Couples

March 16
Short program.
1. Anna Dushkova / Martin Bidar (Czech Republic) - 64.71.
2. Anastasia Mishina / Vladislav Mirzoev (Russia) - 59.50.
3. Renata Hovhannisyan / Mark Bardei (Ukraine) - 59.30.
4. Ekaterina Borisova / Dmitry Sopot - 58.56 ...

11. Anastasia Gubanova / Alexey Sintsov (both pairs - Russia) - 45.07.

March 17
Final position.
1. Anna Dushkova / Martin Bidar (Czech Republic) - 181.82.
2. Anastasia Mishina / Vladislav Mirzoev (Russia) - 172.60.
3. Ekaterina Borisova / Dmitry Sopot (Russia) - 169.00 ...

11. Anastasia Gubanova / Alexey Sintsov (Russia) - 123.90.

The champions of the Russian youth championship in pair skating, 14-year-old Anastasia Mishina and 19-year-old Vladislav Mirzoev, won silver for the first time in their careers at their debut World Junior Championships. Together, the guys skate for two years in the Sports School (St. Petersburg) with the coaches Nikolai and Lyudmila Velikov. After the performance, the athletes talked about the past start.

Vladislav: “It was a good ride. True, there was one mistake on the cascade, the last jump should be a double ritberger, and we both did a single one.

I was born in Vladikavkaz and started skating there. I started skating at the age of 11, which is critically late for figure skating. At first I did it for myself, for my health. Then came the results. Fate turned out that for two seasons he moved to Rostov-on-Don, and from there to St. Petersburg.

Nastya is my first serious partner, although when I joined the pair skating group with our Velikov coaches, I first studied and skated with a little girl, then there was another partner, and then they asked me to stand up with Nastya, and everything worked out. For the newly formed couple, the elements went quickly. There were some "gags" on some, in particular, the todes of all the elements were taught for a long time. But everything went well. Of course, there are sometimes small fights, but it's all work. We are both ambitious people with character. Since we want to achieve a result, sometimes we defend our point of view, which is why it is not immediately possible to find a compromise. But all the same, after some time we find a common language, because we understand that we are dependent on each other. The overall result is important.

We had a lot of Russian starts, we rolled programs on them and gained experience so that we would not worry at the main competitions. The World Championship is the 13th start of the season for us, and the third international one. I will express our general opinion by saying that it is comfortable for us to train in this group. It's good that we have male and female trainers. Lyudmila Georgievna helps in some way, Nikolai Matveyevich sees and corrects some mistakes. I think that Nastya and I were lucky. We wanted to win, but for the debut world championship and with the condition of how this season began, we have fulfilled our task. "

Anastasia: "Vlad is my second partner, he is the leader in our pair. We are quite comfortable skating together. We understand each other very well."

The coach of the sports couple Lyudmila Velikova: “The season for the guys turned out to be quite difficult. This is already the 13th start for the guys.

The advantage of this pair is in working capacity. They are very hardworking and disciplined. The boy is very demanding of himself and his partner. She is a second year student at the institute. He takes all the exams, tests himself, without any help. An incredibly disciplined guy. With Nastya it is a little more difficult, but with the help of my mother, me, she listens to the opinion of her partner. Nastya is now going through a difficult period - 14 years. And at this age it seems that you already understand everything yourself, but here you have to obey. But she is very submissive in her work.

Their second plus: they jump. Although two years ago Nastya did not jump anything yet. Jumping is fine now. At the last stage of the Russian Cup in Moscow, we tried a three-three cascade. Made. But it was dangerous to do the cascade now. The guys are the debutants of the World Championship, and this is nerves. For them, everything is for the first time. So it was more correct to show what has been worked out well. And what the guys showed in Debrecen is colossal. All the same, I was upset that we "let it go" here. Although objectively speaking, it was unrealistic for us to win. What we were given after the short program, and, in principle, we delivered correctly - the Czechs skated very well, did not allow us to bypass the rivals. If we were in the same warm-up, we might have lost a point, and not so much and had a chance to win back in the end.

Nikolai Matveyevich Velikov loves Nastya very much. And if not for him, the girl might not have "cut through". He believes in her very much. Feels sorry for her. This is also important. I'm more strict. And Nikolai Matveyevich is gentle, does not allow the girls to offend. We work in different ways. And this variety always gives an advantage. "

Based on interviews with Olga Ermolina
Photo by Mikhail Sharov and Anastasia Mishina

All figure skating fans love to watch their favorite skaters perform. Of particular interest is the gathering of world-class figure skaters at the annual world championships. The 2016 World Figure Skating Championships will be held in America in the spring.

Less than a year is left before one of the most significant battles of athletes in this sport. The city of Boston is honored to host the most famous figure skaters. Spring days from March 28 to April 3 will be able to give figure skating fans a real extravaganza of beauty, the intensity of a stubborn struggle and the joy of stunning victories.

4 disciplines will be included in the fight for medals - women's and men's single skating, sports couples and ice dancing.

Competitions in all disciplines will be organized and held at the TD Garden stadium in the American city of Boston. This sports arena is also called Boston Garden or simply Garden. The International Skating Union (ISU) made this choice for a reason.

Boston's huge sports array serves as a venue for NHL hockey battles, NBA basketball games, as well as gymnastics, boxing and various shows.

World-famous figure skaters have already competed at this skating rink, in the distant 2001.

Boston Garden can host up to eighteen thousand spectators from all over the world at the same time in its stands.

Time spending

The timing of the championship is logically justified. The end of March and the beginning of April are the period of peak form for many athletes, this is the time when skaters will be able to show the best results. Long-term preparatory training, the finished championships of the participating countries of the competition will help to identify and send the most powerful athletes of this sport to the world championship.

Ticket prices start at $ 250 for balconies and up to $ 1300 for VIP seats.

Spring is the time of the last start of the season, as a result of all the achievements of the skaters over the past year. The 2016 World Figure Skating Championships is included in the season schedule of all global competitive events.

Participant selection criteria

There is a limited age limit for figure skaters wishing to compete in the World Championships. Participants must not be at least the next 1 July 2000, i.e. the youngest skater must not be under 15 years old. All competing athletes will represent ISU member countries. Each country can apply for participation in any discipline from one to three people. The minimum number - one - for each type of skiing is the default.

In order to exhibit a greater number of representatives at the World Championship, one more indicator must be present - the prospective participants before the World Championship must receive a minimum mark for technique at international competitions. For men, this is 20 points in the short program and 35 in the free program, for women, respectively, 15 and 25, in pair skating you need to score 17 and 30, for dancing these indicators are 17 and 27.

All applications for participation in the World Championship in 2016 are formed according to the final results of competitions of the same rank in 2015. Each country's association is free to select candidates according to its own criteria. Very often, a team of skaters is formed based on the results of the European Championship preceding the world competition. If the athletes did not take the first 18 places in singles competitions, in ice dancing - 15, and in sports pairs - 12 in the previous year, then they will have to qualify for selection for the world championship.

It should be noted that no country received the maximum number of athletes in each discipline. The Americans are closest to Russia in terms of the number of applications, but they cannot exhibit three skaters in men's and pair skating.

2016 will mark the 120th anniversary of the organization of the first world-class figure skating competition. The first world championship was "available" only to male athletes. Since 1902, a single woman - Medge Sayers Cave - joined the "company" of men.

The famous Ulrich Salchow won this competition, after whom one of the jumps in figure skating was named. Women's competitions among world figure skaters began to be organized 4 years later (1906). Two years later (1908), another discipline joined the world championship - the greenhouse competition.

The 1930 World Championships brought all three figure skating together for the first time, and the Dancer Competition is the last figure skating discipline to become permanent in world-class competition. This happened relatively recently, only in 1952 in the capital of France. Since then, 4 unchanged disciplines have been present in world-class competitions. Since 2009, an innovation has been introduced in figure skating - an unofficial world championship of competitions in the team championship is held.

Representative office of Russia

The results of world competitions in 2015 for Russian figure skaters will make it possible to present the following number of participants in 2016 by type:

• men - 2;
• women - 3;
• pairs - 3;
• dancing - 2.

In order for the dancers to be able to represent three participants, in the 2015 World Championship it was necessary to try and score two pairs in total of no more than 13 places, while our athletes “went over”, taking seventh and eighth places. Thus, the total of places was 15, which means a negative verdict for the third dance couple at the 2016 World Championship.

Unfortunately, men were also unable to provide our country with the maximum quota. Maxim Kovtun and Sergei Voronov did not live up to their hopes for the possible representation of three male figure skaters at the next world championship, which is very sad.

The competition of very strong figure skating representatives from other countries of the world did not allow them to score the necessary points, and, consequently, to give a ticket to three male singles at the 2016 World Cup. The famous figure skater Evgeni Plushenko speaks about his participation in the 2016 World Championship. Already a three-time champion in these competitions, he wants to once again compete for victory with talented and less experienced singles.

Eugene is in excellent shape and is in a fighting mood. Men's figure skating has been short of gold medals for 10 years. The last time a Russian figure skater climbed to the first step of the podium was just Evgeny. This was in 2004.

After the triumphant victory of this Russian, none of the male single skaters from Russia managed to win the world championship. In any case, he will root for all our skaters in all other disciplines and hope that the forces will not let our athletes down and luck will be on their side.

Official website of the championship worlds2016.com

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The last chords of the melody of the final release of all the participants in the demonstration performances died down. Alex Shibutani took the traditional shared selfie, the skaters completed a lap of honor - and the Boston World Championships became history. We recall the brightest moments of the last tournament.

Triumph Medvedeva

There are several reasons for this, the main ones being unrecognized tendencies, injuries when learning new elements and the concentration of almost all top pairs in the hands of one coach. If the correct conclusions are not drawn in the shortest possible time, then we also may not see a single Russian duet on the Olympic podium.

Diagnosis - stiffness

He gave such a description to himself after the end of the free program, in which he took 21st place. You can’t blame it on youth and inexperience - for Maxim this is already the fourth world championship. Its result looks especially contrasting against the background of a debutant and a peer Mikhail Kolyada who almost got into the prizes. You can let all the dogs down on the athlete, accuse him of mediocrity and demand exclusion from the national team, but who will get better from this? Another thing is that there is no universal remedy that can cure the "stiffness" at major tournaments. It is possible that Kovtun will benefit from working with a psychologist. Be that as it may, Maxim needs to deal with his inner demons as soon as possible, otherwise even a newly-minted group partner will roll him over. Adian Pitkeev... That will actually close the doors of the national team in front of him. It is possible, forever.

Kolyada, Kolyada, open the gates

The performance of our skater made a splash. Already in the course of the season, experts of various nationalities noted the progress and quality of Misha's skating. In Boston, Kolyada did not make a single mistake, raising the hall, mostly rooting only for his own people. Best of all, the skating was summed up on one of the forums dedicated to figure skating: “Kolyada easily beat all mortals. And he entered into battle with four skating gods, one of which was outstripped. " If his forward movement continues, then at the 2018 Olympics there is a chance to get a Russian medalist, whose last name will not be at all Plushenko.

At someone else's disco

Of all the four types of the program, the most difficult thing for ours is in ice dancing. It was not possible to come close to completing the task of conquering three quotas. Sinitsina With Katsalapov and Stepanova With Bukin located on both sides of the 10th place, losing almost 30 points to the winners. The saddest thing is that there is no one behind them either. Ilinykh and Zhiganshin have a huge fan army, but the level of the Russian participants in the Boston tournament does not exceed. Talented juniors do not have any experience in adult competitions, and they will fill a lot of bumps along the way. Everything goes to the fact that in Pyeongchang ours will, at best, challenge the place in the final warm-up. True, there is still hope that Ekaterina Bobrova will give a minimum six months for the use of mildronate. But the chances of this, frankly, are not at all great.

Hidden records

In addition to two official world records, there was also a third. Technique score of 79.46 points Megan Duhamel and Erica Redford turned out to be the maximum for the entire time of the competition according to the new refereeing system. There is little surprising in this - the Canadian duo has always taken with technical skill and super-complex elements. In general, it is true that the technical record now belongs to them, because the students Richard Gaultier were among the first to start working in the direction of complicating elements.

And yet another record - this time in components - held out, albeit with difficulty. Skated like never before in my life Javier Fernandez received a mind-boggling amount in components, two of which - interpretation and choreography - deserved the maximum possible ten. But reach for the result Yuzuru Hanyu in the final of the Grand Prix a little failed - the champion of Sochi then received 0.2 points more.

Sad holiday

The Boston Tea Party came out with a slight shade of sadness. Thanks to the heroic girls who brightened up the result of the tournament, and even along the way brought the national team to the first place in the overall standings. Now someone has to rest, someone - work on mistakes, someone needs to prepare to participate in the commercial tournament Team Challenge Cup in three weeks. In the federation, it is also necessary to seriously think about so that the margin of safety won in Sochi does not finally fall with a swift jack. And the figure skaters who participated in the tournament, regardless of their place, should be thanked for the emotions presented to all of us.

At the ended World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, the level of competition was insane. Only in ice dancing, the French Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron, who took the lead after the first day, managed to win gold. All the talk that their short dance is not outstanding this season somehow subsided by themselves. For an arbitrary, now two-time world champions received such points that inevitably the question arises: how do you need to skate in order to improve them?

Jealousy inside

Of course, outstanding coaches and choreographers are now working in dances, who have far from exhausted their creative potential. The only pity is that Russian duets are far from being in the first positions in numerous groups. No matter what Marina Zueva or Igor Shpilband say about the fact that all students are given the same attention, and the result is determined by the rental at specific competitions, there is a gradation. As well as jealousy, which figure skaters as educated people try not to show to fans and journalists.

I wonder how the growing coaching duo Marie-France Dubreuil - Patrice Lozon will cope with this problem? While in their group, working in Montreal, the French were the undisputed leaders, but in the new season the Olympic champions of Vancouver and the silver medalists of Sochi Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir will start training there. While in Canada or the United States, coaches are not so dependent on federations, skaters from the Maple Leaf Country will clearly count on priority from their compatriots.

Some did not have time, others were "overripe"

The problem of a large group is also invisibly present at the Moscow skating rink, where Nina Moser, who has gathered under her wing all the best sports couples in Russia, is working. This season, as her ill-wishers constantly hinted, Moser, who took the leading roles during the preparation for the Sochi Olympics, tried to "dissolve" her main forces. The final of the Grand Prix series was missed by Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, the championships of Russia and Europe - Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov. Yes, the skaters had injuries, but there was no internal competition.

The Moser group was preparing for Boston in full force and very seriously. Unlike our girls, the hotbeds held an acclimatization camp in America. Only Moser failed to bring our leading duets to their peak form for the main start. There was not enough time to be recruited by Stolbova and Klimov, and Trankov and Volosozhar (especially from a partner) did not feel much motivation. Hence the mistake, simply inexplicable for two-time Olympic champions, when performing support in a free program. For this element, Tatiana and Maxim received a steering wheel and, as a result, in an arbitrary program for technique they had 15 points out of 16 participants. Hence the final sixth place.

The quieter you go, the further you'll get?

Such metamorphoses happened not only with our skaters. After the short program, they rushed to announce Yuzuru Hanyu as the new world champion for men. The gap from the closest pursuer of more than 12 points, combined with the authority of the Olympic champion, should have guaranteed the Japanese victory. Yes, only for the second year in a row Yuzuru gives a chance to the Spaniard Javier Fernandez, which he again took advantage of. As Brian Orser, who trains the undisputed leaders of men's figure skating this season, assures, there is no graduation by numbers in his group either.

Perhaps not, but there is an unbridled pursuit of complexity. Without five quadruple jumps in two programs, the Canadian coach will not bring his guys to the World Cup today. After all, the Chinese Boyang Jing, who became the bronze medalist for the first time, already has six of them in his arsenal! There is another way, though. Petersburg debutant Mikhail Kolyada included one quadruple in the short and free programs - and immediately took the fourth place. By the next season he promises to master another one. And only if he masters, he will include it in his programs.

This is not the roulette that Maxim Kovtun has been playing for the second season. Although the three-time champion of Russia himself claims: he succeeds in training, but at competitions he “stiffens”. No, no psychologist will help in such a situation. You just need to have the character that our skaters have.

Thank you competition

In the short program, Evgenia Medvedeva was unable to fulfill the planned cascade, but immediately got her bearings and “hooked” a triple toe loop to another triple jump in the second part of the program. Elena Radionova did the same at the Grand Prix finals. Well, Anna Pogorilaya, the nominal third number of the national team, it was in Boston that she issued unmistakable rentals of two programs, which brought her bronze.

Medvedeva took her own in an arbitrary, for which she received a record amount of points. Only the hypothetical Gold-Wagner could beat her. Yes, only Gracie flawlessly skated only the short one, and Ashley - the free one. Taking into account the enormous competition in the Russian women's team (we could send two or even three competitive teams to the world championship), even the problem of adolescence, with which Radionova suffered all season, does not cause much alarm.

Medvedeva is definitely a unique girl. Even Alexei Mishin, examining the jumping qualities of his rivals through a magnifying glass, admitted that she has unique abilities. Although next year, in order to defend the title won in Boston, she will have the hardest part at the Russian Championship in Chelyabinsk. She, too, has already reached the limit of possibilities. To improve the score at the 2016 World Cup, you need to either jump a triple axel without mistakes, or a quadruple jump. Otherwise, the girls from the next generation will be ahead of them, for whom, due to their age, it is technically easier to jump, and thoughts that interfere with the same Kovtun do not yet sit in their heads.

World Cup results 2016

Men. 1. Fernandez (Spain) - 314.93; 2. Hanyu (Japan) - 295.17; 3. Boyan Jin (China) - 270.99; 4. Kolyada - 267.97 ... 18. Kovtun (both - Russia) - 210.14. Women. 1. Medvedeva (Russia) - 223.86; 2. Wagner (USA) - 215.39; 3. Burned out - 213.69 ... 6. Radionova (both - Russia) - 209.81.

Sports couples. 1. Dugamel / Radford (Canada) - 231.99; 2. Sui Wenjin / Han Kon (China) - 224.47; 3. Savchenko / Masso (Germany) - 216.17; 4. Stolbova / Klimov - 214.48; 5. Tarasova / Morozov - 206.27; 6. Volosozhar / Trankov (all pairs - Russia) - 205.81.