Cup of Russia report by "Crazzy (Nastia) from Drobaizko-Vanagas Forum ""now about my visit to Cup of Russia.
Day 1it was friday and I was working, so unfortunately I missed CD
but I managed to arrive to SSA Luzhniki to the beginning of ladies' SP. I can't say I enjoyed it immensly, but it was really pleasant to watch Kiira Korpi and Sarah Meyer. actually I didn't understand why Julia Sebestien earned such high scores, coz she did a mistake on 1 jump and didn't perform a cascade
then came pairs. I should tell it is the most boring part of competition - maybe coz there were very few good pairs. unfortunately Petrova-Tikhonov made a mistake, which placed them behind the German couple. by the way german's programme lokks better to be watched live
very energic! and everyone was really impressed by a new russian couple - Kawaguchi-Smirnov - they really did great
in the evening there were boys!!! oh, it was really great!!!! we enjoyed the performance of Berntsson from Sweden, Verner from Chezh Republic, Weir and Joubert. Weir did a totally ideal performance and the audience was really mad - everyone was shouting and waving american and russian flags. and Johnny was given VERY MANY presents that evening!!!! but still Brian won SP, as he was also almost perfect and did a quad, which Johnny didn't Brian's James Bond is really fantastic - very energetic and well-balanced
I was totally impressed!!!!
my 2 friends worked there as journalists, and they were telling us all the news from the back-stage!! the two main figures of the event were Brian and Johnny, and all reporters were around these two guys! actually Johnny was very glad that evening and talked willingly, while Brian was really tired and tryed to escape interviews, so my friends only took fotos of him Brian is really funny. before the competition started, he came out to the free place near the kiss-and-cry corner, where he started to warm up watching the audience
after the competitions, we were waiting for our friends outside near the entrance for press, skaters and other staff. while we were waiting, there came out:
Marina Anissina - I should say she is really pretty
Johnny's mother - she stood for a long time talking with his fans
Tomas Verner - he came out and stood a bit not knowing what to do. then a girl came up to her and asked for an autogramme. he was a bit embarraced and surprised. he's really shy and handsome. then his bag opened and something fell out of it. some girls started to help him to pick up everything, and he was saying Thank you and Sorry many time, smiling shyly
a real sweetheart!!!
Johnny Weir and Brian Joubert - they came out almost together, but the people who were there ran to Johnny, they were shouting, congratulating him, giving presents, taking fotos ... and Brian looked really tired, he looked round and very quickly escaped to the bus, so that no one could catch him
Day 2we stayed at Luzhniki almost the whole day.
there's almost nothing to be said about girls, except for the victory of Sarah Meyer - we were really glad, we even had a swiss flag, so we were waving it for her
dance - there was the OD that evening. I should say that Domnina-Shabalin and Belbin-Agosto didn't impress me at all. Shabalin even fell on twizzles. the real tango was performed by Kerrs - so they received a huge ovation. and Delobel-Shoenfelder did really well, and were scored 2nd place
I was very happy, coz I support them this year - it seemed like they had a good chance to win
in the brake we went to talk to our friends to the press-cafe, and when we came there we saw Isobel Delobel standing there alone in a training suit. we came up to her, said hello, she seemed to be a bit surprised, but smiled and said hello to us. we said that we liked their skating immensly, congratulated her with 2nd place and wished Good Luck for FD. she was really pleased, was smiling all the time and thanked us a lot. I really liked her - she is very pretty and polite and open
and I was really surprised to see that she is even lower that me in height (and I'm only 165 cm high)
we also saw Nikolay Morozov there, but decided not to talk to him, as he was very busy.
after that the pairs skated very pourly
almost everyone fell, adn there were MANY mistakes on spins and step-sequences
the only who really did well were russians Kawaguchi-Smirnov - I think they are upcoming stars of pair-skating
and then came the hugest event - men's LP!!!!!!!!! ;D
our friends told us that many guys placed quads in their programmes, some of them even 2, and Brian claimed 3 quads!!!!!!
actually everyone attempted to do the most what one could, but not everyone did it successfully!!!
I liked Berntsson's LP as much as his SP - it was very dynamic and emotional, and he did it very well!!! I was absolutely happy to see Verner's LP live - SO emotional and beautiful!!!! unfortunately he did a couple of mistakes, that left him on the 4th overall place .Sandhu was falling very often, as well as Dobrin and many others. Grjazev did not badly, but I wasn't moved at all . Johnny did too many mistakes, it even seemed as though he was skating a programme for girls, not for boys - so simple it was. that's why his scores were very low . and then on the ice came Brian Joubert. he skated last. his new programme is breathtaking!!! and he did it PERFECTLY!!!!! besides he really performed 3 QUADS!!!!!!!! and the greatest thing is - in the audience there was Pluschenko!!!!!
in front of Pluschenko's eyes Brian did 3 perfect quads in 1 programme. he skated wonderfully!!! i have no words to describe it!!!!!!! and as soon as he finished, he fell on his knees, lifted his hands up in the air, and then started to kiss the ice!!!!!!!!
he was the King!!!!!! the audience spang up to their feet!!!! everyone was shouting - wow, bravo, well done!!!!! everyone was clapping wildly with their hands above their heads!!!!!! it was real triumph!!!!!!!!!!!!
and he received his personal best score!!!!!!!!!!! he won with the margin of about 40 points from Johnny!!!!!!! a real wonder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! something fantastic!!!!!!!!
after the competitions we met with or friends near the press-cafe. they were going to the press-conference, and I wanted to see Brian and to give him the present I had prepared for him. we were standing in front of the doors of the cafe waiting for him and chatting. there was no one escept us in the hall. and then came the staff-people and asked us to leave the place. I was really sad, but still I gave the present to my friend. and when she came out, she told me that she passed the present to him, told him that it was from me and he asked her to thank me and said Thank You in Russian
Day 3as I had a lot to do on sunday, I decided not to go to the Gala, adn visited only Free Dance. actually I enjoyed Kerrs and Delobel-Shoenfelder a lot!!! they really did well!!!! but the judging was awful!!! Domnina-Shabalin received 95 something, Belbin-Agosto 91 something. and it really seemed that the judges were determined to place Domnina-Shabalin first, inspite of their fall in OD. but still there seemed to bit little misunderstadning
and Americans stayed in the lead. and Delobel-Shoenfelder did a small mistake, but it cost them too dear!!! they received 6 point less than in France!!! but everyone was convinced, that they did better than 89 something points!!!!!! everyone was sure they should have won!!!! my friend told me that at the press-conference Isobel was almost crying
and both kept on repeating that they couldn't understand why they were placed so low
it is really unfair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so on the whole I want to say that it was a great event!!!!!! I'm really impressed with everything I saw!!!!!!! and I really advise you - if you have a chance to visit a competition in figure skating, don't miss it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "