State of Russian Ladies in skating: 2014-15 Season

[Bumdid]

That 3A worries me.:hopelessness: Why did she have to start doing that. She is messing up my calculations. How is Lena going to be able to keep her advantage in base value now.

I am not liking this

Just accept the new reign of Queen Tuk :dance:

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

That 3A worries me.:hopelessness: Why did she have to start doing that. She is messing up my calculations. How is Lena going to be able to keep her advantage in base value now.

I am not liking this

If it makes you feel better, we have seen many ladies land 3As and quads in practice but never achieve them in competition. I don't think Liza needs to take the risk because she can beat everyone without it, unless Adelina shows up in perfect form. As a fan I'd love to see her do it because the ones I've seen her do in practice are clean as a whistle, but I'm sure she has many failures on it as well which she obviously wouldn't post to social media.

 

[bekalc]

Whaaa? Did Kurt say that? She's the reigning WSM, and even with poor performances she still manages silvers on the GP.

I mean, she made the GPF.

I wonder if Kurt shares the same sentiments about Osmond.

Osmond doesn't have to make it through Russia Nationals. Look I have long wondered about Yulia's longevity. I like Yulia but the jumps are small and the technique is not great. I wondered what would happen if she got bigger. There are a lot of very good Russian skaters.

A lot of people say well "Liza" and Adelina struggled." Liza has tremendous jumping technique, and while I wouldn't say Adelina's jumps are perfect, Adelina's jumps are HUGE. Neither Adelina or Liza were relying on itty bitty jumps to get them through.

Right now the field is incredibly deep in Russia which probably does not help things.

I actually can see Anna P outlasting a number of young Russian skaters because of the good technique too. Leonova too didn't burst out of the scene when she was itty bitty...

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Just accept the new reign of Queen Tuk :dance:

Eek... Careful, people said the exact same thing about Julia at the end of last season.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

If it makes you feel better, we have seen many ladies land 3As and quads in practice but never achieve them in competition. I don't think Liza needs to take the risk because she can beat everyone without it, unless Adelina shows up in perfect form. As a fan I'd love to see her do it because the ones I've seen her do in practice are clean as a whistle, but I'm sure she has many failures on it as well which she obviously wouldn't post to social media.

Radionova going clean will beat Liza. If Liza put her lutz three jump Combo in the second half maybe she would close the gap more, but at this point she's relying on Radionova to mess up. A clean Radionova will wipe the ice with all others in the current field, including Liza... Her difficulty is huge and she usually gets all her edges and rotations ratified.

Liza is smart to train the 3A but she should hold off on it until next season IMO. She just needs to go clean which has worked for her and hope Radionova has a major error and the gold is hers this year.

 

[CutieP]

Just accept the new reign of Queen Tuk :dance:

Never! (Never surrender!) I could only ever submit to the rule of Princess Lena

 

[Sandpiper]

Radionova going clean will beat Liza. If Liza put her lutz three jump Combo in the second half maybe she would close the gap more, but at this point she's relying on Radionova to mess up. A clean Radionova will wipe the ice with all others in the current field, including Liza... Her difficulty is huge and she usually gets all her edges and rotations ratified.

Clean vs. Clean hasn't happened so far, so we can't say for sure. I think it'll be really close (no one's wiping the ice with anyone) and dependent on the panel. With Nationals scoring, I'm inclined to say clean Elena, but with the GPF scoring, I'm inclined to say Liza would've won (3Lz turn-out and all) even if Elena had landed her 3Lo in the SP. Even then it's hard to conclude anything, since Liza's GOE would've gone up at Nationals had she landed the 3-3 and three-jump combination, and Elena's PCS would've gone up at GPF had she landed the 3Lo. Hopefully they both go clean at Europeans so we can settle this for once and for all. (But then it'll probably be some 0.33 margin, and we'll again debate if a different panel would've scored it differently... )

 

[silverlake22]

Never! (Never surrender!) I could only ever submit to the rule of Princess Lena

Love Lena but she's barely hit puberty at this point and the jumps are already tiny and starting to look scary a lot of the time. I mean, her grit and competitive fire are formidable, and I love her spins, but the jumps are a question mark and she can be sloppy too. I think long term Radionova will be fine but she might "struggle" for a few seasons. Of course in Russia, when girls are struggling they usually still have decent scores and placements at international competitions (eg. Liza, Adelina, Julia), but in Russia it means looking at around 10th place at Nationals and not getting on the World Team (with the exception of Sotnikova, who always seemed to skate better at nationals than internationals and also get huge inflation there, but regardless she only competed at Worlds once anyways). I'm happy is Liza back and am fine with her (or Pogo) being Queen Bee in Russia for awhile, I'm sure Lena will have her time in that spot too (she kind of is the star this season anyways) but I'm not ruling out a hard time for her in the coming years.

 

[Snow63]

Oh, it's great for Liza. Anyone heard anything about her improving opening combo? 3T-3T is nice, and 3Lz-2T-2Lo is even more nice, but I want 3Lz-3T back.

 

[amc987]

^^ I thought before Russian Nationals she said that she was planning to upgrade to the 3Z-3T because she does it in practice. Maybe we'll see it at Euros? I'm more interested in when we'll see that gorgeous 3A in competition.

 

[silverlake22]

Things are going to be even more hectic next year. Probably two of these girls ( https://pp.vk.me/c623830/v623830213/f7b0/NpuAW8KWTx8.jpg ) are going to become senior and Leonova is likely the only competitor that may retire meaning were adding one more big threat overall to the mix. In two years Sasha and Masha will likely become senior too. It's just so much in one space. If this were an elevator it's possible the weight limit might be exceeded and I'm certain an alarm would sound and the door would open until some people got out. I guess though since it's figure skating we could probably load an entire competition into one without any weight issues.... Unless the coaches try to get in

Mariya will probably go senior next season too. IMO she should, there is not much reason for her to stay on the JGP. She qualified for the JGPF twice, won it last year, narrowly missed a medal there this year in a really deep field, placed 6th at senior nationals - beating Leonova and Lipnitskaya, will likely compete and place well at JW this year, and would have competed at JW last season if not for the injury. Her SB score is strong too so she can probably get 2 senior GP assignments, and it's also possible for her to medal at JW (she and Wakaba will probably battle for the bronze but if Mariya skates like she did at Russian Nats then I could see her beating Wakaba). So realistically I think Medvedeva, Sakahanovich, and Sotskova will compete on the GP next season, which means Leonova may get just 1 assignment and no way Artemeiva will get 2.

 

[Snow63]

^^ I thought before Russian Nationals she said that she was planning to upgrade to the 3Z-3T because she does it in practice. Maybe we'll see it at Euros? I'm more interested in when we'll see that gorgeous 3A in competition.

I hope not sooner than next season.

 

[LRK]

Oh, it's great for Liza. Anyone heard anything about her improving opening combo? 3T-3T is nice, and 3T-2T-2Lo is even more nice, but I want 3Lz-3T back.

Doesn't she do 3Lz-2T-2L?

 

[Snow63]

Doesn't she do 3Lz-2T-2L?

Yes, sorry. Misprint

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Doesn't she do 3Lz-2T-2L?

Yup. It's a good opening combo and gets the 3-jump combo out of the way, however, putting it in the back end does give her 0.29 extra points, which is practically negligible so it's smart to put it up front and create a good first impression.

 

[sabinfire]

5 Months is more than a few months.

It's actually less than 5 months. 4 months and X amount of days. If a "couple months" is 2, how many is "a few"? 3, 4, 5? Would it be inaccurate to say: "A few people showed up to my birthday party." if 4 or 5 people were there?

This is all irrelevant anyway, since a month for an adolescent figure skater might as well be equal to a year for the 18+ skaters.

 

[Skater Boy]

Clean vs. Clean hasn't happened so far, so we can't say for sure. I think it'll be really close (no one's wiping the ice with anyone) and dependent on the panel. With Nationals scoring, I'm inclined to say clean Elena, but with the GPF scoring, I'm inclined to say Liza would've won (3Lz turn-out and all) even if Elena had landed her 3Lo in the SP. Even then it's hard to conclude anything, since Liza's GOE would've gone up at Nationals had she landed the 3-3 and three-jump combination, and Elena's PCS would've gone up at GPF had she landed the 3Lo. Hopefully they both go clean at Europeans so we can settle this for once and for all. (But then it'll probably be some 0.33 margin, and we'll again debate if a different panel would've scored it differently... )

What if Wagner went clean - she has the highest pcs could she throw a wrench into the ascension of a Russian skating queen? Do one of the Japanese ladies h ave enough arsenal - I guess not because a clean Hongo can't get the job done so far. Russia stil is looking mighty fine even without their top two ladies (Julia and Adelina) - that says a lot.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

What if Wagner went clean - she has the highest pcs could she throw a wrench into the ascension of a Russian skating queen? Do one of the Japanese ladies h ave enough arsenal - I guess not because a clean Hongo can't get the job done so far. Russia stil is looking mighty fine even without their top two ladies (Julia and Adelina) - that says a lot.

Ashley's technical arsenal isn't good enough. Her GOE isn't as high as Liza's and her difficulty isn't as high as Radionova's. She does have the PCS though.

If she goes clean in SP + LP with 3-3 in both (something she has yet to do), then yeah, she could easily be on the World podium and possibly even World Champion depending on how the others skate. Right now, she does have one of the best, if not the best PCS scores for a clean program of the field.

Unfortunately, Hongo is still very new to the scene and even with strong skates will be at a severe PCS disadvantage.

The Russians still have the advantage in that all 3 of their entries have the potential to skate cleanly, and Radionova and Tukt have been especially consistent.

 

[[email protected]]

Some quick recent news.

For Yulia the season is over. Despite rumors she stays with Tutberidze and will start the preparation for the new season.

Liza showed 3A. Still cannot claim stability. She plans to include it in a short program but not during Europe.

The fed says that the team for Europe will not change. This brings the question if the closed skate for Adelina announced earlier will take place. Anna is in for sure.

Radionova had 2 days off. Now business as usual. She works on her programs but has no plans for any changes - just polishing.

 

[Sandpiper]

What if Wagner went clean - she has the highest pcs could she throw a wrench into the ascension of a Russian skating queen? Do one of the Japanese ladies h ave enough arsenal - I guess not because a clean Hongo can't get the job done so far. Russia stil is looking mighty fine even without their top two ladies (Julia and Adelina) - that says a lot.

If Wagner went totally clean, with 3F-3T in the SP and 3F-3T + 3Lo-1Lo-3S in the LP, no UR/edge calls on any of her jumps... maybe? But that's really, really unlikely to happen--I love Ashley and I believe in her, but I don't think she'll show up at Worlds with that much firepower.

And even if she pulls it off, she will need mistakes from the Russian ladies. Liza and Elena both have three lutzes across two programs, while Ashley has only one. Both of them tend to get Level 4's on spins (sometimes Level 3 layback for Liza), whereas Ashley's levels vary greatly by competition. Liza will score higher GOE than Ashley, and at GPF she actually outscored Ashley in PCS (though Ashley could eclipse Liza in PCS if she skates later and 100% clean). Elena has a BV advantage and will receive higher GOE for her spins.

In theory, it's possible for Ashley to win it all (a few months back, I would've said it's impossible, but then Yulia/Adelina were gone and GPF happened). But all the stars will have to align for it to happen: Completely clean performances from her, poor performances from Gracie/Anna, some doubled jumps from Liza and a few fluke falls from Elena... I think it's more realistic to root for Ashley getting a well-deserved medal, rather than outright winning.

Some quick recent news.

For Yulia the season is over. Despite rumors she stays with Tutberidze and will start the preparation for the new season.

Liza showed 3A. Still cannot claim stability. She plans to include it in a short program but not during Europe.

The fed says that the team for Europe will not change. This brings the question if the closed skate for Adelina announced earlier will take place. Anna is in for sure.

Radionova had 2 days off. Now business as usual. She works on her programs but has no plans for any changes - just polishing.

Thanks for the updates. Maybe the closed skate for Adelina is a contingency plan for Worlds, in case someone melts down at Europeans? (But it's probably unnecessary--Adelina can do the Russian Cup event).