news unrolled

Post: The foundations collapse. Why is Akatieva a fundamentally new champion of Russia?

Categories

The Russian figure skating championship was won by Sofia Akatieva, a 15-year-old student of Eteri Tutberidze, who defeated 16-year-old Olympic champion Kamila Valieva. RIA Novosti Sport explains why the country’s new champion is different from its predecessors

In women’s single skating, there has long been a certain algorithm of actions. I propose to conditionally call it a model named after Eteri Tutberidze. Here we have figure skater A – talented, successful, loved by all. Like a locomotive accelerating to its limit in the third part of Back to the Future, it burns all the opening for several years and rushes to perfection. And then suddenly it turned out that the roads end in a cul-de-sac, and behind the fence – a cliff. And no leap into the future, no break in the space-time continuum. There’s an abyss, that’s all.

At the finish line of this “locomotive”, the team of Eteri Georgievna prepares the next one for shipment, and the fuel is getting stronger each time. From the Lutz-Rittberger cascade to the quad jump avalanche. Moreover – to the perfect balance of technology and components. More, better, better quality, and most importantly – always on time. Very comfortable and modern.

Now, history seems to be repeating itself. Those who are at least not very interested in the issue of figure skating will look at the age of the winners and prize-winners of the Russian Championship in Krasnoyarsk and understand: yes, everything is as we guessed! 15-year-old Sofya Akatyeva wears the already 16-year-old “old woman” Kamila Valieva on her shoulder blades (in this movie she was given the role of “locomotive-1”, which is about to arrive at the terminal station at the bottom of the canyon), and 26-year-old Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, how it usually ends here vague (where does the “age police” look?!). All according to canons and testaments formed by the last two or three Olympic cycles, in which Tutberidze reigned.

In fact, in Krasnoyarsk, the youth had no dominance over the 16-17-year-old obsolete organisms. The victory of Akatieva is not like an easy march, in which young agile girls hug medals without really sweating. Note the points: Sofia scored 249.74 points in the two programs combined, performing two triple axes (one in the drop free program) and two excellent quad finger loops in these programs. Valieva has a 247.32 in a double somersault and lost difficulty levels in two free spins and a butterfly in Axel for short. This gap has been closed in two accounts.

Let’s face it: Even the fact that Camila only jumped two ultra-cs (four-toe loops in freestyle) against Sophia’s four certainly wouldn’t have easily prevented her from taking the gold if she managed to hold onto at least one of those turns. fourth level. So Akatieva did not go through the ice rink with her former rivals – she beat them with endurance and self-control, competing on absolutely equal terms. And it certainly wasn’t easy for him in this competition.

Remember that Sophia’s season started with a squeak. At the summer training camp in Novogorsk, he was ridiculously injured, completely by accident – during the escape, another figure skater of the Tutberidze team accidentally cut his leg with a skate close to the knee. It seems like nothing serious, but Sonya left the training process for three weeks. Pre-season training became more complex and as a result the form set stalled.

What emerged after that, which we can see for example in the fourth Grand Prix stage of the season in Moscow (where Sophia outstripped all ultra-c in the free program), did not allow herself to be a little doubtful, which emerged over the course of several months. to open up to its full potential. In addition, as far as I know, health problems have not completely disappeared. At least he sought medical attention at the end of the Grand Prix series – possibly on the knee. In other words, although the preparations for the Russian Championship are full-fledged, it certainly cannot be called cloudless.

Nevertheless, Sofia arrived in Krasnoyarsk amazingly, despite all the difficulties. Witnesses of official training (unfortunately closed to the press and spectators) said that he was the best both in skating and in the number of successfully performed ultra-si. There is an opinion that training means nothing – they say that you need to watch the skates and not deal with this nonsense, but here one naturally flowed into the other. While Valieva was battling herself and Tuktamysheva was building up energy for the final move, Akatieva showed how well prepared she was for the entire arena by doing a triple ax after a quad toe loop. An ecstatic silence flowed from the empty seats of the Platinum in response.

The only thing that could hold him back was the nerves from realizing that he had to fight for first place, not just to come and get it. In the year when Akatieva was 14 years old, for example, her colleague Adelia Petrosyan was already in St. Petersburg and she brought a respectable fourth place from the pre-Olympic championship. Sofia watched that tournament on TV – her date of birth interfered, so she will not enter adult international competitions for at least several years, according to the current age limit. If he had been born seven days earlier, he would have calmly gone to that Russian championship in St. Petersburg, where he could gain experience performing in a multi-thousand arena and feel the atmosphere of major competitions without participating in the medal section. . In a sense, sitting behind the Olympic troika, where they will not be allowed to beat for ethical reasons, but still get the maximum benefit for the future.

As a result, Sophia’s first Russian championship fell on the post-Olympic season, where she was perceived no longer as a teenager, but as a full-fledged leadership contender. High status that requires incredible endurance and self-control – qualities that are by no means childish. A young and slender body did not help Sophia – Camila’s technical kit was not much cheaper, and she made her quad sheepskin coats almost cleaner than Akat’eva (by the way, triple axles – like Tuktamysheva), and not superiority in the date of birth – He was not at all lucky with Sona. What helped him win was the fact that he collected himself in the defining moment of the season and did not leave himself a single opportunity to doubt his abilities, yet he was his main rival and for a moment the favorite of the competition in general. gave up. And most likely, purely mentally.

He had no other advantage. In essence, returning to the analogy at the beginning of the text: that “locomotive-1” (Valiev), that “locomotive-2” (Akatyeva) now runs along the tracks at the same speed and with the same traction, because in optimal conditions their technical sets are exactly the same. And most importantly – at the end of the path there is no abyss of either one or the second. They are not ready to fall. Both Valieva and Akatieva plan to plunge into their Future at full speed, correcting all the laws of Zrelozhenskaya logic, because an example of how it is possible – here she is sitting next to them at a press conference. The 15th Russian Championship swipes another medal. Stereotypes are crumbling before our eyes and far from the most positive foundations are crumbling, and that’s great.

That’s it – the future of Sofia Akatieva? The decision to raise the age limit to 17 at the summer congress of the ISU, thereby removing it from major international competitions for many years (at least three), and the current ban on Russian sports deprives Sofia of even an absolutely deserved opportunity. Gather a junior-level collection of titles. Instead of showing his strength and endurance to the whole planet, he will go to Perm for the Russian championship – and finish this season. Behind it will be exactly the same, then another and another …

How quickly will it get bored? And how quickly will all the other equally talented kids get bored of it? I don’t know, I don’t even want to think about it. I can only say one thing: End this discrimination for political reasons. From the fact that a brilliant athlete spends the best years of his career cooking in his own juice, literally everyone will lose.

The author’s opinion may differ from the editors’ position.

Source: Ria

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *