Translated material
Intersection point
The Grand Prix final started in the capital of Japan
In the Japanese capital this weekend, figure skaters will compete for the final sets of awards of the Grand Prix championship series. As last year, these competitions will combine two tournaments - junior and adult finals, in which athletes from 11 countries will take part. “Seniors” will compete for a prize fund of $272 thousand. Winners and runners-up will receive $25, 18 and 12 thousand. The amounts of remuneration for juniors are much more modest. Singles skaters will earn 6, 5 and 4 thousand dollars. Doubles and dancers will earn 9, 7.5 and 6 thousand dollars.Young Russian athletes are represented in all four disciplines. Adults only in two (women's singles and pairs skating). At the last moment, the 2009 European champions in ice dancing, Yana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitsky, refused to travel to Tokyo. The Russian duo will be replaced by a couple from Israel, brother and sister Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky.
According to the results of two stages of the Grand Prix, Khokhlova and Novitsky did not qualify for the six participants in the decisive round. However, due to the illness of the American Tanit Belbin, performing in tandem with Benjamin Agosto, the Russians were given tickets to the finals. But they also refused.
As the couple’s coach Alexander Svinin told Vremya Novostei, the main reason was the health problems of his partner. While still at the tournament in the USA, Yana caught a cold. Returning to Moscow, I turned to doctors, who diagnosed acute respiratory infections and for several days prohibited any physical activity. “We planned and assumed to compete in the Grand Prix finals. They were reserves and had to prepare for the start. But the situation was complicated by illness. No one is immune from this. Flu and colds now, due to the epidemic, are not a pleasant thing, but in an Olympic year there is no point in taking risks,” said Alexander Svinin.
Let us recall that a year ago, at the Grand Prix final, which took place in Korea, Khokhlova and Novitsky did not complete their performance due to their partner’s illness. Then several athletes and judges were poisoned by poor-quality food or water in the hotel. Among them were Sergei Novitsky and Maxim Trankov. Both ended up in the hospital, and after the tournament they got home with big problems.
In the absence of domestic leaders in ice dancing (2009 world champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin missed the current series), the students of Marina Zueva and Igor Shpilband, Americans Meryl Davis - Charlie White and Canadians Tessa Virtue - Scott Moir, will act as duelists in Tokyo. This year their paths have not crossed yet. The former performed at stages in Russia and Japan, the latter in France and Canada. Both couples scored the maximum number of points, winning two gold medals. The four remaining duets, including the students of Alexander Zhulin, the French Nathalie Pechalat - Fabien Bourzat, as well as the English students of Evgeniy Platov, sister and brother Kerr, are unlikely to interfere in the dispute for the highest awards.
The Russians' medal hopes in Japan are tied to pair skating. In the starting protocol, according to the points scored, Maria Mukhortova - Maxim Trankov, as well as Yuko Kawaguchi - Alexander Smirnov were in third and fifth positions. The skaters faced the most difficult task - to fight for a place on the podium with the three strongest Chinese pairs, as well as two-time world champions from Germany Alena Savchenko - Robin Szolkowy.
This season's returning Olympic medalists Xiu Shen and Hongbo Zhao won the series twice. After the failure in Paris, German athletes surprised with technical skating and a new free program at the last Canadian Grand Prix. They were separated from their closest pursuers Mukhortova and Trankov by more than 20 points.
Of the two Russian tandems this year, Mukhortova and Trankov looked preferable. Oleg Vasiliev's students won the French tournament and became second in Canada. The Russian-Japanese duo won two silver medals in Moscow and Nagano. During her performance at the Japanese stage, Kawaguchi unsuccessfully performed the most difficult element - a quadruple throw. She fell and received a serious injury. As a result, Tamara Moskvina’s wards withdrew from demonstration performances.
In women's singles skating, perhaps Russian Alena Leonova will be the author of the biggest surprise. The female form has always been characterized by unpredictability. Even the undisputed favorite, Korean Yu Na Kim, who set a new bar in the short program at the US stage, failed most of the jumps in the free program the next day. And the titled Japanese Mao Asada, with whom Tatyana Tarasova works, did not make it to the finals at all. Leonova's participation in the final tournament was somewhat of a sensation. In Moscow and Nagano, the athlete won bronze and silver - medals that were actually not expected from her. The Japanese final is the debut for the St. Petersburg woman. Last season, at the stages of the series, Leonova did not get into prizes at all. Her best result was fifth place in Beijing.
Men's competitions in Japan will be held without Russians. 2006 Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko, who returned to the ice after a long break, performed only in Moscow. Although Sergei Voronov took part in two starts in the series, he did not earn the required number of points. A few days before the final, Frenchman Brian Joubert withdrew and will be replaced in Tokyo by Czech Tomas Werner.