15-year-old Russian woman Zagitova became the best skater of the planet. VIDEO

Russian Alina Zagitova became the winner of the Olympic Games in the women's single figure skating tournament.

The gold medal she won was the first for Olympic athletes from Russia in Pyeongchang - until now the Russians had only silver and bronze medals.

Her main rival, compatriot Evgenia Medvedeva took second place. Bronze at Caitlin Osmond from Canada.

Zagitova and Medvedev were considered favorites in the performance of the short program, where both set world records.

The outcome of the struggle was decided in an arbitrary program, where Medvedeva had 11 jumps, including two double triple jump cascades (3 + 3) and a cascade 2 + 2 + 2.

Caitlin Osmond has approximately the same free program, but a little more difficult - she has a 3+2+2 cascade.

Zagitova also has 11 jumps, but even more complex cascades have been announced, which start in the second half of the program and go in succession one after another, including 3 + 2 + 2.

15-year-old Alina Zagitova received as much for the free program as Evgenia Medvedev did, but the leadership in the short program provided her with gold. Photo: wikipedia.org

But on Friday, at the decisive moment, her signature combination of a triple Lutz and a triple loop didn’t work out for her at first - she made a single jump. Zagitova managed to perform it later. With this, she left a chance for Medvedeva.

Evgenia also changed the order of the elements in her free program and moved the complex 3 + 3 cascade from the second half to the very beginning. She performed it confidently, but the value of the element in points decreased slightly. The entire program, built on the music and images of the British film about Anna Karenina, was performed without any marks.

Both figure skaters from Russia received identical marks for an arbitrary program, but in the short, Zagitova was in the lead, so she eventually received gold.

Alina Zagitova: evaluation for an arbitrary 156,65 program (for 81,62 technical elements).

Evgenia Medvedev: evaluation for arbitrary 156,65 (78,65 for technical elements).

Having missed out on the gold medal, Evgenia Medvedeva burst into tears. In the team of trainers - Alina and Evgenia train in the same group - commentators noticed confusion: some congratulated Zagitova, others consoled Medvedeva.

The rivalry between two unique figure skaters was not long-term (like, for example, the memorable confrontation between Yagudin and Plushenko) - it lasted literally two months.

But, according to the 2002 champion Alexei Yagudin, in Pyeongchang the question of justice was being decided: who more deserved the Olympic gold medal - the prima of figure skating, who reigned in her sport from season to season and went to victory, or the “daring one” who came only this year and easy” girl.

General coach, different characters

Evgenia is a Muscovite, the daughter of figure skater Zhanna Devyatova. Her mother brought her to the skating rink at the age of three. Alina is the daughter of a hockey coach from Izhevsk, named after the Olympic champion, gymnast Alina Kabaeva.

Evgenia Medvedeva has been a leader in world figure skating over recent seasons - she won the European and World Championships in 2016 and 2017 and the Grand Prix Finals in 2015-16. However, during the Olympic season she was injured and missed several competitions. Three weeks before the start of the Olympics at the European Championships in Moscow, Medvedeva took second place, losing to 15-year-old Alina Zagitova.

Zagitova is younger than Medvedeva for three years and until this season she performed only in junior competitions.

Both skaters are training with Eteri Tutberidze in Moscow. The pupil of this coach received a gold medal at the last Olympics: Yulia Lipnitskaya won the team tournament in the Russian team.

Difficult to compare

Alina Zagitova's programs are technically a little more complex than those of Evgenia Medvedeva. The basic “cost” of the jumps and jumping combinations performed by her is higher (for example, she does the most difficult cascade in the world “triple Lutz - triple rtberger”, which immediately brings 12,21 points (plus up to 3 points of incentive points from the judges, if they I will like the quality of the jumps).

In addition, her jumps are concentrated in the second part of the program, which is especially noticeable in the arbitrary. For complex elements made by the skater towards the end, 10% more points are awarded.

Some fans, commentators (and even rivals) criticize Zagitova and consider such techniques to be a blatant use of “loopholes” in the new refereeing system (introduced in 2004).

However, jumping towards the end of the program is indeed more difficult than at the beginning, just as jumping with one or even both arms raised up - introduced into use by the American Brian Boitano - is much more difficult than usual.

Anna Karenina performed by Evgenia Medvedeva. Photo: wikipedia.org

These important additions have become a business card wards coach Eteri Tutberidze.

The multi-point rating system is constructed in such a way that the advantage is given to those skaters who are more bold in deciding on complex elements. According to experts, many people use the system’s features, including the two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hania: he starts the program with a series of jumps in four turns, and even performed with an error (or even a fall), they bring him more points than a purely performed one. but one quadruple jump of his rivals.

Until Alina Zagitova appeared on the scene, Medvedeva was a world leader in technology. She has a reputation as “a great jumper who makes everything look easy and simple.”

Evgenia Medvedeva’s arsenal does not have the most “expensive” elements, but there are spectacular cascades (even of four jumps in a row; however, cascades of more than three jumps are not allowed at the Olympics).

Medvedeva’s triple lutz (which is rated higher than toe loops and flips) raises questions among some observers - often in past competitions she performed the lutz not from the outer edge of the skate, but from the inner edge, turning into a “flutz” (a cross between a flip and a lutz, for which judges may deduct penalty points).

She is not interested in learning the most difficult jump in the world - the 3,5-rotation axel, which only eight athletes have succeeded in history.

But Evgenia Medvedeva’s marks for artistry are always maximum. In the short program on February 21, for technical elements she received 1,4 points less than Alina Zagitova, and for artistic components (including skating skills, interpretation of music, imagery of the program as a whole, etc.) - 0,8 points more , and in each of these components she was ahead of Zagitova.

In the decisive free program on Friday, the judges gave Yevgenia a number of maximum marks (10.00) for interpreting music, composition and artistry (performance). Alina Zagitova never received a single “ten” for artistic components.

Special League

At the same time, loyal fans of Medvedeva believe that the estimates for the artistic components of Alina Zagitova are too high, and the technical style of the 15-year-old athlete is inferior in expressiveness and emotionality to those that her older teammate demonstrates.

Disputes between “Zagitova Team” and “Medvedeva Team” are taking place not only among Russian fans, but also among fans and professionals in America, Europe and Asia.

Supporters of Zagitova celebrate her young age and the fact that the formation of a special emotional style and the development of sophisticated choreography are still ahead of her, and she is already demonstrating the excellent technique of jumping and skating.

In any case, Zagitova and Medvedeva form “their own separate league” in women’s figure skating. During the short program, where they both set records, receiving scores of more than 80 points, commentators on the American television channel NBC - 1998 Nagano champion Tara Lipinski and famous single skater Johnny Ware - put it this way: “Those who get above 60 points - very good figure skaters. Those who get above 70 are great. Well, those who have more than 80 are just Russians.”

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