Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin | Page 267 | Golden Skate

Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin

I also think that part of Ruslan's problem is that he's very much a skater who connects to his partner first and the audience second. He didn't connect very well with Viktoria, and she wasn't very expressive, so I think he had a hard time emoting and keeping up the energy when he wasn't really getting much back.
I also fully agree, except that I wouldn't call it a problem, it's the thing that could make him great. Viktoria is the ice-ice-princess type (which could fit Katsalapov nicely, we'll see) and he couldn't connect the way he can connect with Elena, but still their connection looked just fine, he made it work.
 
Frida program is so good, they show the story in such a way, it takes my breath away and all 3-4 minutes I am watching them like hypnotized by the dance :) amazing! Like Frida a bit more than SD at the moment, but of course both programs will be polished :) so excited for the season!
 
1 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV 69.40 33.56 35.84 8.95 8.85 8.90 9.05 9.05 0.00 #1

Interestingggg. This is from the Russian Cup meet in Peter. There's no video (yet). I wonder how much of this is homecooking. :)

Edit: lol I'm reading this back now and it looks rude like that but I promise I wasn't trying to be! I'm actually interested!
 
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The only previous time that they've had PCS near that was at the Olympics, and from last weekend they were not in Olympic form, so I think it's safe to say there is some home cooking involved. But they have a nice SD and 66+ on the GP isn't unrealistic. The PCS might be saying something about who the fed are seeing as no. 1 though.
 
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1 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV 69.40 33.56 35.84 8.95 8.85 8.90 9.05 9.05 0.00 #1

Interestingggg. This is from the Russian Cup meet in Peter. There's no video (yet). I wonder how much of this is homecooking. :)

Edit: lol I'm reading this back now and it looks rude like that but I promise I wasn't trying to be! I'm actually interested!

That was uncalled for. The dance was clean and much better than at test skates. Of course there was home inflation, but it still highest score from any teams so far, who have home scores too.
Like I said their performance was great.
Sorry for off topic. Go Elena and Ruslena!!!! :-)

Edit: oh, and they skated at Samara, not Peter.
 
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I also fully agree, except that I wouldn't call it a problem, it's the thing that could make him great. Viktoria is the ice-ice-princess type (which could fit Katsalapov nicely, we'll see) and he couldn't connect the way he can connect with Elena, but still their connection looked just fine, he made it work.

I think another factor was that Victoria needed more "managing" in the programs. You can often see Ruslan actively positioning her or dragging her through footwork in their old programs. Elena is a better skater, with much better-matching knee bend, so there's naturally better flow, which allows Ruslan the freedom to focus more on presentation.
 
B/S had much higher scores than the other teams, but they were also obviously the best team there. I'm sure they aren't going to get that score internationally, at least not right away. So I guess we'll see how their score compares to Ruslena at Saransk.

In addition to what legjumper said, I know Kustarova said somewhere that they had to devote a lot of work to getting S/Z's kneebends and so on to match, and just working on Victoria's skating in general. While Ruslan has always improved a lot every year, it's quite possible that he and their coaches have more time to devote to his improvement, and even more so now that he and Elena have started gelling.
 
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1 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV 69.40 33.56 35.84 8.95 8.85 8.90 9.05 9.05 0.00 #1

Their short dance is very strong. Will be very hard to beat for any team. Here is video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D-9sLF6PQ0

I like Zhulin's change of twizzles for Bobrova/Soloviev and Monko/Khaliavin. This is best twizzles B/S ever did and it is very clever. They put steps between twizzles (on two legs) which allows them to breath; speed and ice covarage match on two sets. This is what I want for I/Z. Ilinykh/Zhiganshin's first set have amazing ice covarage but others are very small. Their change of edge looks uncontrolled. They are ten times better twizzlers than B/S but it doesn't show. :disapp: This is what I don't like about Kustarova. :disapp:
 
I think that BS score will be higher in Saransk, because they are obviously number one in Russia now and they are very well prepared early in September while IZ have a lot to work on.
 
Clearly missed the final KP on the 2nd RW sequence and a question over whether the lift really came down within the 6 second mark. It was good, but not 69 good.
 
B/S had much higher scores than the other teams, but they were also obviously the best team there. I'm sure they aren't going to get that score internationally, at least not right away. So I guess we'll see how their score compares to Ruslena at Saransk.

Canadians and US teams had home competitions too, their scores are lower. That's what I meant. It says nothing, though. It's still September.

Clearly missed the final KP on the 2nd RW sequence and a question over whether the lift really came down within the 6 second mark. It was good, but not 69 good.

It was tons better than at test skates, they were clean. IMO, that's what important, not home-coocked score. And like I said it's still September.

I'm so hoping I/Z will go at Saransk with B/S! Please, please, please!
 
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Can we please discuss B/S in their own fan thread? Why are we discussing them here? Are we going to discuss every Russian ice dance pair in this thread? If we want to talk about how great B/S are doing, no offense it should be in their own fan thread and not here.

Scores in isolation are meaningless. So discussing them here any further doesn't really make sense. If we want to talk about the merits of another team it should be done in their own thread.
 
Can we please discuss B/S in their own fan thread? Why are we discussing them here? Are we going to discuss every Russian ice dance pair in this thread? If we want to talk about how great B/S are doing, no offense it should be in their own fan thread and not here.

Scores in isolation are meaningless. So discussing them here any further doesn't really make sense. If we want to talk about the merits of another team it should be done in their own thread.

I agree, thank you. In my defense I should say that it was not me who started it :laugh:
I love both teams, and wish them all the best :)
 
I do like their short dance... for now they are the best Russian SD I have seen. They will continue polishing it I suppose, as other teams will theirs, but their SD will probably remain the top SD, barring mistakes.

As for the scores, I am not sure how much they mean. I suspect Russian teams will be grossly over-scored at both Samara and Saransk, so I will wait for the first international competitions to get a better idea of what these programs will score.
 
Can we please discuss B/S in their own fan thread? Why are we discussing them here? Are we going to discuss every Russian ice dance pair in this thread? If we want to talk about how great B/S are doing, no offense it should be in their own fan thread and not here. Scores in isolation are meaningless. So discussing them here any further doesn't really make sense. If we want to talk about the merits of another team it should be done in their own thread.

Agreed but I get it. Potential rivals, curiosity and wanting to compare. I don't take too much stock in these scores, like you said an isolation skate. I also noted 5 scratches from Brobova during footwork and she doesn't hold her extension through the entire waltz pattern. I'm not worried for Ruslena.
 
That was uncalled for. The dance was clean and much better than at test skates. Of course there was home inflation, but it still highest score from any teams so far, who have home scores too.
Like I said their performance was great.
Sorry for off topic. Go Elena and Ruslena!!!! :-)

Edit: oh, and they skated at Samara, not Peter.

As I said, I didn't mean to come across as rude, I was just wondering if these scores are any indication of what we can see at the GP for B/S as well as Ruslena! I also didn't mean to go off on a tangent about B/S in this thread because of that.
 
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As I said, I didn't mean to come across as rude, I was just wondering if these scores are any indication of what we can see at the GP for B/S as well as Ruslena!

I'm sorry I overreacted. :) And no, the score basically means next to nothing.
 
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