Mikhail Kolyada | Page 36 | Golden Skate

Mikhail Kolyada

I agree a missing loop is a concern. I just hope that what we've seen so far is not a final layout yet. Nobody is 100% ready in September. But I am worried about the sp with a new jump layout it might not work as well as it did last season. Damn the fed! Surely any new program already prepared would be better than chopping and changing the old one?
Did you notice that Dmitriev is replaced by Kovtun for Finlandia Trophy? Now its the whole Russian Nat podium - vs Patrick. Going to be interesting...

Yes, the way Misha skated the program the jumps seemed like placeholders (certainly the first 3S). If he could barely eke out a 3A in his current form he was certainly not going to be able to jump a new quad. And I am sure they must be planning to bring the loop back as soon as they can. So we'll have to wait and see.

I am now dying to know what that ill-fated short program was and why it couldn't be salvaged. People who have seen it have polarising opinions on it (but that's nothing new as far as Misha's programs are concerned). I think I'd like him to skate to something not quite as controversial for a change. Misha Ge definitely sounds like an interesting idea for a choreographer - everyone appears to love the LP he did for Petrov and people on FSO were wishing Misha could skate to it instead (wishing other people's programs on Misha seems to have become a bit of a tradition). I personally think Petrov is welcome to his LP, but it doesn't mean that two Mishas together could not have come up with something fascinating.

As for Finlandia Trophy - I am rather curious what the Fed is up to sending its three top male skaters there simultaneously. It was the only B they could think of? :scratch3:
 
Evgeny Plushenko about Mika's LP:

http://www.sports.ru/others/figure-skating/1043986579.html

It will be funny if Mika proves all us wrong and judges will actually love his programs!
There are too many 'serious' programs and it is much more difficult to be a comedian than any other genre so who knows... (wishful thinking?)
I can understand the desire to see something different. And Misha has already done Spartacus in juniors, surely he can manage a classical piece? It's the best way to go if you want music with impeccable credentials in terms of "greatness". Not any classics, of course, I doubt anything generically lyrical ("wave your arms to pretty music with an inspired facial expression") would work, but there is such a variety out there. He can find a character he would be good at portraying. It can even have some comical elements. Maybe next season.

P.S. I sincerely hope the SP the Fed threw out was not actually a "serious character to great music" that everyone is looking for.
 
I am now dying to know what that ill-fated short program was and why it couldn't be salvaged. People who have seen it have polarising opinions on it (but that's nothing new as far as Misha's programs are concerned).

As for Finlandia Trophy - I am rather curious what the Fed is up to sending its three top male skaters there simultaneously. It was the only B they could think of? :scratch3:

I am dying too - will we ever know? And yes I read those opinions and they range from a great to a horrible with nothing in the middle. I just wonder was it a theme of the program the Fed found too risky or the way it was choreographed?

Re Finlandia trophy - Kovtun announced that he is changing his LP (which is a way harder than a SP) so how he is expected to be ready in three weeks?
 
The Fed obviously went with "horrible" in the end. Apparently TAT was the strongest detractor, I am not sure what it tells us... I can understand not wanting to let a program out there that a substantial number of people would find unacceptable, but Klyushnichenko has not been known for picking especially controversial topics and the Fed was OK with 9/11, so it must be something else. It is not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as rumour had it, and anyway, considering that they brought back last season's SP the complaint could not have been "the topic is too juvenile". In terms of choreography - Klyuhsnichenko choreographed all of Misha's other programs, including the one they are bringing back, and they are all a bit similar. So it seems unlikely she would come up with something drastically different and uniquely bad.
 
The Fed obviously went with "horrible" in the end. Apparently TAT was the strongest detractor, I am not sure what it tells us... I can understand not wanting to let a program out there that a substantial number of people would find unacceptable, but Klyushnichenko has not been known for picking especially controversial topics and the Fed was OK with 9/11, so it must be something else. It is not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as rumour had it, and anyway, considering that they brought back last season's SP the complaint could not have been "the topic is too juvenile". In terms of choreography - Klyuhsnichenko choreographed all of Misha's other programs, including the one they are bringing back, and they are all a bit similar. So it seems unlikely she would come up with something drastically different and uniquely bad.

Oh, one never knows with TAT - that's for sure! The fact that she is effectively TSKA and that Kovtun is her 'pet' does open some possibilities ...hmm.. I say no more...

Meanwhile Mika is competing at 2nd stage of St Petersburg's Cup

SP (yesterday):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BSHONs8mpc&feature=youtu.be

LP is tomorrow hopefully there will be a video too

Info supposed to be here but I can't find the protocols
http://fskating.spb.ru/index.php/news/445-2-

Ok, the jumps are not great yet but he seems to be performing much better, like last season, and not like in Sochi when it seemed he didn't really want to skate that program. Good luck Mika for tomorrow!:cheer2:
 
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He won this competition.
He poped on 4S and combination jumps weren't OK.
Here are two videos of FP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuz2xTACoY4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soEJZBGXSMs

And here is the report about the competitions from the local tv channel where there is his little interview
http://topspb.tv/news/news113639/
He valued his perfomance as 3 of 5. He said, that he hasn't gained his top form yet, that his phisical preparing was pretty intensive during midseason, and adds that psychology preparing plays a big role here too. Judging the last shots of this video, he isn't satisfied with his perfomance.
 
^ Why? If he keeps that program, he needs to keep the Pina Kolyada look ;)
:laugh2:
He won this competition.
He poped on 4S and combination jumps weren't OK.
Here are two videos of FP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuz2xTACoY4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soEJZBGXSMs

And here is the report about the competitions from the local tv channel where there is his little interview
http://topspb.tv/news/news113639/
He valued his perfomance as 3 of 5. He said, that he hasn't gained his top form yet, that his phisical preparing was pretty intensive during midseason, and adds that psychology preparing plays a big role here too. Judging the last shots of this video, he isn't satisfied with his perfomance.

Well he looked quite happy on the podium!
Yes, his is not in his top form yet but it is perfectly normal at the beginning of the season. And it is great that even in this form his 4T looks very stable. And 4S will be getting better in the course of the season I am sure just like it was with 4T last season - well fingers crossed!

About the sp costume - I think at this stage it is his signature look inseparable from 'Nu Pogodi'.
I am all for a new sp but as things are we'd better relax and enjoy it, it always put a smile on my face last season - I am not too reluctant to let it do same again! :)
But it is a mystery why not to release what music the new sp was at least. I remember when Yulia changed a program before the season started at least there was the info. Same with Elena Rad. :scratch2:
 
Well, he could be a little frustrated after the programm because of mistakes, but happy to get a medal and the fact he can compete again. At the end of the day everything is good what motivates him to do better and keep go on.
Yes, I also note a fact he did clean 4T at all four of his perfomance. I don't remember last season when he did four clean 4T in two consecutive events. As for 4S he mentiones psychology as a factor, let's hope he will overcome himself soon.
 
I really became a big fan of Mikhail after seeing him at Worlds, but this is a bit disappointing. I really don't like this program at all. For me it seems like an odd mishmash of his SP and FP from last year. It just feels disjointed and incoherent to me, regardless of how early in the season it is. No one section of music seems to have any more weight than the others. I'm hoping he gets his jumps in order through the season so that the deficiencies of the program will seem less obvious.

Also, where are his triple loop and triple flip? I know skaters sometimes have a nemesis jump they leave out, but two?
 
I really became a big fan of Mikhail after seeing him at Worlds, but this is a bit disappointing. I really don't like this program at all. For me it seems like an odd mishmash of his SP and FP from last year. It just feels disjointed and incoherent to me, regardless of how early in the season it is. No one section of music seems to have any more weight than the others. I'm hoping he gets his jumps in order through the season so that the deficiencies of the program will seem less obvious.

Also, where are his triple loop and triple flip? I know skaters sometimes have a nemesis jump they leave out, but two?
He doesn't do a triple flip due to an edge issue. As for the loop, I presume leaving it out is a temporary measure while they are concentrating on the 4S (and presumably stabilising the 4T which seems to have been a success), as it is the least stable triple for him.
 
I really became a big fan of Mikhail after seeing him at Worlds, but this is a bit disappointing. I really don't like this program at all. For me it seems like an odd mishmash of his SP and FP from last year. It just feels disjointed and incoherent to me, regardless of how early in the season it is. No one section of music seems to have any more weight than the others. I'm hoping he gets his jumps in order through the season so that the deficiencies of the program will seem less obvious.

Always great to hear from new fans! I understand your disappointment re the programs - we all were hoping that Mika would step up the level this season but alas...
I blame for that his team entirely. Mika had a very busy off-season - he did a military service & graduated from college. His coach should have been one step ahead and thought of using an outside choreographer for at least one of the programs. It didn't happen. Russian Fed too messed up a big time. They seem to never learn after making a nerve-wreck out of Kovtun by demanding 5 quads and by pushing too far already injured Pitkeev, it looks like Mika is a new target now. One hope is that he and his team will stand their ground. Otherwise the result will not be good.
It might be a difficult season for Mika but I believe in him all the same
 
Always great to hear from new fans! I understand your disappointment re the programs - we all were hoping that Mika would step up the level this season but alas...
I blame for that his team entirely. Mika had a very busy off-season - he did a military service & graduated from college. His coach should have been one step ahead and thought of using an outside choreographer for at least one of the programs. It didn't happen. Russian Fed too messed up a big time. They seem to never learn after making a nerve-wreck out of Kovtun by demanding 5 quads and by pushing too far already injured Pitkeev, it looks like Mika is a new target now. One hope is that he and his team will stand their ground. Otherwise the result will not be good.
It might be a difficult season for Mika but I believe in him all the same
Just to add - he also had entrance exams for his Master's.

As far as Misha's team is concerned, they are simply not used to operating at this level and would have done well with a bit of outside advice (early on, not of the "throwing out an SP two weeks before the test skates" variety).

As for the technical content, to be fair, I don't think Kovtun's five quads were the idea of the Fed as a body. TAT and his coach had a lot to do with it. So unless Chebotareva concludes that five quads is exactly what Misha needs (which would be very unlike her) the situation is not the same. And expecting 4S is not unreasonable pressure in and of itself. Misha and his team had been planning to put it into his LP before the Fed ever got hold of him. And with the SP it looks like he can drop it for now if it does not work out, so we will be back to the level of difficulty his team was planning anyway. On the bright side, the Fed would hardly expect two extra quads from Misha if he couldn't even manage one.
 
Just to add - he also had entrance exams for his Master's.

As far as Misha's team is concerned, they are simply not used to operating at this level and would have done well with a bit of outside advice (early on, not of the "throwing out an SP two weeks before the test skates" variety).

As for the technical content, to be fair, I don't think Kovtun's five quads were the idea of the Fed as a body. TAT and his coach had a lot to do with it. So unless Chebotareva concludes that five quads is exactly what Misha needs (which would be very unlike her) the situation is not the same. And expecting 4S is not unreasonable pressure in and of itself. Misha and his team had been planning to put it into his LP before the Fed ever got hold of him. And with the SP it looks like he can drop it for now if it does not work out, so we will be back to the level of difficulty his team was planning anyway. On the bright side, the Fed would hardly expect two extra quads from Misha if he couldn't even manage one.

Well, the situations are different of course but there is a pressure from the Fed which was focused before on Kovtun and now shifted on to Mika. Yes 4S is a reasonable expectation, but to ''advise'' a skater to put 4S in a short program when the jump not yet tested in a competition format is a madness. A mistake in the short is too costly. Mika & Valentina did a right thing returning to the original layout in the short. They always can change that when a 4S has more mileage in competition.
Meanwhile, some interesting results from other Russians:
Petrov winning Nebelhorn (total 232.21)
Voronov winning Nepela Memorial (237.42)
Kovtun winning domestic Cup of Russia (268.48)
This weekend will be very interesting indeed! No idea what form is in Patrick Chan, did he do any competition this season yet? I don't think so..There is also Samohin.
Men will not be competing till Saturday it seems: http://www.finlandiatrophy.com/en/Schedule.html

Saturday, October 8
14.00 Men, Short Program

Sunday, October 9
12.30 Men, Free Skating
 
Well, Voronov isn't going to be in the competition. Samohin was a hot mess at the Autumn Classic. Kovtun can do very well but you can never be sure of anything with him, unfortunately, though I wish him all the best. His work ethic has really changed for the better since he got a new coach, but his main problem still remains in the head. Petrov of course doesn't have a quad. And, same as you, I don't know anything about where Chan is at. And then there is Chen. But regardless, Misha's main task will be overcoming his own demons, so to speak - whatever psychological hangups he mentioned that are weighing him down.
 
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