What could be the problem of Linichuk this year?

KKonas said:

Perhaps. But unless the ISU gets rid of the chain-smoking, mumbling Gorshkov, head of the IDTC,
(he of the decision to allow Domnina/Shabalin to use belts in FD), we may continue to see some of the same sort of politics only with different people as we head to Sochi.

Click to expand...

Well, we have a whole load of rules coming up and one of them is the "DomShabs rule" prohibiting the use of props like belts to assist in lifts.

These are the times when I feel grateful for CoP, generic spiral sequences, spins, blah programmes and all. At the very least, the "wait your turn" syndrome has been reduced significantly and the young teams are rightfully scored. I suspect that under 6.0, DomShabs would have been held up, particularly on the presentation mark and V/M and D/W would probably be so far behind in the CD there was no way to catch up, and then further held down on presentation.

I think Linichuck believed that she could politik her way to the gold with Alla's help; she's probably thinking the dynamics of ice dance haven't changed post-6.0, and neither has the style. Honestly speaking, there's no comparing the technical standards of the Shpilband teams vs hers in the OD and FD. Image-wise, she did them a disfavour by packaging them unfavourably with uninspiring programmes, especially the OD. Much as people complain about Zoueva's choreography, you have to admit that her programmes emphasized the best aspects of their skating (eg nice, clean lines for V/M) and helped to hide their weaknesses. Also, with Maxim injured, it would be difficult to match the technical standards of V/M and D/W. Why she didn't want to help B/A by giving them better choreography is probably because once she took on D/S, they would be thrown under the bus regardless imo.

Well, with Piseev on the way out (and presumably Alla as well) and Sochi in 4 years time, I really wonder what will happen next. Will Linichuck regain her mojo and get new teams in her stable or be ursurped by the up and coming coaches like Zhulin? Will the Russian Fed decide to foster a relationship with Team Shpilband and send their teams there? Tis very exciting.

I doubt V/M or D/W will ever go to Linichuk. For starters, much as I hate to say it, V/M probably won't stay until Sochi. They've really got nothing left to win; I expect them to retire after 1-2 more seasons, unless 2013 Worlds goes to London, in which case they might consider hanging on til then. Also, D/W are at U of Mich and unlike Aston, Canton allows V/M to return home relatively often. Zazoui is all the way in France. I also don't think Linichuk's choreography and style is very suitable for the two teams, particularly V/M. If any of them do move, I see them moving only to Platov, Bourne or Krylova/ Carmelengo, like ImaginaryPogue. K/C might be viable for V/M since they're in Bloomfield Hills.

Thanks ptichka for the wonderful translation!