Should Adelina Sotnikova also withdraw from the World Junior Championships? | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Should Adelina Sotnikova also withdraw from the World Junior Championships?

bekalc

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
I have nothing against Tuk. She is still a kid, and it is her parents and coaches' responsibility to look after her wel-fare. That's why how coach(s) pace his/her skaters is crucial. I agree that Tuk looked tired at her nationals, but she was still sent to Youth Olympics event, which occurred after the Russian nationals! Right, she was really listend to.

Also if I understand it correctly, both Kavaguti/Smirnoff and VOLOSOZHAR/Maxim TRANKOV withdrew from Russian nationals due to legitimate medical reasons, didn't they? (Correct me if I'm wrong). Additionally, Tuk's withdraw occurred after her name was already submitted to the Jr. world roster. This is very different from Ashley's 2010 case. Ashley was asked and declined the offer. Consequently USFSA never submitted Ashley's name as a contestant. Notice that Russian federation is doing it again to the Sr. world, too. That is, Makarova's name is already submitted but the federation is in the process of replacing her. Again, who cares about how Makarova feels.

The point I am trying to come across is that if you place winning at any cost as your natinonal priority, there is the danger of justifying that anything is means to an ends, i.e., pushing a young skaker too hard rather than properly pacing her; "discarding the original promise/contract to one skater in the name of pursuing ever greater advantage. In the process if the originally promised skater was devastated, well, that's just too bad, for they are pursuing "greater good."

First of all maybe Liza/Mishin wanted the YOG gold medal more than they wanted the Jr World title... Its a thought. Also while Liza's name may have been submitted, Mishin has apparently told people for awhile that she wasn't going...

Second who says the Russian fed promised Ksensia Senior Worlds? Viktoria V had an interview where she said after Euros that they weren't told yet who the Russian World team would be and this was after her skater was the top one at Euros. They may have submitted a nominative roster-but the alternates mean the team can change their mind.

The Russian fed has always been clear to their skaters that whole finishing top 3 at Nationals can get you a Euros spot; it does not guarantee you a spot at Worlds. They look at the whole season when it comes to that. And if you look at the whole season-the decision to go with Shelepen over Ksensia makes sense. Ksensia has struggled in the free all season long.

I frankly thought Ksensia was overscored at Russian Nationals, and should have finished far lower there than she did, Polina K on the other hand was underscored. Its understandable why the Russians didn't want Markova or Leonova to be that low at Russian Nationals- could hurt them internationally. But now that the international judges have said what I thought-that Polina K was their strongest, the Russians don't need Ksensia anymore.

I'm quite sure that Piseev made it very clear to Polina and Ksensia's teams that both of their positions on the world team were tenative/not determined. The only one who could afford to not be steller at Euros-was Leonova.
 
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