Ilia Averbukh: Maria Sotskova is going to Worlds not for experience but for medal
Who missed Averbukh? Today his Worlds’ predictions for the ladies competition.
You can’t say that (about absence of competitors for Zagitova). Now Alina has a lot of responsibility. After all at the Olympics, she competed as such a dark horse, and the whole pressure of psychological responsibility was on Zhenya Medvedeva, and now all the expectations are on Alina. And she will have to fight with another pressure – psychological.
Alina has a very big technical gap, potentially she claims a gold medal, so that’s a matter of psychology. Plus, Alina all season kept a very good shape, won all the competitions of the season, so it’s difficult to say to what extent this shape will be kept until the end of the season. The main thing is to cope with the fact that everyone says: “You must win.” This is a very strong pressure. But her technical score is so much higher than her competitors’, that I think everything will be fine.
Averbukh also thinks that Russian girls can take two medals at Worlds:
Masha, in general, has a good season. Yes, at the Olympics, not everything turned out, but there was a very good performance at the Grand Prix Final. I think it’s a chance for her. Objectively, girls can also fight for medals, they are all competitive. This is not a trip to gain experience, for Masha this is a trip to win a medal. She absolutely can count on a prize-winning place. Konstantinova? It’s a debut, so while it’s “no”. But it’s hard to say, now the girls are hitting quickly.
Related topics: Alina Zagitova, Ilia Averbukh, Maria Sotskova, Stanislava Konstantinova, world championship
Good luck to Maria!