The Russian figure skating team, performing at the Pyeongchang Olympics as "Olympic Athletes from Russia", is in third place in the overall standings team tournament Games-2018 following the results of the first day of competition.
February 9 on " ice arena Gangneung” held short skates for men and sports couples, which brought such different emotions to Russian fans.
The start of the tournament for the domestic team turned out to be at least terrible: Mikhail Kolyada, who had recently scored more than 103 points in the short program, could not cope with the enormous pressure, making mistakes almost everywhere.
So, a 22-year-old athlete fell from a quadruple lutz, failed to perform a combination of a quadruple toe loop - a triple toe loop, and then still did not make a triple axel.
As a result of this, Mikhail received a terrible 74.36 points for himself, eventually becoming only the eighth out of ten participants, which brought only three points to the “Olympic Athletes from Russia” in the total “piggy bank”.
Such a start forced some to start sad talk about the absence of the reigning champions of the team tournament (in Sochi confident victory, recall, won the team with Yulia Lipnitskaya and Evgeni Plushenko) to the final of the competition - according to the regulations, after four short rentals (dance couples and women will also perform later), only five teams will be able to break through.
However, unpleasant situation was quickly corrected by the duo Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov: the European champions showed an excellent performance, becoming the only pair that received more than 80 points from the judges (80.92).
Thus, according to the results of the first competitive day of the team tournament, the Russian team takes third place in the table, having 13 points in its asset - the same number for the Japanese, while the Canadians are leading with 17 points so far.
The worst in the coveted top 5 so far are the Italians - 10 points.
After defeating his rivals, Morozov expressed hope that later the Russians would be able to catch up with competitors in the fight for gold.
“This is just the beginning, there will be short programs and free programs. I hope we catch up,"
- conveys the words of the partner "R-Sport".
It is noteworthy that the domestic couple managed to become the best in the short program even taking into account Tarasova’s slight injury - the day before she received a hip bruise.
According to the skater herself, the injury did not prevent her performance in the team tournament.
“Yesterday in training, I fell, hurt my hip. The doctors are working, I feel pain, but it didn’t bother me in the program, ”said Evgenia, adding that she and Vladimir “saw and heard fans from Russia in the stands and it was very nice.”
When asked if Tarasova, who is the captain of the team, will help Kolyada not fall into a minor mood after a failure in short box office, Morozov said that he "could handle it himself."
As for the couple's plans for the Games ceremony, they, according to Vladimir, are forced to miss it.
“We would like to go, but we have competitions, we have to choose,” he concluded.
It also became known that the couple would definitely not perform in the free program - Russian team here you will have to make one of the two substitutions provided for by the rules.
“Zhenya and Volodya will definitely not perform in free program team tournament. They will have to play in the individual tournament, it will start immediately after the team one, ”said the pair’s coach Nina Moser.
The athletes will be replaced by either Natalya Zabiyako/Alexander Enbert or Kristina Astakhova/Aleksey Rogonov.
In addition, the specialist, commenting on the performance of her wards, assured that they can show even more impressive results.
“Thanks to such a performance, the mood after the men's tournament has risen. How they rode! They overtook all their rivals, and even with the best result season. And maybe even better.”
- reports Moser TASS.
Let's add that the team tournament will end on February 12, when the final skates of the final will be held.
You can find other news and materials on the page in Pyeongchang, as well as in the groups of the sports department on social networks.
On the night of the second day of the team tournament in figure skating for the third, Russia's chances to compete for gold increased. The main forces in single skating - Canada, the USA and Japan - decided on replacements. There was no doubt about Alina Zagitova, and Mikhail Kolyada had the opportunity to rehabilitate himself for his failure in the short program. In company with the American Adam Rippon and the Japanese Keiji Tanaka, he looked much more preferable, and the Canadian Patrick Chan, with his not the most difficult program, was not an insurmountable obstacle.
Kolyada only needed to perform in his own strength and skate cleanly in the free program. The bronze medalist of the European Championship simplified it a little by replacing the quadruple salchow with a sheepskin coat and redistributing the jumps in the second program. Kolyada did not refuse the quadruple lutz, but again fell on it, and the subsequent sheepskin coat was in three turns. But the Russian skated the rest of the program cleanly and with enthusiasm, inherent only to him. The final score was 173.57 points, which is below the average level of Kolyada. It remained to wait how the rivals Rippon and Chan would perform.
The American, who made his debut at the Olympics at the age of 28, did not perform a single quadruple jump. Although his production was flawless, the judges made it clear that they would not be encouraged. Rippon located right behind Kolyada, losing to the Russian by 0.59 points.
But Chan was rewarded for his efforts. Although he did not cope with the axels and rittberger - therefore, the technical assessment was lower than that of Kolyada - the Canadian received generous components. The total score for the rental for the song Hallelujah was 179.75 points. Chan did not become an Olympic champion in Sochi, but he stayed in figure skating for another four years and did it in Pyeongchang. His team was already ahead of the Russian team by seven points, and this gap was no longer to win back.
- Mikhail Kolyada
- globallookpress.com
Women
Alina Zagitova, and then Ekaterina Bobrova with Dmitry Solovyov, could only skate for their own pleasure and show what they are capable of before personal starts. The 15-year-old Russian woman received the last starting number and could first see what her rivals had prepared.
American Mirai Nagasu performed a clean triple axel Olympic Games only the Japanese Mitori Ido and Mao Asada succeeded. At the same time, Nagasu became the oldest among them. The fourth place winner at the Vancouver Olympics with one jump was able to leave behind the Japanese Kaori Sakamoto, the Canadian Gabrielle Daleman and even the Italian Carolina Costner. A participant in four Olympic Games was able to perform a triple lutz for the first time in several years, but in the middle of the program she failed several jumps and eventually became only the fourth.
At the same time, Nagasu's score was still not some kind of prohibitive - with 137.53 points, she would not have entered the top five of the Grand Prix finals, if we talk only about the free program. In reserve, Zagitova had an element even more valuable than the triple axel - a cascade of a triple sheepskin coat - a triple rittberger. The Russian woman, in her debut performance at the Olympic Games, performed it superbly, and then she was already on the knurled. The wonderful performance of the program to the music from Don Quixote brought the 15-year-old athlete 158.08 points. Only the world record set at last year's World Championship surpasses these figures.
After the girls' competition, it became finally clear that Canada won the gold, and Russia the silver. Teams USA and Italy have to play bronze in dancing. Frustrated by this prospect, the American figure skater Ashley Wagner, who failed to qualify for the Games, lashed out at Zagitova on Twitter.
“I respect the competitive approach. But I cannot accept this position. This is not a program. She killed time in the beginning and then just jumped around in the second half. This is not a performance. I understand that the judicial system allows this, but figure skating that's not it," Wagner said.
- Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov
- globallookpress.com
Dancing
Dance competitions turned into an exhibition tournament, and this only adorned the performances of the skaters. Except for the Japanese duo, who fell twice during their performance, the rest of the members took turns making a splash.
Italians Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte once again caused regret among the fans that this is their last season. Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov successfully brought to life their complex artistic images, which brought them 110.43 points.
On the second attempt to bypass Maya and Alex Shibutani from the USA, the Russians failed. Brother and sister scored 112.01 points thanks to their technical training. The team tournament of dancers closed with the performance of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who repeated the record of Yillis Glafström and Evgeni Plushenko, only these skaters were able to win four Olympic medals.
The Russian team won the second medal in Pyeongchang, moreover, at the same rink where the first bronze was obtained. Silver awards received by Mikhail Kolyada, Evgenia Medvedeva, Alina Zagitova, Evgenia Tarasova, Vladimir Morozov, Natalya Zabiyako, Alexander Enbert, Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov. Soon all of them will have a chance to replenish their piggy banks - at the Olympics, individual competitions will be held almost every day.
Team competitions are nothing new in figure skating. For the first time, the International Skating Union (ISU) included them in the program of the World Championships in 2009 in order to stimulate countries to develop all types of figure skating. And now the team championship is ready to make its debut at the Olympic Games, having increased the number of medals played from four to five.
INNOVATIONS
The main difference between the upcoming Olympic team tournament and those held as part of the world championships lies in the even distribution of the load between all four types, while at the world championship there was a clear bias towards single skating. It was they who did most of the work on the extraction of precious metals, since the team consisted of four single skaters - two men and two women, one couple and one dance duet. As a result, the advantage was received by countries where these species were especially developed. At the Olympic Games, each country can enter only one representative in the men's and women's singles, as well as pair skating and ice dancing. Not counting the replacements, but they will be discussed separately.
SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS
The selection for the Olympic team tournament took place following the results of the 2013 World Cup, as well as the Grand Prix series of the 2013/14 season. The rating of countries was compiled according to the results of the performances of their best representatives in each of the four types of figure skating at the indicated tournaments. In case of a shortage of rating points, the results of the European Championship-2013, the Four Continents Tournament and the junior championship were taken into account. In addition, only those athletes who have been selected to participate in the individual championship can compete in the team championship at the Olympic Games.
An exception can be made only for those countries that have no representatives at all in any of the species. For example, the Japanese team failed to qualify for the Olympics as a couple, while the British team lacked in the men's singles. Nevertheless, both of them got a chance to start in Sochi, using an additional quota. At the same time, the team may not exhibit its participant in one of the disciplines, but does not have the right to compensate for the shortage with an additional unit in the remaining three types.
POINTING SYSTEM
Representatives of 10 countries will compete in the team competition. These included: Canada, Russia, USA, Japan, Italy, France, China, Germany, Ukraine and the UK. First, all participants in all four types will skate short program, but the skaters of only five countries who scored the largest number points. The points of each single skater and each pair are counted, accrued according to the following scheme: 1st place in the discipline - 10, 2nd place - 9, 3rd place - 8 and so on. The final result of the team Olympic tournament will be determined by adding the points scored in the short and free programs.
REPLACEMENTS
Each federation has the right to make no more than two substitutions between the short and free programs. Of course, provided that her skaters managed to earn more than one Olympic license in those types where a replacement is expected. Otherwise, there will be no one to change. So, for example, in men's single skating, only one skater can represent the Russian team -. But in the other three types, the FFKKR is free to make two substitutions, giving some athletes the opportunity to perform in the short program, and others in the free program. This can be done both in order to unload the skaters, and to achieve the maximum result, if someone is better given a short program, and someone is free.
COMPOSITION OF THE RUSSIAN TEAM
Initially, it was known that Russian leaders And help the team only in the short program, and then focus on preparing for the individual championship. In the free program they will be replaced Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov, who recently became the silver medalists of the European Championship. In the men's singles, as already noted, there is no replacement, and in both types of the program he will perform. And, finally, the FFKKR decided to use the second replacement in ice dancing. Short dance rolled back Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov, arbitrary - Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov. For girls, the entire burden will fall on the shoulders of a 15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaya. Such a distribution can only be explained by the desire of the federation to achieve the maximum result in the team tournament - that is, a gold medal. And since the wards Alexandra Zhulina a month before the Games, they decided to change the free dance, then such a decision was the only possible one.
APPLICANTS FOR MEDAL
Since the Japanese team, which is in fourth place, according to the rating, has two weak links - in pair skating and ice dancing, it is assumed that three countries will compete for medals in the Olympic team championship: Russia, the USA and Canada. And here the composition of the Russian team looks the most balanced - in all four events, our skaters are able to finish in the top three. While the USA does not have the strongest couples, while Canada has singles. The rest will be decided by the referees and Lady Luck.
Team figure skating competition relatively recent kind of sport, including performances in different types figure skating and evaluating them together.
It is designed to promote the development of all types of figure skating, since the overall result depends on the ratings of athletes in each stage commands.
The history of the emergence and development of team figure skating
Officially International Union skaters ( ISU) for the first time this sport was included in the program of the world championships in 2009 in April in Tokyo in the arena Yoyogi National Gymnasium.
It was planned that the team championship, which was named World Team Trophy, will take place once every two years.
The tournament is unusual in that, along with the ISU, it is organized by the Japanese Figure Skating Federation with the support of the TV company Asahi that commercializes sport's event. The next time such a competition was going to be held in 2011 again Japan, Yokohama, in April. But in March, the largest natural and man-made disasters occurred in Japan, and the World Cup was postponed to next year.
By 2018, 5 such championships were held — in 2009/12/13/15/17, and all in Tokyo, on which the Americans won three times and the Japanese won twice.
In general, it was Japan that played a special role in the development of team figure skating, since the prototype of modern competitions was held there. since 1997 entertainment tournament Japan Open. It was not of an official nature, and teams of popular athletes were formed not by country, but, for example, by parts of the world.
Starting with the Olympic Games (OI) 2014 in Sochi, this species became Olympic. Then the Russian team managed to win gold medal. The first Olympic champions in this sport were Evgeni Plushenko, Yulia Lipnitskaya, Tatyana Volosozhar - Maxim Trankov, Ksenia Stolbova - Fedor Klimov, Ekaterina Bobrova - Dmitry Solovyov and Elena Ilinykh - Nikita Katsalapov. At the last in 2018 At the Olympiad in Korea, our team won silver in this event, this time Canadians got gold.
Photo 1. Performance of Russian figure skaters Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov in the team figure skating competition at the 2014 Olympics.
Team figure skating rules
The rules of this sport are somewhat different. depending on the type of competition - World Cup or Olympic Games.
Species, what is it
In both types of competitions, men's and women's single skating, sports skating and dancing on ice, that is all four classic types. The difference is that at the World Team Trophy in each team are 2 single skaters and single skaters, 1 sports couple and a dance duet.
There is a certain bias towards single skating, the reason for which is the significant participation of the Japanese in the organization of the event.
Traditionally, Japan is strong in single skaters, but lags behind in sports skating and dancing, so it gives preference to representatives of single figure skating.
At the Olympics, all four types are represented evenly: one representative single male and women's skating, sports couple, dance duet.
Thus, Olympic competitions in this sport are more balanced.
How many stages
The number of stages in both competitions is the same - two by two. Participants perform in the short and free program. But if the same athletes take part in the championship in both programs, then substitutions are possible at the Olympic Games, and not all teams are allowed to the second stage.
How is the selection of participants
At the championship World Team Trophy each program has 6 teams, A at the Olympics first compete in the short program 10 teams, and than Top 5 according to its results, they perform in a free program and play medals.
On team championship of the world select the strongest skaters of their country, with the highest ISU rating for couples and dance duets, as well as two best single skaters among men and among women. In addition, these athletes must be included top ten in its form following the results of the previous World Figure Skating Championships.
Attention! When unreasonable refusal from the participation in these competitions of a selected single skater, single skater, pair or dance duet, they lose the right to speak in the show demonstration performances and competitions during a year and other measures are also applied to them.
In the event that the selected country refuses to participate as a whole team, the team of the next ranked country is invited to take its place.
The selection of participants for the Olympic Games is based on the results of the previous World Cup and recently passed stages of the Grand Prix series. To determine the country's rating, the results of the performances of the best representatives are taken. in four types of figure skating in these competitions.
Photo 2. Russian team figure skating team at the Olympics in Sochi in 2014.
Sometimes rating points are still not enough. In this case, the results of other well-known competitions are also taken into account, for example, European Championship, Tournament four continents, junior championship. Of course, only those athletes who, according to their results, get to the individual championship of the Olympiad, can compete at the Olympic Games.
There may be cases when one of the sports is not represented in the team due to the fact that the athlete could not qualify for the Olympic Games. Then the team has the right to use an additional quota and take part in the competition. At the same time, the country does not put up a representative in this form and cannot compensate in any other way for the lack of a participant, as well as, accordingly, points. It should be borne in mind that the team applying for participation in team competitions, must obtain a license in at least three types of skating.
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How points are awarded
In team competitions, when summing up the results, not the points themselves, scored by the skaters at the end of the performance, are taken into account, but points awarded to them for this.
In the World Figure Skating Championships, points are awarded for both short and free programs according to the following principle: in singles competitions 12 points for first place, 11 points for second And so on up to twelfth place with 1 point.
In competitions of couples and dancers 12 points for first place, 11 points for second, and so on up to sixth place with 7 points. Points of all team members are added up for both programs. According to them overall result the places of the participating countries are determined.
At the Olympic Games in the short program, points are awarded according to the same principle: 10 points for first place, 9 points for second, and 1 point for tenth. For representatives of the top five teams following the results of the short program, the free composition is evaluated as follows: 1st place - 10 points, 2nd place - 9, and so on, 5th - 6 points. Sum of points for two programs all members of the team and determines its position.
How are replacements
At the Olympic Games one participating country is entitled to produce between the short and free programs no more than two replacements subject to the presence of athletes who have received Olympic licenses in the type of figure skating in which this replacement takes place.
This rotation allows you to involve a larger number of participants, to give an opportunity to reduce the burden on leaders, to demonstrate the maximum result, because often different reasons short and free programs can be obtained from athletes better or worse.
Russian figure skaters won silver in the team tournament at the 2018 Winter Olympics. In an interview with Gazeta.Ru, Alexander Gorshkov, head of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, and Valentin Piseev, honorary president of the organization, commented on this achievement. The latter also responded to the criticism of the American athlete Ashley Wagner against Alina Zagitova.
Russia won silver in the team figure skating tournament at the Olympic Games, losing the victory to the Canadians. The International Olympic Committee has already congratulated them on this result. How do you rate this achievement?
President of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) Alexander Gorshkov:
In the situation in which we were put, the second place is a victory. I can't say whether this is an achievement or not, but, in any case, it is a victory.
Honorary President of the FFKKR Valentin Piseev:
Congratulations to the team for the silver medal. Given that our team is young and promising, this is not bad. Everyone tried: someone succeeded 100%, and someone less. I think that if everyone managed to show themselves to the maximum, then we could take gold. But sport is sport.
So I pass on my congratulations. All the guys are great. They have good prospects both at this Olympics and in the future. Our figure skating is now in a very good condition.
Today, women singles also showed a free program. Alina Zagitova won with a margin of more than 20 points from Mirai Nagasu, who became the second American.
A.G.: - Well done Alina, like our girls in general.
Zhenya Medvedeva skated beautifully in the short program, breaking her own world record. And today Alina has already shown the class, for which - you can imagine! - This is the first season at the adult level. And immediately such an achievement is a plus at the Olympic Games. Here you can only express congratulations. The girls' nerves are not steel, but they are all great.
V.P.: - That Medvedev, that Zagitova are unique girls. between them will be very interesting competition in the individual championship. Rivals also do not sleep. What the American Nagasu showed looked very confident. But I still think that ours will be better - and which of them, Medvedev or Zagitova, will be shown by the competition.
American figure skater Ashley Wagner tweeted that Zagitova's program looks chaotic, because at first almost nothing happens, and then there are a lot of jumps. "This is not a program, this is not a performance," Wagner wrote. What arguments could be used to respond to this criticism?
V.P.: - There are rules that give advantages to skaters who perform the most difficult elements, in particular jumps, in the second half of the program.
For Wagner, it is surprising that Medvedev and Zagitova strictly follow these rules. They are so ready that they can do it all in the second half. The American woman, on the other hand, is not able to build her program in this way, so it must be strange for her how it can be done this way. And, it turns out, you can, only you need to be Zagitova or Medvedeva for this.
- What about couples?
A. G.: - Bobrova and Solovyov performed well in dancing. And in the free program of sports couples, Zabiyako and Enbert showed themselves well, who were destined to perform in team competitions. You know that we did not receive an invitation to the Stolbov Games, and their duet with Klimov could not take part in the Olympics.
But these are very experienced athletes - Olympic champions team tournament and silver medalists individual competitions in Sochi-2014. According to the plan, it was they who were supposed to skate the free program in Pyeongchang, but it turned out like this, and Natasha and Sasha had to replace them.
How can you rate their performance? Why do they often come third in international competitions?
A. G.: - It is difficult to explain why the guys became only third. The scores are given by the judges. There is both a technical part and an artistic part - the components of the program. I, by virtue of my position, cannot give assessments to refereeing. But, of course, Tessa and Scott are very experienced athletes, Vancouver 2010 Olympic champions and Sochi 2014 silver medalists. It is very difficult to compete with them.
As for the Americans, our guys fought with them, and if they lost, then quite a bit.
V.P.: - In ice dancing, the Canadians were clearly better than both ours and the Americans. Bobrova and Solovyov performed confidently - both in the short program and in the free program (especially in the free program, which makes a very strong impression). Did the Americans beat the Russians in the fight for second place? They have more experience, they are more titled athletes.
