In no way did I mean that when I said something is "off". I was being quite serious. This girl has not been skating to her potential and it bothers me to see that talent squandered.
I have always been extremely impressed by Elenas skill but I am not one to turn a blind eye to the other very important components of an ice dance team which at times they are lacking. It shouldnt have to be all or nothing when it comes to assessing a team.
What exactly do you think is off? They were great in the SD at Worlds, stupid mistake on the twizzles in the FD but apart from that were skating well together, not so good at WTT but considering that they were the only Russians who had done the full Olympic season & the full season after, it's not surprising they were knackered in comparison to other people. And here I thought she looked fine until the partial sequence, which could be because it's only September and they are just in the build up phase to the new season (no one can peak all the time), or maybe they've recently made changes to the sequence and she's still getting to grips with it, or maybe she has a cold, or maybe it was just a day when not everything is perfect, because we're all human... or maybe there is some hidden drama and she's miserable and hiding a secret child etc etc, but what I saw was two skaters who looked like they were having an absolute ball on the ice, even if the program isn't perfect yet.
They aren't a brand new team still, but you have to remember that they've had 1 year together when almost everyone else they compete against are in long term, settled partnerships. Even in the second season it's not surprising that their programs would take longer to come together than other people's, because they are still learning and building the partnership. Last year they found one style and worked out how to make that work, and now they are trying something else, and they have to figure out how to make that work.
Also, the one time I/K showed up to the full open skates was in 2010 & they gave a performance a little worse than I/Z today, and everyone freaked out and said they'd been too overconfident that the junior world champion reputation would carry them through, and they should have put more effort into learning new lifts, and Elena was out of shape and it was embarrassing to look the way she did on the ice with a sweater tied round her waist yada yada yada, but by the end of the season they'd overtaken a bunch of senior teams, won a GP medal, finished 4th at Euros, and 7th at worlds, and were firmly Russian no. 2 behind B/S in just their first senior season. So even if you think she's not at her best now, there's no reason to believe she won't be when the season starts for real in 2 months time.
, her sp is horrible in my opinion, I hope the LP will be better, or the other three sp versions.
Didn't you see the belly?
