"Today is amazing, how the guys performed": how Shleicher and Kuznetsov won gold at the Russian Championships in diving in Kazan

      The sensation of Konanykhina: Anna lost the "tower"

      Akinfeev. World level. Fans

       An hour before the opening ceremony, the press center of the Water Sports Palace was already crowded. Delegates from the regions were undergoing a briefing from a representative of the Russian Water Sports Federation. The essence of his recommendations boiled down to this: bring your problems – we will solve them. At this point, there were not many media representatives – just me and the famous Elena Vaitsekhovskaya, a journalist and Olympic champion of 1976 in this sport. When the Minister of Sports of Tatarstan, Vladimir Leonov, came into our view, my colleague presented him with a biographical book about Igor Akinfeev. Yes, yes, it was her creation. For a moment, the president of the Tatarstan Diving Federation, Yefim Klimov, was next to me. We couldn't talk in detail: Klimov was in a hurry to meet the delegates. But he threw in: look, we managed to create a tournament of world level. And indeed, "internationality" was present in everything – from the officials (among them was even a representative of World Aquatics) to the filled stands. They were occupied at 95 percent, and athletes and coaches made up only a small part of the audience – there were many mothers with small children. The opening ceremony included a lot of interesting things not only for children. The audience saw a light show and gymnastic tricks over the water. And also synchronized swimmers, who added a special color to the event, emphasizing that all water sports athletes are one family.

      Shleicher and Kuznetsov: won, but did not qualify

       After all the official matters, the most "delicious" part began – that evening, two sets of medals were contested in the sports program. They started with duets on the three-meter springboard. The leaders here were Nikita Shleicher and Yevgeny Kuznetsov. It is worth noting that the guys approached the tournament in Kazan in different physical and moral states. Nikita is the hero of last year's World Championship in Singapore, and this season he managed to go to the World Cup. However, he ended up only eighth in the Superfinal paired with Ruslan Ternov. Yevgeny is a completely different story. The 36-year-old athlete missed Singapore due to injury. He had surgery and took a long time to recover. He announced his participation in the Russian Championship only in March. And today, after the victory, he said: "Many wrote me off, buried me. And I approached this start with the mindset to prove that Yevgeny Kuznetsov cannot be easily dismissed. It was hard – I went through a whole bunch of rehabilitations, endured pain, but nevertheless I am here again and back on the podium," Kuznetsov said. Yevgeny also acknowledged the young athletes from other duets: "Today it was amazing how the guys performed. Practically no one made mistakes. This is truly a world competition when everyone scores 8–8.5 points. The main thing here is to keep yourself together and not start panicking," Kuznetsov said. It is important to emphasize that Shleicher and Kuznetsov won, but did not score the required number of points. To qualify for Paris, 429 points are needed, while the winning duet scored "only" 422. But since this is an internal selection, most likely, everything will be left to the federation's discretion.

      The fiasco of Konanykhina, the success of the junior

       None of us had any doubts before the girls' competition on the ten-meter platform that the gold should go to the representative of St. Petersburg, Anna Konanykhina. And how surprised we were when, after two attempts (there were five in total in the final), the favorite was only in ninth place. Next came an unclear jump for number three, a good fourth, and a normal fifth. All this allowed her to rise one position – Konanykhina ultimately finished eighth. And she is one of the leaders of the national team. It was she who won bronze in mixed jumps with Alexander Bondarev at the "world" in Singapore. And it was she who, two weeks ago on the same platform in Beijing during the Superfinal of the World Cup, won silver and proudly displayed the Russian flag. Unfortunately, the girl refused to talk to journalists. Konanykhina's misstep was taken advantage of by 16-year-old Alexandra Kedrina – her partner in the duet. By the way, Sasha has already been to the adult "world" last year. After her victory in Kazan, she did not hide her tears and emotions: "This is my first victory at the Russian Championship. Especially in individual jumping. Emotions are overwhelming. Before the last jump, I saw that Katya Belyaeva made her attempt well, and I realized that I had to show everything I could," Kedrina said. Perhaps Kazan witnessed the birth of a new star. I would like to believe that.

      Not only water was discussed

       For the media, such tournaments are also an opportunity to talk with the Minister of Sports of Tatarstan about club affairs. Journalists learned Vladimir Leonov's opinion on the current performances of "Ak Bars" and "Rubin." Some are fighting for the Gagarin Cup: "A final is a final. Two of the most deserving clubs ended up there. The teams had different paths to it. So far, for "Ak Bars," everything is ambiguous: the series was 1-1, and it seems that yesterday (on Friday, - ed. T-i) was a home match, but unfortunately, we lost. I hope the coaching staff will draw conclusions. We need to take the second home game and restore equality in the series. The republic lives for hockey. We are very much rooting for our team. I want "Loko's" luck to end and "Ak Bars'" luck to begin," Leonov said.

      Others will play today in the final round of the RPL championship: "I believe that "Rubin" has very worthy results. There have been serious changes in the club: the coaching staff has changed, and Spanish specialist Frank Artiga has come. The match against "Spartak" was not the most indicative. But overall, the Kazan team is doing very well. I am confident that the last match [against "Pari NN"] will also be worthy. And in general, we are looking forward to the next season, looking at the squad. Fans have returned to the stands and are supporting very well. – Is there a target for the team regarding the standings? – Top-5. I think we always set such a task. It is clear that there used to be European cups. Unfortunately, they are not there yet, but who knows. You see how our teams are coming back today. Of course, we want to return to the European cups," Leonov reported. And as one of my colleagues rightly noted, Sunday will be a real sports boom for Tatarstan. Let us remind you that today not only "bars" and "rubins" will play, but also UNICS will play its match in the semifinals of the VTB United League playoffs.

      Photo: social networks of the Ministry of Sports of Tatarstan