Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov Split | Page 89 | Golden Skate

Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov Split

Status
Not open for further replies.

tulosai

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
Just throwing out a general caution to not feed the trolls.... randomly... for no reason...
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Just throwing out a general caution to not feed the trolls.... randomly... for no reason...

excuse me ????

EV: For how long were you skating together?
EI: At first we were just training in the same group under Natalia Dubinskaya - as two single skaters. Then our mothers decided we should switch to the ice dance. Or at least try - Nikita's jumps were not particularly good. It happened just when Lobacheva/Averbukh opened their school.
Nikita always stood out. Everyone were looking at him. He was great. Hence I had no hesitations whether to skate with him or not. That how it all began. I was not jumping anymore, but gliding, learning to skate with a partner... it was awesome.
 

uhh

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
based from the interview, we can at least confirm Ilinykh is lazy and has work ethic issues ?


also confirms how many sought out Nikita as the male attraction every female ice dancer in Russia wanted to skate with
so maybe Elena is the weaker skater after all

Context is a wonderful thing, she says she didn't want to skate because she had just found out Nikita was dumping her. They had already gained two Olympic medals, it's understandable why she would then have little motivation to skate with someone who was screwing her over behind her back, even if a World title was on the line. And she did compete anyway, and was foot perfect.
 

Meoima

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Just throwing out a general caution to not feed the trolls.... randomly... for no reason...
Yup, and all I know is Elena did so well at worlds, if Nikita were as good as her, they could have been the gold medalists. Lol lol
 

bsfan

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 10, 2011
Elena is the one who does the right things at critical time and has the luck too. While Nikita, even though he looks attractive to many femal dancers, lacks something and the luck.

From my untrained eyes, I always think Elena is a better dancer. Maybe it is different for the professionals. When I watched their 2010 CD in junior world, I couldn't take my eyes off of her.
 

MK's Winter

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Elena is the one who does the right things at critical time and has the luck too. While Nikita, even though he looks attractive to many femal dancers, lacks something and the luck. From my untrained eyes, I always think Elena is a better dancer. Maybe it is different for the professionals. When I watched their 2010 CD in junior world, I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

I agree, elena to me was the one who had the "it" factor in the team. She brought life to their skating and was a good balance with Nikita. I don't blame her for not wanting to skate at Worlds after hearing Nikita had a tryout with another skater. With all of that on her shoulders, she nailed it at Worlds.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
I think they did lie to her, they want her to compete at worlds and not to make any mistake, funny enough it's Nikita who made the mistakes that cost them gold. :unsure:

Beyond the fact that if one of them is going to be "sloppy" it's typically going to be him... Maybe just maybe his guilty conscious got in the way. - Probably wishful thinking on my part.

That was a really interesting interview though! I really like Lena from the interviews I've watched/read. I think that this one in particular was telling though. She was open and honest about things without being unnecessarily derogatory about her partnership with Nikita (though from what I can tell, she has every right to be).
 

Meoima

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Back to the topic, any news about the progression of both pair? The Russia fed said okay to both of them already? Or... We still have to wait?
 

MK's Winter

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Back to the topic, any news about the progression of both pair? The Russia fed said okay to both of them already? Or... We still have to wait?

I think the Russian Skating Federation has until May 31st to approve the teams.
 

uhh

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
We still wait. Marina said last week S/K are with her until May 12th, so I wonder if they go back to Russia then so the Fed can assess them? I/Z have already been visited by a Fed representative & he said he would be recommending that their partnership is approved, but of course at the last Federation meeting they voted not to approve the splits, so we're still waiting for that to be resolved... Everyone in Kustarova's group seems to be on a weeks vacation at the moment before they come back to start working on choreography.
 

96skiluvr

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 3, 2013
Sky_fly better not start ranting about how "Elena shouldn't go on vacation, she should train every second of her life"
 

Ryan O

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
Canada
We still wait. Marina said last week S/K are with her until May 12th, so I wonder if they go back to Russia then so the Fed can assess them? I/Z have already been visited by a Fed representative & he said he would be recommending that their partnership is approved, but of course at the last Federation meeting they voted not to approve the splits, so we're still waiting for that to be resolved... Everyone in Kustarova's group seems to be on a weeks vacation at the moment before they come back to start working on choreography.

What happens if the Federation doesn't approve the new partnerships? Are the new teams still allowed to skate together, or do they have to get their own funding?
 

uhh

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
They can skate together, they wouldn't get central funding anyway even if the teams are approved until they have obtained a certain level of results. I suppose the biggest thing the Federation can do if they won't approve the teams is to not submit them for the grand prix series - if their names are not put forward for selection by their federation I believe skaters are not allocated spots, even if they are technically eligible thanks to their previous results. They can still do senior B competitions though I believe, but I have no idea how things would work domestically in terms of qualifying for Nationals.

That said, I don't believe the Fed will continue to hold out against this and take out 4 of their best dancers. There will be some kind of grudging approval by May 31st.
 

sisinka

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
They can skate together, they wouldn't get central funding anyway even if the teams are approved until they have obtained a certain level of results. I suppose the biggest thing the Federation can do if they won't approve the teams is to not submit them for the grand prix series - if their names are not put forward for selection by their federation I believe skaters are not allocated spots, even if they are technically eligible thanks to their previous results. They can still do senior B competitions though I believe, but I have no idea how things would work domestically in terms of qualifying for Nationals.

That said, I don't believe the Fed will continue to hold out against this and take out 4 of their best dancers. There will be some kind of grudging approval by May 31st.

Probably they must skate at Russian Cup competitions, usually skaters are doing at least one, there are some rules for it. Sometimes skaters were excused if they had internationals competitions in that time.

I can’t imagine a situation that Russian Federation will refuse to allow Zueva working with S&K. I can’t imagine it. I have an idea that Russian Federation will excuse Nikita saying that Zueva loves Victoria and Nikita and that she says they have a great chance to win medals….in this moment Russian Federation allows new couple of S&K…and they should also allow a new couple of I&Z in the same moment….of course like Mutko said with money support from region…because any money support from Russian Federation would be a betrayal to all Russian couples who have to start to make results first and then they got into National Team and only then they started to be financially supported by Fed. Jumping over this process and making exception with S&K or I&Z would not be fair to any other Russian Team.
 

sisinka

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 25, 2006

Interview is interesting and really glamour from both Vaitsekhovskaya and Lena. Sometimes it sounds like a half fairy-tale and a half Danielle Steel’s story, so sometimes I doubted if really everything happened this way, but looking at this interview Lena looks to be reasonable woman, I agree with many notes there. I like more parts of the interview (and hockey story of her brother was cute)…for example I like the way how she speaks about Kustarova. Many people here critised Kustarova & Alexeeva, I don’t agree with this…here you have Lena who trained already with almost all top coaches – Zueva/Sphilband, Zhulin, Morozov… and speaking about Kustarova, she puts her on the same level…or to be more precise in technique she puts her higher than Morozov. Lena noticed in interview that Kustarova helped them in one week a lot, much more than they expected. Lena also mentioned that Kustarova helped them before the Olympics…and they skated clean all element (expect Nikita’s problematic twizzles in FD) at the Olympics, while they had major errors at both Nationals and Europeans …then they came to Kustarova before Olympics and skated clean there…interesting. I also remember that Nikita (I believe it was him) noticed last season that Kustarova helped them with Polka pattern…so both I&K and Morozov think that Kustarova is a great technique coach. And finally Lena chose her to be her coach herself (with all those comparison with other top coaches). Also there were rumours that Kustarova is one of coach’s possibility for Nikita…so if somebody wants to continue with doubts about Kustarova…well, let’s take a blind stick and dog handler.

The only thing which I don’t like in interview is the same thing somebody noticed here already – that Lena was not motivated after Olympic medals…well, this is not an athlete‘s attitude and way of thinking. If an athlete wins a gold medal, there is nothing more, it is true…BUT Lena competes in Dance cathegory, she got an Olympic Bronze Medal there, which means that even with home advantage two couples were some much superior to her and Nikita that even home advantage couldn’t save this situation. There are also opinions that without home advantage there would be another Bronze Medal winner. Yes, Lena got Olympic Gold Medal, but in Teams, with nine other athletes…without Plushenko, she wouldn‘t be Gold Medalist, without Lipnitskaya, Lena wouldn‘t be Gold Medalist, without Volosozhar & Trankov and Stolbova & Klimov, Lena wouldn’t be Gold Medalist – Individual Medal and Team Medal are not equal…maybe for many journalists and fans those medals are equal, but not for athletes…the best what you can achieve is to win Gold Olympic Medal in your cathegory, not to be one of ten people and just help with something over 12% from result (I&K skated one of eight performances). From other circumstances which could help to bring motivation to Lena (if she really wants to be the best) – they lost European Title (for the second time), they lost Russian National Title (for the fourth time), they lost Grand Prix Final (for the third time), they lost Grand Prix win…she could find any of those like motivation for rehabilitation at World Champs after all those not top=Gold Medal results. If a tiredness was a result of lost motivation – many couples competed more often (B-competitions, Grand Prix Final) and they didn’t lose motivation. If you don’t have motivation, if you lose motivation so quickly, then you don’t have a Champions character, then it is really hard to rise. I am 100% sure that both Victoria and Nikita have motivation to show everybody that this split was worth the effort. Ruslan was always a leader in a couple, with Victoria they were hard workers and they always fought to the end of competition even against dislike of Tarasova and some other Federation’s members. So I don’t doubt that Ruslan’s motivation is big also. But if a couple really wants to be competive, it needs a motivation and hunger for achieving top places from Lena as well.
 

sisinka

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
based from the interview, we can at least confirm Ilinykh is lazy and has work ethic issues ?

Based on all last four years, we can confirm that there are many top and not top couples who did bigger amount of work than I&K.
Thanks to fact that both Victoria and Ruslan are hard workers, based on this season's results and skating qualities - at the end of 2014/15 season we could start to judge if that "less working" or "lazy" person was Lena or Nikita or Mozorov.
That's all.

also confirms how many sought out Nikita as the male attraction every female ice dancer in Russia wanted to skate with
so maybe Elena is the weaker skater after all

You are funny. Sooo...based on interview it looks like that Lena less or more doesn't want Nikita back. It looks like she is happy with Kustarova & Alexeeva & Riabinina and with Ruslan.
As to Nikita's Russian ladies fanclub - Katya Bobrova doesn't want him and kept Dmitri, Sasha Stepanova doesn't want him and kept Ivan, Katya Riazanova rather run to Italy, so she doesn't want Nikita as well, Ksenia Monko doesn't want Nikita and kept Kirill, Katya Pushkash rather finished her career then to attemp to skate with Nikita, all young junior dancers look to stay with their partners...so what Russian Female Dancers who want Nikita are you talking about?

And did you notice Ilia Tkachenko? He got more offers when he announced a split.
Katya Riazanova also got more offers when a split info came out.

Russian skaters are usually very good, at least technically, so many foreign dancers try to make an offer to get them into team. Just notice how many Russian skaters or dancers are representing another country.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
The only thing which I don’t like in interview is the same thing somebody noticed here already – that Lena was not motivated after Olympic medals…well, this is not an athlete‘s attitude and way of thinking. If an athlete wins a gold medal, there is nothing more, it is true…BUT Lena competes in Dance cathegory, she got an Olympic Bronze Medal there, which means that even with home advantage two couples were some much superior to her and Nikita that even home advantage couldn’t save this situation....

But what your failing to consider is that she just found out that her partner was essentially dumping her; and she knew that everyone around her was pretty much lying to her about it.... If you take into account the context, then imo it's really not alarming or upsetting. She thought they were finally really gelling, making plans for the next quad together - and then he goes and has an audition behind her back, which he'd done before. She may very well have fine motivation - I don't think that there are many girls out there who know that they're being dumped (for the second time) that would want to continue on, especially after they have medaled very recently in competition...

And it's also important to recall that she did skate with him at world's despite being the jilted party...and she did better than him. So whether he's motivated or not, he doesn't skate cleanly/precisely enough (yet). And from everything I've read, I'm beginning to wonder if Nikita doesn't blame his problems on the partner's that he's had rather than taking the necessary amount of it upon himself and changing it.

I wish both couples the best! ....But I don't think that using her being upset about being dumped against her post-Olympics is entirely fair. If she were lazy and didn't want to become a great skater, then she wouldn't have trained in the USA solo after she was dumped by Nikita the first time. I think that she's always did what she's had to do, including skating at world's after he pulled shenanigans in a disrespectful way. Let's recall that Nathalie basically said everyone who competes in ice dance at their level knew about it - that would be upsetting...to feel like the butt of a joke almost.
 

kittyvondutch

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 10, 2014
Maybe Lena isn't motivated by the Olympic medals because of all that has gone wrong after achieving it. She comes off as a strong and reasonable person from the interview so I wont be surprised if she does find that motivation down the road and win many medals with Ruslan.

Also how cheap was it that there was Nikita's try-out behind her back? If it were me I'd pack my bags and go to airport instead of being lied to and then having to skate with that partner too. At least she stuck to her commitment! Hats off to her. Glad she she isn't in a toxic partnership anymore.
 

uhh

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
sisinka, I took the motivation comment to be that she wasn't motivated to skate any more with Nikita at the moment that she found out he was planning to leave. She also says "I couldn't understand why we were still going to Japan" so it wasn't just being satisfied after the Olympics, but not seeing the point of doing this competition with a partner who obviously had so little respect for her and carrying on with a partnership that was obviously going to end against her choice. I think most people would struggle for motivation in that situation. Two Olympic medals weren't enough to make him stay in the partnership, or even be honest with her about his future plans, so why would a World medal make any difference? And then later she says she hasn't met all her goals in skating, so I see it as still having motivation, just not to help Nikita to any more success ;) But maybe you interpret it differently?

Obviously this is only her side of the story, but I found a comment on EV's blog interesting; the person said "even without saying one negative word, she has managed to show Nikita as a scoundrel or a fool, or a combination of both."
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014

Thanks sisinka. Very good interview and it confirms my opinion about Elena. She looks very intelligent and mature. I love this interview and wish her all the best.
I'm really rooting for her team officially from now on. Go team Elena!:yay:


Just throwing out a general caution to not feed the trolls.... randomly... for no reason...

This. Please. :thumbsup:

EV: For how long were you skating together?
EI: At first we were just training in the same group under Natalia Dubinskaya - as two single skaters. Then our mothers decided we should switch to the ice dance. Or at least try - Nikita's jumps were not particularly good. It happened just when Lobacheva/Averbukh opened their school.
Nikita always stood out. Everyone were looking at him. He was great. Hence I had no hesitations whether to skate with him or not. That how it all began.

For those who likes to play the fool and looks like they do not understand, she is talking about when they were children.

EV: But you knew it was real
EI: Yes. What I didn't understand was why things had to be done so unprofessionally - setting a try out behind my back before the beginning of the championship? I don't want to use the word `betrayal' here. It's Nikita's life and his decision. But professionally - we should had won that championship. It was what we should had set our minds on - the odds were high. Throughout our career I never blamed Nikita on anything, but it was just one case where he was to blame for the failure at that championship. I still can't understand his reasons.

EV: Your previous coach said announced before the Olympics he doesn't plan staying in Russia. Did you discuss your future with him?
EI: No. During the Olympic season we were too busy and too focused so we didn't have time on any other conversation. I think it's the reason we were so ready for the Europeans and the Games and the Worlds. The news about the other partner shook me quite badly. I didn't understand why were we going to Japan. What did it matter whether we compete at the Worlds or not?

EV: You were not motivated by a possible win?
EI: After 2 Olympic medals? Not at all.

Very determined to win the world title but finds out that his partner is playing dirty behind her back, and in the end she doesn't understand why are they going at worlds. Yep, very "lazy" indeed. :sarcasm:

EV: I know when you skated with Katsalapov in Zhulins' group your partner was in a very unpleasant situation and the coach helped him.

What unpleasant situation?

After that Nikita said he'll be grateful to Zhulin for the rest of his life and would never betray him

Yeah, right.

EI: You bet. I remember in the worlds in Turino I came to the mixed zone after the short dance and instead of asking me about the skate I was asked `Is it true next season your partner will be skating with Khokhlova?'

Nikita really hates the worlds. :laugh:

EI: I'm very sorry we parted after all we've been through together, especially since we talked so much about our future after Sochi. That 2 best pairs are going to retire, that we finally reached the level on which we can set any goals. We had lots of plans.

Nikita really is a deceiving little piece of "work".


EI: At this point of our work we understand I'm more experienced. Though my female experience tells me I shouldn't press on the partner too much whether it's about the life, sport or business.

Wise girl. ;)

p.s. Love Vaytskhovskaya as a journalist.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top