MOSCOW, November 11 (R-Sport) - Badly-fitting skates ruined world championship silver medalist Alena Leonova’s chances of success at the Cup of Russia, her coach Nikolai Morozov told R-Sport on Sunday.
Leonova was unable to repeat last year’s second place in Moscow and finished sixth Saturday at her home Grand Prix, ending her chances of a second-straight run to the Grand Prix Finals.
“We didn’t manage to change Alena’s skates, they were very soft,” Morozov said, adding that Leonova had bandaged her feet to cope.
“There wasn’t time to change [the skates] for new ones because Leonova was competing in several tournaments in a row and it would have been risky to compete in new skates.”
“It’s one of the most serious factors for her bad luck in Moscow.”
During the tournament, Leonova blamed a loud crowd for problems in Friday’s short program and said she was mystified by errors that left her with a score of 98.42 points in Saturday’s free skate.
