Can Sotnikova overcome the pressure?

Krislite · Nov 10, 2012

Cherryy said:
And how many times did Yuna skate cleanly apart from Vancouver?

And how many times did Yuna ever skate so badly as to miss the podium? Adelina just did. Granted, the comparison is probably unfair, but being "declared" the Sochi Olympic Champion by the time she won Junior Worlds creates extremely high expectations and comparisons to previous champions.

She still has time to recover, but it's been over a year. It's almost December. Nationals and Worlds is just around the corner.

Mrs. P · Nov 10, 2012

Krislite said:
And how many times did Yuna ever skate so badly as to miss the podium? Adelina just did. Granted, the comparison is probably unfair, but being "declared" the Sochi Olympic Champion by the time she won Junior Worlds creates extremely high expectations and comparisons to previous champions.

She still has time to recover, but it's been over a year. It's almost December. Nationals and Worlds is just around the corner.

To be fair, this is the first time she's been off the podium since the 2009-2010 season (WTT too, but it was a team event, so not sure if that counts).

Jammers · Nov 10, 2012

Let's face it as the years go by we will realize just how good Yuna was even when she was only 16 and just starting her Senior career. I still think back to her debut at Worlds in 2007 in the SP. DIck Button was flabbergasted by how mature Yuna was and her speed and jumps. She was spectacular.

ForeverFish · Nov 10, 2012

Rachmaninoff said:
I don't expect much of her this year (I don't think her programs are that great either, particularly her long), but really, it's way too early to be writing her off for the rest of her career.

This.

This is the most disappointing part of what I've been reading on this board--the fact that people consider one disastrous competition to be the conclusion of a sixteen-year-old's career. Remember two weeks ago after Skate Canada when people were saying the same thing about Gracie Gold? She proved this weekend that she's not out of contention quite yet, and while I can't make promises about Adelina's progress, I'm sure that the fighter in her will emerge to fight for a medal at Russian Nats.

gmyers · Nov 11, 2012

It's now multiple disasters not just one and she is going to be straightened out by late December? She needs a total overhaul of the flip technique if she is going to continue to do it and be consistent. All this has to happen in a month! Not writing her off forever just for the near term.

koatcue · Nov 11, 2012

gmyers said:
It's now multiple disasters not just one and she is going to be straightened out by late December? She needs a total overhaul of the flip technique if she is going to continue to do it and be consistent. All this has to happen in a month! Not writing her off forever just for the near term.

The thing is that if she has to change anything,it's only her head..She really does everything on practice.3t-3t,3l-3z,3z-3t,3s-3l.....EVERYTHING!That's why I'm so mad about her choking.She is the most talented jumper:-(((

jaylee · Nov 11, 2012

koatcue said:
The thing is that if she has to change anything,it's only her head..She really does everything on practice.3t-3t,3l-3z,3z-3t,3s-3l.....EVERYTHING!That's why I'm so mad about her choking.She is the most talented jumper:-(((

Even though she may do everything in practice, I do think her jump technique is a reason why her jumps falter in competition. All skaters have nerves, but those with better, consistent technique tend to come through in competition (but not always, given how large a role nerves can play).

Adelina has terrific spring in her jumps--the height of her double loop in her triple flip/double toe/double loop was amazing. But I think she bends down a little too much before her flip and lutz jumps, and she does this strange edge channeling before her flip, which I have to think contributes to her trouble with that jump. She also has a slight flutz. These are problems that are going to keep hampering her, but it's also possible that she puts it all together in a competition and it's enough to win. Unfortunately, it's also possible that she has the kind of implosion at Cup of Russia.

She's got gorgeous line, great variety in spins, and good basic skating, and she pays attention to the music and to performing. She's got plenty of charisma. She has all that she needs to succeed, so I hope she figures out what's wrong and doesn't lose confidence.

sky_fly20 · Nov 11, 2012

koatcue said:
The thing is that if she has to change anything,it's only her head..She really does everything on practice.3t-3t,3l-3z,3z-3t,3s-3l.....EVERYTHING!That's why I'm so mad about her choking.She is the most talented jumper:-(((

I am afraid the answer is simple, she is not mentally tough enough ( she needs a psyhcologist ), she could be the next coming of Maria Butyrskaya
we may have to wait maybe a max 10 years if she is still competing before she can skate 2 clean programs ( The Maria Butyrskaya 2.0 )

drivingmissdaisy · Nov 11, 2012

sky_fly20 said:
I am afraid the answer is simple, she is not mentally tough enough ( she needs a psyhcologist ), she could be the next coming of Maria Butyrskaya
we may have to wait maybe a max 10 years if she is still competing before she can skate 2 clean programs ( The Maria Butyrskaya 2.0 )

There is really no comparison to Maria. To say Adelina is mentally weak is ridiculous; she is a child with a lot of pressure to deliver for Russia. These results hopefully will reduce expectations on her. Maria was never consistent, and she had some good results early on winning Skate Canada in her Pepto Bismol pink outfit. I think Adelina is already as consistent as Maria ever was and there is so much room for improvement.

Rachmaninoff · Nov 11, 2012

drivingmissdaisy said:
There is really no comparison to Maria. To say Adelina is mentally weak is ridiculous; she is a child with a lot of pressure to deliver for Russia. These results hopefully will reduce expectations on her. Maria was never consistent, and she had some good results early on winning Skate Canada in her Pepto Bismol pink outfit. I think Adelina is already as consistent as Maria ever was and there is so much room for improvement.

Agreed. I really don't know if her problems are more technical or more mental, but it's not very fair to compare her "mental toughness" so far to other Russian skaters, other prodigies her age, etc. A lot of them were never in the spotlight the way she was. There has been a lot of attention and hype about this crop of young Russian girls, how they're better than the current seniors and how they're supposed to burst onto the senior international scene and start winning everything, up the technical ante in women's skating, etc. Previously, juniors didn't have so many expectations right off the bat when they first started competing senior.

ForeverFish · Nov 11, 2012

sky_fly20 said:
I am afraid the answer is simple, she is not mentally tough enough ( she needs a psyhcologist ), she could be the next coming of Maria Butyrskaya
we may have to wait maybe a max 10 years if she is still competing before she can skate 2 clean programs ( The Maria Butyrskaya 2.0 )

Ten years? :laugh:

So Sotnikova will be 26 before we see her skate another clean competition?

She said after the SP that she didn't know what happened with her 3F--that makes me think that her problem is technical, not mental. No "I was nervous" or "I got caught up in the moment." I could be wrong, but the fact that it's the 3F and none of the other jumps (until the FS, where she was clearly insecure) suggests a tiny detail that somewhere, somehow got overlooked.

Also, I refrain from making huge umbrella statements like "she is not mentally tough enough" over the results of one competition. I like to keep in mind that an entire thread was dedicated to questioning Gracie Gold's ability to handle pressure after Skate Canada, and she made all of her career-harbingers look foolish after CoR.

gmyers · Nov 12, 2012

But this is not one competition. You can't find a competition where she has done great from 2011 junior worlds. She won Russian nationals and Medaled at everything until COR but every competition major trouble. That includes 2012 Russian nationals after the halfway point and she was beaten by lipnitskaia in the fs. But people have a great excuse: she is growing and that just means she can single flips and fall on flips and mess up double Axels and even is a reason to zayak and do to many combos!

Can Sotnikova overcome the pressure?

Krislite

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!

Jammers

ForeverFish

gmyers

koatcue

jaylee

sky_fly20

Match Penalty

drivingmissdaisy

Rachmaninoff

ForeverFish

gmyers

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