Irina Slutskaya....................

Fossi · Nov 13, 2004

Is Irina unbeatable this season?
She has been landing 3/3's in practices. She is determined. She beat the other girls by landing less triples than Vika and Miki. The judges love her. Some are saying she was held up. Held up or not, is she unbeatable?
How will Sasha fare vs. Irina?Sound like they have similar skates, with Irina having stronger skating skills, better edges, and a 3/3 combo. (or a 3/2/2 combo) What about Michelle? Will the Irina vs. MK rivalry return? Or will Irina leave her in the dust?
What about Shizuka?
Will the new focus be Irina, Shizuka, Kwan? And leave Sasha to try that elusive quad?
Some are saying Irina is the Worlds Winner because it's going to be in Moscow this year, and it is in the bag for her.
Any thoughts?
Goooooooo Irina!

SailorGalaxia518 · Nov 13, 2004

I hope so. I would really like to see her back on top. She is such a fun skater to watch

NJSk8Fan · Nov 13, 2004

3/3's or winning or not, I just hope her health is good and she can get back to skating! I've missed her.
Wishing her luck, and good health!

bleuchick · Nov 13, 2004

It is so good to have her back and sure gonna make the worlds even more exciting!

thisthingcalledlove · Nov 13, 2004

I'm just glad to see her and Michelle competing for the love of the sport, and not to prove anything to anyone. It's beautiful, to have literally seen them grow up in the last ten years.

Vash01 · Nov 21, 2004

Fossi said:
Is Irina unbeatable this season?
She has been landing 3/3's in practices. She is determined. She beat the other girls by landing less triples than Vika and Miki. The judges love her. Some are saying she was held up. Held up or not, is she unbeatable?
How will Sasha fare vs. Irina?Sound like they have similar skates, with Irina having stronger skating skills, better edges, and a 3/3 combo. (or a 3/2/2 combo) What about Michelle? Will the Irina vs. MK rivalry return? Or will Irina leave her in the dust?
What about Shizuka?
Will the new focus be Irina, Shizuka, Kwan? And leave Sasha to try that elusive quad?
Some are saying Irina is the Worlds Winner because it's going to be in Moscow this year, and it is in the bag for her.
Any thoughts?
Goooooooo Irina!

I love Irina, but I don't think she is unbeatable. Nobody is. She is coming off a couple of difficult years and whatever she does counts as victory in my mind. It is great to see her back and even better if she can compete for the gold.

Vash

Kuchana · Nov 21, 2004

I loved it when Michelle and Irina had their rivlary. What a great one it was! They had respect for each other, which I appreciated and pushed each other in the process.
I wouldn't count her out but I have the feeling that since Worlds is going to be in Moscow, that she's going to be held up; I'd rather to see her awarded for her merit instead but we shall see.

As for the competition overall, I'd have to say that it's between Michelle and Shiz mostly with Irina in the mix. Sasha of course might figure in there but given her inconsistent record, I'd say most likely not. In fact, with Shiz, I think it's going to be more of a rivalry between her and Michelle and I'm really looking forward to that.

Joesitz (RIP) · Nov 21, 2004

Irina is the hometown favorite. That's a given. Vikka and Elena will get more than polite applause but the roar of the crowd will be Irina. Irina is more than a Russian favorite. She is a European favorite. The fans in Eurlope love her. There is no doubt that if the random drawing of judges comes up with five or more of the many republics in eastern europe who trained under the old soviet system will be partial to her. For me, it's unfair, but understandable. A person retains much of what they believed in when learning a job. As new generations come about, this sort of thing will disappear.

However, Irina must skate her best to win. If she waivers at all, and is held up, there will ensue another scandal. I have not seen COC yet and I am looking forward to it. Since the American divas will not be skating in this competition or any other GP series, we should be able to judge the skating without any nationality bias coming into the scores.

I've never been a fan of Irina's skating but I've always respected her competitive drive and in most competitions where she won, I agreed. Her health is a big questiion now. Apparently it has not affected her this season and COC and COR are just practice sessiions, imo. If she lands on the podium at both of them, I believe she will be the gold medalist in Moscow.

Joe

3ggi3 · Nov 21, 2004

NJSk8Fan said:
3/3's or winning or not, I just hope her health is good and she can get back to skating! I've missed her.
Wishing her luck, and good health!

I AGREE 100%!

Since World's is using CoP. The only way a judge can hold up a skater is by giving all high grades of execution and presentation marks. The high scores will be removed, but, even still, if Irina wins, she will surely deserve it as she has wonderful spins, breathtaking speed, gorgeous jumps, and is really beginning to connect with her music. If everyone skates clean, it will be a nail biter, as all the top skaters have different strengths! It will be interesting to see, even with all of the media talk, which component of a skater's program is weighted the most. I still believe it will be all about the jumps (as unfair as it may seem) and the flow of the program.

OH YEA! Can't wait until Marshall's!

Vash01 · Nov 21, 2004

Joesitz said:
Irina is the hometown favorite. That's a given. Vikka and Elena will get more than polite applause but the roar of the crowd will be Irina. Irina is more than a Russian favorite. She is a European favorite. The fans in Eurlope love her. There is no doubt that if the random drawing of judges comes up with five or more of the many republics in eastern europe who trained under the old soviet system will be partial to her. For me, it's unfair, but understandable. A person retains much of what they believed in when learning a job. As new generations come about, this sort of thing will disappear.

However, Irina must skate her best to win. If she waivers at all, and is held up, there will ensue another scandal. I have not seen COC yet and I am looking forward to it. Since the American divas will not be skating in this competition or any other GP series, we should be able to judge the skating without any nationality bias coming into the scores.

Joe

Joe, you think if Irina wins because she was held up there will be a scandal. I don't see any scandals when a North American skater skating at home is held up, so why should there be when a Russian skater wins at home? In fact even if Irina skates well, there will be those who dislike her skating (I am not pointing at you specifically) they will find something wrong in the result, no matter what.
We are already seeing biases in the GP series. FS is not a one-dimensional sport (that is why many of us love it), and there will always be some disagreements,some subjectivity, and some preferences involved. Unfortunately whenever a Russian skater wins, there are cries of bias and corruption but I don't hear anything at all when the roles are reversed.

In any case, I would love to see Irina skate well before her home crowd, regardless of the results.

Vash

Kuchana · Nov 21, 2004

Vash01 said:
Joe, you think if Irina wins because she was held up there will be a scandal. I don't see any scandals when a North American skater skating at home is held up, so why should there be when a Russian skater wins at home? In fact even if Irina skates well, there will be those who dislike her skating (I am not pointing at you specifically) they will find something wrong in the result, no matter what.
We are already seeing biases in the GP series. FS is not a one-dimensional sport (that is why many of us love it), and there will always be some disagreements,some subjectivity, and some preferences involved. Unfortunately whenever a Russian skater wins, there are cries of bias and corruption but I don't hear anything at all when the roles are reversed.

In any case, I would love to see Irina skate well before her home crowd, regardless of the results.

Vash

Vash, even if a North American skater was held up, I would not like that either. Whether it's Irina, Michelle, Shiz, whoever. If anyone of them were held up, of course I would have a problem with it. But looking at the past judging scandals where Russians and/or countries from the former Soviet Union were involved and may continue to do so, I just don't have faith in their abilities to be fairly objective. Yet if N.American judges or others were doing the same thing, I would object to that as well. Unfair judging is still unfair judging, no matter what country they're representing. But as you've said, it is a lot of times a subjective sport. However, it's when the judges goes beyond subjective and blatantly votes just to get their skaters up on the podium is what pisses me off. Wouldn't this bother you? If the skater who wins skates her best then of course I'd be more than happy for her even if I'm disappointed by the results just as long as there's not an obvious judging decision that's screwed up and another skater gets slighted. And by the way, I like Irina's skating.

Joesitz (RIP) · Nov 22, 2004

Vash - Mea culpa for using the word scandal. What was I thinking? I was, however, speaking in the conditional. What I said about Irina is a big if, and I will say it about Carolina in Torino. The hometown contestants come into play subjectively, imo. I'm not predicting a bad skate for Irina. I would never do that because, imo, she is the best competitor in figure skating, but she has had some less than perfect skates. IF she does have a poor skate and WINS, there will be problematics, at least among the skating fans. I was not thinking SLC.

I haven't seen Irina skate this year, and I am looking forward to the COC and the COR on TV. I'm also looking forward to the two American recluses at the US Nats. I don't get excited over cheesfests other than to see something that might be special even if the skater doesn't win.

I do reiterate that Irina will be in the last group to skate at Worlds based on her win at NKH, and she will enjoy and deserve the roar of the crowd.

Joe

Excidra2001 · Nov 22, 2004

Well the roar of the crowd could really through Irina off and she has stated that she doesn't really enjoy skating on home ice that well because of the roar of the audience. Some skaters(Mainly MK) knows how to use the energy of the audience and she usually turns that into winning moments. The only time Slutskaya turned in a great Free skate on home ice with the audience roaring at each element was GPF 2003.
Its really interesting at how skating fans predict where Irina will finish at each competition. some say she will win back her world crown and some say she'll be lucky if she finishs top 6.
But either way, I hope she lays-down a skate which she could be proud of on home ice, with her it's not about the medals anymore its all about competiting against the best in the world..

soogar · Nov 22, 2004

Well they were roaring for her at COC (yep reserved Asians were cheering like crazy for Irina) and she delivered. She will be on the podium if she skates like she did in COC. Her spins and footwork were amazing (esp the layback changes). Vika looked terrific as well.

equestrianguy · Nov 23, 2004

WOW...Maybe Irina should take two years off more often..lol Is it me or does she look better than she did in 2000-2002? She looked great! I truely have to say I have missed her..Also, I have always loved her personality..Good luck to her this year.....

euterpe · Nov 23, 2004

I agree that there is a possibility of a major scandal at Torino.

Because the identities of the judges are completely protected, there is nothing to stop them from colluding to make the results come out a certain way. A group of 3 or 4 judges can easily manipulate PCS marks so that certain skaters are marked up and others marked down, independent of performance.

We saw, even under 6.0, some very unexpected results at Dortmund (Stefan Lindemann, Winkler/Lohse), reflecting home town advantage. Kostner wound up in 5th place despite a disastrous FS. Will we see her on the podium at Torino? If we do, I hope it will be because she earned it.

Linny · Nov 23, 2004

Haircut

I liked Irina's shorter hair cut. Hope it brings her better luck than Michelle's shorter hair cut brought her.

Linny

Rgirl · Nov 24, 2004

I was so thrilled to see Irina back happy, healthy (with treatment), and skating so well, I got seriously choked up. Oh, Rini! I've missed you! You're your own source of light.
Rgirl

Doggygirl · Nov 24, 2004

You are so right Rgirl..

Rgirl said:
I was so thrilled to see Irina back happy, healthy (with treatment), and skating so well, I got seriously choked up. Oh, Rini! I've missed you! You're your own source of light.
Rgirl

Her shining personality alone makes it a joy to have her "back." Great skating is just an added bonus!! And I sure thought she looked terrific on the heels of her health challenges. I'm so happy for her. Hopefully we will all get to enjoy her shining light for many more years.

DG

Ice Princess · Nov 27, 2004

Irina Slutskaya......................................... ...

I was so happy for her winning a gold medal in the COC!!!!!!!!
:agree:

Irina Slutskaya....................

Fossi

SailorGalaxia518

NJSk8Fan

bleuchick

thisthingcalledlove

Vash01

Kuchana

Joesitz (RIP)

3ggi3

Vash01

Kuchana

Joesitz (RIP)

Excidra2001

soogar

equestrianguy

euterpe

Linny

Rgirl

Doggygirl

Ice Princess

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