ОФИЦИАЛЬНЫЙ ФАН-КЛУБ ЯНЫ ХОХЛОВОЙ И СЕРГЕЯ НОВИЦКОГО

Russian skaters prepare in the off-season

(06/13/2008) - The "quiet time" of the figure skating year is, in fact, not very quiet. It's in the off-season when new programs are prepared, new elements are worked on, and, sometimes, coaches are changed. Russian figure skating took big step forward in 2007-08, but the Russians are still far from dominating the sport like they did through 2006. At least ice dancers Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski claimed a bronze medal at the 2008 ISU World Figure Skating Championships this March. In 2007, Russia came home empty handed from worlds for the first time in decades.

Ice dancing

Ice dancing is the strongest discipline for Russia right now, with two top teams that will challenge for the world podium again in 2009. Khokhlova and Novitski are already busy getting ready.

"We had one week off after worlds, but then we trained until June," Khokhlova said. At the same time, she wrote her thesis on "Partnerships in ice dancing" for her diploma.

"The new free dance is almost done, except for the last 20 seconds," revealed coach Alexander Svinin, but what he didn't reveal was the music choice. He and his wife and co-coach Irina Zhuk also prepared world competitors Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer, as well as a couple of promising junior teams for next season.

European champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, on the other hand, started their preparations in June. Shabalin, whose ongoing knee problems forced the couple to withdraw from the world championships, spent all of May and the first week of June in a sports clinic in Munich, Germany, for treatment on his knee. The couple then was scheduled to start practice in mid-June in Novogorsk, a sports base in a suburb of Moscow.

While Shabalin was in Germany, Domnina trained on her own. "Of course, I worry about Maxim, but he says he is doing fine and recovering well," the skater said. Coach Alexei Gorshkov and choreographer Sergei Petukhov used the time to put together new programs for Maria Monko and Ilia Tkachenko, last season's gold medalists at the Junior Grand Prix Final, who will compete as seniors in the upcoming season.

Elena Kustarova and Svetlana Alexeeva enjoyed some vacation in May, but they've been back on the ice with their students since June 2. This group includes 2007 world junior champions Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev, and world competitors Nelli Zhiganshina and Alexander Gazsi from Germany.

There were some changes in Alexander Zhulin's group. Armenian ice dancers Anastasia Grebenkina and Vazgen Azroyan retired from competitive skating, and Azrojan started coaching. The dance team of Natalia Mikhailova and Andrei Maksimishin split up, and she teamed up with former partner Arkadi Sergeev. Mikhailova and Sergeev won the silver medal at the 2006 World Junior Championships. Two-time world ice dancing champions Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria and Olympic pair champions Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin were also on Zhulin's ice during breaks in their respective exhibition tours. The Bulgarian ice dancers helped Zhulin's younger skaters and also choreographed for the "Imperial Stars on Ice," which was rehearsing in Moscow from the end of May to the end of June.

Reigning world junior bronze medalists Kristina Gorshkova and Vitali Butikov are training in Elena Tchaikovskaia's school in the "Olimpiiski" ice rink. They wanted to work on their new programs after their vacation, with their off-ice training starting in June as well.

Singles

In singles, Russia has a bunch of promising young men, but the women are still lagging behind. Sergei Voronov emerged as the leader among the Russian men last season with his strong performances: winning Russian nationals, finishing fourth at Europeans, and placing seventh at worlds. The 20-year-old trained in St. Petersburg until the end of May. He then went for one week to a training camp in the Czech Republic and took his vacation in June.

"We already changed the short program. It's a modern piece by a French composer, but, honestly, I don't know the name right now," Voronov explained. He also would like to change the free program, but this decision was still open.

Andrei Lutai, who was second at Russian Nationals, went to Colorado Springs to work with choreographer Tom Dickson on his new programs.

"We worked for the first time with an American choreographer," coach Alexei Mishin said. Lutai was pleased with how it went. "I won't put all my cards on the table now. I only will say that the programs worked out well, in my opinion, they are interesting and different, especially for our [Russian] school of skating," he told the Russian news agency Allsport.

Olympic Champion Evgeni Plushenko, who announced his return to international competition more than once for the 2008-2009 season, was not training at the end of May. He instead went to Belgrade for the Eurovision song contest together with his friends, Russian singer Dima Bilan and Hungarian violinist Edvin Marton. The three won the song contest for Russia with Bilan's song, "Believe". Not everyone believes in Plushenko's really returning to competition though. The 24-year-old, however, confirmed his comeback plans several times and then went to a training camp in Estonia in mid June.

"I went with our president at that time, Vladimir Putin, to Guatemala, and we brought the 2014 Olympic Winter Games to Sotchi, and I went to the Eurovision [song contest], and we won and brought the Eurovision 2009 to Russia. My friends told me, 'You bring good luck,'" Plushenko told Estonian TV during a break in his off-ice training. "The season doesn't look bad for me; it started with a victory -- the victory at the Eurovision. So I think I have to begin for a 100 percent. It's a good sign," he added. "Running, jumps on the floor, gymnastics, choreography and ice, in any case, as much workload and training as possible. You have to go through hard work, through the pain", the skater explained, referring to his training. Plushenko also is scheduled to join his mentor in a training camp in Italy later this month.

"When Evgeni comes to train, he works very seriously," Mishin confirmed.

Sergei Dobrin, who has been training in Mishin's group since last August, was still recovering from surgery on the big toe of his right foot and hadn't resumed training yet at the time of writing.

Andrei Griazev, the 2007 Russian champion, was back on the ice. He overcame the disappointment from nationals, where he placed third and failed to qualify for Europeans and worlds.

His clubmate, the reigning world junior silver medalist, Artem Borodulin, was off the ice again this spring due to an injury, but he hoped to come back strong after a short vacation.

The Figure Skating Federation of Russia, by the way, organized a meeting for coaches and athletes with two doctors and an accomplished off-ice coach on May 22. "The reason for this seminar was the situation in the national team last year, when most of the athletes suffered injuries during the training process," the Federation said in a statement. The information given during the meeting should help to prevent injuries.

The Moskvitch school under head coach Viktor Kudriavtsev is preparing a group of talented single skaters for next season. The coach has high hopes for 16-year-old junior skater Artem Grigoriev. He looks a bit like Alexei Yagudin did when he was the same age.

"Artem has made a lot of progress and really can make a breakthrough this year," Kudriavtsev said.

Another junior to watch out for is Ivan Bariev, who was seventh at the 2008 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships. He was working hard on the triple Axel, but he also had to pass his final school exams.

Twenty-one-year-old Alexander Uspenski was preparing for his final exams at the sports university at the same time. He decided to wait for possible rule changes at the ISU congress later this month before building up new programs.

Russia's top lady, Ksenia Doronina, and top junior lady, Alena Leonova, are both from St. Petersburg and train under Alla Piatova, but they had some time off in June.

Arina Martynova, who was off the ice for several weeks because of an ankle injury, has resumed training and switched coaches. She is now coached by former competitive skater Viktoria Volchkova but is still training in the Moskvitch club.

Kudriavtsev pointed out that Oksana Gozeva and national bronze medalist Olga Naidenova were progressing well in practice.

The skaters from Moskvitch were scheduled to attend an off-ice training camp in the second half of June, and then nine top skaters of the club planned to participate in the famous training camp in Flims, in the Swiss Alps, in July.

Pairs

The two top pairs teams in Russia right now are Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov and Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov. Both teams prepared new programs, but their music was still a secret.

Kawaguchi and Smirnov mostly trained in St. Petersburg with Tamara Moskvina, while Mukhortova and Trankov and coach Oleg Vasiliev came to Novogorsk to work on their new free program. According to Moskvina, Japanese-born Kawaguchi will receive the Russian equivalent of a "green card" in July and then easily can apply for Russian citizenship. She would need Russian citizenship to compete at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The skater, however, would need to give up her Japanese passport, as Japan doesn't tolerate dual citizenship. A lot will depend on the results next season. If Kawaguchi sees a realistic chance for medaling in Vancouver, she might take the Russian citizenship.

Mukhortova and Trankov aren't plagued by citizenship problems. They were refining their technique on some elements, and coach Vasiliev praised them for their good work the past months. Vasiliev and the couple were scheduled to train in Chicago from June 22 to July 13 before returning to St. Petersburg.

The coaches from Perm had also come to Novogorsk with their group of junior couples, among them the reigning world junior champions Ksenia Krasilnikova and Konstantin Bezmaternikh. There is no ice in Perm in the Ural mountains from April 28 to July 31, so the skaters were sent to Novogorsk in May and July. Coach Valentina Tiukova complained about dismal practice conditions in their hometown. "The local authorities don't support us, although we have successful figure skaters for many years now," she said. She and her husband Valeri Tiukov wanted Krasilnikova and Bezmaternikh to stay in juniors for another season.

More junior pairs are prepared in St. Petersburg and in Moscow. Liudmila Velikova, who works with her husband Nikolai in St. Petersburg, has a group of new and young teams, and so does Oksana Kazakova, who works in one group with Tamara Moskvina. In Moscow, Natalia Pavlova and Nina Mozer are the leading pair skating coaches. Pavlova's skaters, including world junior silver medalist Lubov Iliushechkina and Nodari Maisuradze and national bronze medalists Arina Ushakova and Sergei Karev resumed practice in June after a break in May.