Place of residence Sports achivments

Mikhail Sergeevich Kolyada(born February 18, 1995 in St. Petersburg, Russia) is a Russian singles figure skater. Silver medalist of the Nepela Memorial (2015), vice-champion of Russia (2016), champion of Russia among juniors (2013), took 4th place at the World Championships (2016). Master of Sports of Russia of international class, as of August 20, 2016, ranks 24th in the ranking of the International Skating Union (ISU).

Biography

Mikhail Kolyada was born in St. Petersburg in February 1995. He began figure skating at the age of five; his first and only coach is Valentina Chebotareva.

Sports achivments

Competitions	2011–2012	2012–2013	2013–2014	2014–2015	2015–2016	2016–2017
World Championships					4
Europe championship					5
Grand Prix stages: Rostelecom Cup				W.D.	5
Tournament in Austria					1
Nepela Memorial					2
Finlandia Trophy						4
Tournament in Slovenia			1
Tournament in Val Gardena			3	1
Volvo Cup		2
Seibt Memorial					1
World Championship (juniors)		6
Junior Grand Prix: Australia	4
Junior Grand Prix: Estonia			2
Junior Grand Prix: France		6
Junior Grand Prix: Slovakia			3
Russian championship		7	W.D.		2
Russian Championship (juniors)	6	1	5

• W.D.- the skater withdrew from the competition.

More details

Season 2015-16
date	Competition	KP	PP	General
March 28 - April 3, 2016	World Championship	6 89.66	5 178.31	4 267.97
February 23–27, 2016	Seibt Memorial	2 71.41	1 155.12	1 226.53
January 26–31, 2016	Europe championship	9 77.58	3 159.00	5 236.58
December 22–27, 2015	Russian championship	2 90.55	2 170.18	2 260.73
November 20–22, 2015	Grand Prix stages: Rostelecom Cup	5 79.64	3 168.33	5 247.97
October 27–November 1, 2015	Ice Challenge	3 74.86	1 164.91	3 239.77
October 1–3, 2015	Ondrej Nepela Memorial	1 84.33	4 145.26	2 229.59

Education

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An excerpt characterizing Kolyada, Mikhail Sergeevich

No matter how unsuccessfully M lle Bourienne found herself on the subject of conversation, she did not stop and chatted about greenhouses, about the beauty of a new blossoming flower, and the prince softened after the soup.
After dinner he went to his daughter-in-law. The little princess sat at a small table and chatted with Masha, the maid. She turned pale when she saw her father-in-law.
The little princess has changed a lot. She was more bad than good now. The cheeks sank, the lip rose upward, the eyes were drawn downwards.
“Yes, it’s some kind of heaviness,” she answered when the prince asked what she felt.
- Do you need anything?
- No, merci, mon pere. [Thank you, father.]
- Well, okay, okay.
He went out and walked to the waitress. Alpatych stood in the waiter's room with his head bowed.
– Is the road blocked?
- Zakidana, your Excellency; Forgive me, for God's sake, for one stupid thing.
The prince interrupted him and laughed his unnatural laugh.
- Well, okay, okay.
He extended his hand, which Alpatych kissed, and walked into the office.
In the evening Prince Vasily arrived. He was met at the prespekt (that's the name of the avenue) by coachmen and waiters, who shouted and drove his carts and sleighs to the outbuilding along a road deliberately covered with snow.
Prince Vasily and Anatoly were given separate rooms.
Anatole sat, having taken off his doublet and resting his hands on his hips, in front of the table, at the corner of which he, smiling, fixed his beautiful large eyes intently and absent-mindedly. He looked upon his entire life as a continuous amusement that someone like that for some reason undertook to arrange for him. Now he looked at his trip to the evil old man and the rich ugly heiress in the same way. All this could have turned out, he supposed, very well and funny. Why not marry if she is very rich? It never interferes, Anatole thought.
He shaved, perfumed himself with care and panache, which had become his habit, and with his innate good-natured, victorious expression, holding his handsome head high, he entered his father’s room. Two valets were busy around Prince Vasily, dressing him; He himself looked around animatedly and nodded cheerfully to his son as he entered, as if he were saying: “So, that’s exactly what I need you for!”
- No, no joke, father, is she very ugly? A? – he asked, as if continuing a conversation he had had more than once during the trip.
- That's enough. Nonsense! The main thing is to try to be respectful and reasonable with the old prince.
“If he scolds, I’ll leave,” said Anatole. “I can’t stand these old people.” A?
– Remember that everything depends on this for you.
At this time, the arrival of the minister with his son was not only known in the maiden's room, but the appearance of both of them was already described in detail. Princess Marya sat alone in her room and tried in vain to overcome her inner agitation.
“Why did they write, why did Lisa tell me about this? After all, this cannot be! - she said to herself, looking in the mirror. - How do I get out into the living room? Even if I liked him, I couldn’t be on my own with him now.” The thought of her father's gaze terrified her.
The little princess and m lle Bourienne had already received all the necessary information from the maid Masha about what a ruddy, black-browed handsome minister's son was, and about how daddy dragged them with force to the stairs, and he, like an eagle, walking three steps at a time, ran after him. Having received this information, the little princess and M lle Bourienne, still audible from the corridor in their animated voices, entered the princess’s room.
– Ils sont arrives, Marieie, [They arrived, Marie,] do you know? - said the little princess, wobbling her belly and sitting heavily on the chair.
She was no longer in the blouse in which she had sat in the morning, but she was wearing one of her best dresses; her head was carefully adorned, and there was a liveliness on her face, which, however, did not hide the drooping and deadened contours of her face. In the attire in which she usually wore to social gatherings in St. Petersburg, it was even more noticeable how much she had looked worse. M lle Bourienne also unnoticed some improvement in her outfit, which made her pretty, fresh face even more attractive.
– Eh bien, et vous restez comme vous etes, chere princesse? – she spoke. – On va venir annoncer, que ces messieurs sont au salon; il faudra descendre, et vous ne faites pas un petit brin de toilette! [Well, are you still wearing what you were wearing, princess? Now they will come to say that they are out. We’ll have to go downstairs, but at least you’ll dress up a little!]
The little princess got up from her chair, called the maid and hastily and cheerfully began to come up with an outfit for Princess Marya and put it into execution. Princess Marya felt insulted in her sense of self-worth by the fact that the arrival of her promised groom worried her, and she was even more insulted by the fact that both of her friends did not even imagine that it could be otherwise. To tell them how ashamed she was for herself and for them was to betray her anxiety; Moreover, to refuse the outfit that was offered to her would have led to lengthy jokes and insistence. She flushed, her beautiful eyes went out, her face became covered with spots, and with that ugly expression of victim that most often settled on her face, she surrendered to the power of m lle Bourienne and Lisa. Both women cared quite sincerely about making her beautiful. She was so bad that not one of them could think of competing with her; therefore, quite sincerely, with that naive and firm conviction of women that an outfit can make a face beautiful, they set about dressing her.
“No, really, ma bonne amie, [my good friend], this dress is not good,” said Lisa, looking sideways at the princess from afar. - Tell me to serve, you have masaka there. Right! Well, this may be the fate of life is being decided. And this is too light, not good, no, not good!
It was not the dress that was bad, but the face and the whole figure of the princess, but M lle Bourienne and the little princess did not feel this; It seemed to them that if they put a blue ribbon on their hair combed up, and pulled down a blue scarf from a brown dress, etc., then everything would be fine. They forgot that the frightened face and figure could not be changed, and therefore, no matter how they modified the frame and decoration of this face, the face itself remained pitiful and ugly. After two or three changes, to which Princess Marya obediently submitted, the minute she was combed up (a hairstyle that completely changed and spoiled her face), in a blue scarf and an elegant dress, the little princess walked around her a couple of times, with her small hand she straightened a fold of her dress here, tugged at a scarf there and looked, bowing her head, now from this side, now from the other.
“No, that’s impossible,” she said decisively, clasping her hands. – Non, Marie, decidement ca ne vous va pas. Je vous aime mieux dans votre petite robe grise de tous les jours. Non, de grace, faites cela pour moi. [No, Marie, this definitely doesn’t suit you. I love you better in your gray everyday dress: please do this for me.] Katya,” she said to the maid, “bring the princess a gray dress, and see, m lle Bourienne, how I will arrange it,” she said with a smile of artistic anticipation joy.

Yes, after the completion of the men's figure skating tournament at the 2018 Olympics, Tatyana Anatolyevna Tarasova was asked only one question, and he, of course, amazed with its freshness and originality: “Tatyana Anatolyevna, what do you think?” Tarasova, apparently, thought a lot, because she stopped only after 10 minutes, during which she spoke alone.

“For Mishka it’s the other way around”

“We couldn’t claim more, but we could skate differently. They don’t take anything off, they just add it here. For example, Somo Uno removed his boat, but added a cascade of axel, oiler and flip, like Plushenko when he wanted to win. Coaches should conduct a serious analysis and see what they will take. When Misha falls, it is called “done.” If this happens in pairs, dances or singles for girls, then it is “not done.” But for Mishka it’s the other way around.

"Then I'm a girl"

I'm not giving him nightmares. And I'm not talking bad about him. I'm just talking about what hasn't been done. If a jump of -3.5 is called “done,” then I’m a girl. Misha has only two quadruple jumps - a falling lutz and a toe loop. And so he has been skating since September. Of course, I apologize, but the rules will not change in that direction.

The entire depth of the falls. Kolyada and Aliyev lost to the gods?

And not only to the gods. The opponents were much better, and the color of Russian men's skating fell and fell.

“The crown will not fall off anyone”

He who can go up at a greater angle goes. Those who cannot, climb and scratch below. What I see from Misha comes from training. He also skates there. I in no way want to say that Valya ( Valentina Chebotareva, coach of Mikhail Kolyada. - Approx. "Championship") is a bad coach. But she has no such experience. Alexey Nikolaevich Mishin lives in the city. No one's crown will fall off if you turn to him. But you need a result, right? A new generation is growing up, juniors look up to their elders. The Japanese look at Shoma Uno, and ours look and see that it is possible to be seventh or eighth at the Olympics.

“Asians all over the country were in prison”?

I'm in love with these boys today. I'm just glad that I live and see this. Now they say: “Oh, it’s so hard with the Japanese and with the Asians!” Where were they when Lyosha Yagudin and Zhenya Plushenko were skating? The whole country was in prison? They were there too. We then came up with an idea, showed them the way - they follow it. They showed it to our people - they are not coming. But the guys are already adults. Uno is only 20 years old, but look at the set of elements he has. Hanyu’s leg was broken, but he came out – I immediately felt his strength. Yes, he has not grown up quickly, but I think that our Dima will grow up. There is also some kind of silence and strength in it. What he did in the short program is so commendable that there is nowhere to go further. I think this is a record for him. Yesterday he went on the ice calm and confident, but today during the warm-up he was not sure. Perhaps it was too much for him.

“It’s dangerous to put competitions back to back”

It was necessary to do a competition of pairs-boys-pairs-boys. But I advocated for this four years ago, I told the ISU that it was dangerous to stage competitions back to back. And they told me: “Pay attention, you’re the only one who’s dissatisfied, the rest are happy with everything.” Okay, let them start at 10 o'clock in the morning. We're all trying for Americans to have a great time. But they could have done it at least in a day.

“Dima definitely shouldn’t gain weight”

You need to be hardened like steel. We knew how to harden our own. Just look at the changed Javier Fernandez, who lost weight on proper nutrition, just like Lyosha Yagudin in the Olympic year. I lost seven or eight kilograms. Everyone is trying to do something. I’m not saying that Dima should still lose weight, but he definitely shouldn’t gain it.

... and Kolyada fell again

The Russian skater is fifth after the short program. It's just gorgeous. And this is not Kolyada.

“Yagudin was infuriated by this”

As for the moment when Dima drove into the side, he stood in the wrong place at the beginning, he didn’t calculate it. This already says a lot. Yesterday he came out absolutely adequate, but today he lacked this straight line. It’s a shame I didn’t include Lutz in the program. At the 2002 Olympics, Lesha Yagudin and I had 11 steps left before going on the ice, he turned sharply to me and asked: “How long to jump?”

I then immediately replied that Timothy ( American figure skater Timothy Gable. - Approx. "Championship") jumped three, Plushenko had already skated. And Lyosha understood that I was no longer telling him that some Timothy had jumped three times, and it infuriated him. He didn’t take anything off, he just jumped on everything. Taking off the most important thing that a person is accustomed to, he cuts the thread, and all the jumps are torn from it. They immediately roll down. There are many such examples.

"Let's hope"

You can shoot when you enter the season or when you have variability. For example, at the US Championships Nathan Chen was sick, he replaced everything with sheepskin coats and Salchows. His right leg was a mess, but he still did five jumps. This is variability, it doesn’t just roll around. There is a different mindset in my head. That's all. We rejoice at the fantastic skating of others; we want to live to see our own. Let’s hope, because Dima’s heart sang in the short one.”

In a conversation with R-Sport agency correspondent Anatoly Samokhvalov, the athlete spoke about the lottery in modern men's singles skating, the idyll with his coach Valentina Chebotareva and admitted the main thing - that he is the leader of his discipline in Russia.

I’ll go for a quiet ride at the Grand Prix Final

“I already realized it a little,” Kolyada said about his own victory in China the day after the competition. - On the podium I had mixed feelings, I understood that there were shortcomings, that this was not the limit, but at the same time I was pleased. But it’s difficult to describe these feelings.

This season shows that in modern men's singles skating, no one has stability. Neither the Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu, nor the recent winner of the Moscow Grand Prix Nathan Chen, nor others. Can we say that your species has become a lottery?

About fifteen years ago, it was simpler in terms of jumping. I did one quadruple toe loop in the short, two in the free, and that was enough. It's not that hard. Now 50 percent of the participants who compete at the World Championships could cope with such a program. Previously, a small proportion of athletes coped with this. When people began to compose complex programs, with a variety of quadruples and difficult rotations, step sequences, transitions between elements, choreography and delivery, everyone was faced with the problem of putting it all together.

That’s why it happens that you can’t skate cleanly, you can get a “minus” in almost any situation. It really does look like a lottery, but that's where the fun lies. Previously, you look - now he does five triples, an axel, and you understand that there is no intrigue. And now you look at an athlete and think: will he do it or won’t he do it? It's excitement.

- Do you pay attention to who is in what shape in training before the competition?

Sometimes I look. But in fact, training before competitions is more about getting out and feeling the skate. Roll out. What a person does during pre-race training means nothing at all. He can do a backflip when he's scared. But this does not mean that he will do it in the program. Most of the work is done at home.

- You said that in the December Grand Prix Final, which you will probably get into, you need to “extricate yourself”.

In general, everything is clear to me - I’ll go for a ride calmly. Today I understand that it is very difficult for me to qualify for any medals. There is such an option, but what if I skate perfectly and someone makes a mistake.

- But so far no one has performed cleanly this season.

An interesting season is underway, and I think that all these competitions that will take place before the New Year are trial ones. And even though the Grand Prix stages are competitions of a serious level, they can probably be called trial ones. Hanyu tries the lutz, Sema (Uno) tries the loop. I would compare it to shooting. They will come out with one content, then with another. Then, when you go out on the “big” ice, you will feel completely different. During training, you can do both Lutz and Littberger in one program. In a large public, the feeling of skating is completely different.

- Looking at the leading figure skaters of the world, do you want to become the same collector of jumps?

I won’t be able to jump five different ones in one program, because my loop is bad, my flip is from the outside edge. That's all. That's why I do what I can in competitions.

- Can’t fix the rib already?

Ha ha ha. I have tried. Honestly. But so far things are not working out. This is probably not "curable". The outer edge on the flip (according to the rules, the flip is performed when entering from the inner edge of the skate, the lutz - from the outer edge) is probably due to my natural turnout. It’s just that when I started skating, no one paid much attention: the flip was announced, well, that means the flip was done. Lutz is marked - that means there will be Lutz. And then a new judging system appeared, and people began to pay attention to it.

When I competed in junior competitions, in our short program there was a compulsory jump after the steps; one year this compulsory jump was a flip, so at every start I was put on the protocol for “wrong edge on the flip.” In St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities. That's it, the whole of Russia found out that I had the wrong edge on the flip.

Then I went to the Junior World Championships, and there (former vice-president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, now vice-president of the ISU Alexander) Lakernik told everyone that I have such a feature. And then the whole world learned about my malformed rib. That's why I didn't flip jump. In training I can do a flip, but it won't be quite a flip.

Your quadruple lutz came out great at the Grand Prix in China. What is the percentage of “out” of this element in your training?

High enough. I do three out of five for sure.

Not so long ago you said that “butterflies” are in the head, whoever works, performs the same way. Before the Chinese start, it turns out you didn’t work enough, given the unsuccessful attempts at important jumps?

Well, yes, the quad Salchow and triple Axel were not jumped enough in the second half. I don't go back on my words.

- Not enough due to the concentration of training on the lutz?

Maybe. When you get carried away with the Lutz, you forget that there is also a Salchow and an Axel.

- Is it impossible to combine work perfectly?

Yes, everything is possible. You can give a lot of reasons for the excuse, but in general it’s a simple flaw, and I admit it.

- Will you do even more skates?

Both rentals and these elements can be jumped to the music.

Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer

During the Moscow Grand Prix, you said that many spectators who come cannot distinguish one jump from another and they don’t care, but they want to see the show. Did I understand correctly that for you the presentation is more important than the result? Victory.

I decided a long time ago. I was just saying that many people come just to watch figure skating, but don’t understand what he, the athlete, has just done - a loop or a lutz. It is important for them that it is beautiful and accompanied by music. What’s more important is to please yourself, the spectators who truly care about you, the judges, and the coaches. But there are, so to speak, stray passengers who came, looked and left. I think that athletes know very well where they are going.

- Do you have a desire, as Evgeni Plushenko would say, to spank everyone? Is there a lot of sports anger?

- You.

Enough. With each start it becomes more, this is called experience. Competitive experience is the ability to prepare yourself for each start as if it were the last time in your life. To go out, skate and sit with a calm soul and wait for the grades. So that there is an awareness that you did everything you could.

- But after the Cup of China Grand Prix there is no such feeling?

No. I just know my shortcomings and what to work on next. I would be satisfied if I at least did both the Salchow and the Axel. At this stage, that would be enough for me.

- The last time you felt “I did everything I could” was at the 2016 World Championships in Boston?

Yes, well then the set was easier.

- Without a quadruple lutz.

And without Salchow. And two axels in the first half.

Your coach Valentina Chebotareva said that her sons consider Misha Kolyada to be like a third son, and her most beloved.

It was so. And so it remains.

Various athletes argue with coaches, but with you and Valentina Mikhailovna, whether things are bad or good, it’s always some kind of idyll from the outside.

Yes, because we are not looking for the reason in someone, but we understand that we won together, we also lost together. A coach is like a mentor, he walks with you through life, he will always support you and knows what needs to be done at the right time.

- Is Chebotareva a strict coach?

Yes, I wouldn't say that. Probably not.

- What is her toughest method?

I don't know about those. Any coach should be able to punish an athlete. But I can’t remember such a case.

- Is she angry?

No, this has never happened.

Have you ever had the feeling that you need to be stricter with you and that you yourself want Valentina Mikhailovna to be tougher?

If this feeling arises, then I approach her and tell her everything just as directly. I have nothing to hide from my coach. If I feel like I need a kick in the ass, then I tell Valentina Mikhailovna so.

- It turns out that you control both yourself and your coach?

No, that's not what I meant. It’s just that sometimes there are moments when a coach tells you to do something, and you realize that you can’t do it or don’t want to. And you come up and say that you have difficulties. Or maybe something hurts. And sometimes it happens that you come to training sluggish, then the coach gets you going and everything is fine.

Dima Aliev, who trains like you at the Figure Skating Academy of St. Petersburg, said that you conduct joint training sessions and during them you turn him on emotionally.

I feel great about him.

- How to treat your younger comrade?

Maybe yes. But there is also a sporting attitude. Competitive effect. This practice is very useful.

- Do you feel like the leader of Russian men's singles skating?

- Who is closer to you than others - Aliyev, Maxim Kovtun, Alexander Samarin?

I can't say that. It's getting closer. Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.

- Did you see the juniors at the Junior Grand Prix - Alexey Erokhov, Vladimir Samoilov?

I saw, I know them all.

- How long will it take for them to come to you?

It's better to ask them, I don't know. Should I improve in skating or jumping?

- By jumping.

They are close to me.

- For skating?

I don’t know (Smiles). I'm not a judge, it's not for me to judge.

Silver medalist at the 2018 Olympic Games in the team competition.
Bronze medalist of the World Championship. Two-time bronze medalist of the European Championship.
Silver medalist of the world team championship. Champion of the Russian Federation.

Mikhail Kolyada was born on February 18, 1995 in the city of Kolpino, Leningrad region. The boy was the eldest child in a large family, where, in addition to Mikhail, three more children grew up. The parents of the future champion always loved sports, although they did not engage in it professionally. My father was into hand-to-hand combat, and my mother was into skiing.

When the boy was five years old, he was sent to the figure skating section. The first coach was Valentina Chebotareva. Each element of figure skating was difficult for Mikhail; more than once he wanted to quit the sport, but the coach managed to interest the young athlete and the results were not long in coming. The first time I took part in big competitions was in the 2012 season.

At the Russian Junior Championship in 2012, Mikhail became sixth, and in 2013 he won gold. At the World Junior Figure Skating Championships, Kolyada took sixth place, but was ahead of all the athletes from Europe.

Figure skater Kolyada became the opening of the season in Russian figure skating. He won his first victory in adult competitions in 2014 at the Dragon Trophy tournament in Slovenia.

In August 2014, during training, Kolyada received a serious injury, which could have put an end to his sports career. To return to professional sports after breaking his right ankle, he had to undergo a long series of operations. And just a month after the last operation, Mikhail returned to the ice.

In 2015, the Russian figure skater took first place at the tournament in Val Gardena. The next season of 2016 brought Kolyada prizes at the Austrian Icechallenge tournament and at the Seibst Memorial. At the Russian Championship, the young skater won second place, losing only to Maxim Kovtun, and received a ticket to his first world championship. I had to compete with three dozen world leaders. The short program put Mikhail in sixth place in the standings.

The free program became more successful. As a result, the Russian athlete took an honorable fourth place at the World Figure Skating Championships. At the end of January, Mikhail Kolyada competed in the Czech city of Ostrava at the European Championship and took a prize.

At the first tournament of the 2018 Olympic season, the Ondrej Nepela Memorial, the athlete pleased the fans with a gold medal. At the Grand Prix stage in China, after the short program, Kolyada was the first of the domestic single skaters to surpass the one hundred point mark. At the end of 2017, Mikhail won the Russian Championship for the second time.

At the Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea, on February 12, 2018, Russian figure skaters, together with Mikhail Kolyada, won silver in the team competition.

The figure skater graduated from the National State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Health named after Peter Lesgaft in St. Petersburg.

Sports Achievements of Mikhail Kolyada

2012 - winner of the 2nd and 4th stages of the Russian Cup
2013 - champion of Russia among juniors, silver medalist of the Volvo Open Cup, junior Grand Prix in Estonia, 3rd and 4th stages of the Russian Cup
2014 - winner of the Dragon Trophy, bronze medalist of the Gardena Spring Trophy
2015 - winner of the Gardena Spring Trophy
2016 - winner of the 1st and 5th stages of the Russian Cup, silver medalist of the Russian Championship, Ondrej Nepela Memorial and Nikolai Panin Memorial, bronze medalist of the Ice Challenge
2017 - Russian champion, silver medalist of the World Team Championship, bronze medalist of the Grand Prix final and European Championship
2018 - Russian champion
2018 - bronze medalist of the European Championship
2018 - Olympic silver medalist
2019 - winner Nepela Memorial
2019 - Finlandia Trophy winner

Oleg Vasiliev: Kolyada, not Kovtun, can pull our figure skating out

The Honored Coach of Russia talks about whether the country should continue to rely on the figure skater Kovtun.

Three-time Russian champion Maxim Kovtun became third at the European Championships, failing his free program. The first was Spaniard Javier Fernandez, silver was won by Alexey Bychenko from Israel, 0.35 points ahead of Kovtun. Honored coach of Russia, 1984 Olympic champion in pair skating Oleg Vasiliev in an interview Sovsport. ru talked about whether the country needs to continue to rely on Kovtun and which Russian is really capable of leading Russian men's skating to victories.

“Kovtun will not be able to fight either Fernandez or Hanyu”

Kovtun ruined his free program, although he skated it cleanly in Yekaterinburg at the Russian Championship three weeks ago. What is the reason for its instability - psychology or technical issues?

Kovtun has trainers and a psychologist. This question should rather be addressed to them. Although I have a professional education, I am an outside observer. I see that for the fourth year now we have pinned our hopes on Maxim Kovtun. And in four years, he showed a purely short and free program at one start only two or three times. We have been saying for four years now: “Maksim Kovtun is our hope,” “Maxim Kovtun, we are waiting.” You can hope for another 20 years, and perhaps skate a couple more competitions cleanly.

I don’t understand why such hopes are pinned on Kovtun. Well, the boy is jumping in a quadruple jump, and he’s doing two jumps – a sheepskin coat and a salchow. Wonderful! But we also have other athletes who can do this if they get a little help professionally and financially. I don’t think there’s enough to say about Maxim Kovtun. It would be more correct, in my opinion, to talk entirely about our men’s skating.

- And how do you evaluate our men’s skating at the moment?

It has not yet been revived after Plushenko and Yagudin. It fell in 2006 after the active end of Plushenko’s career, and it hasn’t risen anywhere. This is all sad. Kovtun, not Kovtun... I see Misha Kolyada now. This athlete is our future, about whom we need to talk and hope that he will be able to pull our men’s figure skating onto the podiums of Europe and the world. It is Misha Kolyada, and not Kovtun, who for four years cannot find himself and always finds some kind of excuse.

Either his throat hurts, or something else. Everyone has already heard this, and more than once. We must not speak, but show. Yes, he showed his skating skills at the Russian Championships at home in Yekaterinburg. I skated well, no problems, but you should always skate like that. The state pays him money for this so that he can skate well. And he makes excuses - he didn’t sleep well or something else. It’s funny.

- If we return to Kovtun, does he have the potential to fight Fernandez?

No. I don’t know where Kovtun’s ceiling is. But I see Fernandez, I see Yuzuru Hanyu, other athletes, 16-year-old American Nathan Chen. People skate and have fun themselves, delivering it to the audience with their skating. And when we look at Kovtun, we are all on our nerves - when will Maxim skate well? Will it fall or not? Kovtun has no chance to fight Fernandez. Not with Fernandez, not with Hanyu, not with Patrick Chan.

Many say that Kovtun is not very motivated. He himself says that he lives a full life outside of sports and figure skating ends for him when he leaves the skating rink. Does such a mentality prevent him from being focused on victories and clean skates?

I don't think this is a hindrance. This is a normal position. This is what most athletes in Western Europe, the USA and Canada do. For them, figure skating is fun. They come to training, have fun, complete the necessary task and go about their lives. Many of them earn a living themselves, working part-time as waiters in restaurants, for example. This is normal psychology. I have a positive attitude towards the way Max approaches his life. He gives his all in training, and after it he lives his life one hundred percent. That's right, I don't see any conflict here.

“Hanyu – figure skating god”

- Is Mikhail Kolyada higher than Maxim Kovtun in terms of potential?

Kolyada, first of all, is young. He’s young not even by his age, but by the time he reached the top even in the Russian Championship. He missed the season last year due to a broken leg. This is his first season when he shows skating close to what he can do. I'm talking specifically about skating. Kolyada’s performance is a joy to watch. Our sport is called figure skating, and non-quadruple jumps are on ice. It is Kolyada who demonstrates figure skating; he skates beautifully and enjoys it. In terms of his skating style and gliding style, he is comparable to Fernandez, Hanyu, and Patrick Chan. He’s just inexperienced, he needs a year or two to mature. But the spectators enjoy the Kolyady skating itself.

Sasha Petrov has been skating consistently this entire season. At all competitions - the Grand Prix, the Russian Championship, the European Championship - he did not make a single mistake. This is a very big plus for any athlete, it is worth a lot. We must praise his coach Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin, who was able to teach his athlete to do what he knows how to do at every start. It’s very good that Petrov skates like that. But while he does not have his face on the figure skating map, he has not yet shown himself.

Plus, he doesn’t yet have a quadruple jump, that technical element with which he can compete for prizes at the European and World Championships. I think that with such a professional coach as Mishin, with such an approach, Petrov has a chance to grow both technically and artistically. If he continues to work like this, he will be able to compete for medals at European and maybe even world championships.

- In your opinion, will Fernandez be able to catch up with Hania? For the first time in his life, he scored more than 300 points.

They catch up with each other every day in training when they work out together. Seriously though, Hanyu is certainly the “god” of figure skating today. It is possible to catch up with him only if Hanyu himself allows it, that is, if he makes mistakes in his skating. Then Fernandez, Patrick Chan, and someone else can catch up. But if Hanyu skates to the maximum of his capabilities and without mistakes, then he is unattainable. Unfortunately or fortunately, the fact remains. Hanyu is now as good as a 21st century skater can be.

source: “Soviet Sport”

03/05 15:00 Figure skating

Figure mania has taken over our TV. How Zagitova and Medvedeva knocked biathlon out of the top 3 The excitement around figure skating in Russia was reflected in television ratings: in the list of the most watched broadcasts in 2019, the leader is not football or hockey.

11/05 17:00 Figure skating

Zagitova and Medvedev are just a trigger. Russia would have gotten “figure skating” even without them. We are trying to figure out what is causing the sharp jump in the popularity of figure skating in our country.

05/06 11:00 Figure skating

The best singles player in the USA goes to Mishin. Will there be a cry again that we are helping strangers? American Bradie Tennell will begin training in St. Petersburg from the new season with the famous Russian specialist Alexei Mishin.

19/06 12:08 Hockey

Kucherov will receive the Hart, and Vasilevsky – the Vezina? Chances of Russians for personal prizes in the NHL The NHL Individual Awards Ceremony will take place in Las Vegas on June 19. Russians have a great chance of leaving the casino capital not empty-handed.

10/06 12:02 MMA

Will Petr Yan fight for the title? At UFC 238, Henry Cejudo defeated Marlon Moraes to win the bantamweight title.

19/06 10:21 Hockey

Will Mozyakin surpass Gretzky? What KHL elders are capable of The famous Slovak defender Zdeno Chara, who played in the Stanley Cup final with a broken jaw, does not intend to retire.

25/03 12:30 Biathlon

Where is the key to Loginov’s results hidden, and where are ours weaker than Pidruchny? Yuri Tsybanev - about the unknowable present and unpredictable future of Russian biathlon.

10/06 19:07 MMA

Cerrone's bloody face, Shevchenko's crazy high kick and Yan's victory. The best moments of UFC 238 (video) On June 9, the UFC 238 mixed martial arts tournament took place in Chicago (USA). “Soviet Sport” offers to watch the most interesting moments of the fight show, of which there were surprisingly many.

02/05 20:40 Figure skating

“Ovechkin could become a great figure skater” Russian dance couple Jonathan Gureiro and Tiffany Zagorski went overseas to the famous Christopher Dean to stage a new program. And on the eve of departure, skaters with names and surnames unusual for the Russian ear gave a long interview to Soviet Sport.

13/06 13:45 MMA

Dustin Poirier: With a victory over Khabib, I will write my name in MMA history UFC 242 card headliners Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Poirier met face to face for the first time in London.

16/06 19:18 Tennis

Return Island. Sharapova will play in Mallorca for the first time since January this year! Almost five months later, Maria Sharapova will return to the court. This week the former first racket of the world will perform at a tournament in Spain - in Mallorca. “Soviet sport” – about what it means. And why did the Russian woman’s return take so long?

06/06 19:30 Tennis

Khachanov left Roland Garros, only the daughter of Russian emigrants remained. The last Russian was eliminated from Roland Garros: Karen Khachanov lost to Austrian Dominic Thiem in the quarter finals. The main sensation of the day was the victory of US citizen Amanda Anisimova over Simona Halep.

21/06 08:00 Football

Mircea Lucescu: Dziuba and Lunev were invited to the championship parade, but Zenit was not. One of the most successful (32 titles) coaches in Eastern Europe, the former coach of Zenit and Shakhtar shared his plans for the future and commented on current events related to the RPL .

16/06 19:50 Boxing

They scored "Sledgehammer". Makabu knocked out Kudryashov Russian heavyweight boxer Dmitry Kudryashov lost a rating fight to Congolese Ilunga Makabu.

16/06 02:55 Boxing

Two dirty boxers and one deaf referee. What boxing will be like (video) The semi-finals of the World Boxing Super Series in the first heavyweight division took place in Riga. Cuban Yunier Dorticos defeated American Andrew Tabiti, and Latvian Mairis Briedis was stronger than Pole Krzysztof Glowacki.

21/03 20:30 Biathlon

Italian Cuisine. Nobody expected such a failure from Vittozzi. The first race of the last stage will be remembered for the unprecedented failure of Lisa Vittozzi, who, together with Dorothea Wierer, was claiming overall victory in the World Cup. It seems that now Doro will not give the big globe to anyone.

08/06 19:24 Tennis

It was in vain that they were allowed onto the center court. Barty is a boring Roland Garros champion Ashleigh Barty from Australia became the winner of Roland Garros in the women's singles. In the final match, she beat Czech Maketa Vondruskova in two sets.

17/06 20:26 Tennis

Synchronous output. Khachanov and Medvedev made it to the second round of ATP tournaments Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev almost simultaneously won victories in their first matches at tournaments in England and Germany. In London, Medvedev defeated the Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, and in Halle Khachanov defeated the Serb Miomir Kecmanovic.

04/04 14:30 Biathlon

It gets quieter in the stands. Alexander Tikhonov leaves big biathlon politics The departure of Alexander Tikhonov from big biathlon politics is the main result of the RBU coaching council.

07/05 13:00 Biathlon

It's good that without America! It’s bad that without Russia! Studying the calendar of the new season The International Biathlon Union has published the full schedule of competitions for the 2019/20 season.