2015-2016 Russian Nationals Ladies SP

[Sam L]

From the ladies SP press conference:
http://freeskating.info/gallery/russian_nats_2016/dec25c/scr/img_9319n.jpg
at Lena striking a pose, as usual

And totally adorbs photos of my favorite ladies:
https://www.instagram.com/p/_tsSzUCk6t/
https://www.instagram.com/p/_ttQjFQYW7/?taken-by=lenok_radionova

This reminds me that one of my favorite moments from 2015 Worlds was Liza and Lena cuddling in the secondary Kiss&Cry...
(If this year it's Lena & Yulia cuddling in the K&C, I won't mind!!)

Lena is so funny with those poses but she looks gorgeous.

 

[amc987]

It was nice to see Yulia so happy- that's the best I've seen her skate since Sochi with her confidence/ enjoyment of skating. I was also happy for Pogorilaya, who performed the best I'd seen her all season.

Medvedeva has good qualities in her skating (extension, commitment to choreography, mental fortitude), but I find her choreo a bit manic and the music choice kind of slow and boring. I think she's overscored compared to the others. Radionova looks very well trained, but to me her programs this year are so tacky and her movements are unfinished and sloppy.

Sotnikova doesn't look quite ready to be back, but she's improved a lot in terms of skating quality and presentation since Sochi. I'm sad about Tukt- maybe she needs to ditch the 3A for now or put it at the very end of the program? I was surprised that she did such a strong lutz right after her fall only to screw up the easy (for her) 3T-3T combo. I'm hoping she'll perform well in the free program and move up.

Hoping Pogorilaya and Lipnitskaya do well in the long program and Tukt moves up to 3rd. Maybe Radionova will sink like the Titanic and we won't ever have to see that mess of a program again?

 

[jg2000]

Maybe Radionova will sink like the Titanic and we won't ever have to see that mess of a program again?

Ahh, don't say that! I'm not a huge fan of the program either, but we shouldn't hope for Elena to do badly.

 

[MalAssada]

Will all the ladies event be held in this thread?

 

[FlattFan]

Who did adelina make up. She looks like a drag queen with bad beat. Liza had the same make up artist who hates women.

 

[sabinfire]

Sima got underscored in her components big time. She had some of the best interpretation of the night....and then you look at the scores.:hopelessness: I mean...no offense to Adelina but she looked tired and uncommitted. Sima's steps were crisp and energetic and her movements are so good and with a purpose. Her score is so unfair in my fit of rage and less than humble opinion :furious:

Best I've seen Sima perform that SP all season! I can't stop watching it. :luv17: Too bad about the 2A... but still don't understand how she's sitting in 12th.

 

[silverlake22]

Same here, favorite was Julia's, then Elena's and then Anna Pogorilaya's... I think I just can't get over how utterly gorgous Anna Pogorilaya is, it adds like 10 points to her presentation...

Pogo's speed and big jumps also add to her overall performance IMO. Plus she looks like a woman on the ice not a little kid.

 

[silverlake22]

Best I've seen Sima perform that SP all season! I can't stop watching it. :luv17: Too bad about the 2A... but still don't understand how she's sitting in 12th.

I fully expected to her to get about 64 or 65 points after she skated, the 59 was dumpage IMO. Considering how high some of the other girls scores went, I do think low-mid 60s would have been fair for Sima's skate, even with the stalked 2a fall. I'd also have Sotskova and Pogorilaya each a couple points higher (the scores themselves are fine, but I don't see how Evgenia was 12 points better than Maria and 7 points better than Anna....). Anna skated so early that I understand her score more, and compared to someone like Elena or Julia her spins are not quite as strong, but Maria didn't even skate early and she still got placed way behind the leaders along with Adelina and Alena who made big mistakes...

 

[Ophelia]

When does the ladies FS start?

 

[jg2000]

http://fsrussia.ru/results/1516/rusnat1516_eng/Ladies_SP_Scores.pdf

protocols

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

anywhere we might be able to find protocols for the Russian ladies sp?

Zhenia's PCS is hilarious. For example.....
Judge #9 gave her a 9.50 for TR and of course every other component was scored even higher than that.

Zhenia's judge #9 is also probably judge #1 for Adelina too


Here are the protocols:
http://fsrussia.ru/results/1516/rusnat1516_eng/Ladies_SP_Scores.pdf

 

[silverlake22]

When does the ladies FS start?

7:45 am Eastern I believe?

 

[Lipea]

What an amazing competition it was!

I think generally the scores should have been much closer.
Of course, because it is Nationals everything is inflated and juniors get much smaller PCS than seniors, but there are also other tendencies one can clearly notice.
The reputation makes a big difference here. The skaters who were unstable so far this season are underscored in comparison to the skaters who were consistently good. For ex. Pogorilaya should have been much closer to Radionova and Lipnitskaya, if not the second after Medvedeva. I don't see how Radionova gets 2.5 points more than Pogo in PCS and better GOE on her jumps. Or Serafima; or Diana Pervushkina who actually had one of the most beautiful performances today and the most underscored.

Adelina is the most overscored. But I doubt the Federation has any plans to send her to Euro or Worlds; they probably understand well that even with the biggest inflation she won't be able to get on the podium of Nationals in such a field. Evgenia is a bit overscored, but she is clearly #1 in Russia now, and the meticulous fineness of her performance and choreography is unbelievable, and on the level of her own. And it is hard to imagine her program any better interpretationwise. Yulia was truly under the inspiration today. It seems that the change of the coach gave her a strong motivation - something that she missed in post-Olympic season. IMO I would put Elena fourth, as her jumps simply should not have got such GOE, sorry...

Pretty much the fight tomorrow will be for the third spot. Liza, Anna, Yulia - if at least two will skate clean I wonder if the Federation decides to send one to Euro and one to Worlds? We'll see

 

[hippomoomin]

What? Yulia has a new coach?? Why didn't I know that happened. How could she change coach in the middle of a season?

 

[CoyoteChris]

Chris.....Surley you understand us Americans will buy anything

This has been a great event so far and considering the poor attendance of the SP in the last few years I was quite thrilled at the Ekaterinburg audience. When's the last time they hosted a major figure skating event???

Sam, I confess complete ignorance about the Russian figure skating fan, the cost of travel, getting off of work for a week, the demographics of the person in the seat...casual local fan or traveling diehard, etc. I would have loved to attend the event but I am retired and have lost all my free time! Just seems odd to me that the Juggernaught of Russian Skating has come alive once more with so many excellent skaters comming up through the ranks and skating now, yet there were about as many fans as a crowded Pacific coast Sectional! LOL! Ok, maybe that was a bit of an exageration....how about US Nats Junior ladies short? And in Japan, Mao announces a comeback and a 20,000 seat arena for the Japan Open sells out in a half hour....go figure.

 

[NicoleH]

& I dont know why to comapre her with Yuna... No one does

This poster compared Radio to Yuna. That's where the Yuna comparison comes from.

well apparently no gold in worlds, euros and gpf final constitutes not enough for some :handw:

even Yuna didnt win worlds in her first 2 worlds competitions

And yes, Liza has been more successful than Radio because she has won major competitions that Radio cannot win, puberty or not puberty. Radio has been a consistent second-tier skater, who's always on the scene but never good enough to win the major competitions. That's not a queen.

 

[andromache]

Welp, finally got a chance to watch Yulia's SP. WOW. First off, on a shallow note, blinging up the costume is an A+. Rainbow dress was too much, plain black dress was too little, but this is perfect. Plus the bun makes her look like a mature lady (but not oldddd.)

Getting away from Eteri was clearly the right choice. Even if the LP isn't stellar, this SP, seeing her smile, is a step in the right direction. This is actually the first time ever that Yulia has looked like she LOVES skating, IMO. Although I admired her Sochi programs, they left me cold. Not this performance. It was fun as heck, and seeing that wave of positive emotion afterward was very moving. Plus, with the jumps there, Yulia not looking tired/unhappy and actually performing and selling it, it's really evident how she outclasses Elena and Evgenia in terms of SS and body movements.

I didn't think I'd ever become a Yulia uber but I think I might be one now. Fingers crossed that she's ditched that horrible blue LP dress, has another wonderful program, and she gets that third spot on the Euros/Worlds team!!! Or at least has a better LP than she's had in the past two seasons. I'm in love with the new, happy Yulia.

 

[Jennifer Lyon]

Welp, finally got a chance to watch Yulia's SP. WOW. First off, on a shallow note, blinging up the costume is an A+. Rainbow dress was too much, plain black dress was too little, but this is perfect. Plus the bun makes her look like a mature lady (but not oldddd.)

Getting away from Eteri was clearly the right choice. Even if the LP isn't stellar, this SP, seeing her smile, is a step in the right direction. This is actually the first time ever that Yulia has looked like she LOVES skating, IMO. Although I admired her Sochi programs, they left me cold. Not this performance. It was fun as heck, and seeing that wave of positive emotion afterward was very moving. Plus, with the jumps there, Yulia not looking tired/unhappy and actually performing and selling it, it's really evident how she outclasses Elena and Evgenia in terms of SS and body movements.

I didn't think I'd ever become a Yulia uber but I think I might be one now. Fingers crossed that she's ditched that horrible blue LP dress, has another wonderful program, and she gets that third spot on the Euros/Worlds team!!! Or at least has a better LP than she's had in the past two seasons. I'm in love with the new, happy Yulia.

I am amazed to see how much Yulia has changed since she switched coaches. Maybe her LP will be ready, maybe not. But I agree that this was a smart move for her. As a longtime skating fan, it was great to see Alexei Urmanov in the kiss-and-cry. It looks like he truly enjoys working with Yulia.

 

[Jaana]

No time to read through 45 pages of comments...but watched a few vids....Where are the fans???????
Economic hard times? Christmas? This is just one screen shot I took but I could taken 10 of all parts of the arena and they would have shown the same....
http://s1217.photobucket.com/user/CoyoteChris303/media/Boston14/fans_zpsjcumunkm.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4

I think the Russian don´t have Christmas now, it is a bit later.

 

[Blades of Passion]

I just posted my thoughts on the top 4 in the wrong thread, so I shall repeat here:

It was great to see Julia skate SO well. Totally did NOT expect a tano lutz from her (tiny and questionable edge as it may have been). I'm not sure why she does a back camel in her combo spin now, though. It doesn't look as good. She also doesn't need to do the illusion entrance into the layback, she could already get level 4 on that anyway. It just made her lose centering actually. Very good job, though.

Anna had my favorite program but the toeloop was cheated and I don't think she held the back sit spin position long enough, so that loses a little level credit. The ending of the program could still be better, I'd like to see her get into that last spin a little sooner, plus shorten it (she doesn't actually need to do the beillman in that spin to get max level) and then do more choreography to the music at the end.

Elena was perfectly fine and good, but was skating through the music at times. Still needs to hold some moves out longer.

Medvedeva continues to be overrated. So much talent but it could be utilized better (if you're going to start your program with a spiral, DO A SPIRAL, don't just do this 1-second spiral) and she could hit some of the accents of the music more.