In a title fight three days before Christmas, frosty feelings are inappropriate, even if the competition takes place in freezing temperatures, as befits the sport. In the case of figure skater Kristina Isaev, currently the best soloist in this country, the rest of the competitive spirit melted away on Saturday when she saw Sarah Pesch, who was narrowly beaten, struggling with tears. She took her young rival in her arms and whispered to her: “You will definitely become German champion too, Sarah.” You just can’t give up in this sport.
Kristina Isaev, 23, who trains in Dortmund, confidently defended her national title in Oberstdorf. However, halfway through the competition she was still surprisingly behind Sarah Pesch from Aschaffenburg, who was six years younger than her and who had conjured up a fabulous short program on the ice in a carefree and courageous manner. In the long freestyle, however, the 17-year-old failed to do the triple jumps that she had landed so confidently on the narrow runners the day before. As the music faded, she covered her face with her hands.
:Chickaboom!
The pair skaters Minerva Hase and Nikita Wolodin have an almost flawless record and want to defend their national title in Oberstdorf. The goal is the Olympics – as long as the Russian Volodin receives a German passport in time.
She wasn’t the only one who had to get up from the ice. The world-class pair skaters Minerva Hase and Nikita Wolodin, winners of the Grand Prix final two weeks ago, the highest comparison in the international competition series, also made untypical mistakes at the weekend. But Figure skating is also the art of getting up again and again. Only if you know why you fall can you avoid the next fall.
The Berlin duo defended the championship title with a large points lead over Letizia Roscher/Luis Schuster from Chemnitz, the only other pair that competed. Minerva Hase, 25, still left the ice shaking her head because she had not intercepted either the triple Salchow or the Rittberger shot correctly on her skate after flying through the air. The disaster, she said, had become apparent: “I ran into a wall mentally and physically.”
Even the training in the morning didn’t go well. They noticed that they “lacked power and mental reserves,” which was not surprising after a grueling season. In late spring after coming third at the World Cup, they started rehearsing new programs, only taking a short break in June and then continuing to train. What followed was a series of victories at competitions in Oberstdorf, Nice, Angers, a second place in Chongqing/China and finally triumph at the Grand Prix final in Grenoble, on which they concentrated all their strength. The freestyle on Saturday in Allgäu was a low point, but Hase said: “Better now than later.”
Last year, the first season together for the then newly formed duo from Berlin and St. Petersburg, the drop in performance came a few weeks later: at the European Championships, which they finished as favorites in fifth place. They were weakened by the flu, which became obvious to all when they had to abort a complicated lift for safety reasons. “You can’t maintain the highest level indefinitely,” explained stoically on Saturday their Russian coach Dmitri Savin, who had traveled to the competition as usual; The daily training in Berlin takes place under the aegis of pair skating expert Knut Schubert.
Minerva Hase also believes that the little ground-level reality check shortly before the Christmas break is more beneficial than harmful: “It won’t happen to us again.” The botched landings, fractions of a second too late, are individual mistakes, something that is reflected in training change: It was important for both of them to realize that an increase in quality was noticeable in individual pair skating elements, in freestyle components that can only be created in co-production: For the twist – a number in which the partner is the partner throws and catches – the judges awarded them the highest level for the first time. The death spiral also received better marks than usual, and according to the judges, said Hase, “it wasn’t a Christmas present.”
On Sunday evening, the World Cup bronze medalists were scheduled to appear in an ice skating show in Ingolstadt; Figure skaters also have to earn a few extra euros. Afterwards, they decided to rest before training for the European Championships in Tallinn began in the second week of January.
In pair skating, thanks to the merits of Hase/Wolodin, the German Ice Skating Union (DEU) has the privilege of sending three duos to Estonia: Letizia Roscher/Luis Schuster and the currently injured former champions Annika Hocke/Robert Kunkel are also nominated. In dance, the association is represented by Jennifer Janse van Rensburg/Benjamin Steffan from Oberstdorf, who offered a brilliant program: In their opinion, the free dance for the musical “Phantom of the Opera” was their best performance of the season. DEU sports director Claudia Pfeifer was particularly impressed by the performances of the juniors and young runners in the master class in Oberstdorf. By 17-year-old Sarah Pesch; from 18-year-old Luca Fünfer from Regensburg, who immediately came second behind champion Nikita Starostin; and the junior dance couple Darya Grimm/Michail Savitskiy, who recently took third place at the Grand Prix final. Next year’s Olympic qualification, Pfeifer predicted, promises a dose of excitement in figure skating.
But first it’s Christmas. And with it an opportunity to “not think about figure skating for a few days,” as Minerva Hase said.
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