The World Figure Skating Team Championship, the last major tournament of the season, kicks off in Osaka, Japan on April 15. Calling it the world championship is not entirely correct, as President of the Russian Figure Skating Federation Alexander Gorshkov repeatedly reminds journalists. This is a commercial start under the auspices of the ISU with the official name World Team Trophy. Nevertheless, the WChM is still the only figure skating competition where Russian athletes have never won.
This time, there is a good chance to fix these statistics. After all, the Russian national team at the tournament will be represented by all our winners of the 2021 World Cup in Stockholm: Anna Shcherbakova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (women), Mikhail Kolyada, Evgeny Semenenko (men), Anastasia Mishina / Alexander Gallyamov (pairs), Victoria Sinitsina / Nikita Katsalapov (dancing) …
Table Of Contents
Preparing for Beijing 2022
For the first time, the idea of holding a team start in figure skating was born to the Japanese at the end of the 2000s. The prototype was the Japan Open show tournament, which was held annually at the very beginning of the season and was rather entertaining in nature. The teams were formed not by rating or by country, but simply invited the world’s most popular figure skaters in Japan, who were divided according to some criteria (for example, teams from Europe, America, Asia).
The organizers of the World Team Trophy decided to combine sports and entertainment in the new tournament.
The competitions, although they do not have the official status of the World Cup, are recognized by the International Skating Union ISU, the national teams are selected for the World Championship according to their rating, and the results and records set at this start are included in historical reports. Many even consider the WCC as some kind of preparation for the Olympic team tournament, which has been held at the Games since 2014. But this is not entirely true.
– I would not consider it as preparation for the Olympics. The rules are completely different, the scoring is different, a radically different system of competitions, ”Ilya Averbukh, choreographer and Olympic medalist, told Izvestia. – This is a tournament rather from the category of the show industry. The Team World Cup is still a commercial story. I would not call it the World Championship at all, this is a very conditional name. The sporting importance of the tournament should not be overestimated, it is very respected in our sport, but not of primary importance.
Japanese format
The World Team Trophy in Osaka has the most in common with the Channel One Cup, which was recently held in Moscow.
– In my opinion, these are tournaments of about the same level, – continued Ilya Averbukh. – The Channel One Cup turned out to be a very good competition, but the status of such events directly depends on the prize fund. At the moment, the market in Japan is stronger and the total prize pool for the World Cup is one million dollars. This is a challenging goal for our organizers. If the prize fund at the Channel One Cup is higher, then it will be higher in terms of status.
The main difference between the tournament in Japan and the Olympic format of the team competition is the number of participants. At the Olympics, singles, couples, and dances perform once from each country in short and free. Points are distributed depending on the place taken and the distribution of places is equally influenced by the performances of each of the four types. Singles are of decisive importance in the Team World Cup. Girls and men perform in two, while dance and sports duets perform one at a time. They did this specifically in order to equalize the chances of winning the owners, because the Japanese have no strong greenhouses and dancers. And Russia because of this rule was, on the contrary, in a losing position and has not yet been able to win the tournament even once.
The World Team Championships are held every two years and have already organized them six times. Every rally, something hindered us. Either the girls performed unsuccessfully, as in 2009 and 2011, or the guys failed, as in 2015 and 2017. Or the squad for the World Cup was selected on a leftover basis. For example, our leaders – greenhouses Evgeny Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, singles Mikhail Kolyada and Maxim Kovtun, Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva – did not go to the last KChM in 2019. But this time we have put together the strongest line-up possible. Therefore, the Russian team can rightly be considered the favorite, because less than a month ago, the same team won the World Cup in Sweden.
Lisa’s preference
This time the reservists were not given a place in the composition.
“The federation did everything right, I don’t remember that instead of the main team, those who were not so well prepared were sent to the competition,” the Olympic champion in ice dancing Natalya Bestemyanova told Izvestia. – This is a commercial tournament, and we must not forget about the importance of making money. For people who have had a good season, participation in such competitions is a reward. Usually those who deserve it go. And I hope that those who have gone will not let us down and we will claim victory. There are all the possibilities for this, the composition is very strong. But there are also competitors – Japan and the United States.
The advantage of the option with inviting reservists was to see the potential of the substitutes in competitive conditions, while without serious sports and reputational risks. The Russian national team has a long bench and all strong skaters do not physically get to the main starts. For example, in 2019, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva did not make it to the main World Cup, and she was invited to the team tournament. This year, the European champion Alena Kostornaya was left without international starts. Shouldn’t the federation give the famous athlete a chance to rehabilitate himself for an unsuccessful season?
– The history of 2019 should not be compared with the current one, – Bestemyanova believes. – Then Tuktamysheva did not get into the main team, but the federation, realizing that Elizabeth deserves respect for herself, decided to encourage her. And I absolutely agreed with the decision of the federation to give Elizabeth the team tournament. History is made up of rentals. Alena Kostornaya did not show a good performance at the Russian Cup. She was not good enough to want to help her, send her to the international start. She must first get in shape, she has completely different tasks.
World Figure Skating Team Championship – 2021
Osaka, Japan
April 15, Thursday
Ice dance, rhythm dance
9:05 Eurosport 2
Women short program
10:25 am Channel One (from 12:15 pm), Eurosport 2
Men short program
12:25 Channel One, Eurosport 2
April 16, Friday
Couples short program
9:20 Eurosport 2
Ice dancing, free dance
10:45 Eurosport 2
Men’s free program
12:10 Channel One, Eurosport 2
April 17, Saturday
Pairs, free skate
9:15 am Channel One (from 10:15 am), Eurosport
Women free skate
10:50 Channel One, Eurosport
April 18, Sunday
Demonstration performances
8:00 Eurosport