1997 Cup of Russia - Report

by Tatjana Flade

The Russian team captured nine out of twelve medals at the Cup of Russia, the fifth competition in this season's Champions Series. Irina Slutskaya, Elena Sokolova, Alexei Yagudin, Evgeni Pliushenko, Marina Eltsova/Andrei Bushkov, Evgenia Shishkova/Vadim Naumov and Anzhelika Krylova/Oleg Ovsiannikov qualified for the Champions Series Final in Munich. Russia will have, again, the biggest team in the final.

Ladies

The ladies' short program was full of falls and mistakes. Irina Slutskaya took the lead in spite of a double lutz. The triple lutz becomes more and more Irina's most dreaded jump. While she did some clean triple lutzes in practice, she couldn't do them in competition. She also faltered in the free program, falling on the lutz. She also two-footed a triple loop and singled her flip. After that poor performance, the 18-year old European Champion left the ice in tears and didn't even wait to see her relatively high marks. She won the competition, but wasn't happy with it. "I didn't skate well", Irina said. Elena Sokolova was second in the free and overall. The 17-year old from Moscow had singled her loop in the short (to Russian folk music) She produced five clean triples in the free skating (including a triple salchow-triple loop combo), but doubled a lutz and a flip and landed the second lutz on two feet. She should have been placed first, since she also has a nice style. She expressed the character of her music from the musical "Stepping out" well. Olga Markova, the former European silver medalist, was third, but had mistakes in short and long program. Olga even had worked with coach Stanislav Zhuk during the summer to improve her jump technique. She produced two triple lutz-double toe combinations in her program, which is already a progress. Her mature style and beautiful spirals weren't matched by anybody in the field. French Champion Surya Bonaly was second after the short - and she was the only one to skate a clean short. However, the judges placed her second, because she did triple toe-triple toe and triple salchow instead of a triple lutz combination. The five time European Champion hasn't recovered yet from her achilles tendon rupture (right foot), she sustained more than a year ago. Lutz, flip and loop are still very difficult for her to do. Additionally, Bonaly suffered from pain in her left knee and complained that she hardly could move it. European bronze medalist Yulia Lavrenchuk from the Ukraine had poor performances and finished 8th only. Nicole Bobek (USA) fell on her triple flip and two-footed the lutz in her short. In the nicely choreographed long program to Liszt's "Liebestraum" (Dream of love) and other classic pieces, she fell twice, doubled a toe and a salchow and remained 6th.

Men

For Alexei Yagudin, this Olympic Season has an amazing beginning. He won two competitions in Finland and Israel before winning his first Champions Series competition in Paris. He moved on to his hometown of St. Petersburg to take the fourth gold in a row. His short program had already an outstanding quality - triple axel-triple toe and triple lutz as well as the double axel, the spins and step sequences were very well executed. The 17-year old World bronze medalist also had visibly worked on his presentation. "At the Worlds in Lausanne, I realized that jumps are not enough to reach the top", he said. For the short program, coach Alexei Mishin and choreographer Evgeni Seryozhnikov chose Russian gypsy music, for the long music by the contemporary Russian composer Sviridov who works in the tradition of classical music. In this long, Yagudin nailed eight triples (including two triple-triple combos) and a quadrouple toe, and brought the audience to its feet. He couldn't believe it and said that it was the best performance of his life so far. He received one 5.8 and six 5.9s for technique and also 5.8s and 5.9s for presentation. Evgeni Pliushenko, who trains daily with Yagudin and Alexei Urmanov in St. Petersburg with the same coach, was technically equal to Yagudin in the short. He started strongly with triple lutz-triple toe and triple axel-triple toe, but fell on his second axel. His spins are really fast, and he remains the only male skater to do a Biellmann-spin. Pliushenko, who just had turned 15 November 3rd, already has a good presentation for his age. "On the ice, he is quite grown up", his choreographer Seryozhnikov said.

Viatcheslav Zagarodniuk from the Ukraine wasn't skating in a league with those two in St. Petersburg. While his artistry is still superior (he stuck to last year's programs "Tango" and "Battle on the Ice - Alexander Nevski"), he had some problems with his jumps. In the free, he fell on triple flip and the second triple axel, doubled lutz and salchow, two footed a triple toe and a triple lutz. However, the 1996 European Champion was not unhappy. "I did my job here", he said. After boot problems he still is catching up. He also moved to Richmond (near Washington, USA) in September to train, because the rink in Odessa shut down. Michael Weiss (USA) did only two clean triples (lutz and axel), but faltered on the rest of his "Beethoven" program unfortunaly. He finished fourth.

Pairs

Only six pairs competed in St. Petersburg, because some couples had withdrawn due to injury. The Germans Peggy Schwarz/Mirko Müller, for example, were forced to withdraw because Peggy had hit Mirko practising a twist and broke his nose. Pair skating is the most dangerous category!

Evgenia Shishkova/Vadim Naumov, back this season after a long history of illness and injuries, surprisingly won the short. They skated well to Bach's "Toccata", whereas European Champions Marina Eltsova/Andrei Bushkov made a rarely seen mistake in the death spiral. In the long program, both pairs had some minor mistakes, but the judges preferred the performance of Eltsova/Bushkov. They skate to "Lord of Dance", which is similar to Irish folk music. They have innovative costumes, and include some new moves in their program, for example an interesting variety of the death spiral, were Bushkov helds his partner on one arm and one leg. Canada's Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon and Luc Bradet were happy winners of the bronze medal. "We take so much from there", Savard-Gagnon said. "We learn from being in the practice and warm up with the Russian pairs", Bradet added. "They skate so fast!" The Canadians skated a clean short, but she fell on the triple toe in the long.

Dance

Anzhelika Krylova proved again that she is the best Carmen on ice. (currently, however, we won't forget Katarina Witt). Again, she played with poor Oleg Ovsiannikov and ripped out his heart. The routine has improved again compared to Gelsenkirchen. "For us, each early competition in the season is like a practice", Krylova observed. They received two 6.0s for artistic impression. They won't get those 6.0s for their Original Dance, however. While it is technically well executed, it lacks the real feeling, power and atmosphere other couples show. For Irina Lobatcheva/Ilia Averbukh, for example, the Rock'n Roll is just the right dance to express their youthful temperament. Their free dance, however, doesn't fulfill somehow the expectations. Their "Jesus Christ Superstar" isn't so interesting, even boring in some places. Tatiana Navka/Nikolai Morozov, skating together only their second season, captured the bronze with three nice performances. Their Rock'n Roll is still one of the best ones, and their free dance to Bach's "Toccata and Fugue" is a pleasure to watch. This couple improved amazingly fast and should make the top ten already in Olympics and Worlds.

Anna Semenovitch/Vladmir Fyodorov (former partner of Krylova) were already a big step behind them. Their "Malaguena" free dance looks hasty, even brutal, has too hard and too many movements in it. They should try to calm down a bit.

News from Alexei Urmanov

Olympic Champion Alexei Urmanov didn't skate in St. Petersburg. He withdrew, as he had from Skate America. Urmanov is practising, but he can't do triple axel and triple lutz. He hopes to be ready for the Russian Nationals (December 11th to 14th). "Even if he doesn't compete this season, that doesn't mean that he will dissapear from the skating scene", coach Mishin said. "The skating needs Urmanov, because it is going in the wrong direction. We need skaters that combine artistry and technique like he does."

Copyright © November 29, 1997 by Tatjana Flade

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