- Joined
- Feb 20, 2014
To get back to that Ice Age show...I thought Maxim Shabalin and his partner were pretty good for the first week! The costumes were nice, she actually did a bit of skating on her own and not only lifts. If they manage to add to that and improve, I think they have potential!
As for Sotnikova, Russian ladies is a bloodbath. It's not easy to make it out of the country. And as an Oly champ she has opportunities to make money right now, opportunities that won't be around forever. It seems like she has financial obligations, it's understandable if she wants to strike while the iron is hot. There's probably also the usual "I've won Olys, what now?" motivational slump that many ladies seem to have fallen into in the past as well and the fact that there was so much hostility and hatred directed towards her after her win.
She said in interviews after the Olympics that she is utterly motivated to win Worlds, Euros, GPF titles now because all of these titles are still missing from her collections. Yes, she has won the Olympics, but on the other hand she is the only Olympic Champion who has never won a major international title in her senior career (her only gold medal is from a senior B-competition!). I can totally understand that she has financial obligations and that these shows gain her more reputation, which is good. But I find it really unfortunate how she communicated her future plans after Sochi and what she has done since. It is the same this season. She has two competitive programs and then she attends these show - so what does she really want to do?