The former Russians made the fans quite nervous in the sixth stage of the Japanese Grand Prix in Osaka. Anastasia Gubanova and Nika Egadze, under the Georgian flag, sensationally did not make it to the strongest warm-up due to failed skates in the short program. At the same time, Gubanova failed the test, giving the judges free rein to give her an extremely low score of 55.80 points.
Egadze had to go to the Japanese ice without the support of the head of his coaching staff, Eteri Tutberidze, which turned out to be a fiasco. Tutberidze’s sudden absence is explained by Kamila Valieva’s performance this weekend at the Russian Grand Prix in Moscow. The choice among the mentor’s students was obvious.
And yet, there was also a reason for joy. Former Russian Nikita Volodin and his partner took the lead in pair skating!
Gubanova ruined her waterfall and scored the lowest points of her adult career
For Anastasia Gubanova, the Grand Prix stage in Japan turned out to be the last chance to win a medal in the prestigious ISU Championship Series and close the first half of the season on a high note. She will not be able to qualify for the final due to her 6th place in the French stage, but a victory or simply getting on the podium will allow her to regain the confidence that she so much needs. Lately, the judges, as if deliberately, punish the girl for the slightest mistake, and she herself forgets that she is the current European champion.
Unfortunately, the first day of competition in Osaka showed that Nastya could not handle the pressure. He not only didn’t make the top three after the short. No. He fell to tenth place and must now get out of the basement of the classification in the first free warm-up.
How could this happen? Have the referees become completely insolent, mercilessly judging the Russian woman under the Georgian flag? Only in part. The student herself Evgenia Rukavitsyna gave her all from the first seconds of her brilliant program. Wearing a sleek burgundy jumpsuit, instead of a triple flip and triple toe waterfall, she jumped into a triple flip and single toe waterfall. The worst thing is that individual short jumps are worthless. That is, for suddenly fluttering like a butterfly, the skater received zero points. They only evaluated her triple jump and punished her by taking away half the cost of the jump for a blunder in the combination. As a result, Nastya’s most expensive item became the cheapest.
The most annoying thing is that he couldn’t try to make another waterfall. It would have been better to fall off the flip and then connect the sheepskin coat to the Lutz solo. On the other hand, he got this solo lutz more than a quarter-turn underturned, finally ending the performance. I backed up the trail of steps to the second level, either out of fatigue or frustration. It was terrifying waiting for his grades.
The ISU Figure Skating Grand Prix broadcast is available on Okko.
As expected, the judges did not try to bring the European champion to more or less decent scores. But 55.80 points really surprised Nastya. It had been a long time since he had received so little. Since he played for Russia in the youth ranks.
Nastya is separated by more than 13 points from American leader Lindsay Thorngren with 68.93 points. From the second Belgian Nina Pinzarrón (63.44) – more than 7 points, as well as from the Korean Lee Ha In (62.93), who closes the current top three. The girl cannot cover this ultra-c difference in the free program, since she does not master elements of greater complexity, which means that she can only rely on the mistakes of her opponents.
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The sadness of Russian fans after the failure of Anastasia Gubanova was partially dispelled by the brilliant performance of our other compatriot Nikita Volodin. This summer, the Russian Figure Skating Federation allowed her to represent Germany together with Minerva Fabienne Haese, and they immediately became actively involved in competitive racing. We won gold in the Grand Prix stage in France and now we are very close to winning gold again in the Japan stage. In short, they impressed with their excellent performance and good technical level.
Thanks to Nikita, the Russian school of pairs figure skating was present at the Osaka tournament, although our athletes are not yet allowed to enter the international arena. He perfectly worked out all the elements, the success of which largely depends on the partner: the same high stands, all of them. I did my best. Minerva is very lucky!
What also captivates, of course, is the pleasure with which Nikita performs: her sincere smile during and after skating drowns the hearts of not only the fans, but also the strict referees. 67.23 points is the couple’s best short program score in their first season together.
The ISU Figure Skating Grand Prix broadcast is available on Okko.
Australian representatives Anastasia Golubeva/Hector Giotopoulos Moore, who recently reached senior level, also performed well. Moscow’s Nastya competed in singles until 2020, then she moved to doubles and at the same time changed her sports citizenship. Her tandem with Hector last season won gold in two stages and the Junior Grand Prix final, and she also won silver in the Junior World Championships. And now they are giving the more experienced couples some serious competition.
At the Japanese Grand Prix they literally captivated the audience, who stood up after their brief performance and gave them a loud applause. Unfortunately, the visually clean program had one serious flaw: it only changed the second level of difficulty. Although this did not affect the overall impression, the athletes’ technical score suffered noticeably and they took the current third place with 64.61 points.
However, Nastya and Hector still have a chance to beat Lucrezia Beccari/Matteo Guarise (66.77 points), who obtained second results in the short. The main thing is to correctly tune in to the free program and not give up any element of it.
Egadze without Tutberidze was left without a good warm-up
Nika Egadze, who trains in the Tutberidze group and represents the Georgian national team, was very unlucky to start immediately after Yuma Kagiyama’s brilliant performance. The Japanese skater put on a phenomenal performance in which he perfectly landed a quadruple Salchow, a cascade of quadruple and triple toe loops and a triple Axel. He performed all rotations and step sequence at the highest level of difficulty and took a confident lead with 105.51 points. And this despite the fact that Yuma almost completely missed last season, competing only in the national championship, where he placed eighth. But now he rose from his ashes and showed that he rightly deserved silver at the Beijing Olympics.
How can you not grimace when your opponent has such a powerful performance? At a minimum, this requires unprecedented superhardening and stress resistance. And also, perhaps, the support of the coach. However, Nika Egadze arrived at the Japanese Grand Prix without Eteri Tutberidze, although he accompanied her on previous outings, including the American Grand Prix. Daniil Gleikhengauz had to tune it in for the short program in Osaka. And even to the joy of the Japanese public, celebrating Kagiyama’s beautiful short.
It is not surprising that the interpretation of the majestic Ave Maria did not work for him. Nika didn’t even make it into the most powerful free warm-up program!
But he started promisingly: a little rough, but he did a cascade of quadruple Salchow and triple toe loop, drawing applause from the audience. Then I went downhill. He circled behind the quadruple sheepskin coat, touched the ice with his hand after the triple axle, and took the step sequence to the second level; in the United States, by comparison, he dominated the quarter.
The ISU Figure Skating Grand Prix broadcast is available on Okko.
After the skate, Nika became upset and he and Gleikhengauz clearly understood that they should not expect high scores. When the scoreboard lit up with 81.30 points, Daniil calmly looked at the student, who was tense. It could have been worse, although this season Nika scored less only in his first start in Italy. He then rehabilitated himself in the free skate and won silver. And I really want to believe that Nika will continue to get on the podium in Osaka.
Although he currently occupies seventh place, just over 5 points separate him from third place, the Swiss Lukas Brichgi (86.42). High-quality quads can help level the annoying gap and earn the coveted bronze.
But counting on silver for Tutberidze’s student is almost as unrealistic as counting on gold. Two-time world champion Shoma Uno placed second after the short. He lost to his Japanese teammate due to insufficient rotation on the second jump in the quad toe loop and triple toe loop combination, but still received a very high 100.20 points from the judges.
THE NAIS IS OFFICIAL EDITOR ON NAIS NEWS