Evgenia Medvedeva

[Logirl]

What is wrong here? She is changing her jumps that does not happen over night. See Mao Asada even Yuna had some struggles at first.

 

[neusw]

But she can do it! It looked amazing in all the practices. It's all in her head.

Oh I know she can definitely do all these things, but there's a big gap between being able to do things perfectly in practice and in competition. During competition, having constant layout changes is definitely more difficult, especially when you're also trying to integrate new technique. Even the most mentally strong skater can struggle with so many new adjustments in competition.

 

[LeeJiHye19]

But she can do it! It looked amazing in all the practices. It's all in her head.

Like Yuzuru said no matter how you many times you fall during practice but the important thing is you excute [that jumps] in the actual competition :sad:

 

[NoviceFan]

At least to my untrained eyes, I do not think the problem at this point is technical. She looks so afraid. I do not know how she can snap out of it. It is heartbreaking to see her so devastated. I hope she knows we still love and support her.

 

[Coryocris]

It's not the end of the world. This is a year of changes, it's going to be hard and they'll knew it from the start. We should not worry, she'll rise like she always does.

 

[plushyfan]

Seeing Zhenya so upset made my heart break, and I can't imagine how upset she is right now. I just want to give her a big hug, because she's such a sweet girl who works hard and doesn't deserve the hate she gets (who does?). I know that people are going to eat her alive for finishing off the podium for the first time, but I can't do that. She's still the Zhenya that made me fall in love with the sport and still the Zhenya that I love to watch. It makes me upset to see her struggle, but I know that the struggles will help her learn. I can't believe that there's no GPF in her future and that she finished off the podium, but I guess we HAVE to see the good, the way Brian and Tracy will help Zhenya to do. At least she had one lutz, her double axel was improved, her choreo sequence and step sequence were fire. I know it will take a while for Zhenya to see the same success she used to have, but I believe that it will come.

It's not the end of her season. She has Russian Nationals, which will be hard, yes. I know that if she skates cleanly, she will have a chance at making it to Worlds. Even if she doesn't make Worlds this year, she has the SB and WS to get GP spots for next year. Brian's methods take 18 months, he said, and that will be GP season next year. She can be like Liza Tuktamysheva, who struggled for three seasons and is back with a vengeance. And it's not like she's already successful - she has world titles, Olympic medals, GPF titles, etc. But she keeps going, and I commend her for that. Because it can't be easy but she keeps doing it.

Good luck, Zhenya. Come out and slay them all.

:thumbsup:

 

[Colonel Green]

That was rough, sadly. You could see how tense she was in both programs, no doubt feeling under the gun.

I think a lot of people, myself included, underestimated how hard this sort of technique revamp is. The last time a comparable skater tried something like this is probably Mao Asada, and her first season post-Vancouver was much worse than Evgenia's has been.

 

[NoviceFan]

It's not the end of the world. This is a year of changes, it's going to be hard and they'll knew it from the start. We should not worry, she'll rise like she always does.

Thank you for that. I needed the encouragement (I know it sounds overly dramatic, but I feel so heartbroken for her)...

 

[Vandevska]

Sorry for kinda spamming, seeing as this is my 3rd post in the last 10min, but I just wanna talk about it.
The reason why I suggested that maybe taking a season off might be good, because what I just saw pretty much resembles my feelings at the beginning of the year about my studies. Yes, that's very different, I know, but I know the feeling of going out with thoughts like "here we go again, I'm gonna do bad again, (in my case, I'm gonna fail again and have to retake the course)", and it's a really crappy feeling. So I ended up taking a break. It didn't make me love it again, but at least it helped me sort out my thoughts. I think after this competition that is what she needs to do too.
I will follow her and watch all future videos of her, no matter what. I just want her to feel better again, regardless of what she's doing.

 

[ejnsofi]

Ok I’m sad and angry but mostly angry. Not at Zhenya, at TCC team.

1. Butchered spins AGAIN. In both programs. I don’t know if spins specialist didn’t read new guidelines from ISU but it’s third competition that it occurs and those are just points left on the table.

2. I also saw that in the middle of the program she looked like she already gave up and it never happened before. Usually she laughed off her mistakes and tried to return to her fighting mindset. It didn’t happen here when it was the most important. Apparently TCC sport psychologist is doing pretty awful job in her case

Evgenia doesn’t have 2-3 years to establish new technique like Javier or Jun. She doesn’t even have 2 months before RusNats. I’m angry and I’m worried because I don’t want to feel the same regret as when Mao retired.

 

[bubblecherry]

I think the nervous of steel came from the confidence before. Before this year she knew she could go out there and kill it and win. She knew if she messed up she could still probably win. She knew that if she bombed she was still Russian #1. That's a much easier mindset to compete in than having to go out there and prove yourself every time. Not to mention having the added pressure of a new coach that's not as favorable among Russians. Not to mention the uncomfortable programs and reworking technique. Not to mention starting the season late because of injuries. Not to mention slowly losing more and more confidence as the season goes on. I don't think we can imagine how hard it is.

There's nowhere to go from here except up. She's said many times that she understands that she's on a long term plan but it's clearly still hard for her to cope. I know she's super upset right now and I just hope she's able to handle it well. The way Brian said she handled her SP at SC makes me worried. But I will keep supporting her and this journey. We always knew this season would be tough, maybe we underestimated how tough it would be, but we must keep supporting in the same way that she's going to keep fighting.

 

[grey19]

I cannot even imagine those headlines...This is going to be a looong week, it's a happy evening for russian media

 

[thatbeatingheart]

I'm not even disappointed because of the technical errors but because it looked like she didn't even try. After the first jump it was already almost certain that it wouldn't be enough for the final, she could've gone all out and do the best with the rest of the program but she looked so scared the whole time, it broke my heart. :sad21: It's so hard to see her former weapon (aka her mental strength) become her enemy and I'm praying they can work it out.

I'm also a litte surprised at Brian's reaction, even the german Eurosport commentator criticized him for that.

 

[Colonel Green]

Evgenia doesn’t have 2-3 years to establish new technique like Javier or Jun. She doesn’t even have 2 months before RusNats. I’m angry and I’m worried because I don’t want to feel the same regret as when Mao retired.

The competitiveness in the Russian skating ranks is what it is. Evgenia needs a major technical revamp, and that's not something you can do in a couple of months.

 

[neusw]

Ok I’m sad and angry but mostly angry. Not at Zhenya, at TCC team.

1. Butchered spins AGAIN. In both programs. I don’t know if spins specialist didn’t read new guidelines from ISU but it’s third competition that it occurs and those are just points left on the table.

2. I also saw that in the middle of the program she looked like she already gave up and it never happened before. Usually she laughed off her mistakes and tried to return to her fighting mindset. It didn’t happen here when it was the most important. Apparently TCC sport psychologist is doing pretty awful job in her case

Evgenia doesn’t have 2-3 years to establish new technique like Javier or Jun. She doesn’t even have 2 months before RusNats. I’m angry and I’m worried because I don’t want to feel the same regret as when Mao retired.

I think she's mainly having spin issues when there are jump issues beforehand. It a loss in concentration/trying to catch up with the music that causes her to miss rotations. I noticed in her short program they moved the double axel up to allow for more buffer time to get the spin done even if there are jump issues, and she hit her levels on that spin.

 

[luanddu]

Well, I don't think I'm going to watch her lp.
Zhenya you're always number one in my heart
I really want to believe this is a blessing in disguise. We'll see how she does at Russian Nationals.

 

[skate89]

I also watched her practise live this morning..she was nailing every jump, she just looked amazing!
her nerves got the best of her in the competition lets hope she finds herself and comes back stronger, we will always support you Zenia <3

 

[bubblecherry]

Please don't say she didn't try. She's been training so hard for months now and trying to address all of her issues. She was nervous and devastated after the first jump, but of course she still tried.

 

[melgirl25]

I'm not even disappointed because of the technical errors but because it looked like she didn't even try. After the first jump it was already almost certain that it wouldn't be enough for the final, she could've gone all out and do the best with the rest of the program but she looked so scared the whole time, it broke my heart. :sad21: It's so hard to see her former weapon (aka her mental strength) become her enemy and I'm praying they can work it out.

I'm also a litte surprised at Brian's reaction, even the german Eurosport commentator criticized him for that.

What did Brian say?

 

[volk]

Maybe she'll do better when people will forget about her. With less focus she'll be able to relax