This season, figure skaters Evgenia Medvedeva, Alina Zagitova and Canadian Caitlin Osmond remained undefeated at the Grand Prix. The first will continue its successful streak in the December final, while the other two clashed at the stage in France. One of them, a young contender for Olympic medal or an experienced world vice-champion, will have to experience the bitterness of defeat. Or both at once.
Although Zagitova had already won the Grand Prix stage in China, she got a place in the first warm-up, and not in the more prestigious second. In France, the girls were released onto the ice first, and the Russian performed in front of practically empty stands. Such a chamber atmosphere constrained the athlete when it came to performing jumps. She fell on a triple lutz and failed a combination of flip and loop. Zagitova had to be content with an unusual score for herself - she rarely received 62.46 points even at domestic junior competitions. This result is forgivable for a 15-year-old girl, but I really want to perceive her as a mature figure skater who will make a splash in Pyeongchang.
Osmond also had her fair share of flaws, but not as serious. She performed a double toe loop in the axel instead of a triple, and touched the ice with her hand on the lutz. But Edith Piaf’s music melted the hearts of the judges and spectators. The Canadian did not reach the 70-point bar under any circumstances, but she also lost to this psychological milestone by less than one point. The difference between Osmond and Zagitova was less than seven points, and their duel will continue in the free program. The Russian woman is capable of winning back any gap if she performs all jumps and cascades cleanly.
Between the two rivals there were three more girls, and one of them, Maria Sotskova, lost to Osmond by a little more than a point. She was one of two skaters who managed to perform a combination of two triple jumps. But the flip, which she returned to the program and had not previously performed in Canada, was not successful for the Russian. With this jump she could have taken the lead, but now she will try to win it on the second day of the competition.
The third Russian participant in the French Grand Prix was Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. She is unable to return to her previous level, when she was invincible in the 2014/2015 season. The girl had one formidable weapon left - a triple axel, which practically saved her in Beijing. But a new attempt to perform the most valuable jump turned out to be not just a fall, but also a fear of attempting the Lutz. The judges gave only 53.03 - there is simply nothing to compare such low scores with.
Dancing
The organizers did not give preferences to the main stars of the French national team, Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, and put a short dance next in the competition program. As it turned out, they can perform just as well in front of stands that are still not full at the height of the working day as when the whole hall feeds them with positive energy. On the first day, Papadakis and Cizeron usually lose to their main competitors Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, but now the French are as close as possible to the Canadians. They broke their personal best and scored 81.40 points.
Russians Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin tried not to get lost against their background and performed at a decent level for themselves. For this duo, luck is to break the 70-point mark, and they coped with this task. But now they need to set new goals, since Victoria Sinitsyna and Nikita Katsalapov performed much better in Japan. The free dance will finally judge them, but for now Stepanova and Bukin are in third place after the short dance.
The powerful North American school in France was represented by two duets from the USA and Canada. Madison Chalke and Evan Bates were as charming as ever, earning them second place honors. But Caitlin Weaver and Andrew Poje unexpectedly fell back to fifth - their partner’s mistake on twizzles became catastrophic for the Canadians.
Couples
Competitions between sports couples often turn into demonstration performance one world-class duo forced to compete with itself. This happened in China and Japan with world champions Sui Wenqing and Han Cong, and this happened in France with Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov. The skaters from the Middle Kingdom managed to firmly secure their status as leaders of the season, but the Russians were ready to return it in a calm environment, where there is no pressure from their rivals.
Nina Moser's team almost succeeded. They managed to get closer to the Chinese with the technical content of their short program. If they ever decide to replace the loop release with a flip, they will be completely ahead. But for now, the Russians are not taking risks and prefer, with a perfect performance, to lose to Sui and Hanyu by three points in an absentee dispute, rather than give them an even larger handicap. The skaters received 77.64 points, their best result of the season. Tarasova and Morozov would have scored even more if they had not been late once again for the start of the program, and this violation is punishable by the deduction of one point.
The Russians' closest rivals were the French Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres. They scored 73.18 points, and now we can say that they are ready for the new season - such a result will help them shine at the European Championships, and the French team will perform a little better in the Olympic team tournament. Tarasova and Morozov should not pay attention to this, they have a free program ahead of them and a new challenge to the invincible Chinese.
Men
IN men's skating The stage in Grenoble brought together two stars of the first magnitude - the Japanese Shomu Uno, who will be the hope of the fans if Yuzuru Hanyu continues to be injured, and the Spaniard Javier Fernandez, who failed the starts in China due to a sore stomach. But there was another athlete on the start list who could shine just as brightly. Recently, Alexander Samarin surprised many with a bronze medal at a stage in Canada. He got the taste and is now ready to repeat his success.
At least that’s what I want to believe after a brilliantly executed short program. The 19-year-old skater jumped a quadruple lutz-triple toe loop cascade, backed it up with a quadruple toe loop, and in the middle of the skate performed an excellent triple axel. The judges in charge of the components are gradually getting used to Samarin and decided to reward him after the technical jury. He broke his personal best and scored 91.51 points - this season this is the eighth result among all figure skaters in the world. The Russian has reached his limit with the current program and can now safely learn new quadruple jumps.
And then why not take aim, for example, at Fernandez’s result? In fact, the Spaniard, who has forgotten about all his illnesses, differs from Samarin only in that he jumps Salchow instead of a sheepskin coat. But at the same time, the judges love him infinitely and do not spare him threes for bonuses and tens for components. The two-time world champion received an amazing 107.86 points in France, even for himself - only Hanyu skated better this season even before the start of the Grand Prix.
Shoma Uno is nearing the end of his streak of five straight 300-point performances. My short program the unflappable Japanese began with a fall on a quadruple flip. His triple axel didn't quite work out, and many jury members didn't like the spins. Nevertheless, Uno has already made a name for himself, and Samarin is just earning it. The Japanese took second place behind Fernandez, beating the Russian by just over two points. It’s hard to believe, but the fight for silver at the French Grand Prix is still ahead.
MOSCOW, November 13 - R-Sport, Elena Dyachkova. Figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva reached the Final of the Grand Prix series, winning the stage held in Paris. The Russian woman, who will turn 17 in a few days, secured her participation in the decisive round of the competition with the maximum possible number of points scored - she had previously won at the stage in Mississauga, Canada.
Last season, which was Medvedeva’s first “adult” season, the skater won all possible trophies - the Grand Prix Final, and then the Russian, European and World Championships. After the victory in Paris, a new campaign will begin for Medvedeva - the defense of all previously won titles.
The record was 0.14 points short!
In the short program at the stage in France, Medvedeva was only 0.14 points short of updating the world record. For a clean skate, the Russian figure skater received an incredible 78.52 points from the judges. In the free program, Medvedeva fell for the first time in competitions since the European Championships in Bratislava. This time, the leader of the Russian team did not submit to the triple Lutz. But, despite this, the Russian woman retained her unconditional leadership, even if so far without record scores - 143.02 points for the free skate and 221.54 in total. For two victories in the Grand Prix standings, Medvedeva received the maximum possible 30 points and became the first single skater to secure participation in the Series Finals in Marseille.
Tarasova and Morozov are second, but qualify for the final
In the free program, the chances of Zabiyako and Enbert, who took second place in Moscow, to reach the final of the series became only theoretical - the partner fell on a triple sheepskin coat and was unable to perform a cascade, and instead of a triple Salchow, which failed at the previous stage, this time the duo performed double. As a result, the Russian couple scored 121.20 points in the free skate, and 192.56 in total, missing the French Vanessa James/Morgana Cipres (198.58) to the third step of the podium.
Savchenko and Massot were second to last on the ice and skated their free program with a large number blots - first the partner broke the cascade, then doubled the sheepskin coat. The five-time world champion fell during the triple Axel throw, and at the end of the program the pair lost points after Savchenko landed with a double-leg triple Salchow throw. But, even despite all these flaws, the judges generously awarded the duo scores for the components - 133.04 points for the free program and 210.59 in total.
Tarasova and Morozov needed to show a clean performance in order to come out on top, but they were unable to complete this task. On the quadruple throw, the partner made a mistake during landing, which cost the Russian pair lost points, as well as an error in the cascade. The Russian duo lost the free program (130.70) to both the Germans and the French, but based on the sum of the two skates, they retained second place - 206.94.
Premiere of Papadakis/Cizeron
The free dance, this time and without scores close to the world record, was won by Papadakis and Cizeron, becoming the winners of their first Grand Prix stage of the season (193.50). The next start of the French will take place in Sapporo, Japan. Americans Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (174.58) took second place, securing access to the Marseille final - they had previously been second at Skate America. Third - Canadians Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (170.78).
Fernandez - in the final
Two-time world champion Spaniard Javier Fernandez, like Medvedeva, secured his entry into the Grand Prix Final with the highest possible result - a week after winning the stage in Moscow, he won the start in Paris. In the short program, Fernandez fell from a quadruple sheepskin coat, but otherwise skated cleanly, receiving 96.57 points from the judges and taking first place. American Nathan Chen, who amazed everyone with his jumping ability at the Challenger in Finland, on the first day became the first skater in history to perform quadruple lutz and flip purely in one program, and took second place (92.85). Third was the bronze medalist of the Sochi Olympics Denis Ten from Kazakhstan (89.21).
In the free program, Fernandez fell from a triple Axel, but retained the lead - 188.81 points and 285.38 in total. Chen, out of five declared quadruples, fell on the Salchow and sheepskin coat and became only fourth (264.80). Thanks to his pure performance, Ten rose to second place (269.26), and third place in Paris went to the American Adam Rippon, who performed only one quadruple in the free program - a sheepskin coat, but was otherwise impeccable (267.53).
Russian Artur Dmitriev, after an unsuccessful short program, in which he finished only 11th (64.48), showed the seventh result in the free program (154.22) and ultimately finished ninth at the French Grand Prix (218.70).
MOSCOW, November 19 - R-Sport, Andrey Simonenko. Russian skaters won four medals at the event that ended in Grenoble. Alina Zagitova and Maria Sotskova, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin.
Zagitova and Sotskova reached the Grand Prix Final
Zagitova's victory in Grenoble was expected, but she did not manage to do without problems. As at her first Grand Prix in China, the world junior champion fell in the short program - this time with a triple Lutz. In order not to be left without a cascade, Zagitova tried to “attach” a triple loop to a three-turn flip, but even here she made a serious mistake on the way out.
However, Zagitova did not fall behind her rivals catastrophically, scoring 62.46 points, since the girls did not have any clean skates in the short program on Friday. Canadian Kaitlyn Osmond, who took the lead, doubled the sheepskin coat in a triple flip combination and also made a mistake on the Lutz. She scored 69.05 points and was 1.26 points ahead of Maria Sotskova, who did everything well except for the non-exit flip.
Another Russian, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, ended up last after the short program, 11th - having fallen from a triple Axel, she also missed the Lutz.
Before the free program, it was clear that Zagitova’s clean skate would allow her to rise in the standings. Moreover, it is very likely that the student Eteri Tutberidze is in first place - in terms of her personal best result and basic technical assessment, she is noticeably higher than her competitors. Zagitova performed before them - and in the end she performed to the maximum, scoring a record score for herself (151.34).
For the rivals, this bar turned out to be too high. Osmond, as at her first stage in Canada, made serious mistakes in the free program and showed only the fourth result in this segment (137.72). But Sotskova, demonstrating a clean performance, set a personal record - 140.99. This helped her get ahead of the Canadian in the sum of two programs and take the final second place. Thanks to this result, Sotskova.
Zagitova also made it there, and just like two-time champion world Evgeniy Medvedev, with the maximum amount of points.
"Bye at the moment we can absolutely count on first and second places even at the Olympics, if only the Russian national team can go there,” noted the famous producer and choreographer Ilya Averbukh, commenting on the results of the competition for R-Sport. “I think we can count as our asset the positive fact that our rivals have not improved anything since the beginning of the season and are not yet showing competitiveness with our leading girls.”
“Zagitova’s problems in the short program are purely a psychological story,” the expert added. “In addition, in her short program she has a cascade of triple lutz and loop, the most difficult of those performed now. Perhaps its complexity is still putting pressure on Alina But in any case, she has already shown a brilliant result - the debutant of the season won two stages and made it to the Final."
As for Tuktamysheva, who had no chance of getting into the Grand Prix Final due to her low result at the stage in China (seventh place), she fell from a triple Axel in the free skate, as well as in the short skate, and made several more mistakes , taking the final ninth position.
“If we were talking about fighting for access to the Grand Prix Final, we would most likely remove the triple axel from the program altogether, so as not to take risks and earn the required number of points with a lighter version of skating,” said R-Sport “The figure skater’s coach Alexey Mishin. “But we didn’t have a chance for the Final initially. This means we had to use the extra opportunity to try out the triple Axel in competitions, which is what we did in Grenoble.”
Papadakis and Cizeron: new records
In the dancer competition at the French stage of the Grand Prix, there were clear favorites - two-time world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron. There was no doubt about their victory even before the start of the competition. The main intrigue, rather, was the question: how many world records will the French break on their ice?
On the first day of the tournament, Papadakis and Cizeron failed to break the world record in the short dance. The best total points in the history of performances in this segment remain with Canadians Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir. But the French managed to break away from other participants at the Grand Prix stage in Grenoble dramatically and with their score of 81.40. The closest pursuers, Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, scored 73.55.
Last year's Russian Championship silver medalists Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin received a score of 70.02 in the short dance and took third place. Objectively, Caitlin Weaver and Andrew Poje had a better chance of claiming the podium, but the Canadian dancers blew their twizzles in the short dance, and this mistake became so serious that they were unable to catch up with the Russians in the free skate.
Stepanova and Bukin, in turn, despite the clean performance of both programs, could not get closer to Chock and Bates. Two bronze medals at tournaments in Moscow and Grenoble best result for the students of Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk in the Grand Prix series in their careers. But Stepanova and Bukin will not be able to get into the six finalists - after five stages, the Russians occupy seventh place in the overall standings. Another Russian duo who performed in France, Alla Loboda/Pavel Drozd, took ninth place.
Well, Papadakis and Cizeron pleased the French public by surpassing their own world records in terms of total points in free dance (120.58) and overall score (201.98).
Tarasova and Morozov reached the Grand Prix Final themselves and helped their comrades
IN pair skating, as expected, the fight for victory at the French stage unfolded between the Russians Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov and the ice owners Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres. The first round of this fight was left to the students of Nina Moser - Tarasova and Morozov were ahead of the French in the short program by 4.66 points, but according to the assessment itself (77.84) they lost about three points to their best result.
This handicap gave bronze medalists last championship world, the right to make mistakes in a free skate. And this handicap was required. The French performed their free program almost flawlessly, making the only mistake on the quadruple throw. The Russians ruined the jump cascade, plus they made a couple of less serious mistakes. Thus, in the free skate, Tarasova and Morozov, having scored 140.36 points, became second, but retained first place in total.
It is noteworthy that Tarasova and Morozov, having won in Grenoble, not only themselves, but also helped their compatriots and Nina Moser group mates Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov qualify for the decisive tournament of the series. Olympic champions team tournament, who had already competed in their two Grand Prix stages and won two silver medals, practically after the NHK Trophy tournament in Japan they were included in the Finals, and now they are there theoretically.
Samarin didn’t jump over his head
The only one Russian participant French Grand Prix stage in men's single skating In order to compete for access to the Final, you had to jump over your head and hope for the mistakes of your competitors. And the competitors were serious - especially two of them. This two-time champion world champion, Spaniard Javier Fernandez, who was eager to restore his reputation after failure at the Chinese Grand Prix (6th place), and Japanese Sema Uno, who won Skate Canada (Samarin won bronze there).
In the short program, the student of Svetlana Sokolovskaya almost fulfilled the first part of this condition - he performed a skate with two jumps in four revolutions, one of which, the lutz, however, turned out to be underrotated. But Fernandez and Uno were still stronger. The Spaniard especially distinguished himself, scoring 107.86 points for his performance with quadruple toe loop and salchow. Uno fell from a quadruple flip, but did a cascade of toe loops in four and three turns and received 93.92. Samarin came third with a score of 91.51.
The free skate was not one hundred percent successful for any of the favorites. Fernandez fell from a quadruple Salchow and a triple Axel, missed a couple more jumps, Uno also made two falls and two blots. The Japanese scored slightly more points (179.40 versus 175.85), but the gold at the end of the tournament went to the Spaniard. Samarin, in the free program, fell from the sheepskin coat in four turns and was unclear in three other jumps - and in terms of the total amount he missed ahead of Misha G from Uzbekistan.
Final stage The Grand Prix, a Skate America tournament, will be held in Lake Placid November 24-26. The series finale will take place in Nagoya (Japan) on December 7-10.
The Grand Prix final ended in Marseille, France. figure skating. The senior Russian team has two golds and one bronze, while the juniors have three golds, three silvers and one bronze. World record of Evgenia Medvedeva, four quadruple jump Nathan Chen, the “golden” debut of Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov - in the material of Lenta.ru.
The Grand Prix Final is the most prestigious figure skating tournament and, without exaggeration, the main event of the first half of the 2016/2017 season in the world of figure skating. Six of the best sports couples, six dance duets, and the same number of singles and singles athletes came to Marseille to determine the strongest in their program types.
Sports couples
The first set of medals was drawn sports couples. Russia was represented in this event by Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov and Natalya Zabiyako/Alexander Enbert. Both couples are training in the group of Nina Moser, coach of the current Olympic champions Tatyana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov, who, in turn, are missing the current season due to their partner’s pregnancy.
Both Russian duets made their debut in the final of the Grand Prix series. But this did not stop our skaters from performing well in Marseille, and Tarasova and Morozov winning a tournament of this level for the first time in their careers. Evgenia and Vladimir twice became bronze medalists at the European Championships and took fifth place at last year’s World Championships. In Marseille, in a free program, they performed a quadruple twist, an element of the ultra-C level, and for the first time in their careers they declared themselves so loudly. Although it is worth admitting that the main rivals of the Russians skated far from error-free, the Chinese Yu Saoyu/Zhang Hao, who became second, lost to Tarasova/Morozov on the sum of two programs by just over seven points, and the two-time world champions from Canada Megan Duhamel/Eric Redford were themselves themselves, having failed both the short and free programs.
The second Russian duet Natalya Zabiyako/Alexander Enbert finished their performance in fourth position, which in the current conditions for the guys can be considered a success. Natalia and Alexander found out that they would be performing in France a couple of days before the start of the competition, when Alena Savchenko/Bruno Massot were forced to withdraw due to an injury to their partner.
In the junior tournament, Anastasia Mashina/Vladislav Mirzoev celebrated their victory, Alexandra Boykova/Dmitry Kozlovsky (all from Russia) climbed to the third step of the podium.
Men
The men's tournament in Marseille took place without participation domestic athletes, which certainly upset figure skating fans from Russia. But, to tell the truth, even without our guys there was someone to watch in France. And in the conditions of the current competition in men's single skating, Russian figure skaters do not have to claim high positions at the moment.
The clear hero of the Grand Prix final of the 2016/2017 season is 17-year-old American Nathan Chen. In the free program, the figure skater performed four quadruple jumps cleanly to the “Polovtsian Dances”, including two performed for the first time in one program without errors the most difficult jump- the fourth lutz in a cascade with a triple toe loop and a quadruple flip. For the quadruple lutz-triple toe loop cascade, Nathan Chen received a record score for one jumping element - 19.9 points.
In the sum of the two programs, the American lost only to Sochi Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu. The famous Japanese brilliantly completed the short program to the track Let's go crazy, performed by Prince. In the free program, Hanyu also announced four quadruple jump elements, but he fell from one. Another Japanese Sema Uno, who was injured in the short program, was in third place. skating the free skate with bandaged legs. The current world champion, Spaniard Javier Fernandez, was fourth, Canadian Patrick Chan was fifth, and American Adam Rippon, who came out a year ago, rounded out the top six.
The performance of Russian juniors in the singles tournament can be considered successful. Dmitry Aliyev with a total of 240.07 points became the first, a little less than four points behind him, who won silver, Alexander Samarin. I would like to hope that Olympic Games in Pyeongchang there will be at least one competitive figure skater from Russia who will be able to compete on equal terms for places on the podium with the elite of world men's singles skating.
Ice dancing
For the last two years, the trendsetters in the most subjective form of figure skating have been Gabriela Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron. For two seasons, the French were unbeaten, systematically step by step approaching the main tournament of the four years as undisputed leaders. But this year Papadakis and Cizeron’s plans were disrupted Olympic champions Vancouver and silver examples of Sochi Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir, who decided to return to big-time sports.
The return of the Canadians turned out to be truly triumphant; they not only received exorbitant points from the judges, but also beat the seemingly invincible French in all respects. In Marseille, Virtue and Moir received a record 80.50 points from the judges for a short dance. Before the Canadians, no couple in the history of modern judging had ever managed to get more than 80 points for a short dance. Gabriela Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron finished in second position in the sum of the two programs, and US representatives Maya Shibutani/Alex Shibutani came third.
The Russian duo Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitry Soloviev remained outside the podium, taking fourth place. But in the current realities, this result can be considered successful, taking into account everything that the guys have had to endure over the past few years - both the injury of their partner and the meldonium scandal involving their partner.
“Today, unfortunately, we tore off our crowning element - the rotational support,” Bobrova said after the end of the tournament. - Lately, they could get out of any situation and do it. But today it didn’t work out, and it’s a shame; the judges usually give her a “plus three.” However, out of the good things we got, we didn’t get much low scores without this support, then we can hope that with it the grades will be even higher.”
In the junior competition, the Russian duo Alla Loboda/Pavel Drozd lost the championship to the American pair Rachel Parsons/Michael Parsons. The Russians lost to their opponents by less than one point.
Women
Over the past few years, the singles tournament has attracted the closest attention and aroused great interest among all figure skating fans and fans. In Marseille, four out of six participants represented Russia. Anna Pogorilaya, Maria Sotskova, Evgenia Medvedeva and Elena Radionova were accompanied by Canadian Caitlin Osmond and Japanese Satoko Miyahara.
Japanese figure skater Miyahara demonstrated almost the best performance of her career in France, which allowed her to eventually rise to the second step of the podium. The first, as expected, was Evgenia Medvedeva, the winner of last year's final in Barcelona, although in the free program, student Eteri Tutberidze made a small mistake on the first flip. Moreover, Medvedeva received 79.21 points for her short program, setting a new world record. Anna Pogorilaya is in third position, Caitlin Osmond is in fourth, debutant of the adult Grand Prix final Maria Sotskova is in fifth, and Elena Radionova is in sixth.
In the junior tournament, Alina Zagitova, who trains in the group of Eteri Tutberidze, won the championship; another Russian, Anastasia Gubanova, became second.
