Cup of Russia

Report from Sally November 24, 2001, Free Skate: The commentators for Cup of Russia were Suzie Wynne and Peter Carruthers. They began their commentary by saying that Evgeni "has not lost a Grand Prix competition in almost a year. He has 9 consecutive wins." When Evgeni stepped onto the ice, to a huge crowd response, Peter had this to say: "This is the man that everyone has come to see in St. Petersburg - Evgeni Plushenko, 3-time Russian champion, defending World Champion, and first here after the Short Program. And, believe it or not, Russian pair skater, Anton Sikharulidze, just tapped me on the shoulder and said that Evgeni Plushenko will try the quad lutz. If he does that and lands it, he will be the first man in history to land that jump in competition." Suzie added: "Well, he landed them in practice this morning; and, during the warm-up, he tried 2 and he fell on both of them, but he still seems very composed." Evgeni's program was "Once Upon a Time in America." His first jump was the quad lutz attempt - he slipped off the edge after completing the full 4 revolutions. Peter said, "He was REALLY close." Suzie said, "How brave to try it here in front of the home audience, just to test his strength, test his abilities." She added that, because he has the "security of knowing all the choreography in this program", he probably felt it was a "safe haven" to try it here. The next element was the 4Toe and Evgeni fell. Suzie was very surprised... " he has owned it for a couple of years now." Peter commented that he may have been concentrating so much on the 4 Lutz that it threw him off just a bit for the 4Toe. He thought it was good that Evgeni was "experimenting here." Suzie added, "Absolutely, and you have to experiment in front of a crowd. It feels totally different from when you are in the quiet of your practice rink." After the fall on the 4Toe, Evgeni got right back into the choreography with a big smile. Next up, 3Axel/3Toe (hand down on the triple toe). Wynne commented that he didn't seem to have "quite the security we are used to seeing from him." Then, Evgeni reached the section of the program that begins with the hip wiggles and he was right back into it. Wynne: "He really believes in everything he does; he enjoys the footwork; everything is very important to him. He doesn't let if fall off; he doesn't let it loosen up; he's very involved in the choreography." 3Salchow - "nice and tall - excellent air position" (Wynne) 3Lutz - "now THERE's a 3Lutz for you." (Wynne) Biellman stretch spiral (huge crowd approval) - "very flexible" (Wynne) Next, a beautiful 3Loop; and, then, at the 4-minute point of the program, a 3Flip/3Toe combo - "wonderful combination, so hard to do so far into the program. He is an excellent athlete; very well trained." (Wynne) Biellman spin (crowd loved this); combo spin, sit spins and Evgeni ended the program with his usual enthusiasm and a big grin. The crowd went wild. As Evgeni circled the ice for a moment before taking his bows, he was smiling to himself with his head down - you could almost read his thoughts - that he was proud of himself for trying the quad lutz and it was SOOOO CLOSE. His marks: 5.6 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.6 5.8 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.9 5.6 5.8 5.8 Suzie thought the 5.6 for tech. was "a little low considering that gutsy 4Lutz attempt - it was a real attempt." She said he was used to 5.9s for presentation, but "his attitude is a 6.0. You have to check out his attitude. He really looks his audience right in the eye and says, 'I'm here; I'm here." Other comments were: Wynne: "As a skater and a performer, you have to pull out of your comfort zone to see what you're made of; to see what you're capable of. He has so much confidence, he's probably trying to test it. You know, I admire him, he's trying to jazz up the day by trying something new; and there's nothing wrong with that." (On the quad lutz), "he was all the way around; just slipped off the edge. That wasn't just an attempt - that was the real deal. He just started doing this 3 days ago." Carruthers: "Trying to jazz up the day? He was trying to be the first man to land a 4Lutz in competition and he had a fall; but he really got it together after that. He's having a great time in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Russia." Needless to say, the audience went wild when they learned Evgeni had just become the Cup of Russia Champion. Suzie Wynne's Interview with Evgeni following the LP: Q. Congratulations, Evgeni. Now, 10 consecutive wins in the Grand Prix series and you decide to try the 4 lutz. When did you decide this.? EP: 3 days ago, I did first time quad lutz and asked my coach maybe I do it here because I think it's better if I can try it here. So, I tried it and almost I did it. Q. You told me you want to wait to try your Olympic program for the first time at the Olympics. Why? EP: We are not waiting for Olympics ...it's because it's not ready, my new program, yet. So, after this competition, we start to do it, new program, new costumes; so, everything new. Q. We'll look forward to seeing that. And, Congratulations, again. EP: Thank you very much.