Julia Lipnitskaia: One of the rising queens of Skating!

[pangtongfan]

Sasha's artistry is unmatched? Please, she wasnt even the most artistic skater of her own era, Michelle Kwan was, which is why even a clean Sasha could never beat a clean Michelle, despite that Michelle didnt do anymore jump content, any better spirals, and had weaker spins. The hype machine over 0 imporant titles Sasha will never die.

Julia is an amazing young talent. As for being compared to Sasha I agree there is no comparision. She is more artistic at 13 than Sasha was at 15 or even 17, has much better basic skating, and actually has great jumping technique and competitive nerve. A better comparision would be that she looks like a young Katia Gordeeva but with more athletic talent for singles jumping. She will be a great champion if the puberty monster doesnt get her.

[lavender]

Nice pic of all three. Adelina always looks so happy on the podium no matter what position. Plus at least she's happy with the bronze. She takes this season as a learning experience. Good head on her shoulders.

[dorispulaski]

It looks like Gracie has grown since the fall, too. She and Adelina both list their heights as 163 cm on their isu bios, but Gracie looks at least 5 cm taller than Adelina in that photo. Julia lists herself as 151 cm, and she looks closer to Adelina than that.

[mskater93]

Gracie hasn't grown since the fall. Alex O keeps tabs on her height pretty closely and has stated quite definitively that it appears she's stopped growing (much to his relief).

[Mathman]

Sasha's artistry is unmatched? Please, she wasnt even the most artistic skater of her own era...

Sasha was a unique talent that will be remembered (thanks to youtube) long after many other World medalists have been forgotten. Love her or not-so-much, her performances were riveting. Eye-popping and enchanting both at once.

[pangtongfan]

Sasha was a unique talent that will be remembered (thanks to youtube) long after many other World medalists have been forgotten. Love her or not-so-much, her performances were riveting. Eye-popping and enchanting both at once.

She is forgotten already. Only Americans even remember her, and that is only since most Americans cant stand the skating of Hughes (and Tara already seems like forever ago) so she is still the 2nd most known or liked American in recent memory after Michelle. Once some more American stars emerge, she will be forgotten even in the U.S.

[shine]

She is forgotten already. Only Americans even remember her, and that is only since most Americans cant stand the skating of Hughes (and Tara already seems like forever ago) so she is still the 2nd most known or liked American in recent memory after Michelle. Once some more American stars emerge, she will be forgotten even in the U.S.

I was never the biggest Cohen fan, but are you kidding? She basically influenced a whole generation of young female skaters to really focus on improving their lines and flexibility.

[pangtongfan]

I was never the biggest Cohen fan, but are you kidding? She basically influenced a whole generation of young female skaters to really focus on improving their lines and flexibility.

Really? Like who exactly. Even in the U.S other than Nagasu and Zhang none of the young Americans that have come up since 2004 are particularly flexible or have strong lines. The young Russians dont bore any real resemblance to her skating style (as already admited in this thread), nor do any of the younger Asians or up and coming Europeans since that point. The flexability moves that exist are required by COP, which was not invented for Cohen but in fact many speculated it was catered to suit Slutskaya's skating, and emphasize the differences in her skating compared to Hughes.

[jenaj]

I do think a lot of skaters are influenced by Sasha. Look at the ubiquity of the I-spin. The young Russian skaters all kind of look like her in body type, since she retained her young-girl figure throughout her competitive career. So it is no surprise that they are compared to her. If they are not watching her for her superior body lines and overall artistry, they should be. Of course, Sasha also had some things that the new generation of baby ballerinas do not, such as a beautiful layback position and a gorgeous spiral. I do not think she will be forgotten.

[shine]

Really? Like who exactly. Even in the U.S other than Nagasu and Zhang none of the young Americans that have come up since 2004 are particularly flexible or have strong lines. The young Russians dont bore any real resemblance to her skating style (as already admited in this thread), nor do any of the younger Asians or up and coming Europeans since that point. The flexability moves that exist are required by COP, which was not invented for Cohen but in fact many speculated it was catered to suit Slutskaya's skating, and emphasize the differences in her skating compared to Hughes.

Ever since Cohen became a prominent world medal contender, we started to see a trend in ladies skating where skaters are focusing a lot more on achieving good lines and exntension, as well as hitting positions like the 180-degree (or close to) spirals, the fan spiral, I-spins etc, and also the "good" layback spin. Of course there were other ladies who were good in this area, but it wasn't as much of an emphasis in ladies skating before Cohen came along IMO. I think the definition for aethetics in ladies skating has somewhat shifted to be primarily defined by good lines and extension since then. Flexibility is almost a must now compared to before. She has raised the bar, so to speak. I can't recall exactly who but I remember reading many skaters naming Cohen as their favourite skater. As for who has been influenced--the two skaters you mentioned are definite examples. Domestically there are also Bebe Liang, Ashley Wagner, Kiri Baga, Nina Jiang, Leah Keiser etc. Arakawa was also doing a spiral with much more amplitude by 2004 than she did around 2000, as well as her ultra-bendy Ina Bauer. Also I believe Asada herself has been influenced by Sasha, as well as Yukina Ota and Elene Gedevanishvilli. As for the young Russian skaters, regardless what they say, I think they are directly or indirectly shaped by the trend that was started by Sasha. The young Russian skaters all appear to pay a lot of attention to leg lines and flexibility, which wasn't really considered a tradition of the Russian ladies skating before (which mostly focused on power and big jumps). Stylistically speaking, IMO Cohen and Kim have been two of the most influential ladies skaters in the past decade.

[Puchi]

She is forgotten already.

[pangtongfan]

The things you point out have nothing to do with Sasha IMO as much as COP rules. Skaters have to do those things to achieve high levels.

Outside of the U.S Sasha is pretty much yesterdays news at this point, not she was ever a big star in Europe which loved Slutskaya and Kwan, or Asia which loved their own skaters, Slutskaya, and Kwan. Within the U.S she isnt even talked about much anymore, as she was always heavily overshadowed by Kwan who owns 14 World and U.S titles vs 1 Kwan-less default U.S title for Sasha, and people today talk about Kwan, Lynn, Fleming, Hamill, Yamaguchi. As this forum has a huge number of Sasha fanatics I am not surprised many are trying to dispute that. The fact is she was an overhyped skater who her chief rival Michelle Kwan was superior in every facet of skating to, other than possibly spins (but then there are numerous better than Sasha in spins like Nagasu, Czisny, and Zhang now).

[shine]

Outside of the U.S Sasha is pretty much yesterdays news at this point, not she was ever a big star in Europe which loved Slutskaya and Kwan, or Asia which loved their own skaters, Slutskaya, and Kwan.

Since when has Kwan been a bigger draw than Cohen in Europe? That is the exact opposite of the general consensus and I'm not sure how you can state that so emphatically. For one thing, Cohen competed a lot more in Europe than Kwan ever did. And what makes you say Asia loves Slutskaya than Cohen?
As for whether Sasha has been forgetten, do I even have to mention the heated discussion on every board that Cohen generated when she decided to come back for Nationals in 2010 after being absent from competition for almost 4 years?
But whatever makes you happy.

[silverlake22]

It looks like Gracie has grown since the fall, too. She and Adelina both list their heights as 163 cm on their isu bios, but Gracie looks at least 5 cm taller than Adelina in that photo. Julia lists herself as 151 cm, and she looks closer to Adelina than that.

I think it's something to due with different skates. If you go to the ice network backstage pics, the three girls are standing in sneakers and Gracie only looks a couple of cms taller than Adelina and Julia looks not as close to Adelina's height as in skates. On her formspring Adelina recently said she is 162 cm, which is between 5'3.5"-5'4", so if this is correct, judging from the picture of them all in sneakers I'd believe Gracie is around 164 cm, like 5'4.5". That seems about right as Christina Gao and Polina Shelepen are both only 165 cm (5'5") and look really tall on the ice and both appear taller than Gracie

[Mathman]

She is forgotten already.

Well, you still remember her.

Only Americans even remember her...

It only makes sense that Americans hold Sasha in greater fondness than do people around the world. The same is true of Michelle Kwan and Dorothy Hamill.

There are not many skaters whose appeal is truly without boarders. Stephane Lambiel, maybe.

...she will be forgotten even in the U.S.

The fate of us all.