Russian Nationals

[BronzeisGolden]

Actually, I think Irina's heartbreaking and quite surprising 4th place finish at the 1999 Russian Nationals will always be in the back of her mind. Certainly, she is the top Russian lady and has been for so long, but she was also a major player back in 99 when they passed her over for Butirskaya and the others. Slutskaya was the reigning World silver medalist at the time. While I don't see them passing her over even if she finishes in last place at the Russian Nationals, I can understand why Irina would be cautious about this event. It does not hold the best memories for her.

 

[euterpe]

Irina was going through a growth spurt in 1999-2000, had gained a lot of weight, and was having great difficulty with her jumps. That was why she did so poorly at Nationals. After she got married, she got her weight under control and her jumps came back and she began to win competitions once again.

 

[Ptichka]

I too think it was rude toward Elena and Vika, who are both top 10 caliber skaters (may be even better, on a given day).

Well, that's Piseev for you. As I've said before the difference between USFSA and the Russian federation is that the former says, "What can we do to make our skaters be the best they can be", whereas the latter says, "What can our skaters do to make us the best federation we can be."

 

[Vash01]

Irina's interview at GPF was really cute. She seemed to be dreading the Russian nationals, but at one point she said most probably I will be on the European and worlds team, but she was still nervous about the RN. I like her chances of winning, unless she has a total meltdown.

 

[Ximena]

the list of participants is up
http://www.engis.ru/skate/index_lat.htm

misssing:
Shubin
N&K (Navka has the flu but she's there)
Victoria Volchkova
Julia Soldotova

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Yeah! What's with Vikka?

I guess Klimkin is still under doctor's orders. If he gets better can he skate Euros?

Joe

 

[Ptichka]

Joe,

Here is an excerpt from Klimikin's on-line Q&A (he actually tries to answer in English whenever possible):

Q: is there any chance you can compete at this season's worlds?

A: Unfortunanetely, I think I have no chance to compit.

 

[Ximena]

Vika broke her wrist the second week of Decemeber, but when Pissiev announced it, he said that Vika was confident to make Russian Nats, I guess she didn't recover on time.

Oh yes, I read about Ilia, I guess we will have to wait until next season to see him again.

 

[Jaana]

I think that Klimkin may find it very hard to come back to compete e.g. in Olympics and Worlds 2006. There are lots of strong junior skaters competing in Russian Nationals, skaters that may not have won him this year, but that matter could be very different next season.

 

[hockeyfan228]

Piseev is well aware that of all the Russian women, Irina is the only one who can contend for the podium. Vika has never been on the World podium, and Elena was there just once, in 2003. Irina, returning from illness, and with little preparation, finished higher than both Elena and Vika at 2004 Worlds.

Volchkova is a three-time European bronze medallist, and Piseev knows very well that the second-ranked finisher is what counts; last year's poor showing among the Russian Ladies is why there are only two spots for Worlds this year. It's even more critical going into an Olympic year, and Slutskaya can't do it all by herself.

Sokolova gave one of the best performances at Worlds last year in her quali round; the SP was her undoing, and she, like Volchkova, seemed to give up in the LP. Volchkova was undermarked severely in both her quali round and the SP. In qualis, she gave a first-rate skate, with noticeable improvement on her spin positions, yet she was behind Kostner, who was mediocre at best, and Slutskaya, who was slow, tentative, and made multiple mistakes and downgrades. The SP was VV's downfall, where although she fell once, her combo and 2A were great and her ice coverage solid, while Slutskaya had multiple small mistakes on her jumps and little runout, and was again sluggish as a result of her illness.

 

[attyfan]

On FSU, they posted that Piseev has announced that there will be no skate-offs for the second spot on the ladies World team, and, the top two finishers at Nats will go on to Euros.

 

[Peaches1972]

Results

Ladies Short:
1 Irina SLUTSKAYA Moscow 1 0,5 0,5
2 Elena SOKOLOVA Moscow 2 1,0 1,0
3 Liliya BIKTAGIROVA Moscow 3 1,5 1,5
4 Olga NAIDENOVA Moscow 4 2,0 2,0
5 Veronika KROPOTINA Moscow 5 2,5 2,5
6 Alima GERSHKOVICH Moscow 6 3,0 3,0
7 Arina MARTYNOVA Moscow 7 3,5 3,5
8 Angelina TURENKO Saint Petersburg 8 4,0 4,0
9 Yelena NAUMOVA Moscow 9 4,5 4,5
10 Tatiana BASOVA Saint Petersburg 10 5,0 5,0
11 Kseniya DORONINA Saint Petersburg 11 5,5 5,5
12 Yekaterina BURTSEVA Moscow 12 6,0 6,0
13 Valeriya VOROBEVA Saint Petersburg 13 6,5 6,5
14 Oksana GOZEVA Moscow 14 7,0 7,0
15 Yelena ZHIDKOVA Moscow 15 7,5 7,5
16 Kristina OBLASOVA Moscow 16 8,0 8,0
17 Yekaterina VASILYEVA Saint Petersburg 17 8,5 8,5
18 Katarina GERBOLDT Saint Petersburg 18 9,0



Ice Dancing - Compulsory Dance

1 Oksana DOMNINA / Maksim SHABALIN Mosk. oblast 1 0,4 0,4
2 Svetlana KULIKOVA / Vitali NOVIKOV Moscow 2 0,8 0,8
3 Yana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKII Moscow 3 1,2 1,2
4 Yelena ROMANOVSKAYA / Aleksandr GRACHEV Moscow 4 1,6 1,6
5 Yekaterina RUBLEVA / Ivan SHEFER Moscow / Kirov 5 2,0 2,0
6 Alisa SUCHKOVA / Valentin KUZYAYEV Togliatti 6 2,4 2,4
7 Olga GMYZINA / Ivan LOBANOV Kirov 7 2,8 2,8
8 Yuliya ZLOBINA / Aleksei SITNIKOV Kirov 8 3,2 3,2
9 Inna LADYAGINA / Anton SHABALIN Togliatti 9 3,6 3,6
10 Anastasiya YAKOVLEVA / Ivan MANVELOV Moscow 10 4,0 4,0
11 Irina LEVINA / Artem SARKISYAN Samara 11 4,4 4,4

 

[Peaches1972]

Men Short program

1Evgeni Plushenko Saint Petersburg
2 Aleksandr Uspenskii Moscow
3 Andrei Gryazev Moscow
4 Andrei Lezin Moscow
5 Sergei Voronov Saint Petersburg
6 Sergei Dobrin Moscow
7 Andrei Lutai Saint Petersburg
8Andrei Saburov Moscow
9 Aleksei Vasilyev Saint Petersburg
10 Konstantin Menshov Saint Petersburg
11 Denis Leushin Moscow-Kirov
12Aleksandr Kondakov Moscow
13 Nikita Mikhailov S-Peterburg - Moscow
14 Denis Balandin Moscow
15 Artem Borodulin Perm
16 Mikhail Magerovskiy Moscow

 

[hockeyfan228]

Well, that's Piseev for you. As I've said before the difference between USFSA and the Russian federation is that the former says, "What can we do to make our skaters be the best they can be", whereas the latter says, "What can our skaters do to make us the best federation we can be."

Piseev's blameful and disrespectful comments remind me of his government's response to the heroic efforts of the Mir team to keep the ship functioning under great pressure and risk of death.

 

[Ximena]

I think that Klimkin may find it very hard to come back to compete e.g. in Olympics and Worlds 2006. There are lots of strong junior skaters competing in Russian Nationals, skaters that may not have won him this year, but that matter could be very different next season.

Not only that but I'm really starting to wonder if Russia would get 3 places for Worlds and Olys next season, because worst case scenario there would only have two and it would be Plush and a battle for that second place, and for the way Pissiev acts he won't just pick the one who ended up second at Nats, he would probably analize the whole season to see who goes or not.

 

[Ptichka]

Results for OD are up. No change in placements from CDs.

 

[2ndmark]

I thought Vika had a broken wrist and was out for the season?

 

[hockeyfan228]

I thought Vika had a broken wrist and was out for the season?

Volchkova is not competing at Nationals. According to her coach, she didn't recover in time from her wrist injury to be in proper shape. Soldatova has recovered from her injury-related illness, but was not at Nationals. After first saying that only the Champions would be guaranteed spots at Europeans, Piseev then said that there wouldn't be a skate off, at least for Ladies.

However, last year, after a dismal showing at Europeans by Oblasova (16th) and Basova (18th), he appointed Volchkova to the World team. Had they skated, putting three Japanese skaters, three US skaters, and two Canadian skaters ahead of one of them at Worlds, she most likely would have qualified for the SP and 18 points towards calculating the next years' placements. When added to a top 10 finish, that would have guaranteed two spots for women at Moscow. Putting Volchkova on the team, given Slutskaya's health issues, gave them their only realistic chance for three spots at Moscow.

Among the Men, Griazev placed 6th in his quali skate at Dortmund, and after an undisciplined and technically flawed performance, was still placed ahead of Weir, van der Perren, and Ferreira. (And it wasn't the quad factor, because he had none.) This cushioned him from a 16th place finish in the LP, so that when combined with Plushenko's 1st, the tally was 13, just enough to send three Men to Moscow. If he's not still suffering from his back injury, Griazev's training should be on an upwards trajectory towards Europeans and then Worlds. Uspenski was third at GPF, because of a poor technical performance in the SP. (His PC scores were the highest in the SP, though). He was second in the LP, by a small margin. He also won one of his two events, coming in second in his second event, after a faulty LP. When he's on, his PC scores in Jr. Grand Prix have been solidly in the 6's, which, if there is no pressure on him, would make him competitive for a top 12 finish, even as a junior skater. The issue is that Piseev doesn't have a Volchkova or Soldatova up his sleeve, if Uspenski (or another junior skater), doesn't do well at Europeans.

 

[Ximena]

I think the one that is really is going to start feeling the pressure of his federation is Griazev.If Griazev makes the team (and he should) he is the one who has to finish in a good place so Russia can have three places at Olys. RF expects Plush to win Euros and Worlds so now they are looking to the one that can keep their three spots. As for the third men, Lezin could end up being that one, he is 4th right now but remember at CoR he ended up in a better place than Griazev (although it was true that Andrei was just recovering from injury), I don't think Pissiev is going to expect that the 3rd Russian men (Uspenski or Lezin) do the job that the second place (Andrei) should do.

Euros should not be a problem to keep the three places, they are good Euro men but I'm sure the Russian team could easily add 13 to keep 3 places, Worlds OTOH you have to add Jeff, Eman, Weir (and whoever comes with him), Li, Zhang (that are quite consistant) and Honda (that I'm sure wants a big comeback)

Now it's up to see if Griazev can handle the nerves tomorrow since he has to skate right after Plush.

As sure I am that Griazev wants to improve and be better every season, I don't think he expected to be the 2nd Russian man, I imagine he though Ilia would be around. World 04 is a proove of that, as hockeyfan said it, he ended up 16th in the FS and I can imagine a lot had to do with the pressure to keep 3 places for Worlds at Moscow.

 

[curious]

well mami tarasova is running out of patience with andrei so he better get his act together now or find himself another coach