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JGPF Ladies

champs

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Watched the whole free skating and I was most impressed with Ovcharova and Makarova, for two different reasons. For Ovcharova, I noticed that every single jumping pass in this program had either a step or a spiral right into the jump (except for the triple loop for which it 's the usual 3 turn.) Unfortunately didn't have much flow out of the jumps and the jumps themselves were not very high or do not span over a long distance, but still, it's hard to believe a 13 year old female skater is doing this. She also had a nice circular step sequence, her upper body movement throughout her skating was quite well done, and her reserved smile was so amiable and adorable. I really really enjoyed her skating.

As for Makarova, she's so mature in a very good way, and I don't mean it because of her height. The speed, her body control, her posture, and the way she keeps her cool (maybe "noble" is the adjective I night use to describe her in her skating,) everything appeared to my eyes that of a seasoned senior skater. She had a couple of stepout and overturn on her jump landings but those jumps she nailed without a problem had beautiful landings. I agree with everyone that Murakami deserved much higher PCS than Shelepen, but then I also feel Makarova should have received just as high or even higher than Murakami. With Shelepen getting 44.16 and Murakami 47.92, I feel Makarova's 44.00 is nothing but a poor scoring. JMO, of course, though.

I must say I am a bit disappointed by Shelepen's skating. With a big screen her coarseness stood out more than her jump contents. Her jump landings were almost always shaky, and she always had this long gap between the two consecutive jumps within a combination jump with the leaning upper body and the half-bent knee. But she's only 14, she has plenty of time for improvement. I am looking forward to her steady progress in her skating skills and improvement for her jump landings. About her flip takeoff since it was mentioned above... no wrong edge call in the protocol but with frame-by-frame repeats of the two different camera angles that were shown (one in realtime and one in the slow-mo replay) it still looks like a takeoff on the outside edge. But I personally don't really care, wrong edge doesn't deprive me of the joy of watching figure skating. (Neither do two-footed landing and underrotation as far as the flow out of the jump is smooth.)

By the way the highlight of the junior ladies free skating for me was Ashley in the audience section with a cute tri-color striped ribbon on his head :)
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
It's less height that body-type, I think. She is really skinny (because she's still a kid) which lets her get away with the iffy technique.

Yeah, but if you look at Irina Slutskaya and Alena Leonova they probably were really skinny as kids like Polina but can still do all the hard jumps with grown up, athletic bodies. It might not be a big deal
 

Lucky Star

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
Lucky Star, thanks for this info, I'm really excited about these young Russian talents in the ladies field.

Since you and oleada know quite a lot about up-and-comers in Russian I want to ask, do you guys have info about how another novice skater named Radionova is doing? I wish I could read Russian so I could dig fsonline myself.

Elena Radionova competed at Rostelecom Cup of Russia 4 round (juniors) about 2 weeks ago and was 3rd with 122.78 points. This is very good result for her, especially because she was the youngest there, her rivals are about 2 years older (she was born in 1999).

Yeah, but if you look at Irina Slutskaya and Alena Leonova they probably were really skinny as kids like Polina but can still do all the hard jumps with grown up, athletic bodies. It might not be a big deal

I'm not sure that Shelepen has the same body type as Alena and Irina... Here's Alena at 16 y.o.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F15eZeREG8
And here is Irina at 14 y.o.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZy3dgNRrIw
Polina looks taller and her legs seems longer, I think she is more like Mao Asada. And Polina has grown a lot from last year but still can jump
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I'm not sure that Shelepen has the same body type as Alena and Irina... Here's Alena at 16 y.o.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F15eZeREG8
And here is Irina at 14 y.o.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZy3dgNRrIw
Polina looks taller and her legs seems longer, I think she is more like Mao Asada. And Polina has grown a lot from last year but still can jump

That is good news then. Although idk if you can compare her to the asian girls, asian girls are lucky in that they can develop into their grown up bodies without gaining a lot of weight. Yuna Kim does not have a little kids body but she is 5'5" and only weighs 103 pounds. Alena and Irina do look different then Shelepen in those videos, though both are quite thin
(not as thin as Shelepen though) and their bodies changed a lot in the years following those videos. Alena Leonova is also pretty tall, 5'5" or so, while Irina was pretty short. Shelepen might stay tall and thin but it is hard to tell
 

kate

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Yeah, but if you look at Irina Slutskaya and Alena Leonova they probably were really skinny as kids like Polina but can still do all the hard jumps with grown up, athletic bodies. It might not be a big deal

That's my point though (though they don't really have the same body type, anyway) -- they had good technique. Shelepen has iffy technique, and if she doesn't fix it, the problems it creates (which you could already see here) are going to magnify if her body changes at all.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
That's my point though (though they don't really have the same body type, anyway) -- they had good technique. Shelepen has iffy technique, and if she doesn't fix it, the problems it creates (which you could already see here) are going to magnify if her body changes at all.

Yeah, I suppose your right. Polina's legs are so long that it wouldn't surprise me if she ended up being built like Carolina Kostner (that tall). And if she does, her jumps will probably become very inconsistent like Kostner
 

champs

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Elena Radionova competed at Rostelecom Cup of Russia 4 round (juniors) about 2 weeks ago and was 3rd with 122.78 points. This is very good result for her, especially because she was the youngest there, her rivals are about 2 years older (she was born in 1999).

Thanks Lucky Star for the recent competition result. That sounds really good considering she was the youngest there. Any info about who her coach is, where she trains? There are only a few vids of her on Youtube and the most recent one I could find is from back in April (btw huge thanks to those Russian video takers.)
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
So many young Russian girls are very good. I actually think Anna Ovcharova may have a brighter future than Polina, she has better jump technique and skates very fast. Plus she's only 13! I was shocked to here that, she looks older to me. Also, her spins are great and she is very expressive for a little girl
 

Lucky Star

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
Thanks Lucky Star for the recent competition result. That sounds really good considering she was the youngest there. Any info about who her coach is, where she trains? There are only a few vids of her on Youtube and the most recent one I could find is from back in April (btw huge thanks to those Russian video takers.)

Well, I don't know much about her, but I know that she trains in CSKA, Moscow, and her coach is Inna Goncharenko. Elena will skate next week at Panin Memorial, so good luck for her!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT7LH6WYdQw

^^ Carolina Kostner at age 15, has very similar build and jump technique to Polina (very straight legs). I bet she will end up looking like Kostner

Oh, it's not the worst that can happen with Polina, I mean, Kostner is European champion and World medalist after all )) And Carolina is so inconsistant not because (or not only because) of her jump technique, but because of her nerves (remember her 2009 Worlds LP)
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Oh, it's not the worst that can happen with Polina, I mean, Kostner is European champion and World medalist after all )) And Carolina is so inconsistant not because (or not only because) of her jump technique, but because of her nerves (remember her 2009 Worlds LP)

You are very right, Carolina is a lovely skater. Polina also reminds me a little of Laura Lepisto, who won Euros last year. Not the strongest jumper anymore but she is very artistic and beautiful on the ice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM6DtRmdMnw
Here is a video of Laura at 14
 

oleada

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
So many young Russian girls are very good. I actually think Anna Ovcharova may have a brighter future than Polina, she has better jump technique and skates very fast. Plus she's only 13! I was shocked to here that, she looks older to me. Also, her spins are great and she is very expressive for a little girl

I adore Ovcharova's skating and I am mightily impressed that she's attempting all her jumps out of difficult transitions, but "good jumping technique" are not words I would use to describe her. Extremely musical and expressive? Absolutely! :rock: But her jump technique is definitely iffy.

I do hope that we can see her either in the GP or back on the JGP next year. She's a breath of fresh air.
 

champs

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Thank you, Lucky Star. Never heard of Goncharenko before but I will keep her name at the back of my mind. I also hope Elena will skate well at Panin Memorial!
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I adore Ovcharova's skating and I am mightily impressed that she's attempting all her jumps out of difficult transitions, but "good jumping technique" are not words I would use to describe her. Extremely musical and expressive? Absolutely! :rock: But her jump technique is definitely iffy.

I do hope that we can see her either in the GP or back on the JGP next year. She's a breath of fresh air.

Yeah, her jumps are a little weird. But they get good height and she can do most of her triples! Plus she has pretty good presence on the ice for a 13 year old!
 
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