Grand Prix debut: how Artemyeva and Bryukhanov won gold in Kazan

Triumph of mannequins and flying skates: the results of the competitions of sports couples at the Russian Grand Prix in Kazan.

October 18, 2026 in Kazan ended the competition of sports couples at the first stage of the Grand Prix of Russia “Rhapsody of ice”. Gold awards of the tournament were won by Yulia Artemyeva and Alexey Bryukhanov, who scored 187.50 points on the sum of the programs. Silver winners were Taisiya Shcherbinina and Artem Petrov, whose result was 189.06 points. Closed the pedestal of honor Anastasia Mukhortova and Dmitry Evgenyev, who received 177.52 points.

For Yulia Artemyeva and Alexei Bryukhanov, this tournament was the debut in the Russian Grand Prix series. Under the guidance of coach Pavel Slyusarenko, the duo presented their new program to the public, directed by Sergey Plishkin. The skaters came to the ice in costumes of gray-black tones, embroidered with rhinestones in such a way that they resemble drawing sketches. According to the idea of the choreographer, the athletes embodied the images of mannequins from a store window that come to life at night to prove to others that they too have a soul.

The sports rental of the winners turned out to be quite clean, but it was not without technical flaws: an error was made on the ejection of the triple flip, and a flaw was recorded on the first cascade with the Salkhovs.

Alexey Bryukhanov admitted that he feels positive emotions from the performance, but there was a slight residue due to two missing basic elements, which somewhat spoiled the overall impression. The athlete noted that the excitement and caution in the elements were caused by the status of the debutants of the series and the first presentation of new programs. His partner Yulia Artemyeva expressed joy about the gold won and the completion of the first starts, although she admitted moral fatigue from the need to prepare for an arbitrary program and perform under the final starting number.

Answering the question about priorities, the partner stressed that the choice between victory and clean rental depends on specific competitions, while Alexey is sure that clean rental is more important, and the first place will surely come with time. Speaking about the plans for the season, Alexei Bryukhanov said that the duo, most likely, will focus on all-Russian tournaments, including the upcoming stage of the Grand Prix in Omsk.

Taisia Shcherbinina and Artem Petrov held their first start in the new season. The Perm pair began rolling quite confidently, but later faced force majeure. Artem Petrov noted that he was proud of the implementation of complex elements that had to be literally dragged, but expressed great disappointment because of a gross error in a simple todes, when he lost his skate. The athlete stressed that he was upset because of the unexpected mistakes themselves, and not because of the occupied place, because in training this element always turns out to be stable.

According to Artem, clean rental should be a priority over the first place, since the main goal of skaters is to demonstrate their real skills to the public. Taisiya Shcherbinina, in turn, said that the duo is already fully accustomed to adult sports and feels on the ice as confident as possible. She added that she does not feel any additional responsibility, as the partners constantly prove their level and promptly correct any shortcomings in training.

Bronze medalists challenger in Japan Anastasia Mukhortova and Dmitry Evgenyev, training under the leadership of Alexei Tikhonov, closed the top three. However, the arbitrary program in Kazan was clearly not set. Dmitry Evgenyev explained the failure by accumulated fatigue, noting that he skated easier than at the previous stage in Georgia, but the partner did not succeed. He summed up that this was the fourth start in a row and suggested leaving all emotions in Kazan.

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Anastasia Mukhortova shared that the warm-up was perfect, but it was not possible to repeat this success at the box office from the first seconds. When asked about the difficulty of the schedule of four tournaments in a row, the skater said that she did not consider it an excessive load. According to her, they already perform these rolls in training, and performances in front of the public and in the conditions of the parade only motivate the team. Anastasia stressed that the failures that occurred were not a regularity due to fatigue, but a stupid accident, which, in her figurative expression, crawled into their program like a worm into the juiciest apple.