State of Russian Ladies in skating: 2014-15 Season

[sabinfire]

Who are those people? I thought everyone said the red dress looked elegant and lovely.

I don't disagree. Obviously, I am not going to point fingers in several directions here, so I will pick an easy target: TSL. They criticized her red dress a few times this seasons during their recaps (calling it 'matronly'), whatever that's supposed to mean.

 

[LRK]

I don't disagree. Obviously, I am not going to point fingers in several directions here, so I will pick an easy target: TSL. They criticized her red dress a few times this seasons during their recaps (calling it 'matronly'), whatever that's supposed to mean.

"Matronly"?! Whatever's "matronly" about it? Goodness... Anyway, I didn't say, but I like the dress - it suits Alena.

 

[Sandpiper]

I don't disagree. Obviously, I am not going to point fingers in several directions here, so I will pick an easy target: TSL. They criticized her red dress a few times this seasons during their recaps (calling it 'matronly'), whatever that's supposed to mean.

I am so done with them. :scowl: (They do conduct good interviews... but I'm so done with their recaps.)

I like her dress precisely because it looks like something you can actually wear--after slight modification--outside of a figure skating competition. Though I'm not against raiding some of the guys' closets for sparkly shirts.

 

[witcher]

So Proklova who's having "bad" season has two JGP bronzes (Germany and Croatia) and won two last tournaments (European Youth Olympic Festival and Rus Cup Final).
I wonder what will RusFed say, if she applies to compete in seniors next year?


Tuk, Rad, Pog, Lip, Sot, Leo, Artem, Med, Sakh, Sotsk, (Prok?) - looks quite crowdy, while there'd be small hole in juniors...

 

[hanca]

So Proklova who's having "bad" season has two JGP bronzes (Germany and Croatia) and won two last tournaments (European Youth Olympic Festival and Rus Cup Final).
I wonder what will RusFed say, if she applies to compete in seniors next year?


Tuk, Rad, Pog, Lip, Sot, Leo, Artem, Med, Sakh, Sotsk, (Prok?) - looks quite crowdy, while there'd be small hole in juniors...

There may not be a hole in Juniors. All they need is 7 reasonable ladies, because there is max 14 spots at JGP. Let's count it:
Tsurskata - definitely two spots.
Feditchkina doesn't look that bad either at this stage. I thnk she may have also 2. (1st after SP at the Russian Cup final, ended 3rd with a score 175.13)
Kolomiets withdrew last year and missed the whole season due to injury; they may want to give her a chance.

Yushenko, Kayumova and Pervushkina have been very inconsistent, but from time to time they pull it together and surprise us. (E.g. Yushenko beating Leonova and finishing 2nd at the Russian Cup final with the score 181.27.)

And then there is also a whole line of newly eligible girls and some of them may suddenly pull it together. Mikhailova, Mitrofanova, Soloviova, Bezrukova, Drinkina, Istomnina, Fomina. Last year Bezrukova and Drinkina looked really, really good. Bezrukova was just under Tsurskaya's level. This season she is dealing with something (either puberty or injury) and struggles, but she may overcome it and come back strong. I do think that out of those 7 two may suddenly raise to the challenge.

 

[witcher]

For me, keeping skaters like Gubanova and Nugumanova off the junior Grand Prix it's just a waste of those girls' time and talent plus disservice to the whole JGP and fans. :disapp:
We all know they would rock on junior level and entertain viewers around the world in the arenas and through live ISU webcasts.

Instead they have one more year of domestic skating in front of smallish crowds with no live coverage.
It makes me

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I hope Sotskova and Proklova both stay back another year and collect medals like crazy!!

 

[Krunchii]

I hope Sotskova and Proklova both stay back another year and collect medals like crazy!!

I'm not sure about Sotskova since she has more experience but I think Proklova should stay back another year for more competition experience, I just know if she's healthy she'll collect a bunch of gold medals and it'll give her momentum when she goes seniors

 

[MalAssada]

Am I the only one wondering how Serafima will handle JW? Not sure if I should be prepared for two/three mistakes or wait for the JGP Sima :scratch: Also curious about Sotskova. I got a gut feeling she will place 4th...

PS: I'm all for Maria staying in juniors for another year. Sima and Zhenia had the spotlight this season, maybe 2015-2015 is her year

 

[stryke]

Am I the only one wondering how Serafima will handle JW? Not sure if I should be prepared for two/three mistakes or wait for the JGP Sima :scratch:

Nope you're not the only one. She has gotten progressively worse since GPF. I have a bad feeling that Higuchi or Sotskova might be able to edge her out if she has some mistakes. I hope I am wrong because I don't want to see her and Zhenya not right next to each other.

 

[Sandpiper]

I think Maria staying in juniors depends on how she does at JW. If she skates a perfect routine and beats Serafima for silver, there's little left to do in juniors. If she messes up and ends up off the podium, perhaps she'll stay another year to re-establish her rep/possibly get the JW title?

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Nope you're not the only one. She has gotten progressively worse since GPF. I have a bad feeling that Higuchi or Sotskova might be able to edge her out if she has some mistakes. I hope I am wrong because I don't want to see her and Zhenya not right next to each other.

As I pointed out in another thread in this post here:

I find it interesting you choose the words edge out because Wakaba has been called for her flip in every single attempt on the JGP. I suspect Sima can afford a few errors and still beat her

 

[Watermelondrea]

Be careful, last summer I said I expected 5 Russian ladies in the GPF and that a miracle had to happen for them not to sweep the podium....
And then there was Adelina's injury, Anna's mental troubles and our girl's struggle with herself and more. Let's wait and see.
Especially Liza is at a high risk of injury, Elena is growing scarily fast, who knows if Adelina will ever find her Sochi form again and Yulia reworking her entire technique won't be a walk in the park.
I'm totally rooting for an all Russian GPF and for all of them to slay but I'm scared of jinxing again :'D

You're right, but the. fact is. that someone like Wagner or Asada will quality ahead..

 

[Ava Moore]

So…with the sheer number of Russian senior ladies, how many of them would actually receive 2 GP events? :hopelessness:

 

[hanca]

So…with the sheer number of Russian senior ladies, how many of them would actually receive 2 GP events? :hopelessness:

Maximum 9 because there is maximum 18 spots (three spots per event max), but only if every country invited three Russians, which they don't have to. If eight will get two spots, I think they will be lucky.

 

[Ava Moore]

Maximum 9 because there is maximum 18 spots (three spots per event max), but only if every country invited three Russians, which they don't have to. If eight will get two spots, I think they will be lucky.

Makes me wonder whether host picks will either be the ones with the highest scores…or the ones who'd least likely be threats to those skating in their home country? :think:

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I like the way JGP does it where the countries earn spots at events and the federations decide who goes where and can adjust as the season unfolds. It's smart in terms of injury and helps to keep events competitive. I don't like host picks and the way the senior GP process goes. Unnecessarily complicated and far to many events are decided before they begin.

 

[hanca]

Makes me wonder whether host picks will either be the ones with the highest scores…or the ones who'd least likely be threats to those skating in their home country? :think:

Well, Canada, China and France will pick those with the highest scores because their lady is not going to fight for a medal. Unless Osmond and Li Zijun are is a very good condition and they think that their skater may have a chance.

US and Japan will definitely pick the weaker ones. (Leonova) The problem is what to do if there are no weaker ones? Some of them had bad current season (Lipnitskaya) or could not compete (Sotnikova) so they could risk that, hoping that they will have another bad season.

 

[silverlake22]

So…with the sheer number of Russian senior ladies, how many of them would actually receive 2 GP events? :hopelessness:

Well, if Adelina doesn't compete, logical choices would be:

2 spots -

Tuktamysheva
Radionova
Pogorilaya
Lipnitskaya
Medvedeva
Sakhanovich
Leonova

That's only 7 girls, so even if Adelina were to come back, she and Sotskova could each get 2. Or if Adelina doesn't come back, then the final 2 spots could be given to Artemieva and Gosviani. So I think Sotskova should move up, there is room for her.

 

[hanca]

Well, if Adelina doesn't compete, logical choices would be:

2 spots -

Tuktamysheva
Radionova
Pogorilaya
Lipnitskaya
Medvedeva
Sakhanovich
Leonova

That's only 7 girls, so even if Adelina were to come back, she and Sotskova could each get 2. Or if Adelina doesn't come back, then the final 2 spots could be given to Artemieva and Gosviani. So I think Sotskova should move up, there is room for her.

But Adelina plans to come back. So that's 8 ladies that will definitely have 2 spots and there is no guarantee that Russia will get more than 16 spots. Even though 18 is max possible, I can imagine that some countries will do their best not to have to invite 3 Russians.

I don't think Artemeva and Gosviani will even be submitted for GP event.