Action figure star (no Russians) Hendrix complicates content at 22. Beauty from Belgium won the first start of the season

Anastasia LoginovaEvaluating the new images of the Moon. The 2021/22 Olympic season has become for the Belgian Luna Hendrix real breakthrough. In autumn, she brilliantly performed at the Italian Grand Prix and for the first time brought her native country an elite series medal. In January 2022, it turned out to be higher Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova in the short program at the European Championships and deservedly won a small silver medal in this event. And the season finale gave her the chance of a lifetime – due to the removal of Russian figure skaters, Luna got on the podium of the World Championships, which became a sensation for Belgium. Many top athletes take a break after the Olympics to recover from a difficult year. Hendrix did not want to leave figure skating and began the new season on the Nebelhorn Trophy Challenger. In the short program, the Belgian went on an experiment. As a musical accompaniment, Luna chose a mix of two modern tracks – “Si Mama” and “Mi Gente”. It turned out to be a provocative production with a claim to a playful Latina, which really suited the athlete. Hendrix doesn’t stand still with jump content either. She moved the triple lutz-triple sheepskin coat cascade to the second half of the program and became more difficult by 0.48 points. This is almost the maximum possible base without a triple axel. Although very risky – in case of a mistake on the lutz, the skater will be left without a cascade and lose a large number of points. The premiere in Oberstdorf was a 100% success. Luna received 76.19 points for the rental, a few hundredths less than her personal best. For the beginning of the season, this is a very good application. So far, not everything is going smoothly with the free program. Last year, she had a very bright oriental-style production that won the hearts of the fans. The new program for the composition “Poeta” by the Italian composer Roby Facchinetti does not at all reach the same level. Perhaps the beginning of the season is having an effect, but the free skate looks too boring and with an incomprehensible trendy emphasis on the hands, which often interferes with the perception of the performance. The white color of the dress also does not help to add brightness, merging with ice. It is much more interesting to pay attention to the content. Hendrix started with a snipe-oiler-triple salchow combination. In her nine years of international career, the Belgian has never tried such combinations. On the Nebelhorn, she did not succeed in everything she planned – due to underrotation and a fall on the triple lutz, she had to rebuild the entire second half of the program and was forced to go to a combination of 3-3 from a flip and sheepskin coat. This is also new for Hendrix, so the last three jump elements turned out to be unimportant. For the rental, the Belgian received 131.86 points and won the tournament with a score of 208.05 points. Oilernik appeared in the program not by chance. Last season, the skater actively taught the triple loop and tried to make an element at competitions a couple of times. There was no time to experiment closer to the 2022 Games, so the Moon stopped taking risks. If the Belgian stabilized the jump, then the second half of the program may look stronger than before – a triple lutz-triple toe loop, a triple flip-double toe loop and a triple loop. This means that the base cost will increase by as much as 2.58 points. At the age of 22, Hendrix is ​​actively becoming more difficult, and this cannot but please fans, because many stop learning new elements at the age of 15-16. She has yet to roll out new content in a competitive mode, because the main goal of the Moon is to win the World Championship.Do you want to know everything about figure skating? Subscribe to our telegram channel!Subscribe to Sport24 channel in Yandex.Zen