Can Sotnikova overcome the pressure? | Page 7 | Golden Skate

Can Sotnikova overcome the pressure?

tulosai

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
Its 1 more than Sotnikova has managed in the last 18 months. And Gracie has skated quite a few other clean programs during that period as well.

Sotnikova has so much talent. It really is so frustrating that she cannot pull it all together. If she ever does, I will be ecstatic!

The part about how Gracie has had other clean programs during that period is part of why I don't think this counts as her 'turning it all around'- I don't think she was that far gone to begin with.

In any case, though, I think we basically agree then.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Its 1 more than Sotnikova has managed in the last 18 months. And Gracie has skated quite a few other clean programs during that period as well.

Sotnikova has so much talent. It really is so frustrating that she cannot pull it all together. If she ever does, I will be ecstatic!

I think you'll need to wait maybe a few years before she can make a clean program
Adelina Sotnikova = Maria Butyrskaya 2.0
 

Lucky Star

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
I have an impression that Gracie Gold skates well when she has nothing to loose. After her disaster in Canada she had nothing to loose and skated clean, tomorrow is another story. It's too early to say anything about her consistency and/or fighting spirit.
As for Adelina, I don't think her problem today was her nerves. She singled that flip second time in a raw, I think she doesn't feel comfortable with it somehow. TAT said she needs to change the entrance to that jump, I guess she is right. And she is only 16, it's her first full senior season, she is still growing after all. Just give her some rest, I'm sure with more experience she will get it together and finally skate to her ability
 

ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
I have an impression that Gracie Gold skates well when she has nothing to loose. After her disaster in Canada she had nothing to loose and skated clean, tomorrow is another story. It's too early to say anything about her consistency and/or fighting spirit.
As for Adelina, I don't think her problem today was her nerves. She singled that flip second time in a raw, I think she doesn't feel comfortable with it somehow. TAT said she needs to change the entrance to that jump, I guess she is right. And she is only 16, it's her first full senior season, she is still growing after all. Just give her some rest, I'm sure with more experience she will get it together and finally skate to her ability

Have you seen her programs from Nats and Jr Worlds last season? She had everything to lose, and also in the SP today. One more disaster and people really would be tossing her into the reject pile.
 
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ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
Sotnikova either needs to scrap the 3F or study the video of her SP to see where exactly she lost it. The fact that she doesn't know what happened makes me think that there's some tiny technical error that her coach should be able to identify, but if it happens again, it would be much less of a risk to replace it with something else.
 
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gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
I didn't think sotnikova would ever get as bad as she was today. She is on a fast downward spiral that needs to be stopped. Total career intervention needs to happen to find out what is going on.
 

Mao88

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
I didn't think sotnikova would ever get as bad as she was today. She is on a fast downward spiral that needs to be stopped. Total career intervention needs to happen to find out what is going on.

That FS today was truly terrible - she looked absolutely terrified before she even started. The Russian Fed need to invest in a sports psychologist for her, because at the moment she simply cannot handle it and its getting out of control.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
she just cannot atm, Im afraid she will embarass herself if she goes to the Olympics
my money is on Liza and Julia, they are fighters
 

ordinary person

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
The only one who's good enough for the Olympics so far is Julia, Liza didn't even medal yet and Adelina just keeps skating sloppy and all.Nevertheless Julia is still 14, i highly doubt she will perform that great next year considering what happened to Liza this year.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
The only one who's good enough for the Olympics so far is Julia, Liza didn't even medal yet and Adelina just keeps skating sloppy and all.Nevertheless Julia is still 14, i highly doubt she will perform that great next year considering what happened to Liza this year.

huh ? Liza was coming back from an injury and she placed 4th at skate Canada after her not so good SP, she fought back on her LP
she was had the 3rd highest FS minus her fall on the lutz
 

ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
huh ? Liza was coming back from an injury and she placed 4th at skate Canada after her not so good SP, she fought back on her LP
she was had the 3rd highest FS minus her fall on the lutz

According to Mishin, Liza is also struggling with the body changes associated with puberty--I believe he said that it's "a difficult time for a young girl." She was considerably heavier-looking at SC than she had been last year, and seemed exhausted.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
According to Mishin, Liza is also struggling with the body changes associated with puberty--I believe he said that it's "a difficult time for a young girl." She was considerably heavier-looking at SC than she had been last year, and seemed exhausted.

I know that, what I mean is that Liza has handled it better than Adelina despite her injury and growth issues
 

ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
I know that, what I mean is that Liza has handled it better than Adelina despite her injury and growth issues

The thing is that everyone handles it differently. Gracie Gold, for example, had to see a sports psychologist to improve her self-confidence when she hit her growth spurt during her first season as a junior.

And is Adelina still struggling with body changes? I know that everyone is different, but I think that she's already done most of her growing.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
And how many times did Yuna skate cleanly apart from Vancouver? :)

Yuna rarely skated clean but she usually kept the mistakes to a minimum, with the exception of when she was clearly dealing with injuries. Plus Yu-Na has always been a SP skater. Adelina keeps making mistakes, big mistakes, in SP and FS, so the situation is not comparable to Yuna.

Also I wonder if Adelina is maybe not used to her power now that she's filled out. She's always been a great jumper, but she used to be a little string bean, and now she has muscles, and it seems like often times she struggles to control the landings of jumps that look awesome in the air due to the height and distance they cover. I do think Adelina has gone through most of her growth already, and while she still is slender, compared to how frightfully thin she was a few years ago, she has filled out quite a bit, and it's all muscle, so now her jumps that have already been big are even bigger, meaning more control is required to land them, and her center of gravity is now higher and thus it's harder to control the jumps, and as her body continues to change the center of gravity constantly shifts so it sort of makes sense she's struggling with the jumps given how massive they are. Just a thought. Liza is maybe dealing with puberty better because her jumps are small and close to the ground. Even Polina K, who is much taller than Adelina, has much smaller jumps, so despite her height and long legs, it's easier for her to control the landings. I've often wondered if Chan falls a lot because his jumps are so powerful and he throws his body into them, much like Adelina does.
 
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drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
I don't think Adelina will ever be as consistent as Michelle, but if she can start skating clean in the SP (which is possible if selects a more consistent jump) she can be in position to win titles. Yes she will make a mistake or two in the LP but you really don't have to be error free to win competitions anymore. She also needs to learn to make better mistakes; a fall on a rotated triple >>> single.
 

Rachmaninoff

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2011
I don't expect much of her this year (I don't think her programs are that great either, particularly her long), but really, it's way too early to be writing her off for the rest of her career. The girl's still a teenager, she's obviously talented, and she's got time to pull it together. How many skaters struggled with competing and consistency for years before pulling off a world or Olympic medal? People were once questioning whether Carolina Kostner, Joannie Rochette, and Paul Wylie were capable of international achievement or whether they were doomed to be eternal headcases, and that's just off the top of my head. And now, just today, Kiira Korpi had her surprising GP win after struggling with consistency for quite some time.

Plenty of things could happen between now and Sochi; the situation with all the Russian women will certainly be interesting to see.
 
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