“The maximum objective was not reached. But the bronze is ours, that can only please us. Zakroev, coach of the Perm greenhouses, about the Russian championship

At the last Russian championship, the Perm pair skating school was represented by three duets. Eventually Ekaterina Chikmareva And Matvei Yanchenkov became bronze medalists, Yulia Artemyeva And Alexei Briukhanov ranked fifth, and Elizaveta Osokina And Artem Gritsaenko took eighth place.

Egor Zakroevwho is part of the coaching team of Pavel Slyusarenko, explained in an interview with about the difficulties the group faced in preparing for the tournament, how Osokina and Gritsaenko managed to complete the program after a failure with a broken shoelace , and why Egor » cried after the performance of Chikmareva and Yanchenkov.

“I have already managed to calm down, I have gone through my emotions. After a break in the form of a short New Year’s vacation, I will go out on the ice and continue to work with a burning eye. The Russian Championship is the main start of the year, but the tournaments do not end there, the season continues.

– Let’s start in order, with the bronze medalists of the tournament Ekaterina Chikmareva and Matvey Yanchenkov. Did you expect to see such a result from the guys?

— We went to the Russian Championship in three pairs. No coaching group this year is represented by so many athletes. I won’t lie, we went to Chelyabinsk for bronze.

— Did you have the ambition to rise higher? Or is this only possible at the moment if the two leading pairs of the national team make mistakes?

– I agree with your comments. Only with critical errors from Mishina/Gallyamov and Boykova/Kozlovsky was it possible to climb higher.

Exactly ten years ago, at the 2014 Russian Championships, Masha Vygalova and I got the first starting number in the short program and became bronze medalists. Katya and Motya experienced the same situation this year. Pavel and I [Слюсаренко] they immediately remembered it during the draw. By the way, Masha and I were trained by Pavel at the time, and now we work with him. A symbolic story came out.

— I read Katya’s comment with Matvey after the free program. They said the hardest part was dealing with the emotions. What did you tell the guys before you started, how did you help them prepare?

— Before going on the ice, we didn’t say any special words to them, everything went according to the classic pattern. The only thing is that I watched the main elements of Lesha Bryukhanov with Yulia Artemyeva and went to see Katya and Matvey. I was just with them, we didn’t do that before.

Personally, it seemed to me that Matvey was skating “both for himself and for this guy.” Before his skate, he saw on TV that Yulia had made a mistake on the loop. Katya and Matvey came out and skated for our three pairs. We’ve waited a very long time for this clean version; it was not possible to show it due to various circumstances.

— Katya and Matvey started preparing for the season late because of their partner’s injury?

“They missed a lot, they started preparing on August 1st. Matvey had a problem with his knee, because of which he could not fully train and perform elements in pairs. He could slide, but he couldn’t jump or do overhead presses. Matvey did not miss training, he was in good physical shape, but we could not give him a serious load. We want our couples to skate as long as possible so that they have enough health and motivation, so as not to force things when there are health problems.

I’ll tell you a little secret. Katya and Matvey missed the skating tests due to a serious fall from a twist. Katya landed unsuccessfully, her nervous preparation for the season took its toll.

— After Chikmareva and Yanchenkov’s free program, you shed a tear in “Kiss and cry”. It looked touching. Do these emotions come from the guys’ performance or from the end of the tournament?

– Actually, I am a strong person. But at that time of our performance as a couple, I fell to the lowest point in my emotional state, at one point I felt like I was being stoned. During Katya’s ride with Matvey, everything went so badly that my blood began to boil and I couldn’t stand it.

— Were those tears of joy?

– Certainly. When Katya and Motya performed, they cried with joy. But I wouldn’t have cried if there hadn’t been an emotional upheaval. If everyone skated well, I would just be happy. However, these unforeseen circumstances undermined the emotional bottom. We understood that Katya and Matvey needed to skate cleanly, because we no longer had pairs capable of competing with Khabibullina and Knyazhuk. Either here and now or not during this Russian championship. I usually don’t show my emotions, but I couldn’t hold back here.

— If I understand correctly, you felt stress during the free skate when Artem Gritsaenko’s lace broke. How did you feel when you realized something was wrong?

— I would like to start with the fact that with Lisa [Осокиной] I spent the most time with Artem. Among all our couples, they were the best prepared for the Russian championship and the most reliable. Artem did not always successfully complete the Salchow during training. I was sure that if he landed the first Salchow, the rest would be 90% clear.

Maybe my confidence was a cruel joke. I don’t know how it happened. When, after the Salchow, Artem started to make a mess (a triple and a crossover instead of an axel), I realized that something had happened. When he raised his hand and addressed the judge, my bar fell. Then I acted calmly. We worked as a team and we didn’t panic. In three minutes they corrected the mistake and did everything so that the guys could continue their performance.

— Is Artem responsible for what happened? Haven’t you noticed?

“He probably hasn’t finished watching.” He’s 21 years old, it’s not the coaches who should control that.

“Then the guys skated pretty well.” There was only one fall.

“I guess due to a weakened skate, Artem couldn’t perform footwork, that’s why Lisa didn’t have enough height. We didn’t go to the Russian Championship to fight the loop. I understood that the guys were well prepared and could take a place much higher.

“It is impossible not to mention Lisa, who was not lost and looked quite confident while Artem tied the shoelace.

— Lisa is a wonderful person. I saw that Maxim Bolotin was communicating with her. She walked out calmly, preparing to continue. It was clear in her eyes that she had not passed away. Artem and Lisa stood on camera, well done, but after the performance they were upset. I won’t tell you what happened behind the scenes.

—Have you had a conversation with Artem? What did they say to him after the performance?

“I won’t hide it, there was a conversation, there were different tones. But we are adults, Artem is not a child.

We still have a lot of time to work together, we have not dwelled on this problem. I think we need to turn this page quickly and move on. Honestly, we didn’t even look at the judges’ scores. I hope that at Spartakiad the judges will be able to see Osokina and Gritsaenko who they are used to seeing this season.

— Yulia Artemyeva and Alexey Bryukhanov performed a quadruple twist in the free skate. How did you decide to take such a risk at the big start of the season?

— The guys have been training this element for quite a long time. Even in the summer, we posted bouncy videos on social media. At the Russian Championship, I was calm about this element, for them, the quadruple twist was commonplace. The only thing is that we cannot reach the third difficulty level; we have problems catching. But I hope that after a while Lesha will begin to catch Yulia more accurately.

— Do any of your other couples teach ultra-si?

— Juniors learn the quadruple twist. We do not teach broadcasts, we consider this unjustified.

— If we compare your pairs with the current leaders – Anastasia Mishina / Alexander Gallyamov and Alexandra Boykova / Dmitry Kozlovsky, then what do your athletes lack to overtake the guys?

— The top pairs have approximately the same technical content. The fact is that Nastya and Sasha and Sasha and Dima are more experienced. They have gone through the Olympic Games, the World and European Championships.

Young couples lack skills, they just need to perform more at a high level. I won’t say we’re talking about a queue. You need to ride for a long time, reliably, constantly progress and improve your skills.

— Tatiana Tarasova said a lot of good words about your athletes and your coaching team.

— I heard that we also went to see her in person after the competition. Of course, it’s nice to hear such words. Especially when you put a lot of soul into the athletes. Our work is appreciated so colorfully. This means that our young team is heading in the right direction.

“She also said that there was chemistry between Osokina and Gritsaenko. Do you notice this too?

— I have already said that I mainly worked with Osokina and Gritsaenko, choreographing elements for them from the first stages. Pavel Sergeevich helped in some important moments [Слюсаренко]. Choreographers Ivan Malafeev and Seryozha Plishkin noted that the guys are easy to get along with. Ksenia Vaskina helped work on Lisa’s image and facial expressions.

All the experts say that guys interact better with each other. The guys were brought together by Artem’s injury, he had a fractured metatarsal bone. Lisa took care of him, she didn’t even go to training camp alone. After the injury, the guys quickly prepared for the season.

— Perhaps from which other specialists have you received comments?

— All the representatives of the federation came after the competition and said that they were satisfied with the result we demonstrated.

— How would you assess the result of your seat at the Russian Championship?

– The maximum goal – to enter the national team as a result of the Russian Championship with three pairs – was not achieved. Only two couples were able to do it. But bronze is ours, that can only rejoice.

— By the way, I can’t help but congratulate you and all the coaches of your team – they looked so good, it was nice to look at you from the other side.

— We adhere to the policy that we must train athletes by personal example. If we look good, then our guys learn to take care of themselves and behave properly in front of the camera.

As for girls, we take our own example to explain to them why it is important to stay in shape. If we’re taking care of ourselves for no reason, then they should be doing it for work. That’s why our girls are so skinny.