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Springs on to senior stage
The rink in Simsbury, Connecticut, is packed with skating champions of the World, European and National variety. Triple Axels and triple/triple combinations abound, with a few quads thrown in for good measure.
But despite the stiff competition, reigning World Junior Champion Andrei Griazev, with his hight-risk footwork sequences and powerful jumps, is skating a legitimate claim to "king of the rink" - something taht would have been unheard of just a year ago. [...]
"I came here when I was 16, and the first year was really hard," said Griazev, who speaks mostly Russian at the rink but has made great strides with his English over the past few months. "Still, I worked hard and had some good results."
That's putting it middly. Since arriving in Simsbury in the middle of 2002, he's won four Junior Grand Prix events and placed second at the 2004 Junior Grand Prix Final. He's also made his marks at the senior level with a Bronze medal at the 2004 Russian Nationals and respectable results at both the 2004 European Championships, where he finished 8th, and the 2004 Worlds, where he placed 12th.
"Of course I was surorised (with my results) because when I went to Russian Nationals, I did not know I would take third place. I never imagined I would get to Worlds; I only knew I was going to Junior Worlds," he said.
At the 2004 Junior Worlds in The Hague, Netherlands, Griazev defeated the pre-event favorite, two-time World junior silver medalist Evan Lysacek of the U.S., to score his biggest win to date.
"My victory at Junior Worlds was probably mu best moment so far. It was a big responsability, and to win gold medal was a dream come true. But I did not think about it too much, because I had more competitions coming up. I was already thinking about (senior) Worlds," he said. [...]
The sucessful 2003-2004 campaign was a far cry from just a few years ago, when Griazev seriously considered leaving the sport. [...]
"I wanted to stop skating after my 14th place at Junior Worlds. I just went home to Perm andhad a little rest. I didn't skate for three months," he said. "Then I contacted Alexei Yagudin."
"We had been friends before, when we were training together. We comunicated, and I helped him to come here," said Yagudin. [...]
In this free time, Griazev swims and plays tennis and pool with Yagudin and other skaters. This summer, the two Russians were often joined by European champion Brian Joubert, who spent much of June and July training in Simsbury.
"He's very good, very aggressive. It's good to see another guy jump (in practise). It makes you want to jump more, do more quads," said Griazev of Joubert. "I already do the quadruple toe loop sometimes. I just need to fix it now, so I can land it all the time.
"I also need to learn how to do change edge spins and [more difficult] footwork. But I think it will be a little bit easier, because of all the training and hard work I have already done."
© Spotlight On Skating, September/November 2004
The rink in Simsbury, Connecticut, is packed with skating champions of the World, European and National variety. Triple Axels and triple/triple combinations abound, with a few quads thrown in for good measure.
But despite the stiff competition, reigning World Junior Champion Andrei Griazev, with his hight-risk footwork sequences and powerful jumps, is skating a legitimate claim to "king of the rink" - something taht would have been unheard of just a year ago. [...]
"I came here when I was 16, and the first year was really hard," said Griazev, who speaks mostly Russian at the rink but has made great strides with his English over the past few months. "Still, I worked hard and had some good results."
That's putting it middly. Since arriving in Simsbury in the middle of 2002, he's won four Junior Grand Prix events and placed second at the 2004 Junior Grand Prix Final. He's also made his marks at the senior level with a Bronze medal at the 2004 Russian Nationals and respectable results at both the 2004 European Championships, where he finished 8th, and the 2004 Worlds, where he placed 12th.
"Of course I was surorised (with my results) because when I went to Russian Nationals, I did not know I would take third place. I never imagined I would get to Worlds; I only knew I was going to Junior Worlds," he said.
At the 2004 Junior Worlds in The Hague, Netherlands, Griazev defeated the pre-event favorite, two-time World junior silver medalist Evan Lysacek of the U.S., to score his biggest win to date.
"My victory at Junior Worlds was probably mu best moment so far. It was a big responsability, and to win gold medal was a dream come true. But I did not think about it too much, because I had more competitions coming up. I was already thinking about (senior) Worlds," he said. [...]
The sucessful 2003-2004 campaign was a far cry from just a few years ago, when Griazev seriously considered leaving the sport. [...]
"I wanted to stop skating after my 14th place at Junior Worlds. I just went home to Perm andhad a little rest. I didn't skate for three months," he said. "Then I contacted Alexei Yagudin."
"We had been friends before, when we were training together. We comunicated, and I helped him to come here," said Yagudin. [...]
In this free time, Griazev swims and plays tennis and pool with Yagudin and other skaters. This summer, the two Russians were often joined by European champion Brian Joubert, who spent much of June and July training in Simsbury.
"He's very good, very aggressive. It's good to see another guy jump (in practise). It makes you want to jump more, do more quads," said Griazev of Joubert. "I already do the quadruple toe loop sometimes. I just need to fix it now, so I can land it all the time.
"I also need to learn how to do change edge spins and [more difficult] footwork. But I think it will be a little bit easier, because of all the training and hard work I have already done."
© Spotlight On Skating, September/November 2004
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The website owner is not affiliated with Andrei Griazev in any way and doesn't have any connection with him.
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© , 2005-2010 The website owner is not affiliated with Andrei Griazev in any way and doesn't have any connection with him.
The site is intended for private non-commercial use only. All the rights to the images and text used on this website belong to their respective owners.
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