- Joined
- Feb 5, 2004
Ok so Domnina & Shabalin are becoming the next Russian ice dancing stars.
I don't watch much ice dancing so I really don't have a clue about them and my question is around their rapid rise to higher levels of ice dancing. Do people who follow ice dancing closely feel that they have really improved as much as their results show? I tend to only watch the Kerrs (because of national bias and because I have loved almost all of their programs) but because I've watched them I've tended to watch the rest of the skaters in their group. During the reign of Navka & Kostomarov, Dom&Sha were often in the same group as the Kerrs and seemed to be at a pretty similar level to them, albeit with slightly stronger basics. Since those times the kerrs have improved an awful lot and climbed steadily in the world and European rankings each season. Dom & Sha seemed to be progressing at a similar rate as the Kerrs. Suddenly Nav&Kos retire and Dom&Sha are leap frogging over skaters who have previously not been within reach like Delobel & Schoenfelder and now they're striking distance from Dubreuil & Lauzon.
So my question to the more knowledgeable is - have Dom&Sha really improved that much in one season or is there an element of Russian Politicking to get them boosted up so that Russia actually has an ice dance team that can compete for the podium at worlds. Have they improved so much more than the Kerrs?
What would the Kerrs have to do in terms of improvements to really start pushing towards being podium contenders? The move to Platov seems like a good start - training in the US where there is more visibility for them (compared to Murrayfield and Deeside!). Getting a good renowned Russian coach to mould them into the style of the Russians may help their placements on the world stage. Politically probably a good move to have a Russian coach too? Any thoughts?
Ant
I don't watch much ice dancing so I really don't have a clue about them and my question is around their rapid rise to higher levels of ice dancing. Do people who follow ice dancing closely feel that they have really improved as much as their results show? I tend to only watch the Kerrs (because of national bias and because I have loved almost all of their programs) but because I've watched them I've tended to watch the rest of the skaters in their group. During the reign of Navka & Kostomarov, Dom&Sha were often in the same group as the Kerrs and seemed to be at a pretty similar level to them, albeit with slightly stronger basics. Since those times the kerrs have improved an awful lot and climbed steadily in the world and European rankings each season. Dom & Sha seemed to be progressing at a similar rate as the Kerrs. Suddenly Nav&Kos retire and Dom&Sha are leap frogging over skaters who have previously not been within reach like Delobel & Schoenfelder and now they're striking distance from Dubreuil & Lauzon.
So my question to the more knowledgeable is - have Dom&Sha really improved that much in one season or is there an element of Russian Politicking to get them boosted up so that Russia actually has an ice dance team that can compete for the podium at worlds. Have they improved so much more than the Kerrs?
What would the Kerrs have to do in terms of improvements to really start pushing towards being podium contenders? The move to Platov seems like a good start - training in the US where there is more visibility for them (compared to Murrayfield and Deeside!). Getting a good renowned Russian coach to mould them into the style of the Russians may help their placements on the world stage. Politically probably a good move to have a Russian coach too? Any thoughts?
Ant