Translated material
Hooligan motive
Russians Maria Mukhortova - Maxim Trankov became third at the Grand Prix stage in the USA
Russian figure skaters Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov won bronze at the Grand Prix stage in Everett, America, which officially opened the figure skating season. Oleg Vasiliev's students lost to the winners of the tournament in pair skating - 2008 world champions Alena Savchenko - Robin Szolkowy from Germany by about 12 points.As the president of the All-Russian Figure Skating Federation Valentin Piseev told a Vremya Novostey correspondent, the main task for the current season is to perform better than in the past. The leaders of the VFFK connect their medal plans with two types - ice dancing and pair skating.
The Russians won their first medal, bronze in pair skating, in the USA at the opening stage, although they had a real chance to rise above third place. Not so long ago, at a tournament in Germany, they came second, behind only their main competitors - the hosts of the ice. In the USA, after the short program, Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov were in the lead, ahead of the German duo by almost two points. The new program of the Russians, set to the music of the Pink Floyd group, although it was not performed flawlessly, impressed with its original discoveries, especially with regard to complex rotations and lifts. Visually, the Russians’ program looked more thoughtful, complete and emotional than the one shown by Savchenko and Sholkov (“Lost in the Universe”). These characteristics perfectly complemented the new image of Russian performers - hairstyles and costumes.
The main task of Vasiliev’s wards after such a successful debut in Everett was not to disturb the champion’s spirit and cleanly skate the free program, set to the music of Shostakovich “The Young Lady and the Hooligan”. A lot was written about this program after our couple’s first performance in Germany. In the issue “The Young Lady and the Hooligan,” Mukhortova and Trankov appeared in a new role. The program turned out to be bright and different from their previous performances. However, in the United States there was “no hooliganism.” Having made a series of mistakes, Mukhortova and Trankov dropped to fourth place, and in the end they were content with bronze, behind not only the Germans, but also the American pair Keana McLaughlin - Rockne Brubecker.
Apparently, once again the old flaws of our couple came to light - unstable execution of two programs at once. In the off-season, the St. Petersburg duo worked a lot with a sports psychologist, but again there was a misfire, which they would like to avoid in the future.
At the American stage of the series, the Russians were represented in three types of the program out of four, with the exception of the women's singles. Alexander Uspensky, who was included in the list of participants in the tournament at the last moment, replacing the injured Andrei Gryazev, did not fully recover after the operation he underwent in the summer. Only in August did Uspensky begin serious training, and most likely this explains the jumps he failed. As a result, Uspensky finished the competition in Everett sixth, losing almost 50 points to the winner, Japanese Takahiko Kozuka, who was sensationally ahead of two Americans - Johnny Weir and Evan Leysacek.
This season, Weir continued to collaborate with the coaching team - Galina Zmievskaya, Nina and Viktor Petrenko. Leisacek flew to Moscow in the off-season and trained with Tatyana Tarasova. Sharing his impressions of working with the famous Russian coach, Leysacek told reporters that next to Tarasova he had the feeling that he was new to figure skating, that from some simple things new images, new ideas were then born, that he felt It’s very interesting to visit our skaters’ base in Novogorsk and in general he has a great mood for this season.
And indeed the new season in figure skating promises to be extremely interesting. Let us recall that after the World Championships, Canadian singles skater Jeffrey Battle announced his retirement from sports, and literally on the eve of the American Grand Prix, two-time world champion Stephane Lambiel made a similar statement. The decision of the Swiss figure skater came as a real surprise, since Lambiel was seriously preparing for the upcoming season: he went to train in the USA with Viktor Petrenko, made two new programs - a short one to the music of Gershwin and a free program, where he used a piece by Piazzolla. However, an injury received during the World Championship did not allow him to continue competing in the sport. Lambiel announced that he was retiring from amateur figure skating and would only perform in professional shows. In contrast to men who left, a different picture is observed in women. Olympic medalist American Sasha Cohen decided to return to the ice after a two-year break.