Why Kamila Valiyeva is the most amazing phenomenon in the world of figure skating
Vladislav Zhukov - about a new rising star from the group of Eteri Tutberidze
There was no doubt that Kamila Valiyeva would win the junior world championship. It cannot be otherwise with these skaters, for whom the only test in the entire tournament is the first 20 seconds at the beginning of their free program, where the quadruple jumps are planned. Are there any other people besides her? Have there been before?
The more you watch Kamila’s skating runs, the more you are affirmed in the thought that her secret is simple, but at the same time it is rather difficult to comprehend and understand it. The fact is that she does not seem to compete at all. She performs. That is, no, she, like everyone else, noticeably worries before each entry onto the ice, sometimes even beyond measure, and she really wants to win. But personally, I don’t know those who, during Kamila’s skating run, would think about what kind of jumps she will do next and how she will jump them.
Competition was a little different when Alina Zagitova and Yevgeniya Medvyedeva, Kim Young A and Mao Asada, Yuliya Lipnitskaya and Adelina Sotnikova competed. We felt a nerve twitching, knew where and how each of them could have a mistake. Moreover, we saw these errors. As well as how much effort was required to correct them. But now try to look deep into yourself - in tournaments with Valiyeva, we really do not expect a fight and a division of medals.
We are waiting for Kamila Valiyeva without reference to the places on the podium. And she gives the viewer exactly what he wants to get from her. Perhaps without even realising it. The
idee fixe of all the skaters from the Eteri Tutberidze group - they concentrate not on titles, but on beautiful and clean skating runs - was embodied in this very young girl. And it seems that it really works, although there is not so much pure sports spirit in this theory.
What is a "strong athlete"? In essence, a stamp is a standardised set of specific qualities. He runs faster, throws further, hits harder - we see this and understand who we are dealing with. But what if the athlete is not just strong? If he is different, from some other, his own category?
Comparing Kamila with other skaters is useless due to the banal lack of suitable examples. Even Anna Shcherbakova, Alyona Kostornaya and Aleksandra Trusova can be reflected in the past. Trusova, for example, is athletic like Irina Slutskaya, Kostornaya is the spitting image of Carolina Kostner in the manner of skating, and Shcherbakova got the amazing symbiosis of feminine plasticity and complex technical content from Mao Asada. All three skate in the seniors only for their first season, but already surpass all who came before them. Theyve launched women's single skating into space, but at least we can trace from where they started.
Kamila doesn't look like anyone else. Her movements are incredibly smooth, accented, graceful. In everyday life people don’t move like this - a comparable effect can only be achieved under water. She is as if stroking the air, as if it were material. But at the same time she takes the highest tempo and holds it until the very last musical chord. The combination of softness and speed is a real oxymoron, but we encounter it whenever she goes on ice.
The set of her strengths is paradoxical, because before her, few could equally master everything that is figure skating. Someone believes this is impossible in principle - there will not be enough time either to work out all the elements, or talent. Valiyeva, by her own example, proves that everything is real. Peerless rotations, high-quality sliding and presentation of programs on the brink of perfection - all this, one way or another, we saw before, but only separately.
And of course, quadruple jumps. The younger generation is actively picking up the trend set by Trusova and Shcherbakova, and Valiyeva did not become an exception to the rule. So far, in her arsenal there are only two quadruple Toeloops, the least valuable according to the classification of quadruples, while Trusova at her age already had a Toeloop and a more valuable Salchow. And still, being able to jump quadruples at 13 years old is already something in itself. And if the quadruple jumps for such a young lady are the only real test in the free program? And then, already at the end of the Junior World Championships, she announced that she would like to learn more complex elements.
There are simply no ordinary girls and boys in the Tutberidze group. All of them are exceptional, incredibly gifted. Some of them become great, like Zagitova and Medvyedeva. Trusova, Kostornaya and Shcherbakova already get closer to this title every time.
Valiyeva took all the best from everyone and combined it into something for which so far there is simply no worthy name nor description.
The unknown nature of the uniqueness of Valiyeva's talent literally makes you want to talk about it. As well as the fact that if third-party factors do not intervene, she should reach the senior level just before the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.
-----
https://tass.ru/opinions/7933017
