Best coach for Russian ladies?

Sandpiper said:

I guess, for the moment, we can say it's Eteri Tutberidze.

But honestly, there's no real "go-to" coach. It's about finding the right fit--the coach that works for you.

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An article on FS universe about Julia & her mother moving to Moscow - she said Julia's coach was going to be Eteri or no one: (I pulled out the quote, it's a good article but long)

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?85214-Article-about-Julia-Lipniskaya

they were only sure of one thing: if Eteri Tutberidze didn't take them, they wouldn't continue their attempts, they'd simply quit figure skating.

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Anyone who thinks Medvedeva's Axel is bad doesn't know what a good Axel looks like.

There is a replay of her double axel at 5:33 in this video. All of her Double Axels at Junior Worlds were basically carbon copies of each other. There is nothing to criticize about her technique on that jump.

Her Lutz *is* a problem. She treads dangerously close to an edge call on it (sometimes it's fine, sometimes not).

She is a much better jumper than Sakhanovich, and I don't even think they are on the same level technically. Sakhanovich has superior skating skills and PCS scoring ability, though. I still think given the quality of Serafima's Jumps and Spins, the competition between her and Medvedeva should have been a bit closer than it is/was. If Evgenia can improve her speed, she should have no issues passing Serafima.

I think different coaches cater to different skaters. There is no "best" overall coach, IMO.

Medvedeva's jump may have been more technically correct, but Sakhanovich had harder jumps combinations, frequent steps going into jumps, tano jumps etc. It is easier to do jumps if you are not increasing the difficulty so that explains why Sakhanovich scored higher than Medvedeva. Medvedeva is not better jumper than Sakhanovich. If she was, she could afford to do those extra bits that she is not doing and increase her scores.

I dunno. I like Sakhanovich but I think she needs a lot of work on her jumps. Yes, she lands them, does combos, tano feature, etc., but she drops her back very badly on the landings and the jumps don't have that crisp, clean, classical form. But back to the topic at hand, didn't Serafima just recently switch to Eteri for coaching?

The combination of Tatiana Tarasova and Peter Tchernyshev are doing very well. Peter's recent contributions are impressive, I wish he would come back to the USA.

breathesgelatin said:

I dunno. I like Sakhanovich but I think she needs a lot of work on her jumps. Yes, she lands them, does combos, tano feature, etc., but she drops her back very badly on the landings and the jumps don't have that crisp, clean, classical form. But back to the topic at hand, didn't Serafima just recently switch to Eteri for coaching?

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The jumps may not have the clean classical form and may not be as aesthetically pleasing, but they are landed, and all those extra bits add on value of the jump, whereas they are not deducting for not having 'clean, classical form' on the jumps. So although we may not like it, she is deservedly awarded the points. It is VERY hard the extra bits she is doing. And she has been more consistent than Medvedeva, which also helped.

Yes she switched to Tutberidze.

hanca said:

Medvedeva's jump may have been more technically correct, but Sakhanovich had harder jumps combinations, frequent steps going into jumps, tano jumps etc. It is easier to do jumps if you are not increasing the difficulty so that explains why Sakhanovich scored higher than Medvedeva. Medvedeva is not better jumper than Sakhanovich. If she was, she could afford to do those extra bits that she is not doing and increase her scores.

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The quality of Sakhanovich's jumps are such that it shouldn't be enough to out TES Medvedeva, who is also a better spinner. Her skating skills are better. I don't think anyone discounts that. Medvedeva has transitions into quite a few of her jumps as well.

The only way Sakhanovich should be winning is with PCS, and it's not like Medvedeva is rubbish there. She just needs a bit more speed and better choreo. The rest is fine, skating-wise.

hanca said:

The jumps may not have the clean classical form and may not be as aesthetically pleasing, but they are landed, and all those extra bits add on value of the jump, whereas they are not deducting for not having 'clean, classical form' on the jumps. So although we may not like it, she is deservedly awarded the points. It is VERY hard the extra bits she is doing. And she has been more consistent than Medvedeva, which also helped.

Yes she switched to Tutberidze.

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Tano adds a GOE bullet. Good extension and form on the landing also does that. Her bad form negates her tano. I'm looking at it from a CoP perspective, not just my opinion. I don't dislike her - quite the opposite. With better jumps she'd be the total package. Her spins aren't magnificent but they're better than i.e. Kostner's.

She has edge issues on her Lutz. All her landings are low, often scratchy, and rather slow. Her jumps are super whippy, she stalks the Axel and it's a bad job for her. She has a lot of issues with them. They really should not be scoring well. I struggle to see how a judge can give +2 GOE to her jumps, going by the criteria, with the way she performs them.

She needs to fix them, cause the senior judges will not be so kind.

In any case the other girls will improve in skating skills and pass her up if her jumps don't improve. Girls like Medvedeva, Proklova, Sotskova, etc. Already have pretty good skating skills and all of them are better jumpers and spinners. A little more strength and security and they won't have an issue beating her in a year or so.

And she hasn't been more consistent than Medvedeva, going by the whole season.

Her skating skills are still phenomenal for a junior and even with her jump issues she's one of my faves.

Components said:

And she hasn't been more consistent than Medvedeva, going by the whole season.

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You are wrong. Check the results. Sakhanovich had one 'bad' competition, her first JGP, when she was still adjusting her new growth spur. Apart of that one competition, she has had consistently better results than Medvedeva. (She also had less falls throughout the season than Medvedeva. I could count them for you if you really want to, but as Patrick Chan taught us, it is not about the falls, so let's concentrate on the results.)

JGP events:
Sakhanovich 4th and 1st
Medvedeva 1st and 1st.
Medvedeva has better result than Sakhanovich in the first event, in the second event they are both first.

JGPF
Sakhanopvich 2nd, Medvedeva 3rd. Sakhanovich is better

Russian senior nationals
Sakhanovich 6th, Medvedeva 7th. Sakhanovich is better

Russian junior nationals
Sakhanovich 1st, Medvedeva 4th. Sakhanovich is better

Junior worlds
Sakhanovich 2nd, Medvedeva 3rd. Sakhanovich is better

Are you REALLY telling me that Sakhanovich is not more consistent?