Adelina SOTNIKOVA Thread

I love her, it was my first time watching her on the Jr GPF and she reminds me so much of Yu-Na Kim, I think she maybe the one to beat by Sochi. She is very regal, musical and she has great elements. I really think she has the "IT" factor to really become an Olympic or World Champion.

This girl is exceptional and it was obvious even two years ago when the tiny 12 y.o. Adelina won senior Nationals. She has it all, very talented skater and a very good coach. Her coach said in the interview yesterday that she wanted Adelina to be an all around skater, and she really is now. She has impressive basics, skating skills, her jumps are high and consistent, her spins are beautiful, she feels the music and has gorgeous lines. I think she has a great future.
And I really like Liza also, she is still juniorish, but very promising skater too

I love Adelina! She skates like a queen even though she is just a little girl. Every aspect of her skating is just wonderful - huge jumps, great flexibility and line, excellent spins and spirals, well deserved high PCS, and tons of star quality. I'm really hoping puberty doesn't mess her up because she is just too good for that, but at least she is bigger than last year and so far is skating more consistently too. Hopefully she'll stay tiny and wonderful.

Liza is good too, but just doesn't have the same impact yet. Maybe in a few years she will though.

Adelina in a future champion.

She is the most impressive junior talent since Yu-Na Kim in 2006, IMO. I hope she sticks with Elena Buinanova, Elene Gedevanishvili and Denis Ten were both promising talents before they left her...

berrycute said:

I hope she sticks with Elena Buinanova, Elene Gedevanishvili and Denis Ten were both promising talents before they left her...

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AFAIK the main Buianova's problems with Ten and Gedevanishvili were their mothers... As for Adelina's parents, in every interview Buianova says that they trust her, never tell her how to work with their daughter, only help when the coach needs their help, take care of Adelina and support her. And we can see how close Adelina and her coach are, she is with Buianova since 7-8 y.o. I think they will stay together

I love her and I've been a fan since I first saw her two seasons ago. She's definitely got the whole package - big jumps and combinations, along with good basics and balletic elegance. Her graceful skating really stood out against the rest of the field.

I agree that she is the best talent since Yu-Na Kim!!! She will be huge !

I really like Adelina but I don't agree she's resembles Yuna very much. For one thing, her strengths lies in some things that Yuna wasn't especially known for, especially as a junior, such as gorgeous lines, flexibility, etc. In terms of jumps, Adelina is very good but I feel Liza's are better. It'll be interesting to see their rivalry develop in the future.

miki88 said:

I really like Adelina but I don't agree she's resembles Yuna very much. For one thing, her strengths lies in some things that Yuna wasn't especially known for, especially as a junior, such as gorgeous lines, flexibility, etc. In terms of jumps, Adelina is very good but I feel Liza's are better. It'll be interesting to see their rivalry develop in the future.

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I agree...If anything Adelina resembles Mao Asada (flutz, 3-3loop combo, flexibility, good presentation at a young age), whereas Elizaveta is more like Yuna Kim (true lutz, 3-3toe loop combo, presentation still lacking a bit at this stage (except Liza may have a triple axel, which is Mao-like)). The Russian senior ladies better qualify two spots for Worlds 2012!

I wonder if they'll do the Jr. GP's or Sr. GP's next season?

sequinsgalore said:

I agree...If anything Adelina resembles Mao Asada (flutz, 3-3loop combo, flexibility, good presentation at a young age), whereas Elizaveta is more like Yuna Kim (true lutz, 3-3toe loop combo, presentation still lacking a bit at this stage (except Liza may have a triple axel, which is Mao-like)). The Russian senior ladies better qualify two spots for Worlds 2012!

I wonder if they'll do the Jr. GP's or Sr. GP's next season?

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Liza's jumps reminds me of Yuna's because she seems to fly into them. I hope she goes to someone else for choreography in the future because Mishin's style doesn't seem to click with the judges much. Adelina reminds me of Mao on the senior circuit when she first begin working with TAT. Her presentation is a little more mature than Mao was as a junior but she's not as light on the ice. Zijun reminds me more of the light young Mao.

sequinsgalore said:

except Liza may have a triple axel, which is Mao-like

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Her triple axel is actually much better than Mao's. Slightly bigger, but mainly her technique is far superior to Mao's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdkDLBmBFBU

Liza's programs have a lot more and more difficult transitions and are harder than Adelina's in that sense, especially her SP. Adelina is a better skater than Liza, but what she's doing is also much easier.

I love both of them, I hope they don't end up hating each other like Yagudin and Plushenko.

Last year she was 4th at Russian nationals after winning the previous year. Hopefully she will be able to deal with growth in the future better than she did in the past. I hope her and Tuktamisheva get a good rivalry and make each other better. Something like a Slutskaya and Butryskaya but better. Being coached by different people should help so that they are not like Plushenko and Yagudin-the female version in terms of personal relations. Tuks general skating hits me more but Sotnikova is impressively flexible and prefer her spins.

Seeing both of them live yesterday and skating back to back was interesting. Liza has the better jumps but Adelina is better at basics and other elements. For now at least. Adelina is the best I've seen (live or video clip) at musical/artistic expression, of the current crop of junior ladies. Having also seen Mao and Yuna skating live (multiple times) when they were juniors, I don't see the comparisons to either junior Mao or Yuna when seeing Adelina skate, neither of them had her posture, lines, extension at that age. And both of them generally had better jump qualities.

Adelina must put fixing that flutz on her to-do list. Right now, she is getting some gifts in that tech panels are not consistently calling her on it, when they are strict with other skaters. Last night was one of those times--she got a free pass and no "e" call on at least the (obvious) combo flutz, and the solo f/lutz was borderline.

bigsisjiejie, if you've seen Adelina and Liza live, can you tell us what your opinions are on how accurately (or not) they come across on video?

Just wanted to post her "Swan Lake" EX performed at the GPF Gala: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO0oCE5hOD8

She is quite exquisite! I love her Charlotte spiral.

OMG! I am raving on her exhibition!

I love her balletic movements, her grace, flow and musicality!

I would love it if she becomes 2014 Olympic Champion in Sochi! She is incredible!

I’m not sure whether it was posted already but there is an interview with Elena Burianova (Adelina’s coach) in Sport-Express:

http://winter.sport-express.ru/figureskating/reviews/10001/

She’s very happy that Adelina won JGPF and says that:

· they waited for JGPF for a long time,

· Adelina loves to compete and she likes the fact that she skated last even though athletes usually don’t like to skate last. She says that it’s because Adelina, Liza and Polina Shelepen are a complete new generation of skates and it’s very easy to work with them,

· Adelina has no problem with executing difficult elements and she’s much better skater than Burianova ever was,

· Adelina has everything that CoP asks for,

· Burianova’ s happy that Adelina’s programmes look very harmonious,

· Adelina lives far away from an ice rink and it takes her 2,5 hour to get to the rink (one way) and because of that she basically lives in the ice rink and sometimes takes a nap between the skating sessions on a couch in a room next to the sauna,

· she works very hard and is very focused and that’s what distinguishes her from the majority of her peers,

· she’s supported by her family, but they never try interfere with Burianova’s coaching methods,

· Adelina has a very good attitude toward herself, when people remind her that she is Russian champion, she says it’s not a big deal since it happened only once. Its getting more difficult, though, because of her success she’s starting to feel the pressure,

· Burianova’s unhappy with the age rule and Russian authorities asked ISU if they could make an exception for Adelina, but obviously it was not possible. As for Adelina herself, she said that her mother told her that she was born one month earlier than expected anyway, so it was nothing to agonise over,

· Burianova goes on to say that Brian Orser was very surprised when Adelina beat Christina Gao at their first Grand Prix event,

· Burianova respects Mishin a lot, she calls him the professor of figure skating, but during competitions they keep distance,

· Burianova is terrified at the thought of Adelina’s puberty and that Adelina already meticulously controls her weight. Adelina knows that the only way to stay in form is to close her mouth and rigidly limit food. Burianova respects Adelina a lot for this and says that Adelina is a very strong person,

· Burianova likes Adelina and Liza’s rivalry and says that Mishin likes it too.


Hope there are no mistakes.

Thank you for the translation. I think the rivalry between Adelina and Liza is a good thing - hopefully it will push each other to improve.

flesymtuobayzarc said:

· Burianova is terrified at the thought of Adelina’s puberty and that Adelina already meticulously controls her weight. Adelina knows that the only way to stay in form is to close her mouth and rigidly limit food. Burianova respects Adelina a lot for this and says that Adelina is a very strong person,
.

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First, thanks for the translation.

But I don´t know what to think about that commentary.
There is no way. Adelina will go through puberty. She will get the body of a woman, eventually grow more and of course gain weight. The only things that help are training, good heigh in the jumps and very good technique. To try not to gain weight over the next years - sorry, but I think that this is not possible and especially not healthy ...