Evgenia Medvedeva

[NoviceFan]

Sorry but that is ridiculous - so she gets a silver medal a B comp after moving half way across the world, with a new team, new methods of training, retooling jumps and new way of skating and suddenly she is no longer the special skater she once was? To me this makes her even more special - I can already the improvement in her skating and I think it is wonderful. To me she is going to show us even more of herself and be truly spectacular and I for one can’t wait to witness it

Agreed!

 

[melgirl25]

I think you are jumping the gun. I think these programs are in the infant stage. Also, I think she is experimenting and next year she'll have different choreographers. And I would not be surprised if she did not use Auerbach for a program again. They are still friendly.

Do you mean she would use him? I thought the same. If they can strike a balance between Ilia's style but keeping the program flowing, that would be perfect for her.

 

[NoviceFan]

I guess we will see as the season goes whether she can you meet your expectations of her then... I for one think she is going to keep growing and improving to be an even better skater than she was previously. Does that mean she will mean every competition? Probably not - but I am not her fan nor am I dawn to her because she wins everything. I am drawn to her beautiful skating which will continue to improve. I think she may surprise you....

Agree with this! If I were only a fan if she’s winning gold, then I would have stopped watching after the Olympics. To me, she has an unquantifiable quality to her skating that I do not see in other skaters. I admire the guts of the new ones that are jumping quads, but I am not drawn to their skating. Evgenia has “it” - and one bad outing early in the season, in the context of her pre-season, does not change that.

 

[lichi]

New short costume

 

[TGee]

Zhenya's gift is telling stories, emotions, experiences through skating and free skate is not doing that right now - at least that's how I feel. I can see how you say it is "westernized", looks like everyone else and doesn't showcase her strengths. I am hopeful though that it may come together but this year may not be what we are used to. It seems like she really just wants to have the freedom to try new things, which may not have been possible before. I hope she can find a choreographer that is more insync with her, that may be David or someone else. They are still new to each other. If Zhenya wants to be competitive I think this will be critical to her success since that is what is going to keep her apart from other skaters. If she can do this AND improve jumps, spins, skating skills then she could continue to have a long career, winning titles and make it to Beijing. All we can do is wait...

Thank you.

If a skater can't try to stretch and try out alternative types of expression in the first year of a quadrennial, then when can she?

Who knows what other gifts and strengths she may have?

Yes, there are risks. But one doesn't reach the next level of achievement without taking them.

 

[Haikush]

I can't believe all the doom and gloom......we all knew or should have known at least that things this year were not necessarily going to be easy and there would be an adjustment period.....I like her programs. Are they perfect yet? No but she is getting there. In just a short time between the test skates and here there was much improvement.....

 

[Haikush]

I'm glad that she's happy now, but it's a shame that her happiness had to come at the cost of losing the truly special skater that we once had.

WTH??? One small competition where defines who she is now? Funny how people were bitcing about the Eteri programs now want that same style......she is growing, experimenting, changing and as a result will be better off in the long run.......

 

[pandatours]

I think it’s frustrating when people criticize a westernized style of skating when the Chinese Federation pays out their ass for Lori Nichol to choreo so many programs for them....winning programs, I may add, and no one accuses Shen and Zhao of being too westernized. Stephane Lambiel has done choreo for Yulia and Liza and no one accused them “westernized” skating

Anyway it’s fine to be a fair weather fan but it will take more than a Challenger outing for me to be disappointed *

 

[NoviceFan]

I think it’s frustrating when people criticize a westernized style of skating when the Chinese Federation pays out their ass for Lori Nichol to choreo so many programs for them....winning programs, I may add, and no one accuses Shen and Zhao of being too westernized. Stephane Lambiel has done choreo for Yulia and Liza and no one accused them “westernized” skating

Anyway it’s fine to be a fair weather fan but it will take more than a Challenger outing for me to be disappointed *

This!

 

[madison]

I'm very glad that she changed the style of the programs and got rid off that vibe of inauthenticity the previous programs had.
I rewatched both of her programs and I love the short, it's funny, playful and suits her. It will become even better in time.
While I agree that the free is kind of generic, I still think it's a step forward comparing with what she had before.

 

[Watch]

Stephane Lambiel has done choreo for Yulia and Liza and no one accused them “westernized” skating

Yeah, this. I'm frustrates people critisize "westernized" style of skating out of the blue when it comes to Zhenya. She is certainly not the first Russian skater to have a non-Russian choreographer, that's a very normal thing, she's not the only one even this season and it's never been an issue for anyone. But now people seem to ignore that in favour of, you know, bashing a young girl for moving to a different country for training. You just have to look up what certain users write about her in the Russian Ladies' Skating thread on here to know what's up, and that's only the tiniest amount of what you can see on the Russian-speaking parts of the internet and almost benign in comparison.

Anyway, Zhenya was getting hate for doing the same style of program for three seasons, now she's getting hate for trying something new... this is how it goes. All the mean-spirited ridicule for the "open mouth pose" and how she can't express anything else, but now it turns out this is what people wanted and she's unrecognizeable if she doesn't do just that every time? Eh.

 

[tzazu]

To me, yes. Her routine has become westernized, she doesn't seem to be particularly concerned about perfection anymore, and as a result she comes across as a very good skater in a sea of very good skaters. Bradie is a very fitting new rival for her now.

This wasn't my opinion alone. My wife used to always love watching her skate, but stopped watching half way through this short program and didn't even both watching the free.

But, again, I'm glad she's happy now. That's the important thing.

Really? My husband thought the exact opposite, he usually doesn't finish watching a whole program of hers, but when he saw her this weekend he told me there was something different in how she was skating, I asked him in which sense (he's not very passionate about figure skating but has come with me to some competitions and tries to be in the loop ), he told me she looked more "polished", not so "rush" and more "mature". It was funny, I told him that she is already eighteen and furthermore she had changed coaches, then he said "Ah, then it will be that, a new style and that she is growing up"
I remember the first time he saw her skating live (GPF in Barcelona) "why is she putting her arm over the head all the time???"Tried to explain that it's more difficult doing so, but he wasn't very convinced

 

[bubblecherry]

You can't please everyone. It's not like so many figure skating fans loved her Eteri programs (in fact, they hated them) until she switched coaches and now they see her Eteri programs as good. Next year Evgenia will get new programs and people will say "Wow these don't live up to her programs from last season." It's a cycle.

 

[Jeanie19]

Thank you.

If a skater can't try to stretch and try out alternative types of expression in the first year of a quadrennial, then when can she?

Who knows what other gifts and strengths she may have?

Yes, there are risks. But one doesn't reach the next level of achievement without taking them.

Also, ultimately the Russian Fed has say if they do not like the direction of things. So I am not worried at all.

 

[Jeanie19]

Really? My husband thought the exact opposite, he usually doesn't finish watching a whole program of hers, but when he saw her this weekend he told me there was something different in how she was skating, I asked him in which sense (he's not very passionate about figure skating but has come with me to some competitions and tries to be in the loop ), he told me she looked more "polished", not so "rush" and more "mature". It was funny, I told him that she is already eighteen and furthermore she had changed coaches, then he said "Ah, then it will be that, a new style and that she is growing up"
I remember the first time he saw her skating live (GPF in Barcelona) "why is she putting her arm over the head all the time???"Tried to explain that it's more difficult doing so, but he wasn't very convinced

My husband too. And he only watched the long. And after she fell, he said she skated with more abandon and if she skated that way the whole skate it would be great. .

 

[asingingwife]

Evgenia is at a real disadvantage this season. Katelyn Osmond even decided to take the season off! I think that kind of rest might have been good for Evgenia to really connect with her new team etc. but obviously her situation is different and she has to continue competing to keep her place and federation happy.

What we are seeing is only 2+ months of work! The fs already improved since Russian test skates and though improvements may seem minor, she has already been improving her trouble jumps. That is huge. People always said Evgenia didn't want to improve her flutz but this shows how much she loves skating and is trying to do her best.

I have high hopes for SC and the rest of the season. They have a month to work on the programs and given how much she's already done, I think the programs will be at the next step necessary for the grand prixs and then continue to improve throughout the season. Let's hope she peaks at Russian nationals/Worlds.

Also to those who say Evgenia has lost her drive etc. Her body is not the same that it used to be. She has to make both physical and mental changes ro survive. But the will is still there.

Of course we all want her to be perfect and have finished programs etc. And Evgenia is working towards that. We as fans need to be patient. Its better to see her have a slow season now and then have her be in peek form for the next Olympics.

I believe in her.... and think how amazing having both the Russian and Canadian approaches will be if she decides to coach. The fed undoubtedly realizes that she will continue to be an asset to them long after her competitive days are over.

 

[NoviceFan]

I’m excited to see her in a month! I hope much progress can be made between now and then.

 

[silverfoxes]

Not to keep bringing up the Yuzuru comparison, but after watching his LP, I think it's fair to say it needs a lot of work. It feels unfinished, and he had errors, too. But I have all the faith in the world that he will create something great and perform it much better as the season goes on. Where are all the doom and gloom predictions for him based on one so-so senior B showing? He has strong competitors, too. Evgenia deserves the benefit of the doubt. There is noone more determined than her and nobody who has shown her level of consistency over the past few seasons. No program she skates is going to please everyone, but surely you can understand why she would want to try something different from those melodramatic Averbukh pieces that were essentially forced on her. And I'm sure she'll try something different again next season.

 

[Haikush]

not to keep bringing up the yuzuru comparison, but after watching his lp, i think it's fair to say it needs a lot of work. It feels unfinished, and he had errors, too. But i have all the faith in the world that he will create something great and perform it much better as the season goes on. Where are all the doom and gloom predictions for him based on one so-so senior b showing? He has strong competitors, too. Evgenia deserves the benefit of the doubt. There is noone more determined than her and nobody who has shown her level of consistency over the past few seasons. No program she skates is going to please everyone, but surely you can understand why she would want to try something different from those melodramatic averbukh pieces that were essentially forced on her. And i'm sure she'll try something different again next season.

well said!!!

 

[skatingfan200]

Evgenia is at a real disadvantage this season. Katelyn Osmond even decided to take the season off! I think that kind of rest might have been good for Evgenia to really connect with her new team etc. but obviously her situation is different and she has to continue competing to keep her place and federation happy.

No, it´s good that she is competing. Just read her interview what she says about the lutz and axel (the difference between training- competition).
She is happy to skate and she wants to compete. See this interview after her FS. https://vk.com/evgeniaarmanovnamedvedeva?w=wall-67998976_80230