The battle between the girls at the World Junior Championships in Taiwan left mixed impressions. On the one hand, gold for the second consecutive time went to the excellent Japanese single skater Mao Shimada, who has a triple axel and a quadruple toe loop. On the other hand, the referees were not at all favorable to the former Russian figure skater Inga Gurgenidze and from the first day they made it clear that it would be extremely difficult for her to get on the podium.
Inga worked hard and took the risk of testing two triple axles at the same time in her free program.
Unfortunately, he will bring nothing but disappointment from the defeat to his native Kazan from distant Taiwanese Taipei.
Students Rozanova and Plushenko were not liked in the short program
In the short program at the World Junior Championships, neither girl took a chance on the ultra-c. Only the Korean Jia Shin and the Japanese Mao Shimada managed to surpass the 70-point mark with a series of standard jumps. On the first day of competition they obtained 73.48 and 72.60 points, respectively. His closest pursuer, another Japanese singles player, Ikura Kushida, received 66.61 points. The rest of the participants are even smaller.
Former Russian and now Azerbaijani Sabina Aliyeva fell twice and did not qualify for the free skate. Our other compatriot Polina Dzhumaniyazova, representative of Hungary, miraculously did not abandon the competitive race, but still she closed the coveted top 24 at the end of the short race. Both Sabina and Polina train under the well-known Sergei Rozanov, who once worked in Khrustalny with Tutberidze.
Sergei Rozanov
Photo: RIA Novosti
Sofia Shifrina from Plushenko’s Angels didn’t skate very well either. She did not fall, but she made a serious mistake in the waterfall, so she had to defend Israel’s honor from the current 22nd place.
Kazan figure skater Inga Gurgenidze showed herself best among the former Russians in the short. The 14-year-old athlete skated cleanly under the Georgian flag, but modest bonuses for the quality of execution of elements (GOE) and her low components did not allow her to surpass the seventh position. The judges rated Inga’s performance with 62.28 points. The difference with the first two places seemed insurmountable: more than 10 points. However, it was possible and necessary to fight for the third step of the podium.
And Inga really prepared to fight! I opted for two triple axels at a time, although during the season I only attempted one in competitions.
What was the worst rental of the tournament?
I fell off everything I could! The British champion failed and scored 31.48 in the Junior World Cup
Is the former Russian with triple ax condemned?
In the free skate of the World Junior Championships, Inga Gurgenidze performed in the penultimate warm-up. She stepped out onto the ice with remarkable excitement, but as soon as she took the starting position, her eyes lit up with determination. Unfortunately, she fell from the first triple Axel, but that did not dampen her desire to conquer the treacherous jump. Inga threw three and a half again and this time she resisted! Upon landing, however, she spun a little, so the planned waterfall with a double sheepskin coat did not work. And there was really no point in doing it: the judges only counted the shaft and did not give any points for the sheepskin coat.
The skater tackled the rest of the jumps without problems, but the GOE again did not favor her. Some referees even rejected her solo triple flip for an unclear lead and noted complaints about two rotations.
Inga Gurgenidze
Photo: Toru Hanai/International Skating Union via Getty Images
Inga was not at all satisfied with the scores: they only gave her 110.59. It’s as if the triple axis didn’t exist! It turned out that in both ultra-ifs she was found to be underdrawn. In the first trixel, more than half a revolution, in the second, less than half, but more than a quarter. Because of this, the score for the technique decreased and the foreign judges, as expected, did not want to award the former Russian with components. The final sum of 172.87 points left Inga only in 12th place.
This seemed especially offensive against the background of the 111.22 points of the free skate of the Korean Yuson Kim, who came onto the ice immediately after Inga. Not only did he fall from a solo triple Axel, but he also missed a triple flip. For some reason, the referees considered that the skate with two falls deserved higher components – Yuson surpassed Inga in them by almost two points!
And although the Korean lost in the general classification, it is all too obvious that our Kazan single skater was evaluated at the World Junior Championships with some kind of unhealthy prejudice.
More about Inga Gurgenidze:
A former Russian with a trixel will go to the Junior World Championships. But the Japanese opponent jumps quadrupled.
Only the Japanese woman showed off her quadruple jump
The girls’ battle in the strongest warm-up was marked by the dramatic failure of Japan’s Ikura Kushida. Having shown the third result in the short program, she was never able to get a place on the podium. The single skater slightly missed the first stage and fell twice: with a double Axel and a triple loop. She also had difficulty mastering the final waterfall and scored only 114.36 points in the free skate. The reserve after the short helped her complete the final top five, but this is definitely not the goal she was striving for at the World Junior Championships.
The bronze unexpectedly went to Japanese figure skater René Uezono, who came in eighth place after the short. The athlete performed all elements perfectly and set a personal record in the free program – 132.74 points. He received a total of 194.70 and couldn’t even get close to the 200 mark.
Only leaders Mao Shimada of Japan and Jia Shin of South Korea were able to surpass this level. Mao was the only one of all the participants who balanced on the quad. He landed the quadruple sheepskin coat with such ease and confidence that he eclipsed the step of the triple axis that preceded him. Then Mao floated around the Taipei stadium as if he had wings, not allowing a single mistake. The spectators greeted the Japanese enthusiastically and probably felt that the winner was skating in front of them.
The judges expressed their sympathy for Mao with excellent scores: 145.76 points in the free skate and 218.36 in the general classification. Last year, at the Junior World Championships, he scored more, but what a difference it makes, because he still won the second gold of the main competition! It was clear that Jia Shin, who closed the competition, would not catch up. Unless he suddenly “bombs” the ultra-if, which he had not seen before.
Mao Shimada
Photo: Toru Hanai/International Skating Union via Getty Images
But there were no sensations on Gia’s part. She relied on a series of standard jumps and clean, beautiful skating. However, she couldn’t make the most: the last combined rotation disappointed her a little. This stain did not ruin the impression of her magnificent performance, but it slightly reduced the judges’ points. Gia obtained 138.95 points for the free program and 212.43 points for the sum of the two programs.
The Korean greeted her well-deserved silver without smiling. Maybe she thought she had struck gold, even if she didn’t have any ultra-ifs? Then it’s time for her to go study them in the off-season. The temporary absence of Russian women from international competitions is not a reason for stagnation.
