SSHOR Moskvich

[CrazyKittenLady]

I have to admit, I'm not following the Russian competitions as closely as I used too. Unfortunately, I don't have unlimited time on my hands, the judging is even funkier than usual and to be honest I'm also very disappointed in some things said by officials/coaches.

But, and I can't stress that enough, I still love Lyosha, Andrei, and Ilya's skating to bits. They are and always will be my favourites as long as they compete!
I sincerely hope Ilya is not dealing with a chronic injury and will get a bye to Nationals (he is a member of the national team reserve after all) or at least be able to perform in the second half of the season somewhere.
Congrats to our tenacious Lyosha who qualified for Nats and the Cup Final against strong competition, and to elegant Andrei for his stunningly beautiful clean FS last weekend.

Many of the Moskvich juniors also did well this season, and I've kind of neglected cheering for them. But I always try to catch up and watch their performances. To continue an old tradition, let there at least be the podium pictures here.

Timofey and Kirill K. , Raber Memorial (sorry for the bad quality)



Kirill K. , 2nd stage Russian Cup


Kirill N. , 5th stage Russian Cup


Finally, a shout-out to Moskvich alumnus(?) Genrikh G. who was spotted in Oberstdorf yesterday, landing a clean quad lutz. Excited to see him back in competition somewhere soon.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

I have to admit, I'm not following the Russian competitions as closely as I used too.

Aww don't feel guilty about it! I haven't been following them that much either (general life stuff kept me too busy to watch much skating in general, and the cup stages are harder to access nowadays). But I always appreciate your updates helping me to keep track of the boys whenever I have time to drop by. Thank you for your dedication
I am so glad Andrei finally had a clean skate in his most recent cup stage! It looks like he's really getting into character now too

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

For the past seasons one of the best things about figure skating for me was cheering for the Moskvich lads. All of them are very special skaters to me, but I don't think I ever liked a trio of skaters as much as I liked Alexey, Ilya, and Andrei. I noted down their competitions in order not to miss anything, celebrated their medals as if they had just won the Olympics, and in the off-season I eagerly anticipated Irina Sharova's yearly photo shoots from summer training.
Of course, figure skating careers are fleeting, and it was clear that all of this wouldn't last forever, but now it's still hard to take that everything seems to fall apart within one season. Ilya has announced his switch to ice dance, Alexey is injured and apparently skating (or not?) at Schrödinger's rink, and Andrei hasn't competed since November and is missing from the entry lists of the February Moscow competitions as well. At some point I hope there will be a definite statement and they won't just fade away like so many Russian skaters before them taking a break.
Even Irina Sharova has announced last week that she will go on an open-ended hiatus. Her photos were special in their own way, often capturing what the glossy commercial figure skating footage of Russian TV left out and I'm grateful that she provided us some glimpses from behind the scenes at Moskvich from time to time.

And now I'll take my cue from her.
I wish all the Moskvich skaters lots of happiness and success in their skating careers. In the foreseeable future I think I'll keep my updates to Alexey and Andrei's individual fan fests. I still hope that everything will turn out to be alright for the two of them. I apologize for dragging down this usually cheerful thread, but I needed to write at least something.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

For the past seasons one of the best things about figure skating for me was cheering for the Moskvich lads. All of them are very special skaters to me, but I don't think I ever liked a trio of skaters as much as I liked Alexey, Ilya, and Andrei. I noted down their competitions in order not to miss anything, celebrated their medals as if they had just won the Olympics, and in the off-season I eagerly anticipated Irina Sharova's yearly photo shoots from summer training.
Of course, figure skating careers are fleeting, and it was clear that all of this wouldn't last forever, but now it's still hard to take that everything seems to fall apart within one season. Ilya has announced his switch to ice dance, Alexey is injured and apparently skating (or not?) at Schrödinger's rink, and Andrei hasn't competed since November and is missing from the entry lists of the February Moscow competitions as well. At some point I hope there will be a definite statement and they won't just fade away like so many Russian skaters before them taking a break.
Even Irina Sharova has announced last week that she will go on an open-ended hiatus. Her photos were special in their own way, often capturing what the glossy commercial figure skating footage of Russian TV left out and I'm grateful that she provided us some glimpses from behind the scenes at Moskvich from time to time.

And now I'll take my cue from her.
I wish all the Moskvich skaters lots of happiness and success in their skating careers. In the foreseeable future I think I'll keep my updates to Alexey and Andrei's individual fan fests. I still hope that everything will turn out to be alright for the two of them. I apologize for dragging down this usually cheerful thread, but I needed to write at least something.

I have to say a big thank you @CrazyKittenLady for adopting this thread years back, and for all your hard work and dedication keeping up with the Moskvich boys. From what I could observe, Coach Vika's band of lads felt like a calm oasis compared to the drama and tumult of Russian figure skating. I hope upcoming youngsters like Kirill K and Timofei S will continue in Ilya, Alexey and Andrei's footsteps and enjoy a similar happy camaraderie Figure skating runs in cycles, so perhaps one day we'll see one of the older boys back in a role like alumnus Zhenya Vlasov, but I have a feeling that day is still far off... Fingers crossed for news soon!