Russian Cup Final Last Event Before Naming of the World Team

Samarin tries to redeem himself in the Federation’s eyes winning the men’s; Tsurskaya makes a different statement winning the ladies; pairs and ice dance teams not in contention for Worlds end their season.

Throughout the weekend, skating fans have anxiously awaited two announcements out of Russia: the name of Volosozhar & Trankov’s new daughter, and the Russian team for the World Championships. On Monday we finally got the former: Angelica Maximovna Volosozhar-Trankova. But it seems the Federation’s making us wait on the latter.

We knew already it wouldn’t happen until after last week’s Russian Cup Final in Saransk. Officially a final to their internal Cup series held in the fall, with both senior and junior events, it has often become a final event to help determine the team. If the Federation isn’t certain who to send, they’ll look at how the candidates skate here.

This year, however, by the time the event began, it didn’t look like the results were going to mean much this year. In three of the senior events, no one who remained a contender for the team after Russian Nationals competed. The men’s results were not without a chance of making a difference. It is likely National Champion Mikhail Kolyada will be on the World team, but after Nationals, no one was sure whether the second man would be silver medalist Alexander Samarin, bronze medalist Maxim Kovtun, or someone else. Kovtun became the favorite after getting the top finish at the European Championships.

However, that two days after it’s over and still no announcement or even word of when it will happen, and one wonders if the Federation is having a last minute debate, either on the second men’s berth, or the third ladies berth. Or just hasn’t found a convenient time yet.

Men

Last time Maxim Kovtun was under consideration for a Worlds berth he hadn’t earned at Russian Nationals, he pulled out of the Russian Cup Final, citing injury. It worked; they named him. Apparently he decided to take the same tactic this time. It was a smart choice; the odds were heavily in his favor. Mikhail Kolyada also pulled out, citing back issues. Nonetheless, others showed up and tried to prove themselves, despite the low chance of success.

Alexander Samarin made the best argument, by winning. He skated his short program about as well as he could have, complete with a beautiful quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop jump combination. He landed it again in his long program, though when he tried a second quad toe, he didn’t pull off that one. If the program after that wasn’t quite perfect, it wasn’t too far off. Silver went to his Junior Worlds teammate Alexander Petrov. Petrov too skated a clean short, without trying a quad. He held onto a quad toe in his free, where he nearly went clean, although one combination already gone wrong ended in a nasty collision with the boards. That likely cost him the segment, but Samarin would’ve won overall anyway.

Petrov was never really in consideration for the World team. He simply has neither the results nor the history. Had past champion Sergei Voronov, on the other hand, won spectacularly enough, perhaps he would’ve made an argument. But instead he only got bronze. His short program, with an underrotated quad and doubled lutz, was practically an argument against him. He saved face with a cleaner free program, but even there he had two underrotations, one the quad again.

Makar Ignatov led the other junior men by only a point after his short, where he didn’t quite land his triple axel. But his free featured two clean axels. It also featured an underrotation and wrecked closing spin, so it was a relatively close win, but still a firm one. Meanwhile, there was initially less than a quarter of a point between second and sixth. Evgeni Semenenko, the one in sixth, had been a little awkward in the short, but landed the triple axel. He landed the best one of the night in a stronger free, and would’ve won except he fell on a lutz. As it was, he inched out second. No one else landed a good triple axel in the free, so his usual clean, entertaining skates without any got Ilia Skirda third.

Ladies

Had Elena Radionova and Maria Sotskova both competed here, perhaps the results of this competition would have become a factor in deciding which of them went to Worlds. However, neither of them did. Ultimately, two of the medalists, including the winner, and three of the top five weren’t even old enough to go to Worlds anyway.

Polina Tsurskaya may have had her setbacks this season, but she showed some strength by winning the senior ladies event. Her short was flawless, with one of the three triple lutz-triple toes landed that night. The triple lutz-triple toe-double toe she opened her long with looked almost as good. This program wasn’t perfect; she underrotated the two-jump triple-triple before doubling a salchow. But on that night, no one else managed to land a difficult two-jump triple-triple either. And really, the rest of it was too beautiful for anyone to care. She won by over ten points.

2015 World Champion Elizaveta Tuktamisheva did compete, though her performance this season had pretty much eliminated her from consideration already. It didn’t help that her triple-triple combination remains only a triple toe-triple toe. She also doubled a lutz badly in the short, which left her in fourth. Things did go a little better for her in the free.  She still had a singled flip and underrotated double. But her clean elements, including her easier triple-triple, were some of the best ones of the night. She came within half a point of winning the free skate, and easily rose up to take silver.

Lower-ranked Natalia Ogoreltseva was a very surprising second after the short, where she skated clean with the unusual triple loop-triple loop. Inconsistent junior star Alisa Fedichkina, perhaps, was a little less of a surprise in third. She landed another one of the night’s triple lutz-triple toe combinations, though she underrotated an axel and also had trouble with a spin. Ogoreltseva took herself out with a free that had only one clean triple jump, dropping to eighth. Poor Fedichkina nearly held onto third. But in her free, she underrotated the triple-triple, singled the axel, and messed up both triples in her three-jump. It was one too many mistakes, and she slipped to fourth by a point.

She who moved in front of her was a bigger surprise. Young Valeria Mikhailova, eleventh at Nationals, was right behind Tuktamisheva after a short where she underrotated her triple flip-triple toe. In the free, she didn’t try the triple-triple, instead putting together two combinations not that much easier. She had enough content that even with an underrotated loop, she managed the highest technical tariff after Tsurskaya. When she then landed everything except that loop, bronze was hers.

Alena Leonova was even more out of consideration than Elizaveta Tuktamisheva, but she showed up anyway to round out the top five. Like Tuktamisheva, she landed beautiful triple toe-triple toes in both programs. But throughout her two programs, she only rotated one other triple, and she met with double axel disaster in both as well.

Anastasia Gubanova tried to make up for her Junior Nationals, winning the junior competition here. But it was surprisingly close. She won on the strength of a clean short, though her triple lutz-triple toe wasn’t the lightest. It looked better in her long, but her one mistake, singling out the end of her triple lutz-triple toe-double toe attempt, cost her the segment. Fellow JGP finalist Elizaveta Nugumanova was not so lucky. She had a competition too much like Junior Nationals and finished tenth. Viktoria Vasilieva and Alexandra Trusova, who will be old enough for junior internationals next year, took silver and bronze with clean skates. Vasilieva won the free, though she only did her triple-triple in the short. Trusova’s not as polished, but she did the triple lutz-triple toe in both programs, and had a triple lutz-triple loop in her long, which no one else even tried.

Pairs

The three pairs teams that will go to Worlds were pretty much settled already, and none of them competed. Kristina Astakhanova & Alexei Rogonov, fourth at Russian Nationals, were the strongest pair here. They also went for the most ambitious side by side content. They didn’t pull any of it off clean, but they came close on their solo salchows in the short and their salchow three-jump in the long. The latter was, in fact, the closest any team came to a clean side by side with a triple in it that night. They also landed difficult throw jumps in both programs, when only one other team managed it in one of them.

Alisa Efimova & Alexander Korovin landed the competition’s only clean salchows in a good short. That was enough to leave them only a point behind the leaders. But when they tried them again in the free, she underrotated and fell, costing them their combination. To make matters worse, the technical panel invalidated their death spiral. Pulling off their easier jump elements secured them an easy silver. The rest of the field was much further back.

For third, Maria Chuzhanova & Denis Mintsev initially led Anastasia Poluianova & Maksim Selkin after the short. Chuzhanova & Mintsev had pulled off the elements clean, and with some elegance. Poluianova & Selkin had fought for their elements, including a throw flip, but had trouble touching down on their split twist. In the long, both teams tried nothing harder than triple toes, and neither team managed them. Poluianova & Selkin’s salchows came to the same fate as Efimova & Korovin’s. But when both teams more or less pulled everything else off, the deciding factor was ultimately the presentation scores. Poluianova & Selkin got much higher, enough to surpass the other team to claim the bronze.

There was little more than a point between the top three junior pairs after the short. Nika Osipova & Alexander Gallyamov led with a clean short with a throw flip and high quality. Ekaterina Borisova & Dmitri Sopot were in second with a clean but easier short. Daria Kvartalova & Alexei Sviatchenko were in third when she went down on their side by sides. Sviatchenko would go down in the free for more side by side woes, but they offset that with their quad split twist. That was enough to win when the two teams ahead of them had more technical woes. Osipova & Gallyamov had enough trouble on their side by sides to drop to third. Borisova & Sopot also continued to struggle technically, but just held onto second on presentation scores.

Dance

Had there been a third berth to Worlds, perhaps after Europeans the Russian federation might have insisted it be contested here. But with only two, and both decisively settled, none of the four teams that had ever contended for them bothered show. With them all out, Tiffany Zagorski & Jonathan Guerreiro, fifth at Russian Nationals, went unchallenged for the gold. They got the highest technical tariff in both segments and performed with an ease beyond that of any of the other teams.

Betina Popova & Sergei Mozgov arrived looking to make a statement after failing to get an invite to Nationals. They made it with a sophisticated short dance, a high-energy free dance, and a silver medal. For the last, though, they required some help from the bronze medalists. Half a year after she decided to switch from pairs to dance, Vasilia Davankova & Anton Shibnev had some trouble in the short dance, where she fell going into their step sequence. That left them in third, some way behind. They came in second in the free dance with a clean and very graceful performance. But they didn’t beat Popova & Mozgov by nearly enough.

Alla Loboda & Pavel Drozd won the junior title, avoiding the free dance woes that cost them the gold at Junior Nationals. The other two teams headed for Junior Worlds didn’t compete, but Sofia Polishchuk & Alexander Vakhnov, who’d just missed qualifying, did skate, and claimed silver. While firmly on a level below Loboda & Drozd, they skated very well here, and even got the highest technical tariff of the free dance. Elizaveta Khudaberdieva & Nikita Nazarov won the bronze in a similar manner.

View full results here (in Russian).

Next: Four Continents Tries Out Pyeongchang’s Ice Arena

The Russian federation will hopefully announce the World team sooner rather than later, and in all likelihood sometime before the end of the month.