At the recently concluded 2022 European Figure Skating Championships, Russian athletes shined, not only winning 4 gold medals, but also sweeping the podium in pairs skating and women's singles, and winning gold and silver medals in ice dance events.
In particular, it is worth mentioning the Russian three pairs of old and new pairs skaters, who have strong strength and obvious advantages at the European Championships, and will be the most important opponents of the Chinese duo sui Wenjing/Han Cong and Peng Cheng/Jin Yang at the Beijing Winter Olympics to compete for medals and attack the highest podium.
Mishna/Gallamov
St. Nova world champions Misna/Gallamov are strong contenders for the gold medal in pair skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics, and after entering the senior group in 2020, their upward momentum is very rapid, and they beat Sui Wenjing/Han Cong to win the championship at the 2021 World Championships, when Misna was not yet 20 years old and Gallamov was 21 years old. According to the latest is the ISU world rankings, they are ranked first.
Although the duo is young, their free skating program is majestic and expressive, using music based on pushkin's short story "The Tempest" of the same name, as well as the music with strong Russian elements of "Time, Forward!" " programming is more difficult. At this European Championship, Mishna/Gallamov performed perfectly, especially in free skating, Sahov shocked everyone with 3 weeks of jumping, 3 weeks of twisting, 3 weeks of throwing and 4 levels of lifting were done cleanly, and finally won their first European championship with a short program of 82.36 points, a free skating score of 157.46 points, and a total score of 239.82. Clean and precise movements are their biggest advantages, and after the game, Mishnah said: "Although I was a little nervous, I knew that as long as the movements were clean, the results would naturally be good. ”
Boykova/Kozlovsky
Another pair of young pair skaters in Russia, Boykova Kozlovsky, won the bronze medal. They won the European Championships in the 2019-2020 season and made a splash, and at the 2021 World Championships, they also finished first after the short program and finished third. The youngsters are younger, with Boykova celebrating her 20th birthday on Jan. 20, and Kozlovsky just 22. At this European Championship, they made a mistake in the three-week single jump of the short program Sahov, but they quickly adjusted and contributed a highly complete performance in the free skating, scoring their season-high 150.97 points and finishing third with a total score of 227.23 points. Being able to quickly adjust from the setback and play at their highest level in the later matches is the biggest gain for the youngsters at this European Championship.
Tarasova/Morozov
The runner-up at this European Championship was Russian "veteran" Tarasova/Morozov. They finished fourth at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and are the only player in the three pairs with Winter Olympic experience. Despite scoring their best 154.85 points of the season in free skating, Morozov, 29, said it wasn't their best performance. Unlike the musical style of the two pairs of compatriots, their free-sliding track "Lighthouse" is sung in a shallow and low voice, which can better show the tacit understanding between the pace and breathing of the two veterans.
In the current world rankings, Sui Wenjing/Han Cong and Peng Cheng/Jin Yang are ranked 3rd and 5th respectively, and the three pairs of Russian players are ranked 1st, 2nd and 4th. Kirsten Moore-Torres/Michael Marinaro, who have just won the pair skating championship at the Canadian Championships, have confirmed their participation in the Beijing Winter Olympics and are currently ranked 6th in the world and 11th at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. In the U.S. pair skating, the new U.S. champions Kane Griebler/Leduc were successfully selected for the Winter Olympic squad. The world-ranked 7th-ranked Nereem/Fraser combination has locked up another Winter Olympic spot despite withdrawing from the domestic selection tournament due to the new crown pneumonia infection of the male partner. Neelim won a bronze medal in the team competition with her husband at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and in 2020 she partnered Fraser to prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics.
At the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Sui Wenjing/Han Cong lost the gold medal by only 0.43 points and won a silver medal. Now that the two have recovered from injuries, the action arrangement has also increased the difficulty rating, on the basis of maintaining the advantages of difficulty and synchronization, the program arrangement has also made great adjustments, and the difficulty of lifting has been upgraded, although the music of the 2016-2017 season "Golden Bridge on the River of Sorrows" has been used, but the "Onion Barrel Combination" is ready to perform a new version of "Golden Bridge" at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Peng Cheng/Jin Yang also has winter Olympic experience, although they failed to enter the free skating in Pyeongchang, but the two who started again in the Beijing cycle have been reborn and improved, especially after Peng Cheng strengthened the training of personal shortcomings and strived to break the "single jump curse", their "China story" is worth looking forward to.
Image source ISU