Translated material
Technical miscalculation
After the Euro 2008 short program, the best Russian is only in sixth place
At the European Figure Skating Championships , which takes place in Zagreb, Croatia, yesterday, following the dancers and pairs, men also joined the fight for medals. Russia is represented at this championship by two skaters - Sergei Voronov and Andrey Lutai. If the current European Championship is Voronov’s debut, then Lutai already participated in the continental tournament last year, where he came fifth.Yesterday the men skated short programs. The best of the Russians, Sergei Voronov, who is the only Russian figure skater to have already won medals this season (at the stage in France, Alexei Urmanov's student was second), settled in sixth position in Zagreb. Voronov skated the program set to music by Sergei Rachmaninov almost flawlessly. He performed a cascade consisting of a quadruple and double sheepskin coat, followed by a triple axel and a triple loop, adding a complex sequence of steps and rotations. However, the judges considered that one of the triple jumps performed, namely the Axel, was only two revolutions. After the skate, the athlete himself did not hide his disappointment with the grades he received. “I don’t know, there was probably an opportunity to find fault with my performance. But neither I nor the coach agree that this is a double jump. I think this is a technical controller's mistake. Because of this, I received much lower points; I could have gone higher. It’s useless to protest, but it’s also impossible not to talk about it, judges also make mistakes,” said Sergei Voronov. The skater also added that the injury received at the beginning of this season is still making itself felt, and in Zagreb he still felt pain in his leg. However, in the free program he plans to perform a triple flip, which he had problems with.
The second Russian participant, Andrey Lutai, is ninth after the short program. Alexey Mishin's ward did not include four-revolution jumps in the program. However, after performing the triple toe loop, Lutai fell on the lutz in three turns and therefore was left without the planned cascade - triple lutz, triple toe loop. True, the results of the Russians are quite solid. Lutai is a little more than a point behind Voronov.
In order for our country to have two guaranteed places at the next European Championship, Voronov and Lutai need to not fall below 28th position based on the total results in Zagreb, and for the full set - the participation of three singles players - not lower than 13th. The first part of this task is quite doable. Although, on the other hand, we have to admit that after Alexei Yagudin and Evgeni Plushenko, the Russians have not yet managed to take leading positions. The rivalry between Yagudin and Plushenko, two strong figure skaters, played a catalytic role in the development of modern men's skating in the world. In the company of such strong representatives of the national school, the Frenchman Brian Joubert, the Swiss Stéphane Lambiel, and many others polished their talents. On the other hand, modern figure skating is such that in order to take athletes to the highest level, the coach must focus on working with one student. This partly explains the fact that with the departure of Plushenko, a certain championship vacuum was formed in Russian men's skating. Our other coaches who worked with singles athletes, unfortunately, did not reach the highest level and “cooked in their inner juice.” Now we need time to catch up. But this has been said more than once.
But while we play the role of extras, men's single skating brings surprises. After the short program in Zagreb, the silver medalist of last year's championship, Czech Tomas Werner, is in the lead. Defending champion Brian Joubert is 4 points behind him, and Stéphane Lambiel is third, separated from the leader by almost 8 points. Werner was the only skater to perform a complex combination of a triple flip and a triple toe loop, complementing them with an Axel and a Lutz in three turns. Joubert also did a cascade in the short program - a quadruple, triple sheepskin coat. However, he then fell on the axel. The winner of the Grand Prix Final, Stephane Lambiel, also broke the Axel, and simplified the cascade, performing jumps in three and two revolutions instead of quadruple and triple. But the skaters still have a free program in stock, which can change this balance of power. If Brian Joubert repeats last year's success at this championship, he will be equal in number of victories to Evgeni Plushenko, who is a four-time European champion.
For the first time, the student of Alexei Mishin won the title of the best figure skater of the Old World in 2000, after which he confirmed this title three more times in 2001, 2003 and 2006. It is possible that Plushenko will return to amateur ice next season after a two-year break. This information was confirmed by the President of the All-Russian Figure Skating Federation Valentin Piseev in a conversation with a Vremya Novostei correspondent.
According to the head of the federation, Plushenko did not plan to come to Zagreb to observe the ups and downs of the struggle. But his agent Ari Zakarian promised to fly to the championship. Plushenko himself is currently in Japan with his show. Nevertheless, all the talk about the return of the 2006 Olympic champion is becoming increasingly clear. Valentin Piseev explained that during the recent Russian figure skating championship in St. Petersburg, he had a serious conversation with the athlete. The skater outlined his financial demands. “In response, I asked that they, together with the coach, present a detailed training plan, because today funding can only be obtained for specific programs. Plushenko promised to do this in the near future, but so far has not sent any papers,” said Valentin Piseev. The head of the federation also added that there is one more circumstance that, to some extent, may hinder the implementation of the athlete’s plans. In February, Plushenko will travel to Germany to undergo examination by doctors. The athlete is still bothered by injuries, and may need another course of treatment and even surgery.
Late yesterday evening in Zagreb the first set of awards in the sports pairs competition was played out. However, the results became known when the newspaper issue was signed. After a short program, the duets settled down in the following order. The current European champions Alena Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy from Germany were in the lead. The difference of more than eight points, which separated them from their closest pursuers - Russians Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, allowed Ingo Steuer's wards to hope that none of the participants would be able to overthrow them from first place. The second Russian pair Yuko Kawaguchi - Alexander Smirnov was listed fourth, letting the Ukrainians Tatyana Volosozhar - Stanislav Morozov go ahead. The debutants of the European tournament, the third Russian duo Arina Ushakova - Sergey Karev, finished fifth. True, their gap from Kawaguchi and Smirnov was significant - more than 10 points.
After the short program, Oleg Vasiliev, coach of Mukhortova and Trankov, said that especially for the European Championship they increased the levels of three elements - the step track, which became the third level of complexity, todes and parallel rotation. If it were not for the mistake that the skaters made - they separated during the execution of this element, then it would correspond to the fourth, highest level of difficulty. “In general, I’m pleased with how the guys skated. Much cleaner than at the Russian championship. The only thing was that it seemed to me that the second score - for interpretation and artistry - was somewhat underestimated by the judges. But let’s see how we are positioned in Europe,” he said.