Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin conjured up a perfect short program on the ice at the Grand Pix Final in Beijing. This puts the pair just ahead of the favorites from Canada before the final on Friday.
The competition for victory in the Grand Prix final is strong, with the six best Grand Prix pairs at the start in Beijing. Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin qualified as second best for the showdown in Beijing. At the competitions in Finland and Japan, the two, who have only been running together continuously for six months, had already shown what potential they had.
However, 24-year-old Volodin went into the short program feeling weak after a cold. With the twist, however, the couple managed to get off to a good start to Rihanna’s music with “Stay”. Rittberger’s individual jump and throw were also flawless. The duo delivered a perfect run at a high level. That paid off: with 72.56 points they are narrowly in the lead.
The highly favored Canadians Deanna Stellato Dudek/Maxime Deschamps (71.22 points) were not entirely free of errors in the seven required elements and had to fall in line behind the German pair. Third are the Italians Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii with 70.30 points.
Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel would also have been there in the select group, but had to cancel. Athletes from Russia and Belarus are still not allowed.