The results of the men's short program at the Beijing Games were somewhat predictable and equally sensational. American Nathan Chen, coached by Rafael Harutyunyan, won the short program with a new world record of 113.97 points, rewriting the previous achievement of the Japanese Yuzuru Hanyu, who in the end became the 8th (95.15). The second and third places were taken by Japanese figure skaters Yuma Kagiyama (108.12) and Shoma Uno (105.90). Three of our athletes Evgeny Semenenko, Mark Kondratyuk and Andrey Mozalev completed the rides on the 7th (95.76), 15th (86.11) and 23rd (77.05) places.
At the Olympic Games in Beijing, it was time for individual competitions. The first on
the ice were singles with short programs. Mark Kondratyuk started the first of our athletes, followed by Evgeny Semenenko and Andrey Mozalev. All our skaters made their debut at the Olympic Games.Mark Kondratyuk on the eve of the team of the Russian Olympic Committee won a gold medal. On the courage and adrenaline, the student of Svetlana Sokolovskaya could swing at a lot, but, as he himself explained, the emotions after the team tournament, albeit positive, are still devastating.
- Today's rental was not terrible, it was with mistakes. It's not good," Mark admitted.
- Didn't you have enough strength?
- They were absolutely gone last night, they had to be searched for in order to get out today at all.
- How to collect yourself for a personal tournament, when the main thing for yourself, for the team at these Games has already been done?
- That's not a reason to relax. Yesterday we won, but that doesn't mean I can go out and skate badly today. I don't think about yesterday's victory at all. I finish the personal tournament, where you can already rejoice, somewhere to be sad. Now you just need to get together and try to rehabilitate yourself in an arbitrary one.
- After a team tournament, is it emotionally difficult to go to a personal one?
- Well, yes. Inner devastation. Nice, but devastating.
- Did you celebrate the victory yesterday?
- Nope. I got up at 5 a.m. today. Before that short program, it's four. Not up to celebrating.
- Are you going to the team awards ceremony tonight or will you miss it?
- I think it's a mandatory event. But even if there was a choice, of course I did. And I'll go...
Mark started the short program confidently. I did the 4th toe loop, the 3rd axel, only on the cascade with the 4th salchow toe loop turned out to be double instead of triple. As a result, the athlete scored 86.11 points, losing to personal records rewritten at the January European Championships. But his main task at this Olympics - gold in the team - the Olympic champion Mark Kondratyuk has already fulfilled.
Evgeny Semenenko started right behind Mark and skated cleanly. I did everything planned: cascade 4th toe loop + 3rd toe loop, solo 4th salchow and 3rd axel. All non-jumping elements were level 4. Alexei Mishin's student scored 95.76 points, though not a personal best, but ahead of the titled Yuzuru Hanyu, who made a "butterfly" on the first quadruple salchow.
- How did you manage to remain calm before the personal competitions, you came to Beijing a long time ago?
- Calm needs to be kept even further. Yeah, we've been here for a long time. Never with such a margin have we come to the competition. It's certainly a new experience. At least in the short program. There is another stage, it will be the day after tomorrow.
- Hard to wait?
- To each his own time.
- You got 95.76 points, could it have been better?
- It can always be better. There are moments that can be improved. Alexey Nikolaevich (Mishin – approx.) said: "Well done", coped with the short program, noted a couple of shortcomings that need to be improved in the future.
- For you, this is the first Olympics, how did you manage to abstract from this, so as not to "drive" yourself?
- Pressure is present, I believe, always, and it is desirable to cope with it. Can I go? The day after tomorrow I will be all yours, Eugene asked.
Our third participant of the competition, Andrei Mozalev, did not manage to internally tune in, although the athlete said that he went to the start completely calm. Kirill Davydenko's ward started with a chic cascade of the 4th toe loop + 3rd toe loop, but fell from the 4th salchow and made a "butterfly" on the 3rd axel.
"It's not a good short program," Andrei said. - I wasn't particularly worried. Still, I was counting more on a good rental. I wanted to have fun. But it didn't work out very well. I fell off the salchow and made an axel single instead of a triple.
- Didn't the Olympics crush you?
- On the contrary, this is a holiday, the Olympic Games. And I'm very glad, first of all, that I got here and enjoy being here.
- Did you spend a lot of emotions rooting for our guys?
- Not really. I was confident in our guys.
- Mood before arbitrary?
- Do your own. Tune in for a good rental.
- Did the coach have time to tell you something?
- We haven't said it yet, but it's an experience anyway. Kirill Anatolyevich said so.
- Is the schedule comfortable for you?
- We were preparing for this. Nothing new.
- The main impression of the Olympic Village?
- It's a celebration. You have to have fun. The Olympic Games every four years.
- Our hockey players said that they would like to go figure skating. Would you like to watch hockey?
- Of course, not only for hockey. If I had the opportunity, I would go to all kinds of sports.
Short programs at the Olympics in Beijing were presented by 29 skaters instead of the declared 30. American Vincent Zhou could not participate in the competition, as he passed the second positive test for COVID.
Vinset competed in the team event, playing the free skate, adding 8 points to the U.S. team's collection. On the eve of the personal competitions, the figure skater posted a video on social networks, where he said that, of course, he was upset by what happened, he was glad that he at least skated in team competitions and won a silver Olympic medal.
It is strange that when the winners of the team were honored at the rink, mascots were presented, and Vincent for obvious reasons could not attend, his name was not pronounced in the American team. Today at the awarding of teams, this misunderstanding will certainly be corrected.
Olga ERMOLINA, Beijing
ISU Photo Site
https://results.isu.org/results/season2122/owg2022/SEG001.htm
Report courtesy of Federation of Russian Figure Skating
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