2016-17 State of Russian Ladies skating

[Amei]

Adelina did one clean 3T too and skated very well. I see that you just want to see the return of Yulia than Adelina. How did you know that Yulia became better than ever before? I didn't see it in this video from the show. Let's see what happens in the season, and then we'll talk.

Adelina I think a lot of our opinions on her skating is coming from an accumulation of her skates recently and her lack of competing for the last 2 years and from the sounds of her plans - this season as well. From what I've seen looking at the 2 girls the difference is that Yulia appears to be putting in a fight to get back to the top of the competition world, she looks in much better physical condition than she has ever been in, Adelina seems more focused on being a show skater....which is not a criticism but like Sam, at this point I have severe doubts that Adelina wants to be back in the bloodbath that is Russian ladies.

 

[SarahSynchro]

"Yulia/Julia" and "overweight" should never be in the same sentence.

 

[petitebrie]

From Adelina's fan thread I gathered she'll be touring in Europe until at least 15th of December, which will be around ten days before Nationals if it's held at the same time as usual.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

"Yulia/Julia" and "overweight" should never be in the same sentence.

Tell that to Ilya :gaah:

 

[sneakers]

seriously again? Yulia maybe out of shape lasts season but she was never overweight.....

 

[hippomoomin]

Yulia looks more mature and has more command over what she is skating too. But I am not sure how much jump she has recovered. Her black gloves made her hand completely disappeared in the show. For a moment I was thinking did she lose her hands?

I don' think Adeline was that "out of shape" mentally. She has been portraying mentally disturbed characters lately (je suis malade, swan lake, and this one), with disheveled hair/slouchy outfit. Part of that was her show.

Maria Sotskova is a miracle: she is so tall and she can still jump. Last season she was even taller than Polina. My fav program of hers was the Winter short in her first JGP year, before she went through a growth spirt. Her skating skills actually looked better and she looked faster then. She looks soft but she is another mentally tough Russian lady. I remember in an interview she said "I always manage to get what I want."

 

[andromache]

"Yulia/Julia" and "overweight" should never be in the same sentence.

seriously again? Yulia maybe out of shape lasts season but she was never overweight.....

Medically overweight for a normal person and "overweight" for skating are two different things, and I'm sure samkrut meant the latter. Plus, isn't samkrut from Russia? Let's cut a break for posters whose native language is not English.

Agree Yulia looks fit. IIRC in an interview awhile back she mentioned that one of the changes in her training with Urmanov is that she does off-ice training, which she wasn't doing under Eteri. I have no doubt she'll be in better shape than last season, and probably have more confidence, too. (And better costumes, please.) I'm curious how her jump technique is going. I'll be pleasantly surprised if all her jumps are completely reworked - but I think it's more likely we'll see a few final growing pains from her this season. Still might be good enough for the Worlds team, as the tendency has been to have two top ladies who end up being a shoo-in for the team (Liza and Elena, then Evgenia and Elena) and then a third, somewhat weaker link (Anna).

 

[Imagine]

Yulia has never been overweight IMO, but she did seem a bit...soft in the past...as in she didn't seem to have a lot of muscle mass. It looks like she's more toned nowadays, especially in the upper body. I wonder what they're doing in her training to achieve this physique...like is she lifting? If so, I wonder how that will help her.

 

[SarahSynchro]

Medically overweight for a normal person and "overweight" for skating are two different things, and I'm sure samkrut meant the latter. Plus, isn't samkrut from Russia? Let's cut a break for posters whose native language is not English.

You're right, that's fair enough. Honestly, I didn't take note as to who posted it; if I'd seen it was Sam I probably wouldn't have been so upset.

 

[SarahSynchro]

The difference between Julia and Adelina is that Julia has continued to train and compete as usual since her team Olympic gold win. She won silver at worlds in 2014, and even though the last two of her seasons ended without a Europeans or Worlds spot, she's still kept up her training regime, competed in the GP at two events, entering senior B's, Russian Cup etc. Adelina on the other hand committed herself to a lax competitive season last year after taking a year off after the olympics. She only entered one GP last year and none this year.

 

[Amei]

Yulia has never been overweight IMO, but she did seem a bit...soft in the past...as in she didn't seem to have a lot of muscle mass. It looks like she's more toned nowadays, especially in the upper body. I wonder what they're doing in her training to achieve this physique...like is she lifting? If so, I wonder how that will help her.

I believe in 1 of Yulia's interviews she mentioned that under Urmanov's group they have structured off-ice training whereas Eteri's group they did not. Results of strength training is going to be a lot different when you are being instructed/watched over.

 

[LRK]

From Adelina's fan thread I gathered she'll be touring in Europe until at least 15th of December, which will be around ten days before Nationals if it's held at the same time as usual.

That, to me, makes it sound as if she's sitting out this season, at least. I don't know how she'd be able to put in the rigorous training required to do well at Nationals. It seems meaningless to turn up there only half-prepared. Not in the stacked Russian field.

Maybe she simply hasn't quite made up her mind as to what she wants to do longterm?

 

[winky97]

There are quite a lot of skaters who won medals in more than one Olympics. Besides Adelina never won a World medal - that should have been a great motivation. I recall Adelina actually saying herself shortly after Sochi that she would want to win everything there to win...
I think it is more to do with what I call a curse of a 'chance' OGM, same happened to Sarah.

I never said there were not figure skaters out there with multiple Olympic medals. What I said was it is hard to get that big prize and the rewards from it and go back to applying yourself to hardcore training to go for it again is difficult. I stand that. Can it be done? Sure. Is it easy? No.

Neither Sarah nor Adelina suffered from a chance OGM curse. Neither of them were dominate in international competition before their OGM. After Sarah won her OGM she tried for about a year but her results were back to where she had been pre OGM and she stopped trying.

Adelina has done very few competitions since her win. I will give her the first season after her OGM since she was hurt, but last season and this season she is only dabbling in competitions, instead focusing more on shows. It is easy to talk about wanting to win every competition in sight, but it is a lot harder to apply yourself and put in the work needed to win. Adelina does not seem motivated to put the work in to be competitive IMO. This is not a criticism of her. Just the vibe I get.

 

[[email protected]]

Medically overweight for a normal person and "overweight" for skating are two different things, and I'm sure samkrut meant the latter. Plus, isn't samkrut from Russia? Let's cut a break for posters whose native language is not English.

yeah, yeah....forgive my "french" . Of course, I did not mean she was overweight medically rather she somewhat rounded up and did not look very fit during last year test skates. But it was opposite to bashing - my whole idea was to point to her impressive current shape.

 

[LRK]

That, to me, makes it sound as if she's sitting out this season, at least. I don't know how she'd be able to put in the rigorous training required to do well at Nationals. It seems meaningless to turn up there only half-prepared. Not in the stacked Russian field.

Maybe she simply hasn't quite made up her mind as to what she wants to do longterm?

All right, quoting myself because I just saw that Adelina is apparently going to the test skates, so I must assume this means that she does intend to compete this season. Now I'm confused...

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

All right, quoting myself because I just saw that Adelina is apparently going to the test skates, so I must assume this means that she does intend to compete this season. Now I'm confused...

We've all been confused by this for some time now.

 

[LRK]

We've all been confused by this for some time now.

Well, I tried to make some sense of it - I really tried! (she wailed hopelessly) But - it is no use!

(Well, she's doing some shows with Plush in November - maybe he'll be able to light a fire under her; and give her a hint or two about her 2A... )

 

[Sweet Dream]

Adelina cannot compete against those top girls now, so why bother come back? In fact she is in the dilemma of quitting and fighting for her name again. If she chose to retire at this point of time, she would be overwhelmed by the pressure of public opinion, so that putting her skating career on hold is a better choice for the time being.

 

[Layback11]

We've got a packed weekend ahead of us: Russian Test Skates, Lombardia, and JGP Japan...get ready for a wild ride

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Adelina I think a lot of our opinions on her skating is coming from an accumulation of her skates recently and her lack of competing for the last 2 years and from the sounds of her plans - this season as well. From what I've seen looking at the 2 girls the difference is that Yulia appears to be putting in a fight to get back to the top of the competition world, she looks in much better physical condition than she has ever been in, Adelina seems more focused on being a show skater....which is not a criticism but like Sam, at this point I have severe doubts that Adelina wants to be back in the bloodbath that is Russian ladies.

I don't think Adelina has the motivation to put in the work needed to make a Russian team. She has won several national titles, medals at Euros and an OGM. She cannot surpass those achievements in the future, so I am not sure what would be the point of training hard.