Russia’s Maxim Kovtun moves forward | Golden Skate

Russia’s Maxim Kovtun moves forward

gsk8

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Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Country
United-States
It has been a tough year with ups and down for Maxim Kovtun, but the Russian Champion is looking forward to the upcoming season. More...
 

Hanmgse

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
"The skater plans to put two quads in the short program and three in the long." :popcorn:
thanks for the interview!
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
"The skater plans to put two quads in the short program and three in the long." :popcorn:
thanks for the interview!

Pretty ambitious, but totally doable. It's insanely difficult to execute 5 quads in two programs when most skaters are doing 3 at the most (with a few exceptions like Fernandez and Reynolds), but that would be amazing if he were the first. I hope not making the Olympic team was a bit humbling for him, and he's realized that he just can't rest on his laurels.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I hope not making the Olympic team was a bit humbling for him…

Doesn't sound like it. ;)

I have mixed feelings about the five quads thing. Big jumps aren't the problem, it's maintaining focus and intensity on the rest of the program.

Cool to see Peter Tchernyshev involved. :rock:
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Hah, that's why I said a "bit". No way it would be very humbling. Although I hope he feels a bit humbled every time one of the Russian team pulls up to the rink in their Merc. ;)

Intensity will come. He's actually shown pretty good progress on his jumps from season to season, and just needs consistency and "go for it" instead of being tentative which causes pops/mistakes. His 3A is pretty strong, and he'll usually land at least 1 quad in his FS, so I can picture him doing enough to win with 3 attempts (if they're rotated at least).
 

satine

v Yuki Ishikawa v
Record Breaker
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Feb 13, 2014
If he feels he's capable of doing 5 quads, then good for him! It's admirable the men are constantly pushing the envelope when it comes to technical ability. On the other hand, I hope that by aiming for this he is at least in shape enough to land 3/5 of them & the rest of his program components will not suffer. Having a quad quad quad mentality can really result in an otherwise lackluster-program. And can be too stressful on his body..
 

volk

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 24, 2007
Kovtun has been working with his team on two new programs, but was not ready to reveal his choice of music.

“Petia (Peter) Tchernyshev, Tatiana Anatolievna (Tarasova), and [coach] Elena Germanovna (Buianova) put them together, everybody as always,” the Muscovite shared. “Now it is a completely different level of work.”

“First of all, I now skate up to four hours without a break,” he explained. “Last year, I was able to last for four hours, but it was very tough. At the end, I just couldn’t do it anymore and almost threw up. After two hours the next day, I was exhausted and asked for a day off, but now I’ve worked through a whole week without a break.”

He also feels that he is better able to implement what his choreographer and coach show him.

“Petia shows something and I do the step right away,” said Kovtun. “I already see all these details and can distinguish them.”

Kovtun admitted having difficulty with this last season.

“When we (began training) the Flamenco, it was just hell,” he recalled. “I couldn’t repeat a single step and there were hundreds of them. I needed half an hour to learn one step, so it took a very long time to put this all together. The free program was already somewhat easier.”

Nice to see him improving.
 

caelum

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 8, 2013
The problem is when they will land all quads then they will miss some other easier jump. It shame that Javier landed all 3 quads, and then popped lutz.... That's just :sarcasm:.

Yeah, I think that is the main problem. Eventually, two quads in the short will be the standard among elite skaters, I believe (maybe not this quad, but eventually). I think the main impediment to a 3 quad+ LP is precisely this reason though. Yeah, you hit the quads, but then you lack the strength and energy to pull off a lutz or axel later in the program. I mean, it's doable, but it will take someone with a lot of stamina.
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
Quads or no quads there is something in him, in his skating I mean, which I don't like.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
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Jan 25, 2013
Oh for god's sake. Not even Plushy in his prime would put a video like that. What does he want to show exactly? :rolleye:

Hah, it's like him skating a test skate that nobody gets to see but OBVIOUSLY he skated it superbly given the reaction. ;)
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
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Jan 25, 2013
Interesting reaction about Flamenco too... it looked like a very ambitious skate to do with all those steps so I'm glad he was challenged. And it certainly turned out great for him.
 

Icey

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Nov 28, 2012
Are the Russian skaters given Mercedes----from their government or private donors through their federation?
 

Alba

Record Breaker
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Feb 26, 2014
There was no Instagram when Plushy was in his prime. :biggrin:

:p :biggrin:

Hah, it's like him skating a test skate that nobody gets to see but OBVIOUSLY he skated it superbly given the reaction. ;)

Someone might've even recorded that actually. So, there is no point to put just that part.

Are the Russian skaters given Mercedes----from their government or private donors through their federation?

Yes, to the Olympic medalists.
 

aschiutza

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
I don't know why Kovtun putting 5 quads didn't excited me much. If this would be Yuzuru, i would say great and jump! But somehow not the lack of quads is Kovtun's problem. It's his jump technique who looks weird, it's his lack of charisma and personality on the ice which i would like to be more in his focus. I would more applaud a program with only one quad but with the other issues cleaned than a programm with 3 quads.... Would he be the Tim Goebel of his generation?
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
I don't know why Kovtun putting 5 quads didn't excited me much. If this would be Yuzuru, i would say great and jump! But somehow not the lack of quads is Kovtun's problem. It's his jump technique who looks weird, it's his lack of charisma and personality on the ice which i would like to be more in his focus. I would more applaud a program with only one quad but with the other issues cleaned than a programm with 3 quads.... Would he be the Tim Goebel of his generation?

I think considering he's only had 1 season on the GP it isn't exactly fair to characterize him as a Goebel who's only all about the jumps, and having not cleaned up his other issues in his program.

His jump technique is weird, yes, but it works for him (I mean, look at Murakami and even things like Mao's flip entry). I would rather somebody have all the technical goods and leave room for artistry then seeing an artistically improved skater who opts for easier difficulty.

There's nothing that says you can't go for higher difficulty while still improving your artistry... Fernandez and Reynolds have both done that.

A skater who's up and coming needs to rely on high difficulty to improve their artistic mark... as we saw with Lipnitskaia last season. If Kovtun does 5 quads across two programs, the system is designed that he would be competitive with even Hanyu's difficulty on paper, and if that's what he needs to do to win, that's what he should do. The judges aren't going to notice a couple more transitions, and what would that get you... maybe 3-4 points overall? Whereas a quad already has 4+ points over all the other triple jumps. If you're trying to win, and you can execute the jumps, that's what you should do -- it's how Reynolds was able to defeat Hanyu at 4CC, even though Hanyu had such a PCS advantage.

A skater does 3 quads in a program/2 triple axels (which would be the highest difficulty ever attempted under CoP)... how can you deny them the win (or at least podium) if everything else is at least average or better than average (which I think Kovtun is overall). Even if the judges try to hold back said skater's PCS, their TES mark would still ensure the higher placement. However, if your technical elements fail, unless you're the most popular skater out there (a la Chan/Kostner) your PCS won't be able to save you. So it's actually, IMO, more important to focus on technical success and consistency first and foremost and then slowly build your artistry over time.

Strong technical performances yield higher PCS over time... but strong artistic performances do not yield higher TES over time. ;)
 

Sandpiper

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
I think Kovtun is better at using his arms than Goebel, and has greater speed across the ice (then again, pretty much everyone's better than Goebel in those areas). His quads are uglier and more unstable than Goebel's though. Goebel, before his decline, had the best quads in the world, and they were instrumental to his placements.

If Kovtun can do five quads, go for it! It's not like his artistry will necessarily improve if he does fewer quads. The problem I have with this plan is that, most likely, he won't execute the five quads often if at all, and it'll just be a season of splatfest. Which... doesn't make him particularly worse than the other men, but it'll be unpleasant to watch nonetheless.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
To be fair, Goebel has some of the best quads ever executed. His 4S for sure is one of the top quad salchows ever landed and he did them with reliability and effortlessness.

I agree that Kovtun's artistry won't take a hit if he tries for more quads. Of course, it will be extreeeemely tough to replicate 5-quad competitions but he's doing what Hanyu is doing, hedging his bets and still taking the 7 points with a fall or 9 points if he remains upright. The only risk to doing a quad is if you double it (which Kovtun and Hanyu have done of course), but if 75% of the time you do it fully rotated or clean, then it's worth the risk.

I also disagree that multiple quads detract from the program.

As far as I'm concerned, it's WAY harder to get a consistent 2-quad SP plus a consistent 3-quad LP than it is to develop artistry and transitions (most skaters will improve this anyways year to year). If you're able to get 5 quads (or 4 quads reliably), then from a points perspective, it will serve you a LOT better than developing your overall speed/transitions/etc. A program with decent choreo and average speed and 3 quads/2 triple axels will score higher than the exact same choreo with significantly greater speed and just 1 quad... the way PCS is scaled, it's not likely that leaving out a quad in order to show greater interpretation/transitions will benefit you significantly -- especially as a skater who's relatively new to the senior scene.

It doesn't make sense to accelerate artistry or even his jumping aesthetics until he's established himself as a strong jumper. Look at Mao... she was only able to change her technique after having established herself -- it wouldn't have made sense for her to rework her jump technique when she hadn't gained some years on the scene and credibility as an artistic skater.

From an aesthetics standpoint, I personally appreciate Kovtun doing 5 quads with average artistry than 2 or 3 quads with higher-than-average artistry (let's face it, he likely won't skyrocket his artistry over the course of a non-Olympic season).
 
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