She took second place in the protocol, one and a half points behind the intermediate leader, Canadian Kathleen Osmond. At the same time, the Russian woman herself considered that she skated this part in Beijing better than two weeks earlier in Moscow.
Her free program turned out even better. Radionova performed all seven of her jumps without error.
Not everything, of course, was easy for her. For example, in the latter, the Russian figure skater was close to losing her balance. But she came out of a difficult situation with dignity.
As a result, Radionova won the tournament with worthy result for the sum of two programs - 205.90. Osmond was almost 10 points behind her (196.00). Coupled with second place at the Russian Grand Prix stage, the current result allowed our athlete to make it to the series final, which is scheduled for December 8-11 in Marseille.
Thus, 17-year-old Radionova will take part in the decisive skates for the fourth season in a row. In the 2013/14 competition she made her debut with fourth place, and in the following years she won silver and bronze, respectively. For the nominally strongest singles skater in the country, the upcoming final will also be the fourth in her career, but only the second for adults. In fact, she is the current champion.
Our second participant in the Beijing tournament, Elizaveta, improved her position, moving from Friday's fourth place to the final third (192.57).
She managed to knock Japanese Mai Miharu off the pedestal, but the Russian will still not go to Marseille. This is due to the unsuccessful (relatively, of course) performance at the second stage of the Grand Prix in Canada, where Tuktamysheva “won” that same offensive wooden medal. For her, the current series, alas, is over.
Among other things, we highlight the failure of the famous one, which was predicted to win in Beijing. The American was only fifth in the short program and sixth in the final classification.
On the men's side, Canadian Patrick Chan made a comeback of sorts. The home stage winner was third after the short program in China, 13 points behind local skater Jin Boyang. But after the free program, the three-time world champion beat both the Chinese and the Israeli, who made mistakes and rolled back from second position to eighth. Chan's total points are 279.72 versus Boyan's 278.54.
And the third at the stage was the experienced Russian (243.76), who showed the fourth result on Friday.
Our compatriot made it into the top three of the Chinese Grand Prix for the second time after the 2012/13 tournament, when, however, the skates took place in Shanghai.
Unfortunately, the 29-year-old athlete was unable to qualify for the finals of the series. At the start of the season, he finished fourth at Skate America.
“Before this start, we worked very hard, tried to correct all the mistakes made in Canada (fifth place. - Gazeta.Ru), and we are very glad that everything worked out for us in Beijing,” Bukin told R-Sport .
— These are our first such high marks, so the joy is enormous. This is a really cool result for us.
Now we will prepare for the Russian Championship, but there is still a lot of work, we need to do more.”
“Alexandra and Ivan were the best, and I don’t understand why no one sees this,” the athletes’ coach complained in an interview. “This is ice dancing, which implies a relationship between a man and a woman, and what the winners of the Shibutani stage showed was an interpretation of music, beautiful modern dance, but not a duet, not a relationship between a man and a woman. I already wrote about this in International Union speed skaters. I lacked American skating and speed.”
"Cup of China". Russia will be represented at the tournament in three types programs. Without Russian participants Pairs competitions will remain.
Composition of the Russian team at the Grand Prix stage in China
Women: Alina Zagitova, Elena Radionova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.
Men: Mikhail Kolyada, Alexander Petrov
Ice dancing: Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov, Tiffany Zagorski and Jonathan Gureiro.
MEN'S SINGLES SKATING
Mikhail KOLYADA. 22 years old. Coach Valentina Chebotareva. He trains at the Figure Skating Academy in St. Petersburg. Champion of Russia 2017, bronze medalist of the European Championship 2017.
Mikhail Kolyada started the Olympic season with a tournament in Bratislava, where he skated well short program, but pulled himself together in the free program, which ultimately brought him victory in the competition. In Bratislava, the figure skater performed cleanly for the first time at competitions. difficult jump quadruple lutz, which I tried last season.
At the next start in the Finnish Espoo “Finland Trophy” the skater was 4th. At the Rostelecom Cup Grand Prix, he became a bronze medalist for the first time in his career. Chinese Grand Prix will be the second stage of the series for Mikhail. Let us remind you that during the season skaters can participate in no more than two stages of the Grand Prix.
This season's programs for Mikhail were choreographed by the group's choreographer Olga Klyushnichenko and Stéphane Lambiel.
Alexander PETROV. 18 years old. Coach Alexey Mishin. He trains at the Yubileiny Sports Complex in St. Petersburg. Bronze medalist of the Russian Championship 2016, winner and prize-winner of the national junior championships.
Last season, Alexander combined performances at the adult and junior levels. At the Junior World Championships in Taipei, the athlete stopped one step away from the podium and took 4th place. This season, Alexander took part in two international competitions. At the tournament in Lombardy he took 7th place, at the Finland Trophy he was 9th.
This season’s programs for the athlete were choreographed by Tatyana Prokofieva, with assistance from famous dancers Yuri Smekalov and Ramil Mehdiev.
WOMEN'S SINGLES SKATING
Alina ZAGITOVA. 15 years old. Coaches Eteri Tutberidze, Sergei Dudakov. He trains in Moscow, Sambo-70, Khrustalny skating rink. World champion among juniors, winner of the junior Grand Prix final, champion of Russia among juniors.
After a successful last season in juniors, the skater moved to adult skating and started at the masters level. At the beginning of the season, Alina won the Lombardy Trophy tournament. Performance at the Grand Prix in China will be her debut at the stages of the adult series.
The athlete’s programs were choreographed by the group’s choreographer Daniil Gleikhengauz. WITH free program Alina performed to Minkus’ music for the ballet “Don Quixote” last season. Short – “Black Swan” - on the soundtrack from the film.
Elena RADIONOVA. 18 years old. Coach Elena Buyanova. He trains in Moscow, at CSKA. Bronze medalist of the 2015 World Championship, two-time silver medalist European Championship (2025, 2016), champion of Russia (2015), two-time winner of the Junior World Championship.
The athlete began preparing for the season under the guidance of a new coach, Elena Buyanova. At the tournament in Bratislava she became a bronze medalist. At the Grand Prix in Moscow she took 4th place. The Chinese Grand Prix will be Lena's second this season.
The skater's programs were choreographed by Canadian choreographer Shi-Lynn Bourne. The short one was left over from last season.
Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA. 20 years old. Coach Alexey Mishin. He trains at the Yubileigy Sports Complex in St. Petersburg. World champion 2015, European champion 2015, bronze medalist of the European championship 2013.
The athlete started this season by performing at international tournament“Lombardy Trophy”, where she took 6th place. At the tournament in Finland she became a bronze medalist.
The athlete’s programs were choreographed by the group’s choreographer Tatyana Prokofieva and Adam Solya.
DANCING ON ICE
Ekaterina BOBROVA – Dmitry SOLOVIEV. Ekaterina is 27 years old, Dmitry is 29 years old. Coach Alexander Zhulin. They train in Moscow, at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex. Bronze medalists of the 2013 World Championships, European champions of 2013, silver and bronze medalists of the European Championships, multiple champions Russia.
The skaters began the season with performances at the Russian Cup stage in Syzran, which they won. Won the victory international start in Bratislava. At the Moscow Grand Prix “Rostelecom Cup” they took second place. The Beijing stage will be the couple's second this season.
Short dance - rumba and samba. The famous choreographer Radu Poklitaru choreographed a new free dance for the athletes.
Tiffany ZAGORSKI – Jonathan GURREIRO. Tiffany is 23 years old, John is 28 years old. Trainers Svetlana Alekseeva, Elena Kustarova, Olga Ryabinina. They train in Moscow, UOR No. 2. They took 5th place at the Russian Championships for three years in a row, and showed the same result last season at their debut Grand Prix stage in Moscow.
Tiffany and Jonathan became a couple three years ago. Before this, the athletes performed with different partners, and Tiffany skated for France, although she was born in London. In 2015, the athlete received a Russian passport, which allowed her to represent Russia at all major international tournaments. All this time, Zagorski - Gureiro trained under the guidance of Alexander Zhulin, but at the end of last season they decided to work with new coaches. At his first international tournament this season Ice Star in Minsk, Tiffany and John won silver.
Short dance – samba and rumba. The free program is set to the music of compositions by the group “Muse”.
Grand Prix Series figure skating is coming to an end - four out of six stages are left behind. The first participants in the final have already been determined, but there are still prominent athletes who did not even have time to join the fight. For example, the dance duet Victoria Sinitsyna / Nikita Katsalapov. Due to the surgery he underwent after the World Championships, Katsalapov, by definition, could not return to the ice early. However, the recovery was faster than expected, and the couple managed to sign up for the Asian tour, which started today in Beijing.
Their catchy swing in the short dance lacked only technical perfection - small discrepancies did not go unnoticed by the judges. In general, the duo's return can be considered successful - 70.24 points became their personal record for international competitions.
However, the Russian vice-champions remained only fourth. A very high number of participants gathered in Beijing, where spectator interest in dance is very small. Canadians Caitlin Weaver and Andrew Poje dream of returning to the firmament and winning the Grand Prix final for the second time in a row. They received 73.78 points and beat the most serious contenders for victory in China, Maya and Alex Shibutani, by 0.55 points. The Americans were predicted in advance to get a trip to Marseille, but now we can’t talk about this with complete confidence.
Another pair that Sinitsyna and Katsalapov lost to were Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. Their bold and emotional blend of blues and hip-hop scored 72.09 points, a personal best. If at the stage in Canada, flaws in support led to fifth place, now the Russian duo has become the absolute best in the technical part. If the free dance is as error-free, then third place will not be the limit.
Here it is worth making a small digression and telling you that on these same days in Warsaw, the best Russian duo Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov are recruited at a local competition practice tournament. In Poland they scored 72.98 points for the short dance - they are approaching the Grand Prix final and the national championship in very good shape.
The organizers of the Chinese stage favor men's and pairs' competitions the most, so the girls took to the ice next. Russia was represented here by two girls, who are faced with the task of returning to their former greatness. The most difficult thing is now for Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. Without having time to fully recover, she still flew to Beijing with a low temperature. The judges found fault with each element, and as a result, the 2015 world champion received 64.88 points - less than at the unsuccessful stage in Canada.
Interestingly, Tuktamysheva was able to get ahead of the American Ashley Wagner, who unexpectedly began her short program with a failed triple flip. The winner of the stage in the USA came to Beijing to finalize the right to compete in the final, but so far she does not even get on the podium.
Perhaps it is an exaggeration to say that Elena Radionova needs to regain lost ground - with silver in Moscow she dispelled rumors about poor preparation for the season. But there was a time when the absence of compatriots automatically put the 17-year-old Muscovite in first place. In Beijing we haven’t seen this yet. Radionova was under-rotated on the triple toe loop in the cascade (70.75), which is why Canadian Caitlin Osmond came out on top (72.20). The stage in China showed that her excellent scores at home were not more of an advance from the judges - this girl is now the main rival of the Russians, two of whom she is going to defeat this Saturday.
The men's competition turned out to be predictable in only one way - another failure of the Russians. Maxim Kovtun again, as at the stage in the USA, became tenth in the short program, receiving 70.10 points. Alexander Petrov, who still has the opportunity to get close to the top five through his free program, moved up one position. The oldest of the Russians, Sergei Voronov, turned out to be taller than everyone else - even with a bad triple loop, he became fourth.
The surprises concerned the first three. The winner of the Canadian stage, Patrick Chan, arrived in China completely disassembled. A failed triple Axel, an unexecuted double Lutz... By some miracle, he managed to take third place - the three-time world champion received more for components than for technique, which can only be explained by the fact that the jury was formed from his personal fan club.
Local favorite Jin Boyan, who was rehabilitated for his failure in the USA, came out on top. His 96.17 for his portrayal of Spider-Man in the short program is the third best for the entire season. These scores are second only to Soma Uno from Japan and Javier Hernandez from Spain. And the second, even with a fall on the quadruple sheepskin coat, was another young talent, the current world junior champion Daniel Samokhin, representing Israel. It is quite possible that the free skate will break up this not entirely logical top three.
For Russians the worst kind programs unexpectedly turned out to be pairs. Only Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov reached the capital of China. Who knows what their level would have been if not for the endless injuries of her partner, because of which she is unable to complete even the most simplified program. From the very first fall of Kawaguchi on the triple sheepskin coat, it became clear that the pair would not be able to win the stage in China for the second time in a row. The Russians scored 62.90 points - they have never received so little anywhere in two years.
An intermediate sixth place will definitely not help to interfere with the distribution of tickets to the Grand Prix final. It is in pairs competitions that there is now the greatest uncertainty about this. According to the results of the short number, the top three were separated by only 2.5 points. The first were Yu Xiaoyu and Zhang Hao - the change of partners this summer benefited them, and now this duo can make big plans.
Like the Russian Lyubov Ilyushechkina, who has already been representing Canada for the third year together with Dylan Moskvich. Once again, as in Mississauga, they lost to the Chinese, but the gap again turned out to be purely symbolic. Now there are no experienced compatriots Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford, so the path to the Grand Prix final is open to both couples if they maintain their positions or even exchange them.
Vladimir Zaivy
One gold and three bronze medals Russian figure skaters won at the fifth stage of the Grand Prix, which ended in Beijing. The most striking was the performance of Elena Radionova, who, having overcome the difficulties of the beginning of the season, demonstrated her readiness to fight for the highest places.
On the way to the Russian preliminary championship
After the Chinese Grand Prix stage, we can unequivocally say: Elena Radionova is fine. Test skates in Sochi in early September, where Inna Goncharenko’s student performed only a short program (and even that unsuccessfully), called into question the readiness of the 2015 World Championship bronze medalist for the season. But the figure skater, who was performing against the backdrop of a severe cold at the time, recovered, got into shape, and if at her first Grand Prix in Moscow she was still not skating at her best, then in Beijing she was already close to that. Not a single serious mistake in two programs – and a confident first place.
Radionova's skating, it is worth noting, does not seem very easy. She had to fight for many jumps in China. But this is the case when you understand that this phenomenon is temporary. Elena continues the process of growing up, she has noticeably strengthened and grown, but if even during the transition period she maintains the maximum complexity of her programs, then after that it should become easier to cope with her body. And the fighting character that the skater shows again and again will only help her.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva also fights with the elements - she improves with every start before her eyes. So far, however, there is no talk about her “trademark” triple axel - Alexei Mishin’s student is working to perform a standard technical set without errors. It almost happened in China. The only thing that let me down was the lutz at the end of the free program. If Tuktamysheva had not doubled him, she could have taken second place and confused the situation with the selection for the Grand Prix final, preserving some chances for herself to go there.
And so Tuktamysheva became third. Thus, after the Chinese tournament, Radionova and Canadian Caitlin Osmond, who took second place in Beijing, secured access to the finals. Last week, Evgenia Medvedeva won a ticket to Marseille. The remaining three vacancies are actually vying for two Russians - Anna Pogorilaya and Maria Sotskova, who performed superbly at previous tournaments, and two Japanese - Wakaba Higuchi and Satoko Miyahara. They all perform at final stage"Grand Prix" in Sapporo. The layouts may be different, but there will definitely be enough space on the podium for our skaters to get into the finals.
And then the preliminary Russian championship in women's single skating will take place in Marseille. Which, in addition to pride in our amazing figure skaters, will also cause sadness - after all, after the New Year, only three will be able to continue the season at the European and World Championships. And one of the magnificent four consisting of Medvedeva, Pogorilaya, Radionova and Sotskova will remain superfluous - and there is also Tuktamysheva, and Yulia Lipnitskaya, and Adelina Sotnikova, who has temporarily left for the show...
Long-awaited recognition
The second brightest event of the Chinese Grand Prix stage is the long-awaited rise of Russian dancers Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. Yes, they did not take first place or even second, but that’s not the point. For the first time in their careers, students of Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk overcame the psychological mark of 70 points in a short dance. We significantly improved our personal best in the free event. And most importantly, they received such marks for the components of the program, which indicate that the judges are ready to perceive them as one of the leading pairs of the Russian national team. This recognition is very important.
This takeoff, of course, did not happen suddenly. Both last season and the season before last, the 2013 world junior champions skated convincingly and, as they say, like adults. Everyone saw that Alexandra and Ivan became a real duet. But ice dancing has its own laws, trends and trends - and what seems obvious to some here looks incredible to others. Now Stepanova and Bukin have made an absolutely clear bid to become the number two couple of the Russian national team this season after the five-time national champions Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov. However, their lead over Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov at the stage in Beijing and the absentee advantage over Elena Ilyinykh/Ruslan Zhiganshin, of course, is not at all such that one can talk about a lack of intrigue at the upcoming Russian Championship. The fight will be fierce - and the price of one mistake could be a ticket to the European and World Championships. Well, only Bobrova and Soloviev will compete in the Grand Prix final.
Sad song
Sergei Voronov's third place in the singles competition at the Chinese stage of the Grand Prix is, on the one hand, great. The 29-year-old veteran does not give up, he fights, for the second tournament in a row he gives almost his maximum - and in Beijing this was enough to lose only to Patrick Chan and Jin Boyang and beat everyone else. But if you look at this matter from the other side, the absence of consistently skating young Russian single skaters becomes completely indecent. That is, 17-year-old Alexander Petrov, of course, is stable - but without a quadruple jump and with dubious grades for components, his destiny will be to fight for seventh place at the Grand Prix stages and somewhere for 12th at the World Championships , if he goes there, of course.
Well, Maxim Kovtun is a separate story and, alas, very sad. “Everything is as usual - no matter how much you work and no matter how you work,” the three-time Russian champion said angrily in “kiss-and-cry” after another failed short program, after which his coach Inna Goncharenko even asked the student to shut up. But in the free program Kovtun performs three quadruple jump, two of them are positive. The only obvious failure was the butterfly on the Lutz. And what do we see? Components Maxim receives only half a point more than Petrov. And it goes without saying that this is unfair. If earlier Kovtun received a good second grade for performance that was close to clean, now he receives a mediocre one. Because judges appreciate those who skate more than once.
The main problem is that it is still completely unclear who will defend at least two Olympic berths at the upcoming World Championships. If we take the most stable ones, then this is at the moment Voronov and Petrov, but both cannot jump from the above-determined ceiling. Kovtun could potentially fight at least Patrick Chan, but in reality lately he has only been able to cope with one program out of two. There is also the discovery of last season, Mikhail Kolyada, but he was very upset with his unsuccessful free program at the Moscow Grand Prix. Let's wait for the Japanese stage - maybe Kolyada will please there.
Time wins
The main result of the sports pairs competition in China was the qualification of the Russians Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov to the Grand Prix finals, who did not participate in the Beijing stage. The fact is that, based on the results of tournaments in the USA and France, Nina Moser’s students secured a ticket to Marseille by 99 percent, but there were still extremely unlikely options that would have deprived them of this ticket. Now we can say with confidence that there are no such options anymore.
As for the speech of Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov in Beijing, here we can only repeat the phrase uttered by the two-time Olympic champion Maxim Trankov, who commented on the competition on television. “Time is our main rival,” he said, and this is the same case. Veterans of the Russian pair skating this season, they again overcame circumstances - in this case, a serious injury to their partner in January - and returned to the sport, but they are still unable to get into shape that would allow them to fight for leading positions.
Beijing
Cup of China
Women
1. Elena Radionova (Russia) – 205.90
2. Caitlin Osmond (Canada) – 196.00
3. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (Russia) – 192.57
Men
1. Patrick Chan (Canada) – 279.72
2. Jin Boyan (China) – 278.54
3. Sergey Voronov (Russia) – 243.76
…6. Alexander Petrov (Russia) – 228.44
7. Maxim Kovtun (Russia) – 221.43
Ice dancing
1. Maya Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA) – 185.13
2. Caitlin Weaver/Andrew Poje (Canada) – 181.54
3. Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin (Russia) – 177.41
4. Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov (Russia) – 171.94
1. Yu Xiaoyu/Zhang Hao (China) – 203.76
2. Peng Chen/Jin Yang (China) – 197.96
3. Lyubov Ilyushechkina/Dylan Moskovich (Canada) – 191.54
…6. YukoKawaguchi/Alexander Smirnov (Russia) – 175.53
