Saturday, January 22, 2011

Revisiting Russian Nationals

Ah Saransk...

City of few hotels, cheap taxis, and adjoining rivers...how interesting thou are. Even more interesting is the fact that last month the city played host to the Russian National Championships.

If you look at the results I don't think there is a whole lot that one wouldn't expect. The men's winner, Konstantin Menshov, reeled off two quads in a Plushenkoesque Michael Jackson free skate that brought modest applause from the audience at the end. My favorite part is the 45 seconds or so you spend in an Aviary...



In pairs, new champions were crowned when newly formed team of Volosozhar and Trankov threw done a very solid program to Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. The two sets of side-by-side triple jumps were super impressive. This team can't compete internationally just yet but when they do they'll be top contenders.



For ice dance, Bobrova and Soloviev have solitified themselves as the top Russian team moving forward. I'm not sure they are quite yet ready to be considered top contenders yet (although they did place 4th at the Grand Prix Final), they are certainly a team to watch going forward (as are the gazillion Russian Junior Teams). Russia barely hit the ice dance podium in 2010...lots of work to do before 2014 when the Olympics are in Russia.



Finally the ladies, where young Adelina Sotnikova jumped her little butt off on her way to a win. She's only 14 so we wont see her at Europeans or Worlds but there is a spark here! In other news, Ksenia Makarova finished 5th...wamp wamp.



Someone did a nice job of organizing the full results on Wikipedia...take a peak.

Next Post: Back to B.C.

1 comment:

Queen of the Road said...

Took that peek and saw Artur Dmitriev Jr. came in 7th. His dad is one of my all-time faves. Since Jr. is only 18, I hope this means we'll get to see him in the future. I'd love to see if he takes after his father.