From November 3 to 5, the third stage of the Grand Prix in figure skating. And the audience in Beijing had something to see: before their eyes, a historical world record was set in ice dancing, Alina Zagitova won her debut stage of the Grand Prix, but managed to get ahead of the recognized leaders and reached the final of the tournament for the first time in her career.

Three years later

You can immediately remember when the Russian figure skater last time won first place at the Grand Prix stage? If not, we will advise. It happened at the end of November 2014: Maxim Kovtun showed the best result at the stage in Bordeaux, withstanding competition from Denis Ten and Tatsuki Machida. Three years have passed, and Russian fans have finally waited for a new victory. , who received a considerable portion of criticism after his speech in Moscow, corrected himself in Beijing. Mikhail's short program turned out to be amazing - 103.13 points.

Figure skating. Series Grand Prix. Third stage. Beijing, China
Men. Final position

1. (Russia) - 279.38.
2. Jin Boyang (China) - 264.48.
3. Max Aaron (USA) - 259.69 ...
11. Alexander Petrov (Russia) - 186.02.
Women. Final position

1. Alina Zagitova (Russia) - 213.88.
2. Wakaba Higuchi (Japan) - 212.52.
3. (Russia) - 206.82 ...
7. (Russia) - 196.68.
sports couples
1. Sui Wenjing / Han Cong (China) - 231.07.
2. Yu Xiaoyu / Zhang Hao (China) - 205.54.
3. Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro (Canada) - 194.52.
Dancing on Ice. Final classification

1. Gabriela Papadakis / Guillaume Sizeron (France) - 200.43.
2. Madison Chalk / Evan Bates (USA) - 184.50.
3. / (Russia) - 182.84.
4. Tiffany Zagorsky / Jonathan Gurreiro (Russia) - 164.41.

The free program was not without mistakes and even a fall, but it did not prevent Kolyada from scoring a rather high amount of 279.38 points and getting ahead as a two-time world champion Javier Fernandez, and their two-time winner Boyana Jin. In fairness, it should be noted that both the Chinese and Spanish skaters failed in the free program, but progress Russian leader this year their failures do not set off. It is especially pleasing that the victory allowed Mikhail to reach the Grand Prix final for the first time in his career.

Competitor for Medvedeva?

Evgenia Medvedeva this season, she clearly set out to win in all possible tournaments in which she will take part. The two-time world champion is now head and shoulders above all her competitors and is ready to win effortlessly. But the viewer still craves at least some kind of competition, and therefore diligently looks for Evgenia rivals who can try to impose a fight on her. 15-year-old Alina Zagitova is another contender for the title of Medvedeva's competitor, she showed it in China by winning her debut Grand Prix. Yes, the gap from the Japanese Higuchi was not impressive. Yes, there were blots. But Alina is an incredibly technical figure skater, jumping a cascade of triple lutz - triple rittberger and saturating the second part of the free program with a series of difficult jumps. And who knows what will happen next when Zagitova gains international experience? At least, she is already crowding the dense ranks of contenders for an Olympic ticket to Pyeongchang.

Rise and fall

In light of the struggle for Olympic tickets in the Russian women's skating One cannot fail to note the performance of Elena Radionova at the Chinese Grand Prix, where she showed the third result. I would like to believe that the talented figure skater, who climbed the podium of the World Championship three years ago, will overcome her protracted crisis and will be able to compete on equal terms with stronger competitors. Alas, in the case of Elizabeth Tuktamysheva, positive forecasts do not arise. The athlete is still far from herself in 2015. In Beijing, the world champion took only seventh place. If Elizabeth fails to make herself known at least at the Grand Prix stage in Bordeaux, then it will be possible to say goodbye to dreams of a trip to Korea.

They made history

Representatives of ice dancing have been approaching the historical mark for many years - 200 points in total for the short and free program. This beautiful number beckoned athletes and forced the leaders to work harder in the hope of a new, truly outstanding world record. And at the Chinese Grand Prix, the historical milestone was nevertheless crossed. french couple Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron outscored the recent achievement of their main competitors Tessa Virtue and Scott Moira by 0.57 points and achieved an incredible score of 200.43. There are no other "round" records in figure skating yet.

"You can still fix it"

Given the phenomenal results that the leaders show this season, it becomes alarming for the Olympic prospects Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov. The leading Russian dance couple finished the Grand Prix stage in Beijing in third place, losing not only to the French record-holders, but also to the American duo Chalk/Bates. It is clear that our leading pair is not yet in optimal shape, and the athletes themselves admit this: “Now, at the beginning of the season, you can still tweak everything, work on everything, physically gain more to make skating easier, clean the elements so that they are more beautiful and looked more advantageous, to work on the emotional side, ”Dmitry notes. I would like to believe that over the next weeks Bobrova and Solovyov will be able to make progress and improve their grades.

Chinese expanse

AT pair skating no one defended the colors of the Russian national team in Beijing, and in general, world leaders did not come to the Celestial Empire from abroad. Therefore, Chinese athletes received complete expanse and space. They failed to take the entire pedestal - the Canadians Moore Towers and Marinaro took the bronze from the hosts, but the Chinese couples left the gold and silver at home. Wenjing and Cong took first place by a good margin, showing the best results in both programs.

Audi Cup of China 2017

Completed

Broadcast ended 04.11.2017 in 15:47 .

Expert:

Mikhail Kolyada (Russia) was able to win the first victory of his career on the international stage, thanks to the reserve after the short program. Boyang Jin (China) was second with a large number of mistakes and mistakes, and unexpectedly third place went to Max Aaron (USA). Alexander Petrov finished his performances in eleventh place.

Mikhail Kolyada (Russia) fell from a quadruple lutz, a butterfly on a quadruple salchow, a combination of a triple axel - a triple toe loop, gnawed out a quadruple toe loop, but then a butterfly on a triple axel, a triple lutz - a triple salchow in the combination, a triple loop - a triple lutz in the combination. The gap after the short program was more than enough to maintain the leading position, but the sediment remained.

Boyang Jin (China) today made almost all jumps, but with blots, stepouts and one fall. I would like to say that everything is bad, but this is only the beginning of a long and exhausting struggle for an Olympic medal.

Javier Fernandez (Spain) failed miserably in the free skate today. Of all the planned quads, Javier completed only one quad salchow, and that was very hard. Fourth result in the free program and in total points.

Meanwhile, Max Aaron, thanks to the good performance of the free program, becomes the winner of the Grand Prix stage.

Keiji Tanako (JP) fell on the step sequence, made a lot of mistakes on the jump elements and could only score 247.17. Fourth place in terms of points.

Max Aaron (USA) wrestled - wrestled and made it to quadruple jumps in the free program. The first intermediate place with the sum of points - 259.69.

The performance of Alexander Petrov (Russia) can be characterized by one phrase - he fell four times. Fifth place in the sum of two programs - 186.02.

On the ice the second group of participants.

Vincent Zhou (USA) almost completed the free program. Quadruple Lutz - triple toe loop in combination, quadruple flip with blots on the road, fall on quadruple salchow, quadruple lutz, triple axel, quadruple salchow - double axel in combination, triple lutz - triple flip at the end of the program.

Grant Hostein performed much better in Moscow than in Beijing. The scores speak for themselves, 135.89 for the free program, and in terms of total points 216.44 and this is only the second place in the this moment.

Alexander Mayorov (Sweden) failed in the free program. Having completed a pure combination of a triple axel - a double sheepskin coat and "caught a lot of butterflies" instead of jumping.

Kevin Reynolds (Canada) opens the men's free skate. Butterfly instead of a quadruple loop, quadruple toe loop, quadruple salchow combination - triple toe loop, triple axel, triple flip - triple toe loop - triple loop (underrotation) in the combination, triple salchow, triple lutz combination - triple loop.

On the ice the first group of participants.

Mikhail Kolyada (Russia) short program did everything that depended on him, deservedly becoming the leaders of the competition. Will the skater be able to repeat the success in the free program? If we take into account that at the official training in the morning the athlete easily and naturally completed the cascade of the quadruple lutz - triple toe loop, then there is a chance to maintain leadership. We'll find out soon.
Good afternoon figure skating fans. Anastasia Roshchina works for you.

Vladimir Zaivy

The third stage of the Figure Skating Grand Prix series has ended in China. The Russians won in two disciplines. Mikhail Kolyada took first place in the men's skating, showing one of the best short programs in history and scoring 100 points, while Alina Zagitova won her first tournament of this level. Bronze medals were won by Elena Radionova and dancers Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov.

• Mikhail Kolyada (center) during the award ceremony. The second place was taken by the Chinese Boyang Jin and the third place by Max Aaron from the USA
• Reuters
• Damir Sagolj

Men

Russian male single skating finally gives you a reason to be proud. Mikhail Kolyada won the Grand Prix in China, scoring his first victory at a competition of this level. But it is not the mere fact that the athlete has risen to first place that causes admiration here. Just this is not so significant, because of the elite rivals, he had only the owner of the competition, Jin Boyang. It is more important to consider how the Russian skater got his victory and what prospects it can give.

At the first stage in Moscow, Kolyada became the third with 271.06 points. Numerous falls in both programs did not prevent getting such serious marks. The 22-year-old skater has little left to do: cleanly execute all his jumps, and then you can already talk about real competition with Nathan Chen and Javier Fernandez (Yuzuru Hanyu still remains in his league). Already at the next starts in Beijing, Kolyada experimentally confirmed this hypothesis.

The short program of Kolyada became the main event of the first day of the competition. He performed a long-suffering quadruple lutz, scored even more points for a combination of two sheepskin coats, and for dessert he saved a triple axel in the second half of the rental. The Russian performed all the other elements as well as he can, and as a result, a score of 103.13 points was lit opposite his name - this is the fourth result in the history of figure skating. Only Hania, Fernandez and Shoma Uno recruited more. Kolyada became the first Russian who managed to cross the 100-point line. Even Evgeni Plushenko could not do it.

It is clear that for a short program you can only get a small medal, and even then not at all competitions, but still this is a very pleasant message that inspires optimism. In the free program, Kolyada took a step back: he failed to perform the quadruple lutz again, the salchow and axel were reduced by two turns, the cascade of two sheepskin coats was pushed to the back shelf. But again, the potential of Kolyada was visible and reflected in a solid 176.25 points. The total score of 279.38 points did not allow him to beat his personal record, but showed that Kolyada continues to go the right way, and at the same time brought him victory at the Grand Prix stage and almost guaranteed access to the final competition.

Kolyada's performance this season creates an amazing paradox: he has more chances to become Olympic champion than take second or third in Pyeongchang. A medal of the highest dignity can be provided to him by a team tournament. According to all preliminary layouts, it turns out that Russia will fight for first place with Canada and will prevail. And Kolyada will be able to count on silver and bronze if he successfully performs in personal competitions. To do this, you need to skillfully perform both rentals, for which the athlete is not yet ready. There are no such tough conditions in the team tournament, and Kolyada just needs to get the better of Patrick Chan. Now no one can doubt the fact that the Russian is stronger than the three-time world champion.

Women

The intrigue in women's competitions famously spun following the results of the short program. It was won by the current World Championship bronze medalist Gabrielle Daleman from Canada, and three girls were behind in one and a half points - Wakaba Higuchi, Elena Radionova and Alina Zagitova. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva was not far behind. The dispute between them on the second day was to flare up with renewed vigor.

For Zagitova, this was the best option to successfully perform at her first Grand Prix. It is no secret that she is strong precisely in her super-complex free program, in which she periodically scores even more points than Evgenia Medvedev. On the second attempt, the 15-year-old figure skater managed to perform her signature combination of triple lutz - triple rittberger and crush all rivals with one of them. Questions were raised only by a single lutz, where the judges noticed underrotation. Zagitova failed to break personal records, but this is not so important: everyone has long known her capabilities. The ward of Eteri Tutberidze scored 213.88 points and set a high benchmark for the remaining three skaters.

Elena Radionova is gradually returning to its former level - her claims to third place in the Russian team are becoming louder. She skated her free program without serious complaints, and only one cascade went negative relative to the nominal value. According to the basic cost of the elements, Radionova lost only one and a half points to Zagitova, but so far she cannot count on such serious allowances as the young competitor. Nevertheless, a student of Elena Buyanova scored 136.34 points for the second rental and 206.82 points in total. Until recently, such assessments seemed to her a pipe dream, but now they can open the doors to the national team.

The hope of all Japan, Wakaba Higuchi, was even more successful and overtook Radionova by six points. The 16-year-old girl again performed at a very solid level, which she demonstrated at the pre-season tournaments - she may well be the first in line for a serious starts medal. Higuchi's problem is only that she has reached her limit, and new horizons will open only if she starts shuffling cascades.

Daleman had the last word on the stage in China. It was not possible for the Canadian to perform at the level of Zagitova or at least Radionova Canadian: twice she broke the jumps and did not impress the judges with her artistry. She fell back to sixth place, winning only 0.15 points from Tuktamysheva, who took the risk of jumping the triple Axel, but did not get much benefit from it. Zagitova won her first Grand Prix, and now the athlete can count on a duel with Medvedeva in the December final.

Couples

Chinese couples long time did not show what they had learned over the summer. Finally, an exhibition of their achievements took place in Beijing. The fact that something grandiose is planned became clear during the short program. Reigning world champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong left the best of last year and were the first to break the 80 mark this season.

The Chinese demonstrated their rich technical arsenal on the second day as well. They performed even better than at the World Forum in Helsinki. If then there was a fall on the triple salchow, now we managed to do without it. Sui and Han broke a personal best in the free skates (150.93) and confirmed that they are number one in the world at the moment (231.07). Nobody can fight them now. Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, who won the stage in Moscow, then scored seven points less.

Yu Xiaoyu and Zhang Hao could also be a danger to the rest of the world. An experienced couple, in which the partner won silver at the Olympics in Turin, scored 205.54 points on the basis of two rentals. This, for example, is more than Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov showed this season.

Dancing on Ice

Dancers Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron made a splash in their discipline. Whole last season they were trying to catch up with Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who were breaking world records. The French finally prepared a decent answer for them: they were the first to score more than 200 points on the sum of two ratings. While it seems to many that dancing has reached its peak and it is simply impossible to conquer new heights mathematically, Papadakis and Sizeron still squeeze out some hundredths of points, which eventually allow you to rewrite records.

From November 3-5, Beijing will host the third stage of the Figure Skating Grand Prix series. Russian athletes will perform in three types of the program, with the exception of pair skating.

At the previous second stage of the Skate Canada Grand Prix, the Russians won 2 medals - silver (Maria Sotskova) and bronze (Alexander Samarin).

The composition of the Russian team "Cup of China"

Men: Mikhail Kolyada, Alexander Petrov

Women: Alina Zagitova, Elena Radionova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.

Dancing: Ekaterina Bobrova - Dmitry Solovyov, Tiffany Zagorsky - Jonathan Gureiro.

Tuesday Russian team flew to Beijing.

Men's single skating

Mikhail KOLYADA. 22. Coach Valentina Chebotareva. She trains at the Academy of Figure Skating in St. Petersburg. Champion of Russia-2017, bronze medalist of the European Championship-2017.

Mikhail Kolyada began the Olympic season with a tournament in Bratislava, where he skated the short program unimportantly, but gathered himself in the free program, which eventually brought him victory in the competition. In Bratislava, for the first time in a competition, the skater performed cleanly a difficult quadruple lutz jump, which he tried last season.

At the next start in Finnish Espoo "Finland Trophy", the skater was 4th. At the Rostelecom Cup Grand Prix, for the first time in his career, he became a bronze medalist. The Chinese Grand Prix will be the second stage of the series for Mikhail. Recall that during the season, skaters can participate in no more than two stages of the Grand Prix.

The programs of this season were staged by the group's choreographer Olga Klyushnichenko and Stéphane Lambiel. Short - Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Tango. Free - Elvis Presley compositions - Steamroller Blues by Elvis Presley, Can "t Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley, Rip It Up by Elvis Presley. For the first time, the skater showed new programs at junior test skates (out of competition) in Novogorsk in order to receive comments in advance specialists.

Alexander PETROV. 18 years. Coach Alexey Mishin. He trains at the Yubileiny sports complex in St. Petersburg. Bronze medalist of the Russian Championship-2016, winner and prize-winner of the junior championships of the country.

Last season, Alexander combined performances at the adult and junior levels. At the Junior World Championships in Taipei, the athlete stopped a step away from the podium and took 4th place. This season Alexander took part in two international competitions. At the tournament in Lombardy, he took 7th place, at the Finland Trophy he was 9th.

The programs of this season were staged by Tatyana Prokofieva, famous dancers Yuri Smekalov, Ramil Mehdiyev helped. Short program to the music of Khachaturian "Sabre Dance", free program - a composition of their songs by Frank Sinatra: Chicago by Frank Sinatra, I "m Gonna Live Till I Die by Frank Sinatra.

Women's Singles

Alina ZAGITOVA. 15 years. Coaches Eteri Tutberidze, Sergey Dudakov. Trains in Moscow, Sambo-70, Khrustalny skating rink. World champion among juniors, winner of the junior Grand Prix final, champion of Russia among juniors.

After a successful last season in juniors, the figure skater moved to adult skating and started at the masters level. At the beginning of the season, Alina won the Lombardy Trophy tournament. Performance at the Grand Prix in China will be her debut at the stages of the adult series.

The programs for the athlete were put by the choreographer of the group Daniil Gleikhengauz. Alina performed with a free program to the music of Minkus for the ballet "Don Quixote" last season. Short - "Black Swan" - on the soundtrack from the film.

Elena RADIONOVA. 18 years. Coach Elena Buyanova. Trains in Moscow, in CSKA. Bronze medalist of the 2015 World Championship, two-time silver medalist of the European Championship (2015, 2016), champion of Russia (2015), two-time winner of the Junior World Championship.

The athlete began preparing for the season under the guidance of a new coach, Elena Buyanova. At the tournament in Bratislava, she became a bronze medalist. At the Grand Prix in Moscow, she took 4th place. The Chinese Grand Prix will be the second for Lena this season.

Programs for the figure skater were staged by Canadian choreographer Shi-Lynn Bourne. The short one was left over from last season - Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin. Free - Historia de un amor 2.

Elizabeth Tuktamysheva. 20 years. Coach Alexey Mishin. He trains at the SC "Yubileigy" in St. Petersburg. World Champion 2015, European Champion 2015, bronze medalist of the European Championship 2013.

The athlete began this season with performances at international tournament"Lombardy Trophy", where she took 6th place. At the tournament in Finland, she became a bronze medalist.

The programs for the athlete were staged by the choreographer of the group Tatyana Prokofieva and Adam Solya. Short - Pisando Flores by Ara Malikian. Free - Erinnerung performed by Efim Jourist Quartett.

Dancing on Ice

Ekaterina BOBROVA: Dmitry SOLOVIEV. Ekaterina - 27 years old, Dmitry - 29 years old. Coach Alexander Zhulin. They train in Moscow, at the Olimpiysky sports complex. Bronze medalists of the 2013 World Championship, 2013 European champions, silver and bronze medalists of the European Championships, multiple champions of Russia.

The skaters began the season with performances at the Russian Cup stage in Syzran, which they won. They won the international start in Bratislava. At the Moscow Grand Prix "Rostelecom Cup" they took second place. The Beijing stage will be the second for the pair this season.

Short dance - rumba and samba - Rhumba: Latin Lover by Joao Bosco, Samba: Dance by DJ Maksy, Samba: Quand je vois tes yeux by Dany Brilliant. Random - Oblivion performed by Two Cellos
Beethoven's Five Secrets by The Piano Guys. A new free dance for the athletes was staged by the famous choreographer Radu Poklitaru.

Tiffany ZAGORSKI - Jonathan GUREYRO. Tiffany is 23 years old, John is 28 years old. Coaches Svetlana Alekseeva, Elena Kustarova, Olga Ryabinina. They train in Moscow, school No. 2. At the Russian championships, they took 5th place for three years in a row, the same result was shown last season at their debut Grand Prix stage in Moscow.

Tiffany and Jonathan got together three years ago. Before that, the athletes competed with different partners, and Tiffany skated for France, although she was born in London. In 2015, the athlete received a Russian passport, which allowed her to represent Russia at all major international tournaments. All this time, Zagorski-Gureyro trained under the guidance of Alexander Zhulin, but at the end of last season they decided to work with new coaches. At their first international Ice Star tournament this season in Minsk, Tiffany and John won silver.

Short Dance - Samba and Rumba -- Samba: Hip Hip Chin Chin performed by Club des Belugas, Rhumba: Volveras performed by Gloria Estefan, Samba: Batucada Brasiliera performed by Samba Brazilian Batucada Band. The free version was set to the music of the compositions of the Muse group - Exogenesis Symphony Part III by Muse, Exogenesis Symphony Part II by Muse, Ruled by Secrecy by Muse.

The third stage of the season, held in Beijing, brought the Russian team two gold and two bronze. Mikhail Kolyada overtook Jin Boyan and Javier Fernandez, showing a particularly good short program - he was the first among all Russians to score more than a hundred points for it.

Alina Zagitova won her first Grand Prix at the age of 15. The company on the podium was Elena Radionova, who managed to take third place without falling. Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov also won bronze, although they could have aimed for at least silver.

"Kolyada fights for a place in the sun"

— From stage to stage Russian men show good results. Were you surprised by Kolyada's performance or did you know that he is capable of much if he cleanly performs all the elements at least in the short program?

- I really count on Misha. I like his skating. I hope that in the future Kolyada will only mature and become a serious rival for Javier Fernandez and Yuzuru Hanyu. We are used to seeing these people at the top, but I hope that our male single skaters will now regularly compete for prizes. And the victory of Kolyada did not become a revelation for me. He is progressing: for example, this year he studied the quadruple lutz. Although it doesn’t always work out, Mikhail’s willingness to take risks pleases. Man fights for his place under the sun.

- At the same time, the Chinese Jin Boyang and the Spaniard Javier Fernandez themselves made a large number of mistakes and thus cleared the way for Kolyada to victory.

Thank God he's so lucky. But he skated perfectly. If the rivals had also rolled back, the alignment would have been different, but it is important that Kolyada withstood this pressure and coped with the task. He fell the least and won.

Also on topic

Kolyada's golden ambitions, Zagitova's victory and the world record in dancing: the Grand Prix stage in figure skating took place in China

The third stage of the Figure Skating Grand Prix series has ended in China. The Russians won in two disciplines. Mikhail Kolyada took the first...

What impression did Fernandez make on you? He complained of pain in his stomach, but went out on the ice.

- I really like him as a "roller". The Spaniard sometimes pulls out the most difficult jumps. An ordinary skater would not even fight for them, but he does not give up. But this time, Javier was not lucky. Maybe he really got sick. Anything happens. It is important to understand that Fernandez always moves forward. I am sure that at the European Championships and the Olympic Games we will see decent skating from his side.

- Alexander Zhulin believes that the duel between Kolyada and Patrick Chan will decide everything in the team tournament at the Olympic Games. Do you agree that the Russian is now unconditionally ahead of the Canadian?

— I can't agree with Alexander. If Chan jumps all of his five quads, Kolyada will have a hard time. But in case of mistakes on the part of Patrick, Misha may have a chance. Of course I'm rooting for him. For Russia.

“Zagitova cannot be compared with Lipnitskaya”

- Does Alina Zagitova confirm the status of the second in the world after Evgenia Medvedeva? She fell on the cascade in the short program, but after all she did it.

Who doesn't have breakdowns? We are all humans, not robots. The girl just got out on the very high level world figure skating. Of course, the names of rivals can dominate her, because before she had not met opponents of such a level. But I hope that Alina has a good bright future.

- Isn't Zagitova too big a responsibility at that age? Many even call her the second Yulia Lipnitskaya.

- Still, it’s hard to compare them, because Lipnitskaya had a harder time. She immediately fell for Olympic Games. Zagitova, on the other hand, has time to gradually roll in. Still, it’s hard to go out on the ice with such rivals at the age of 15. Figure skating sharks can eat you with one look. But Alina is fighting. She has a good sense of pose, very choreographic, plastic. And Zagitova jumps just brilliantly.

- Elena Radionova managed to return to her former level, but at the same time she could still perform better. Is she guaranteed a place in the national team or is there a battle with Maria Sotskova?

- Today, in women's single skating, Russia has a very strong bench. I am glad about this, because in Soviet times we always lagged behind in this form. And now - ahead of the rest. Whoever goes, Russians will definitely be in the prizes. As for Radionova, she is beautiful and skates well. Sotskova is also a good girl. They are all wonderful. The main thing is not to break the jumps. There are no complaints about girls at all. More questions are caused by dancing and single skating among men.

- Some foreign sportswomen showed themselves brightly. Who do you think looks the strongest? Carolina Costner, Gabrielle Daleman, Wakaba Higuchi, Caitlin Osmond

- I really like the Japanese. They ride well, at high speed. In jumping, they are in no way inferior to American and Canadian women. Another question is that the Russians have chosen a very competent policy - they do all their jumps in the second half of the program and earn extra points.

“Bobrova and Solovyov are hard to count on medals”

- The Chinese couple Sui Wenjing and Han Cong scored the most serious points this season. Is it possible to bypass them at all?

- No one is invincible. The main thing is to prepare for the fight. I think our coaches will draw conclusions based on the results of the stage in China and do something. But, of course, the Chinese are handsome.

- Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov became the third, slightly behind the Americans. Do they have a chance to compete for medals at the Olympics?

“They definitely can’t beat them. For this, a miracle must happen, for example, everyone must lie down, as in the case of Kolyada. Even bronze will be difficult to win. With the way our people ride today, I don't see any options.

- The fourth was Tiffany Zagorski and Jonathan Gureiro, albeit not with the highest scores. It is clear that two couples that will go to the Olympic Games are almost determined in Russia. And who would you prefer in the dispute for the third ticket to the European Championship?

Why are we talking about this as a fact? Nothing has been determined yet in Russia. The national championship has not yet taken place. The fight will be intense. We in figure skating do not like to discuss such moments in advance and think of something in advance. This is a bad omen.