Sasha Cohen - Robin Wagner Breakup? | Golden Skate

Sasha Cohen - Robin Wagner Breakup?

S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
I've read some disturbing reports about the apparent cooling of the relationship between Sasha Cohen and her coach, Robin Wagner. Cohen went to Connecticut this summer, without Wagner, to train with other coaches, and she seems to be mentioning Wagner less and less in her journal entries. Perhaps there's absolutely nothing to all of this, and I sincerely hope that's the case.

I thought the pairing of Cohen and Wagner was a stroke of genius. Wagner appears to be such a positive, intelligent person and such a good motivator, and she and Cohen seemed to have clicked almost immediately.

Perhaps, however, Cohen is blaming her coach for her second-place finishes at the Grand Prix, US Nationals, and Worlds last year - all of which she would have won, had she skated clean long programs.

Perhaps Cohen thought that Wagner would instantly and magically transform her from a perpetual wanabee into a champion, ala Sarah Hughes. Cohen should remember that Hughes and Wagner worked together for many years, first as a choregrapher, and later as a coach. "Overnight success" is a rare thing in figure skating, IMHO.

Does anyone have an update on this situation?
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
I haven't heard of any breakup of Wagner and Cohen. I think it would be the wrong thing to do at this point (think Kwan and Carol).

My own feeling about Cohen is that she is at her maximum except for the jumps. When you think of it, have you heard anyone mention how wonderful her jumps are? I think they have improved, but, while they are no longer wobbily, they are not what I would call solid. I would suggest six weeks of lessons with Arutunian. I believe, after that, we will have the complete Sasha.

Joe
 

rjulie510

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
But would Arutunian give Sasha lessons now he is a full-time coach of Michelle? It sounds like a nice idea to have Sasha take some jumping lessons. Her air positions are good, but that's not all jumps are about. I don't like Sasha's Swan Lake choreography in Campbell's though. While calming mood of the program was nice, it was so front-loaded and empty.
 

lavender

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Now you guys are cracking me up. I would say it would be over between MK and Aruturian since he is now her official coach. If he's sticking with Michelle then I think he would haved to bypass Cohen. Besides I think she went to him before...did she improve then?
 

Ptichka

Forum translator
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I think that while Arutunian is an excellent match for Michelle, I doubt he'd work well with Sasha (even if it were an option). He seems rather impersonal, with huge emphasize on work ethics.
 

Linny

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 13, 2003
Sasha coach

Wouldn't it be cool if Sasha found someone who would put 6-7 thousand CDs in the player and let her skate until she found something to call her own?
Linny
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
And he is having MK skate to Spartacus (Armenian composer) with that beautiful melody which Don and Hunt used in their LP. It will depend on who skates first with the glorious music of Tschaikowsky (Cohen) or Khataturian (Kwan). Oh, the schmaltz of it all. :)

Joe
 

attyfan

Custom Title
Medalist
Joined
Mar 1, 2004
Cohen-Wagner Breakup?

Lots of skaters will work with another coach over the summers, and their main coach during the season. What about Sasha staying with Robin during the season, but spending a summer in St. Petersburg to work on her jumps with Alexei Mishin?
 

mzheng

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
Ptichka said:
I think that while Arutunian is an excellent match for Michelle, I doubt he'd work well with Sasha (even if it were an option). He seems rather impersonal, with huge emphasize on work ethics.

But off ice, he is not too afraid to get in personal with skaters, especially those he loves. And Michelle happen to be one of them. I would say he is a typical Rusian coach. Strick on the ice, very caring off the ice.

Yes. RA had worked with Sasha before when Sasha trainned at Cal. And in person Sasha is very nice sweet girl, according to the ppl saw her at the rink, not as what media tried to potrait her personality on the TV screen.
 

kemy

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 20, 2003
SkateFan4Life said:
Does anyone have an update on this situation?

There is no "update" as there is no tension. A reporter who seems to spend a lot of time reporting about Sasha and Robin has stated that they are having no problems whatsoever. The only "reports" I've seen are rumors spread by Phil Hersh in his article and people making comments on it.
 

lavender

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
attyfan said:
Lots of skaters will work with another coach over the summers, and their main coach during the season. What about Sasha staying with Robin during the season, but spending a summer in St. Petersburg to work on her jumps with Alexei Mishin?

I see her working with Mishin but not Aruturian.
 

Kuchana

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
Linny said:
Wouldn't it be cool if Sasha found someone who would put 6-7 thousand CDs in the player and let her skate until she found something to call her own?
Linny

That's depending on whether Sasha would have enough time to wrestle herself from all of her other committments :sheesh:
 

Kuchana

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
mzheng said:
Yes. RA had worked with Sasha before when Sasha trainned at Cal. And in person Sasha is very nice sweet girl, according to the ppl saw her at the rink, not as what media tried to potrait her personality on the TV screen.

So since Sasha evidently needs to work on her jumps, maybe it would not have been such a bad idea if she had asked him to be her coach instead of Robin.
 

wvgal57

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 23, 2003
I thought Sasha worked some with Richard Callahan over the summer. I could be wrong but I'm sure I was given this info. Also that perhaps he would continue to help with jumps. My summer and fall have been sorta out there so I could be totally mistaken on who gave me what on who! :biggrin:
 

Lucy25

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
wvgal57 said:
I thought Sasha worked some with Richard Callahan over the summer. I could be wrong but I'm sure I was given this info. Also that perhaps he would continue to help with jumps. My summer and fall have been sorta out there so I could be totally mistaken on who gave me what on who! :biggrin:

I heard this, too, through the web, but it has never been confirmed. Lots of people on the skating boards go to the Onyx (including myself), but never reported seeing her there. We know for a fact that she was in the area for choreography, but that was at the Detroit Skate Club.
 

jesslily

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
It's not a bad idea for Sasha to work with a jumping coach or switch to a technical coach. Sasha has all the artistic and spin talent. All she needs is to get the jumps right. she had better jumps before she left John Nicks. Since then her most of her jumps went worse. Obviously both TT and Robin could not help her much on this area. (Sarah had weired flip and lutz.)
 

nymkfan51

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
There is no evidence of a split between Robin and Sasha, other than unsubstaniated rumors.
Look ... who knows, maybe Robin was a little perturbed that she wasn't asked to choreograph either of Sasha's programs ... and maybe she wasn't overjoyed with all the distractions that caused them to lose training time in the summer. The fact is though, that these things happen all the time in business relationships ... and that's what this is. Not that they can't also be friends, but when you come right down to it ... Sasha is paying Robin to do a job, and there are bound to be disagreements from time to time. No big deal.
 

Fossi

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 23, 2003
Sasha went to Callahan over the summer? Very, very interesting. I wonder how Robin felt about this? Robin is a great coach and doesn't deserve for her star pupil to go elsewhere for coaching. I hope to see Robin and Sarah back together.
From reports, Sasha is a handful and a diva wannabee. I think Robin deserves a hard working skater. Calling Sarah to come back! :love:
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
Joesitz said:
I haven't heard of any breakup of Wagner and Cohen. I think it would be the wrong thing to do at this point (think Kwan and Carol).

My own feeling about Cohen is that she is at her maximum except for the jumps. When you think of it, have you heard anyone mention how wonderful her jumps are? I think they have improved, but, while they are no longer wobbily, they are not what I would call solid. I would suggest six weeks of lessons with Arutunian. I believe, after that, we will have the complete Sasha.

Joe

Joe, that's a great suggestion. I think that six weeks of lessons with Arutunian would help Sasha Cohen's jumping technique, and that might translate into a higher confidence level. To me, at least, it appears that Sasha thinks too much during her programs, as if she's, perhaps, anticipating falls and mistakes. I would like to see her reach the point where she relies on muscle memory and just lets her body skate the program.
 
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