Silver medalist of the Russian Figure Skating Championship Makar Ignatov unexpectedly moved from coach Evgeniy Rukavitsyn to Evgeni Plushenko. What this transfer can give to an athlete and what does Olympic medalist Alexandra Trusova have to do with it — in the material Sport.
If previously the tone for the off-season was set by crazy transitions in women's single skating, now the leadership has gone to men. In recent years, it is this type of figure skating that has shown the greatest progress due to unprecedented competition and high technical complexity. But now, before our eyes, it seems that the unthinkable is happening — the men’s singles team is starting to defeat the women’s singles team also in the hype. Who would have thought about this just a couple of years ago…
Starting with the resonant transfer of Matvey Vetlugin, spring 2024 continued with a move from St. Petersburg to Moscow from Makar Ignatov. Moreover, in both cases the group of coach Evgeniy Rukavitsyn appeared — we can say that Vetlugin, who had previously trained under the leadership of Alexei Mishin, took the place of Ignatov in it, who went to the two-time Olympic champion Evgeniy Plushenko.
On the one hand, the transfer seems logical. Perhaps even more logical than Vetlugin’s transition. In a month, Ignatov will turn 24 years old — the age for a male single, if not the maximum, then at least close to it. Now is the time to start looking back and remembering past victories, while at the same time wondering whether it’s time for this, this is the same thing? European Championship medalist Alexander Samarin was already thinking about it in 2024 and decided to stop. Although the age difference between the guys is only two years.
But the nuance is that Ignatov has not yet had any big victories over the years of his career. He is a multiple winner of the adult and junior stages of the international Grand Prix, champion of the Nebelhorn Trophy pre-season tournament, champion of Russia in jumping (by the way, in Evgeni Plushenko’s team), silver medalist of the Russian championship and… That’s it. Yes, the number is already considerable, given the powerful opposition at the national level, but still, among the leading figure skaters of the country, Makar is inferior in regalia, if not to all, then to many.
Not the most successful outcome of most of his career for a person with such outstanding initial data. Yes, Ignatov may be too tall for single skating (183 cm), but at the same time, his gigantic anthropometry gives his jumps power and beauty. He is rightfully considered the owner of one of the most elegant quadruple loops in men, and the female part of the fans nicknamed Makar the sex symbol of our figure — of course, purely for the beauty of his skating.
In a word, when Makar skates cleanly, it is the highest class and a balm for the soul. But this happens extremely rarely. It is clear to the naked eye that for some reason he does not have the stamina to successfully complete the free program, and often after the starting loop (even a successful one) there is a series of errors behind which neither the program nor, indeed, the skating itself can be discerned.
Many blamed the athlete’s former coach Evgeniy Rukavitsyn for this — they say this is a serial problem for all graduates of his academy. Although in the case of Makar, a combination of factors probably played a role. This is a long-standing leg fracture that knocked him out of balance in his last junior season, and, perhaps, the peculiarities of the training process. And, of course, we must not forget that the larger/taller a person is, the more effort he needs, so to speak, to move. This is how the ideal height for everyday life becomes a kind of professional scourge for athletes.
One way or another, the collaboration with Rukavitsyn, which lasted almost eight years, gradually exhausted itself. And then — where? Mishin already had Makar, and judging by Vetlugin’s example, the Professor can also sometimes be wrong about something. Eteri Tutberidze? It is not a fact that an intense pace of training is ideal for a fairly mature skater with problematic endurance.
Plushenko not only has conditions for comfortable work, but also the opportunity to take the place of group leader in the men's singles. The team of the two-time Olympic champion has been heavily reinforced with girls in recent years, but the boys, with the exception of the talented but not yet fully formed Nikita Sarnovsky, have not seen any truly powerful personnel. Ignatov in optimal shape could become the locomotive of the group, but again the question is — what to do with endurance?
Plushenko, however, also has an answer to this. It has long been known that the level of general physical training in his academy is quite high, and the school’s main specialist in this area, Rem Gazazyan, is in demand not only in the “Angels”, but also outside of them. If he can't get Makar back on his feet, then who can?
However, there is a feeling that this transition was forged not only for purely sporting reasons. It's no secret that our women's singles legend Alexandra Trusova has been spending quite a lot of time at Plushenko's skating rink for the last year, without even competing. And given Alexandra’s busy schedule in the show of the two-time Olympic champion and his wife Yana Rudkovskaya, there is no reason to believe that anything will change in the foreseeable future.
It’s also no secret that Alexandra and Makar are quite close. The young people did not comment in any way on the periodically appearing rumors about their relationship, but at the same time they did not refute them. And now Makar, having crossed the equator of his career, decides to move to the very group where Alexandra spends the most time on the ice. Coincidence? Hardly.
Moreover, there have already been similar cases in our figure skating — and also with Trusova. So, after the Olympic Games in Beijing, Alexandra decided to switch from Eteri Tutberidze to Svetlana Sokolovskaya immediately after the test skates, and even Svetlana Vladimirovna admitted some time later that the famous athlete did not come to her, but to her then lover, Mark Kondratyuk.
A year and a half later, history repeats itself. However, whatever the true motives for this transition, if they help Makar make a qualitative breakthrough in his career, one can only be happy for him.
The author’s opinion may not coincide with the position of the editors
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