Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin

[lennicky]

I liked their SD a lot and I think that the FD is good too but maybe they need to work a bit more on it. But I disagree with those who said that they were disatrous and that Elena shouldn´t have splitted with Katsalapov. In my opinion, Ruslan is a good ice dancer ( in fact I like him more tham k) and I have the feeling that Lena feels happier with him than she did with K.
I Hope they to do better in next competitions and shut some mouths

 

[sabinfire]

I've desperately wanted to see I/Z in person for 3 seasons now and finally got the chance to do it at SA, though I wish it were in better circumstances. Shame they didn't start off the season with a stronger showing than this.

Still, they were one of my favorites in an underwhelming Ice Dance event. Elena gives so much face to the audience, can't take your eyes off her. The FD was a lot of work, Ruslan was completely out of breath at the end.

 

[Marta25]

I liked their SD a lot and I think that the FD is good too but maybe they need to work a bit more on it. But I disagree with those who said that they were disatrous and that Elena shouldn´t have splitted with Katsalapov. In my opinion, Ruslan is a good ice dancer ( in fact I like him more tham k) and I have the feeling that Lena feels happier with him than she did with K.
I Hope they to do better in next competitions and shut some mouths

It`s how it usually goes. One of them has a bad competition and people start complaining about the break up. I think Ruslan is often overlooked and underappreciated. I agree that he can still improve his presentation skills, but I think some people are really exaggerating when talking about him. He never received the push of the Fed they way others like Bukin or Katsalapov did, this summer was the first time in his career that he could work with absolute world class coaches and IMO you can already see improvements. Anyway, for TdF I hope they can work more on their TES. I think their Short Dance has great potential. If they manage to get the partial and non-touching step sequence to a level 3, they could get a score around 70 for the Short Dance.

 

[uhh]

I liked their SD a lot and I think that the FD is good too but maybe they need to work a bit more on it. But I disagree with those who said that they were disatrous and that Elena shouldn´t have splitted with Katsalapov. In my opinion, Ruslan is a good ice dancer ( in fact I like him more tham k) and I have the feeling that Lena feels happier with him than she did with K.
I Hope they to do better in next competitions and shut some mouths

I almost don't care about the results when I see how happy Elena is with Ruslan all the time compared to how it was with Nikita. To have real long lasting success in ice dance you have to work as a team, and Nikita has shown time and time again in the way he treats his partners that he doesn't know what that means.

Overall, this wasn't quite the start I wanted for I/z this season, but there were a lot of positives they can build on. Keep going! I'm so excited to see them live in Paris!

 

[dorispulaski]

If you can get a vid of the Icenetwork coverage, Charlie White's commentary on their FD was interesting. He pointed out that Bollywood requires full out energy throughout, so that an FD on Bollywood is very challenging, so no surprise if they are a bit winded at the end; any team would be.

He does not like the lift where Ruslan has his knee on the ice because it is impossible to carry speed through the lift because of the drag. As a result, they were short of speed going into the next element. Plus you can legitimately lose GOE on the lift for not carrying speed and not getting ice coverage.

He thought Elena is perfect for a Bollywood program, because the more OTT and full of sparkle you can be, the better...right up her alley, since she clearly loves to perform. It was clear the audience definitely got into the program.

 

[borzaya]

I really enjoyed seeing RusLena on the ice again! I agree that both dances are super energetic, and I already like them better than the last year's dances. And Ruslan doesn't look overshadowed to me at all.

 

[tvuckic16]

If you can get a vid of the Icenetwork coverage, Charlie White's commentary on their FD was interesting. He pointed out that Bollywood requires full out energy throughout, so that an FD on Bollywood is very challenging, so no surprise if they are a bit winded at the end; any team would be.

He does not like the lift where Ruslan has his knee on the ice because it is impossible to carry speed through the lift because of the drag. As a result, they were short of speed going into the next element. Plus you can legitimately lose GOE on the lift for not carrying speed and not getting ice coverage.

He thought Elena is perfect for a Bollywood program, because the more OTT and full of sparkle you can be, the better...right up her alley, since she clearly loves to perform. It was clear the audience definitely got into the program.

I agree. I think Charlie's commentary was great and he perfectly pointed out their strengths and weaknesses. I thought he was enthusiastic and fair.

It's kind of funny though, Charlie's commentary on IZ reminds me very much of what I used to say about CL.

They are great theatrically and full of energy but a bit lacking in accuracy and execution.

Hopefully that improves over time.

 

[Kitt]

I was there and was so excited to see Ruslena for the first time. I actually couldn't believe that they were overscored by the Italians (I thought the Israelis who skated to Nutcracker also, did a better job!) What were those judges thinking?

anyway, I think the rink came alive when Ruslena's music came on. Lena is so expressive and I thought Ruslan was energetic in expression also. As others have said, they need to clean it up a bit, maybe they didn't have enough training time.

I went to their practice also. After they finished practicing, they were each skating singly. Elena was really shining in her speed, so impressive. The gals behind me were remarking "She is really SASSY! Yes, sell it, Elena.

 

[Spiral]

The US judge had an agenda. But all home judges do. This is certainly not unique to this US judge.
I personally think that the job of skating teams is to give judges as little material as possible to low-ball you. That means be as flawless as possible, work hard and polish your program. Probably nobody will frown too much at the US judge because it's not like IZs dance didn't have its problems.
Like this, there was plenty judges could pick on with IZs FD. Yes, they were low-balled but overall I think everyone will agree IZs FD holds promise but needs some work.

Personally, I not only would frown as much as possible at any corrupt judge, regardless how widespread corruption is among fs judges, but would have loved to chase them out of the sport with bloodhounds, together with the members of the national federations who stand behind them and likely encourage them in their corruption. If corruption is endemic to fs it means sweeping reforms are in order, not that it’s acceptable. And no, I don’t think it’s the skaters’ job to give judges as little material as possible for biased judging; I think it’s the judges’ job to score everybody fairly.

Well, I only read it with google translate. I don`t speak or read any Russian, I`m working on it, though
Anyway, it just says that Shpilband thinks they skated well considering the break they had. Their FD stands out compared to the others, but they need to work on the lifts and the spin.

Yes, that’s the gist of it! He also said that they had “skated very energetically,” and that “their FD program stands out compared to others by its power and energy.” And he added that “one should create different programs each season, one shouldn’t repeat oneself.”

Personally, I think that besides the break, he could have also mentioned Ruslan’s injury and Elena’s subsequent bad cold which must have interfered with their training and overall conditioning. I’ve noticed, for example, that Ruslan did the SD and the first FD lift standing on both feet throughout, while before he used to do part of this type of lift skating on one foot. They probably still have to be careful with his knee. But they still delivered two fantastic high-energy performances!

 

[olayolay]

Their FD has potential, but it's jammed with so much content and transitions, that the whole thing looks kind of frantic. They should make it easier to skate, if not just for purely aesthetic reasons.

I really enjoy the last lift with Elena's hand positions.

 

[uhh]

He does not like the lift where Ruslan has his knee on the ice because it is impossible to carry speed through the lift because of the drag. As a result, they were short of speed going into the next element. Plus you can legitimately lose GOE on the lift for not carrying speed and not getting ice coverage.

I wonder if they could make that lift work with a straight leg lunge - so it's only the boot on the ice and you lose less speed. They had a similar problem with the straight line lift in Frida. If not I wish they would go back to using Ruslan's spreadeagle position like they did in their first FD, he is very stable on it.

 

[Marta25]

I/Z's ISU bio is updated. Shpilband is now listed as their former coach and choreographer. I guess they are really not going back. Sad, that it didn't work out for them.

 

[Mattieu]

i/z's isu bio is updated. Shpilband is now listed as their former coach and choreographer. I guess they are really not going back. Sad, that it didn't work out for them.

omg!!

 

[uhh]

Elena V said on her blog that part of the reason they aren't continuing with Shpilband full time is that they felt they weren't getting the attention they needed. That's really disappointing, but understandable that they want someone who is dedicated to them, as there is still a lot to work on and they can't fix it by themselves.

It would be nice if they can continue to have some involvement with him - maybe programs in the future, because he has given them good material and that is not Kustarova's strong point. And having him in the K&C at SA & the comments he made to the press shows that there is no bad blood at least.

 

[Mattieu]

Elena V said on her blog that part of the reason they aren't continuing with Shpilband full time is that they felt they weren't getting the attention they needed. That's really disappointing, but understandable that they want someone who is dedicated to them, as there is still a lot to work on and they can't fix it by themselves.

It would be nice if they can continue to have some involvement with him - maybe programs in the future, because he has given them good material and that is not Kustarova's strong point. And having him in the K&C at SA & the comments he made to the press shows that there is no bad blood at least.

To be fair to Igor, he said right from the beginning that he couldn't give them much time!

 

[Marta25]

The question is if Kustarova is the right coach to work on these weaknesses. But it's not like anything can be changed now.

 

[tulosai]

I'm really disappointed they are not staying with Igor, but I hope it's true that it really is because they wanted a different environment and not because of financial or other 'political' issues. As long as it was truly their choice I have to respect it, since they know what they need better than anyone else can.

 

[uhh]

To be fair to Igor, he said right from the beginning that he couldn't give them much time!

Yeah, but he has a lot of other people in his team - I took his comments to be "I personally won't be with you for every training session" but there are other people who should be able to cover that - Bourzat, Zuerlein, Lenda plus the other tech specialists he has in his team. And you would expect that even if a coach says I don't have all my time for you, they would still be able to give you enough time. Otherwise why are they taking on new students if they don't have the capacity?

We don't really know how it all operated, but maybe even with all the other people in the team, it wasn't enough for I/Z. Off the top of my head there are 9 other senior teams in Novi, plus lots of juniors, no other coach comes close. And as the last ones in, they would have to fit around what everyone else is already doing. On the occasions Elena worked with Igor before, as a junior & for a bit in 2013, his team was much smaller, so maybe she was expecting something more on those lines. Or maybe they found they prefer a system where they have a close relationship with one or two coaches instead of being passed around a big team. In the end, if it wasn't the right set up, better to move on and try something else instead.

 

[Marta25]

One of the reasons why CL left Igor was because they didn't get enough attention. As I understand, they are mostly working in Milan with Zueva having a consulting role.
I just hope it's going to work out for IZ. They have to work on their GOE and polish, but isn't that exactly where Kustarova's weaknesses are?

 

[tulosai]

One of the reasons why CL left Igor was because they didn't get enough attention. As I understand, they are mostly working in Milan with Zueva having a consulting role.
I just hope it's going to work out for IZ. They have to work on their GOE and polish, but isn't that exactly where Kustarova's weaknesses are?

I think this is what gives me (and other people) some hesitation about this whole thing... even taking Igor our of the conversation, all the things these two really need help with are things Kustarova either 100% can't give them (someone who is good at politicking and a big name in the skating world for example) or probably won't be able to give them just because they are weaknesses for all her teams.