If you look at the dry results, then the Italian Grand Prix started sadly for the Russian skaters. One second place, two thirds and one leading position in short programs. In three of the four, the explanations are easy – in women’s skating, the leaders go in a dense group, and only ours have free-free quads; in pairs we are young duets; and in dances, Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin are just gaining shape, but they have already amazed everyone with a new program.

And what about men? The strongest squad seemed to go to Italy: the two most successful skaters of the country of the last five years Mikhail Kolyada and Dmitry Aliev, as well as the winner of the Junior World Cup Petr Humennik. But according to the results of the short program, no one got into the top three (everyone fell), which caused a negative on the network. And Alexei Yagudin said on the air that Kolyada “turned on Kolyada,” the 2002 Olympic champion compared Aliyev’s performance with the failures of Russian football clubs in European competitions.

What did the guys themselves say?

Kolyada is happy with the atmosphere

Mikhail took 4th place in the short program with a score of 92.30 points.

“The good news is that the cascade of quadruple salchow + triple sheepskin coat was successful. It’s a pity, after that there was a fall from a sheepskin coat ….

It felt good, the arena is very good, the ice is wonderful, the atmosphere is a little homey. I don’t know why, but I liked it. “

Bean goose is angry with himself

Peter took 9th place in the short program with a score of 76.81 points.

“I’m not that upset … Now I’m a little bit angry with myself. It seemed to make an effort, but did not reach the desired point. All the elements didn’t go the way they should have been. I hope this anger will help me to skate better tomorrow. “

Aliyev is ashamed and offended

Dmitry took 10th place with a score of 71.07 points.

“Feelings are very bad now. I blame myself in the first place. I let down all the people who worked with me. I am very offended and ashamed. But I am trying to fight it. The first jump should be a quadruple toe loop. I fell off the lutz, I had to do another quad. But I … just ripped off the element. It turned out to be a butterfly, it was my mistake. I don’t even know the reasons. It was necessary to take risks today. But I have lost a lot “…

They cause nothing but pain in the photograph. At the last world championship, Russia took gold in three out of four, the guys were left without medals. It is foolish to expect a sharp jump in results in six months from our guys and an unexpected regression from world leaders. Nevertheless, criticism of the representatives of men’s skating in public advertisements, as well as fears for the singles in the team tournament, have been appearing more and more recently – from experts, commentators, journalists, and fans.

Aliyev admitted that he was working with a psychologist, which indicated obvious mental problems. Head work is very important regardless of the age or gender of the athlete. And public hate is clearly not something that an athlete who is looking for a balance between body and mental health should face. If you want results, don’t ask for them. After all, no one owes anything to anyone. Better to support. Or at least keep silent.