Bofrost Cup

Report by Petra: Evgeni won gold at his first Gran Prix Event and his first competition this season, the Bofrost Cup in Gelsenkirchen, Germany!!! He won it for the 4th time (!!!) in a row. He was saying in an German tv interview that going to Gelsenkirchen evry year is superstitious and kind of a system for him. It was very exciting seeing this event live! He showed two new programs! And at the exhibition "Carmen" again. First of all my ability to write reports is very limited but I try. Practice: First practice: At his first practice he practiced his new sp. Mishin was on the opposite site of our seasts. Evgeni always skated over during the practice to him to talk to him. In the practice you could already see how much he improoved his sp from the first performance of that program in Jaca/Spain in August. He did a lot his footworks and jumps not the whole program. Even at practice I was amazed by his artistry. The footwork was breathtaking beautiful. Something happend at the circular footwork, he suddenly fell and lying on his back rolled over and stood up, continued his footwork and was smiling a lot, he took the fall with humor. He was trying the quad lutz twice when I remember right, but fell on both. You know, I could not pay to much attentions to the jumps since I was mostly taking photos. All other jumps where clean including the 4toe-1/2 loop-3 flip as I heard. As I saw the 1/2 loop I thought he did the axel but on a video I took I could see he didn't jump an axel so I was confused what else it could have been, it looked very much as an toe but the video is blurry at that part so it was hard to tell. He made spins too and made an attempt to do the Biellmann spin but he didn't. The practice was way to fast over and at the end Evgeny made a bow to Mishin. Second Practice: He practiced his new free skate and I can't remember the jumps anymore but it this time he didn't fell. For the first time I could see his new free skate what was very exciting, to see it for the very first time. The whole music was playing but he didn't show the whole program. Again breathtaking footwork. What I already could see was pure art. I think his arms and handmovements are so perfectly beautiful. The picture with the white shirt is from the thrid practice. Sorry I can't tell a lot about it what I saw, I didn't wrote down what I saw, it was his sp again, no falls. After evry practice he made a bow to Mishin. I didn't saw the last two practices because it was to early in the morning and I was to tired to go there.   Short Program: During the mens short program I saw Evgeni doing warm ups behind the seats of the audince. I watched him and missed parts of the mens short program but it was worth it. He skated second to last and skated an flawless short program to the music of Adagio by Albinoni and had an black costume with golden decoration wich suits him very well. It is a really beautiful program, very, very expressive, 4 Toeloop - 3 Toeloop, effortless. 3 Axel and wonderful circular footwork, sit spin change foot, then straight line footwork, very beautiful, I get the impression he does not only footwork, he involes his whole body in this sequence. Then camel-donout spin and another combination spin including the Biellmann spin. He finishes his program with an very expressive pose. His marks: Tech: 5.7 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.9 Pres: 5.7 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 Free skate: I saw Evgeni watching the free skate of his friend Alexander Abt at the border on the opposite side of our seats, Evgeni had to skate after him in the second group as second. His new free skate is a great piece of art, the music was just composed for him written by the Russian composer Igor Korniluk, especially for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. He said: "I want to give a present to St. Petersburg." It is a very beautiful music wich he interprets very well. Both programs are so different of what we saw from him. In this free skate he shows wonderful artistry, he improoved even more his artistry. He is very expressive in his new programs. First he did 4 Toeloop - 3 Toeloop but he slightly two footed the quad. Then another 4 Toeloop wich was two footed also. Then 3 Axel, 3 Lutz, 3- Axel - 3 Toeloop, 3 Flip, 3 Loop and a wonky 3 Salchow. He also included a dounut spin, Billmann spin and Biellman spiral. He also improved his spins a lot. All over a complete program. This was a fabulous start in the new season, no one can even reach this wonderful program, technical or in artistry. His marks: Tech: 5.6 5.7 5.7 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.9 Pres: 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 Exhibition: I hoped Evgeni would do a new exhibition, even on the exhibition schedule was not written what he will skate, they was only written "A surprise", I thought, ok a surprise, great, I love surprises. And the surprise was he skated "Carmen" with his old costume. But I was glad seeing Carmen myself live because it is very impressing seeing this powerful program live. He skated just the first half of the program and as an encore the second half. I can't remember the jumps but he didn't fell. He was the last skater in this exhibition and all skaters came again and there was a firework on ice. It was a glorious ending of this fabulous event.