The Russian figure skater leads Germany to a historic victory. He and his partner beat even the European champions – Sport24.ru – online sports news in Russia and the world

The adult part of the Grand Prix finals in Beijing was opened by short programs of sports pairs. At the start of the season, all duets performed at almost the same level, so it was difficult to predict the final placement of athletes in the standings.

Maria Pavlova and Alexey Svyatchenko were the last to reach the finals, replacing those who had withdrawn Annika Hocke/Robert Kunkel. The Hungarians risked not being able to get their visas on time, but coach Dmitry Savin insisted on completing all the documents in advance, just in case. This helped the couple still get to Beijing on time.

Pavlova/Svyatchenko are not progressing as quickly as the skaters themselves would like. But stability still helps them gradually improve their results. 65.51 points – Maria and Alexey became fourth.

Current European champions Sara Conti/Niccolò Macchii during the series they did not look as confident as last season. Many expected victories from the bronze medalists of the world championship, but mistakes almost threw them out of the finals. In China, the Italians have almost rehabilitated themselves for past failures. Questions arose only with the triple twist, when Sara landed on Niccolo’s shoulder. How the technical panel risked setting the maximum difficulty level is a question that remains unanswered. Also in the positive zone. Nevertheless, this is 70.30 points and an intermediate third position.

Debutants Minerva Fabien Haze and Nikita Volodin became a real discovery of the first half of the season. The newly formed German duo sensationally won two stages of the Grand Prix, but on the way from Japan the ex-Russian fell ill and missed most of the preparation for the series final. Fortunately, this did not become an obstacle to a clean release. Only with the change of position in support did Khaze/Volodin make the Chinese public a little nervous. 72.56 points – a new personal record for Minerva and Nikita.

Canadians Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps were in the lead in the Grand Prix series. But in Beijing they could not get by without some shortcomings. The skaters started off as confidently as possible, performing one of the best triple twists of the day, which the judges rated at +4 GOE. And then came the rough edges. On a parallel triple toe loop, Deschamps put his other foot on the exit and almost fell into a step-out. Stellato-Dudek made a similar mistake on the loop release. Mistakes slightly blurred the impression of the box office, but among all the duets, the Canadians stand out for their power and speed. 71.22 points – second place after the short.

According to the results of the first day, the pairs from the top 3 were located very tightly. So the fight for medals will begin again in the free program.

Grand Prix Final. Couples. Short program

1. Minerva Fabien Hase/Nikita Volodin (Germany) – 72.56
2. Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps (Canada) – 71.22
3. Sarah Conti/Niccolo Macchi (Italy) — 70.30
4. Maria Pavlova/Alexey Svyatchenko (Hungary) – 65.51
5. Rebecca Gilardi/Filippo Ambrosini (Italy) – 61.91
6. Leah Pereira/Trent Michaud (Canada) — 61.78