And if earlier it was a duel between Zagitova and Medvyedeva, now we admire all the skaters.
Viktoriya BUTSAYEVA: In the Russian Team there is no default leader
- Do we currently have a leader in the women's team?
" We have already seen the girls at the Open Test Skates, their first starts. Trusova, Kostornaya, Shcherbakova, Zagitova, Tuktamysheva - all of them are able to win. It seems wrong to single out someone alone. Each is good in her own way.
- And Yevgeniya Medvyedeva? How can she compete?
" Only if she will show her programs as cleanly as possible. Yevgeniya Medvyedeva has a name, that nevertheless will work for her. If Zhenya does what she can, she will be competitive."
- Some foreign athletes can spoil the cards tof our athletes?
" No."
- And Rika Kihira?
“ Not even she. If the girls will skate as they can, they have no one to fear."
- How are things with the men?
" Pretty good. Dmitriy Aliyev skated well in the Lombardia Trophy, showing a quad Lutz and het put together the rest of his program. Sasha Samarin also has strong elements. When they go for it, they will be able to fight with the world leaders. First need to watch how the season goes, and then draw conclusions."
(c) Anastasiya Zavyalova
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From:
https://teamrussia.pro/olimpijskij-...bnyh-pobezhdat-chego-zhdat-ot-serii-gran-pri/
[remind me please]
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I don’t know what this particular man does in his free time (if it’s true that Alena already noticed some of his behavior online I do hope that she indeed reported him to the organizers) but what he did in this video is inappropriate, it didn’t look like he asked her for that hug, that’s really the least you should do in general, no matter your age and gender, and accept a no. Reminds me of when a guy tried to kiss Evgenia on the cheek during a signing, some people found it cute, probably because he looked around the same age as her and she handled it gracefully, but it freaked me out. Just don't touch anyone without their consent. :roll5:
