2016-17 State of Russian Ladies skating

[Tolstoj]

Ideal Olympic Team: Med, Tuktamysheva (with the 3A), Zagitova.

Although i don't want to count Radionova and Pogo out, while Sotskova to me looks a step back from these girls (despite i like her style and her posture a lot).

Am I the only here who legitimately don't care particularly for Zagitova?

Her skating just does nothing for me, her
technical arsenal is mighty I admit but she leaves me cold, maybe because she's still junior and quite slow & raw. Backloading is rather not the reason behind my problem. We don't know how growing spurts / puberty affect her either. Neither I find her jumps all that appealling to watch.

Well, i do find impressive her tech skills: any loop combos are often an issue for ladies (we saw many underrotated 3f-3lo from Mao over the past few years), she's doing 3Ltz-3lo in the 2nd half on both programs like nobody's business.

On the other hand i think the entire team has to rethink how to backload all the jumps in a free program without sacrificing the 2nd mark, because on her Don Quixote FS you can see she's clearly rushing the steps sequence.

Because of that i don't get why people are comparing her to Evgenia who looked waay more polished even when she was at juniors.

So if she doesn't improve this summer on these elements, i think we are going to see Alina with a better TES than Evgenia but still not being able to beat her because of the components.

 

[andromache]

Am I the only here who legitimately don't care particularly for Zagitova?

Her skating just does nothing for me, her
technical arsenal is mighty I admit but she leaves me cold, maybe because she's still junior and quite slow & raw. Backloading is rather not the reason behind my problem. We don't know how growing spurts / puberty affect her either. Neither I find her jumps all that appealling to watch.

The fact that she never stands up straight just kills me. But Eteri is amazing at polishing her girls. Look at the transformation Polina T. made from last season to this season. It's possible we will see the same from Alina. She's charming to watch and has nice elements, but yeah, she's not exactly an artistic revelation yet.

Ideal Olympic team: Polina, Adelina, Anna

More realistic ideal Olympic team (because any teams without Evgenia are not realistic): Evgenia, Adelina, Anna

 

[atsumiri]

More realistic ideal Olympic team (because any teams without Evgenia are not realistic): Evgenia, Adelina, Anna

I don't think "realistic" can combine to "Adelina" .... :think:

 

[lavoix]

I really don't see how Zagitova isn't a lock for the Olympics.

 

[andromache]

I don't think "realistic" can combine to "Adelina" .... :think:

There's at least one wild card slot on the team - potentially two, depending on Alina's body changes. Let a girl dream .

 

[Bluediamonds09]

What's gonna happen with Sotskova? The federation really pushed for her last season; you know they like her because she won the bronze at nationals. But her underrotations are a problem, as are the boring programs. And with a new wave of 15-year-olds......
What about Pogorilaya? Is she gonna be nicknamed Pogo-splat again? Can she redeem herself next year? Will she stop doing two spins at the end of her program so she stops being 3 seconds off the music??
I refuse to believe that Elena is done....she must hate being behind evgenia. WTT is coming and she can prove herself, maybe.

 

[Ares]

The fact that she never stands up straight just kills me. But Eteri is amazing at polishing her girls. Look at the transformation Polina T. made from last season to this season. It's possible we will see the same from Alina. She's charming to watch and has nice elements, but yeah, she's not exactly an artistic revelation yet.

Ideal Olympic team: Polina, Adelina, Anna

More realistic ideal Olympic team (because any teams without Evgenia are not realistic): Evgenia, Adelina, Anna

Yes ... I was not crazy about Polina last year either, for me she was just another jumping bean (but taller one than most), this past season has changed my mind. So bad about her injuries though.

 

[ejnsofi]

Ideal Olympic Team: Adelina, Evgenia, Polina
Realistic Olympic Team: Evgenia, Alina, Maria/Elena

I doubt that Evgenia will get through catastrophic puberty which will make her struggle with everything. I know that happened to Elena and Irina but as I watched previous Med's performances I realised that she has always been petite girl. I wonder why nobody is worried about Tursynbayeva's puberty. She is 17 as well and also tiny.

As controversial as she is Adelina is really talented. Her performance at TAT's Anniversary was superb and she really developed artistically. I know that Russian ladies' field is as deep as Baikal Lake and we have some great juniors joining seniors in next season BUT never say never!

If Polina will overcome her injury she will be serious contender to OGM. Her jumps are great but she recently said in interview that her health problems run in family so she might never be consistent. But she definitely grew artistically. It's a real pleasure watching her as all her movements are so delicate.

But realistically right now the second skater in the team would be Alina. Her technique is great and as Averbukh will be working only with Zhenya next season Alina has chance for some well choreographed program. Of course puberty curse might strike but if decision was made today she would definitely go to PC.

I don't know about 3rd spot. I love Anna's style but she is the bomb ready to explode. RusFed already showed that they don't trust her. If Elena gets back all her elements she is able to beat Maria. There is also a bunch of youngsters who are ready for seniors' mistakes like Stanislava.

 

[Totentanz]

At the end of this season, only Medvedeva looks like a lock for the olympic team. Although looking like the strongest candidate after Zhenia, Zagitova is not a lock yet. She had a fantastic junior debut season but you never know. Many ladies got sensational results at her age and very few were able to go on the same way, actually none except Evgenia. Let's take a look at them:

1) Adelina: Her junior debut season was pure golden as she won her two JGP events, the JGP final and the JWC. She couldn't defend her JW title in the following season, getting the bronze behind Julia and Gracie. And in fact she was able to win only two gold medals afterwards in her senior career, one in GS of Zagreb 2011 and the other one is the famous Sochi 2014. I really love her btw.

2) Liza: Her junior debut season would be pure golden if she didn't have to face Adelina at the JGP final and the JWC. She had somewhat better transition to seniors than Adelina's, winning her two senior GP events and later Youth Olympics. After that she had only one successful season in which she went on to win everything except Skate America and Russian Nationals (GPF, Euros, Worlds) but you know her career could be much better than this.

3) Julia: She had the same international junior debut success Adelina got winning two JGP events, JGP final and the JWC. She also couldn't defend her JW title in the following season, losing to Radionova and getting silver that time. Julia had a fantastic time leading to Sochi olympics unlike Adelina, winning two GP events and getting silver at the GP final plus becoming the European champion, but she couldn't handle the pressure in the individual events following huge amount of attention and expectations on her after the team event. Anyway, she never reached that form afterwards, leaving many scars in the hearts of her fans including me.

4) Elena: She had the same sensational start as Adelina and Julia but she was the first one to defend the JW title in history. Elena also had more stable results in seniors, she medalled in each and every GP event she participated so far. Becoming European silver medalist twice and World bronze medalist once. This was the only season she couldn't make Russian team for major championships. Despite not winning a major senior championship so far, I would consider her career more successful than the others had in the long term.

5) Anna: Although being at the same age with Julia, she made her international junior debut later due to an injury. Anna had unexpected amount of success in her career so far. All the ones mentioned above were famous before making their international debuts. Even though she never won a major senior championship, she has been a medal collector. On the other side, she literally shows the meaning of the word when she "bombs". Actually that happened only three times, one of them being at the last World Championships. But like Elena, her career looks more stable than Adelina, Liza or Julia's in the long term.

6) Serafima: She had two back-to-back successful seasons in juniors. Winning JGP final silver twice (one behind Sotskova, the other Medvedeva) and also JWC silver twice (one behind Radionova, the other Medvedeva). After puberty and coaching changes -and who knows maybe other reasons- she couldn't reach the same success so far.

7) Maria: She was the less popular one among the fantastic four (Medvedeva, Sakhanovich, Proklova, Sotskova). Although medalling in all JGP and GP events she competed, she haven't won a major championship except that JGP final so far. But it looks like she survived the puberty and is not lost among the Russian ladies mix. She may be a successful skater in the long term.

8) Polina T: She has won each and every event she participated until coming 10th at this year's JWC. She had to withdraw from last year's JWC and this year's JGP final due to injuries. She has everything to win major championships if the stars align for her at the right time.

All of the analysis above was written to show that early success doesn't always progress to consistent success. Every skater has a different path to reach their best performances. Once again I couldn't help but admire all the achievements Russian ladies had in the last two olympic cycles. All of them has the material to skate olympic gold deserving performances. At last, this is my prediction for the olympic team next season:
1. Medvedeva
2. Pogorilaya
3. Radionova
1st Sub: Zagitova
2nd Sub: Sotskova

 

[Barb]

But realistically right now the second skater in the team would be Alina. Her technique is great and as Averbukh will be working only with Zhenya next season Alina has chance for some well choreographed program. Of course puberty curse might strike but if decision was made today she would definitely go to PC.

.

 

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On the other hand i think the entire team has to rethink how to backload all the jumps in a free program without sacrificing the 2nd mark, because on her Don Quixote FS you can see she's clearly rushing the steps sequence.

She had 2 DQs - junior and senior. She rushed less at senior as she had more time. In fact her senior Russian nationals FP was fabulous.

 

[Sam L]

I think Olympic team would be: Medvedeva, Zagitova, Tsurskaya/Sotskova

Team Zagitova. I've been rewatching her programs this season and I really want her to stick with the more classical music. But not like Carmen or stuff that's been done to death. With her signature backloading I want to see something like "In the Hall of the Mountain King" for one of her programs.

 

[moriel]

I think Olympic team would be: Medvedeva, Zagitova, Tsurskaya/Sotskova

Team Zagitova. I've been rewatching her programs this season and I really want her to stick with the more classical music. But not like Carmen or stuff that's been done to death. With her signature backloading I want to see something like "In the Hall of the Mountain King" for one of her programs.

Yup, that would work great with backloading.
Also, we need to keep in mind that currently Alina backloads all her jumps. Even if she starts having some consistency issues or needs to add more difficult entries / exits and transitions in between jumps, she can always move lets say 2 jumps to the first half to make the program less tiring and still remain competitive.

 

[Weathergal]

My dream Russian ladies team for next year's Olympics:
Julia Lipnitskaia
Polina Tsurskaya
Anna Pogorilaya

The team I think is most likely:
Evgenia Medvedeva
Alina Zagitova
Elena Radionova

 

[mrrice]

My dream Russian ladies team for next year's Olympics:
Julia Lipnitskaia
Polina Tsurskaya
Anna Pogorilaya

The team I think is most likely:
Evgenia Medvedeva
Alina Zagitova
Elena Radionova

What is the status of Tuk? She seems to have been written off by most fans. Has she been interviewed about her status? If she's not going to retire, I'm surprised that she doesn't make these lists at all. Very much like Gracie. I would rather see both ladies retire than come back unmotivated and skating badly. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Sweet Dream]

The girls' field is unpredictable, but Medvedeva and Zagitova are most likely to be on the Olympic team next year. Only the third spot is wide open, imo, for which there will surely be a much fiercer competition than ever among other girls. Hopefully the most competitive could get that spot.

 

[hippomoomin]

I have a feeling that only one of Alina and Polina will go with Evgenia. Other coaches will try their best not to allow it happen. Since Polina has injury, and is prone to injury, Zagitova has a better chance. Once Elena is back to shape, she has a better chance than Maria. I just realized how much taller Elena is now, at 167 cm (5 ft 5 1⁄2 in). Maria has her coach but Elena gets the crowd. Don't forget she beat both Evgenia and Liza at home when they were winning outside of Russia.

 

[lavoix]

Curious how Liptniskaya will look next season.

Zagitova is a lock in my books as well.

 

[madison]

I would say that the Russian team will be Medvedeva, Zagitova and Sostkova/Radionova.

 

[Anni234]

If Radionova makes it to the Olympic team I don´t even know who will be happier - her or me.