Lakernik: “The fact that Khromykh took last place suggests that the judges assessed everything correctly”

Honorary Vice President of the International Skating Union (ISU) Alexander Lakernik believes that Maya Khromykh took the last place at the Russian Championships in Chelyabinsk and the judges did not take into account the “coaching factor” in the evaluation of its performance.

Khromykh fell several times during his free program and received 95.90 points, his final result was 164.30 points. Adelia Petrosyan won (246.53), Sofia Muravyova was second (239.40) and Kamila Valieva third (237.99). Olympic diving champion and RT journalist Elena Vaitsekhovskaya criticized the judges for their assessments of Khromykh. According to her, all judges should be declared unfit for their professional duties and sent to clear snow around the Traktor ice rink, where the tournament took place.

— The fact that Maya Khromykh took last place suggests that the judges assessed everything correctly. And our commentators, who believe they know everything better than the referees, themselves offer their expert services. We have a lot of people who criticize. These are Elena Vaitsekhovskaya, Dmitry Kuznetsov and many other personalities.

I’m not sure that when evaluating Khromykh, the judges took into account the fact that Maya competes under the direction of Eteri Tutberidze. You see, maybe they gave her such moral support so that the girl, who performed poorly, would not give up. This is why they acted leniently. She suffered a serious injury with a lot of blood loss and is having a lot of trouble getting back into shape. Situations may be different. And it’s not necessarily some kind of emphasis on personalities,” RT quoted Lakernik as saying.

RT