Leonova and Kovtun get a chance to go to Worlds | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Leonova and Kovtun get a chance to go to Worlds

Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Country
Russia
And the worst thing is if he doesn't, it might not even be his fault. If the field skates well, ten men could reasonably beat him (Chan, Fernandez, Amodio, Joubert, Hanyu, Takahashi, Mura, Brezina, Verner, Reynolds, Aaron, Miner, Yan)
Verner this season is in so bad state, that if Maxim skate good - it is impossible.
Mura, Aaron, Miner - if Maxim skates good, it is not very probable that all these three beat him (1 or 2 - more probable).
 

ImaginaryPogue

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Right now, Kovtun's SB is 19th in the standings. You remove the six men that won't be at Worlds (Abbott, Dornbush, Machida, Oda, Kozuka and one of Song/Yan), you have him at 13th. On my list, only Verner isn't represented in those twelve men. Yeah, maybe they all won't skate well, but it's an uphill battle either way.

As it would be for Menshov.

It makes you wonder, though. Next year, say Russia only gets one spot and Plushenko CAN'T take it. Who does?
 
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Country
Russia
Right now, Kovtun's SB is 19th in the standings. You remove the six men that won't be at Worlds (Abbott, Dornbush, Machida, Oda, Kozuka and one of Song/Yan), you have him at 13th. On my list, only Verner isn't represented in those twelve men. Yeah, maybe they all won't skate well, but it's an uphill battle either way.

As it would be for Menshov.
Yes, it is so.
Only chance, no warranty.
Federation solved that this chance is higher for Kovtun.

Btw, Kovtun had test skate at 19th Feb. So Federation knows not only his previous results, but also how he skated sumiltaneously with Menshov, Voronov, Gachinsky.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Senior and junior scores can't be compared directly. Russia needs a headliner out on the international stage before Sochi and with Plush having back surgery and dealing with the injuries and Gatchinski having whatever kind of issues are preventing him from skating well now, suddenly there is a panic on who the go-to male skater in Russia is. A 30 year old skater with a history of being inconsistent is not going to get people excited, does it really make sense to promote a skater for one season just to have him retire after the Olympics? No. And Voronov just isn't strong enough from a PCS standpoint. So that leaves Kovtun. He's 17, he has the jumps, he's handsome, he seems to have a good head for competition, he's dominated the junior circuit and held his own at Europeans, so it's not surprising the Fed wants to send him to Worlds. If he does well, people will get excited for him, see him as the new star. If he doesn't do so well, then okay, he's 17, he has time to grow, hopefully he'll do better next time. But with Menshov he doesn't get the save if he were to go to Worlds and not place top 10 - if that were to happen it would just be, what was the stupid Fed thinking sending him over the young promising Kovtun? Kovtun does well at Worlds, he gets the praise and his image is improved, he doesn't do well and he gets the save of being young and inexperienced. Sending him is actually smart in that regard.

Sending kovtun for the excitement factor that excitement and "shiny new toy" type thing you would damage that I'd he placed 15th. Skating well and very respectably might not be top 10. And the whole thing about him being young he will have done something to where Russia will out of a max of 3 spots have one spot for a Russian male skater at Russia winter Olympics. So that surely would dampen excitement and be real negative even if he did well. They want him and I think totally except him to do what gachinski did in a Moscow worlds in Canada. So a 30 year old skating just as well as kovtun might have been able to handle that better and with out so much excitement. Unless people really believe that enthusiasm will mean great pcs even though it's in Canada.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Is there really so much pressure on Kovtun? It doesn't necessarily seem that way, more that the Fed thinks he's comparable to Menshov now and being 13 years younger it means he's much more likely to be a valuable asset in the future, thus they are sending him out now to get exposure before the Olympics. If Menshov were to compete at Worlds and place 15th, I think that would look worse on the Federation's part and be more damaging to Menshov's reputation with the ISU than if Kovtun garners a similar placement. Objectively speaking, a clean Kovtun vs. a clean Menshov are likely to score about the same, and most likely either will need to be pretty close to clean to place in the top 10 anyways. So I guess it comes down to who can benefit most from the experience, and that would be Kovtun.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
To me, the issue is not so much whether Kovtun does well at Worlds (see? we guessed right!) or poorly (aha! you guessed wrong!). Regardless of the outcome of this one contest, IMHO there should be some well-defined criteria that skaters are expected to meet to earn a trip to Worlds.
 

ImaginaryPogue

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Random side note about how skating has changed. Fernandez will be the only representative for Spain (Raya's listed as a substitute only). Should he skate clean, he could land in the top two. If he does so, Spain has three spots for Sochi. We live in a figure skating universe where it's more likely for Spain to have three spots than it is for the USA to have three or Russia to have two.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Experience for kovtun if he places outside the top 10 and therefore is only one spot for Sochi and one spot for 2014 worlds means the experience is basically for 2014 worlds? If plushenko retires before next season starts then the issue of Olympic exposure for Sochi is important and worlds and beyond to peyongchang. But if there is two spots then Sochi can be useful for kovtun if he qualifies and everything. Like worlds 2014 and beyond seems too long term and not really why he is being flung into euros and worlds RIGHT NOW!! lol but this whole situation is why all seeming rules of qualification have been thrown out for men.
 
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Country
Russia
Objectively speaking, a clean Kovtun vs. a clean Menshov are likely to score about the same
If both clean - Kovtun looks better.
He had good progress from beginning of season.
At early September his test skating was "falls from quad, arises and falls again".
At early October (JGP Germany) he had stable enough 4T.
At Euro (2nd half of January) he was the only skater who landed 4T+3T both in SP and FS. None of medalists did not land 4+3 both in SP and FS, Kovtun did.
His score would be about 4.5 higher if he wouldn't do the mistake - 4th combo (3S+2T), making 3S instead.

Kovtun has a chance to land 4S - he lands it at practice and tried at Nationals (where he tripled it). His progress in season gives us a hope that at March he may land 4S.
Menshov did not try 4S at any competition.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
he doesnt remind me of anyone yet! Not based on skating or appearence. He is just himself.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Slightly OT but Kovtun reminds me so much of Ilia Kulik.

More like Boitano for me. Body type and upright jumping style, and the stiffness that instead of looking awkward is kind of regal. Physically he's built a lot like Lysacek though before Lysacek got reallyyy tall. I worry about Kovtun growing more though, he's so long limbed and lanky now, I wonder if he will grow to be well over 6 feet. Not that that necessarily would be bad news for his jumps, just must guys in figure skating are pretty short.
 

evangeline

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Also OT but facially, Kovtun reminds me of Jack Gleeson, the actor who plays Joffrey Baratheon on Game of Thrones.

Don't see the Kulik/Boitano resemblance at all, in terms of looks or style.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
I don't see the Kulik reference unless his costumer puts him in giraffe pleather? As for Boitano - nope no dramatic artistic stares while doing spread eagles. lol. I think he is still developing.
 

let`s talk

Match Penalty
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Kovtun said he would have never forgiven himsef if someone else went to Worlds and failed to get the 2nd spot for Russia. He would regret that he even didn't try to get 2nd spot to perform at home Olympics, because with one spot no one would go except Plu. Now everything depends on him personally: www.team-russia2014.ru/article/figur/9212.html
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
That makes it sound like where he went was up to him. Worlds or jr worlds and he chose senior worlds because he wants two spots.
 
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