2018-19 Russian Ladies' figure skating

[DougDorsey]

Shalashova Lyudmila Borisovna is Daniil's mother, a former ballerina. She helps with choreo.
Alexei Zheleznyakov does jass stuff off ice in Eteri's team.

Ah, that's fascinating on Daniil's mother being involved. I never knew that.

Alexei Zheleznyakov I'm aware of. He posts all the great off-ice dance videos of the girls . And it seems like sometimes he accompanies the girls, e.g. Kamila, to competitions?

 

[EdRoz]

Alexei Zheleznyakov I'm aware of. He posts all the great off-ice dance videos of the girls . And it seems like sometimes he accompanies the girls, e.g. Kamila, to competitions?

This is A.Rozanov ,a coach

 

[Spirals for Miles]

My bad! I misread the dates. But Russian Senior Nationals are in a little over a week, right? And also, is it in fact the case that some girls can and will compete in both? How does that work?

Girls qualified to the JGPF are qualified to senior nationals if they are 14 years old. In order to make it to the JGPF, they have to have JGP assignments, which is a qualifier to junior nationals.
Girls that have a JGP assignment(s) but didn't make the JGPF are still qualified to junior nationals, so often they'll go to 2 senior Russian Cup events since the remaining senior nationals spots not filled by either GP participants or JGPF participants go to the top finishers in the Russian Cup. This is how Tarusina qualified this year.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Shalashova Lyudmila Borisovna is Daniil's mother, a former ballerina. She helps with choreo.
Alexei Zheleznyakov does jass stuff off ice in Eteri's team.

I think Instagram often translates off ice classes like dance and stretching as “choreography”. I’ve noticed this with Yulia and Elena’s Academy Instagram posts.

 

[[email protected]]

I hope that advisors who by all means have only good intentions won't come close to Alina in real life. And I hope that she is a smart girl who cannot but see where those advises have lead Evgenija.

Alina experiences rapid body growth, she sprained the ankle. Yet she got 226 at GPF. Why would she change the coach and the choreographer? To please some people who will sing: "there are immediate improvements, now she needs to rework her technique so that do not expect quick results but in some years you will all see!" ?

I am not surprised to hear (from usual suspects) that Rika is a better skater with better skating skills. Deja-Vu: Gracie was also "a better skater" than Medvedeva with "better skating skills". Those skating skills....

And of course, Rika is immune to growth issues because "it's different for Asian ladies". Yes, yes, when Marin Honda or Wakaba struggle it's everything but puberty.

May be I am too emotional here but for me the ideas for Alina to change the team is sheer madness.

 

[moriel]

I think Instagram often translates off ice classes like dance and stretching as “choreography”. I’ve noticed this with Yulia and Elena’s Academy Instagram posts.

Not just that, but in russian "choreography" means... Well, this is a choreography class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q15SJW0swlg

 

[moriel]

I hope that advisors who by all means have only good intentions won't come close to Alina in real life. And I hope that she is a smart girl who cannot but see where those advises have lead Evgenija.

Alina experiences rapid body growth, she sprained the ankle. Yet she got 226 at GPF. Why would she change the coach and the choreographer? To please some people who will sing: "there are immediate improvements, now she needs to rework her technique so that do not expect quick results but in some years you will all see!" ?

I am not surprised to hear (from usual suspects) that Rika is a better skater with better skating skills. Deja-Vu: Gracie was also "a better skater" than Medvedeva with "better skating skills". Those skating skills....

And of course, Rika is immune to growth issues because "it's different for Asian ladies". Yes, yes, when Marin Honda or Wakaba struggle it's everything but puberty.

May be I am too emotional here but for me the ideas for Alina to change the team is sheer madness.

Honestly, I'm not even emotional here and i dont understand the fuss.
Alina skated quite well, and was second at GPF. Considering the current competitors and GPF composition, that is pretty much equivalent of a silver at Worlds. This is great, and not at all a tragedy, congrats to Alina.
I am also happy to have more dramatic competition, because this is what makes the sport fun to watch, not Alina/Zhenya/Rika/Sasha winning with 20 points of advantage. This is good for fans and good for the girls, who are motivated to improve.

Tragedy was Zhenya scoring under 200, a score unthinkable for her just a couple of months ago.

The only sad thing about this are all the people screaming "sore loser", "Alina is done" "Japanese dominance" and so on. I mean, of course, japanese are entirely dominating, so much that russian still brought home 2 medals from GPF. Alina still holds WR for free and total score and we are yet to see Rika jumping 3 clean 3As across two programs this season. The hilarious thing is that the advice for Alina to change teams usually comes from the very same people who say she is done, which means such advice shouldn't be taken seriously.

 

[moriel]

https://rsport.ria.ru/20181210/1547707972.html
Alina's interview, not sure if people brought it already

 

[Baron Vladimir]

Marin's struggles come from her being lazy and not training enough. It is well known that Marin is not the most hard working skater and started to get lazy once she got so much attention in Japan. Wakaba's struggles this season come from her injury she received at the beginning of the season. She tried to skate through it but it got worse. Also Wakaba and Marin are known for having mental struggles, especially Marin often gives up during her performances once a jump fails her. Their problems are not puberty related.

The puberty is not just in physical changes, but in mental too

 

[Skater Boy]

I am not saying Alina should change teams but it might be nice to see a different choreographer. Liza is making it pretty clear she should be on the world team with alina and Sofia made a pretty good statement she also should go. The only challenger for the world team really is maybe Evgenia and that seems to be fading. Radinova, Pogolarya, Tsurskaya, Sotskova, Leonova et al all seem out of the mix. Yes, the Japanese ladies do seem to have the upper hand but the Russians most likely will take one medal at least come worlds. Next year might be different dependingonthe p uberty and the Russian baby ballerina infusion.

 

[Ziotic]

I think after this weekend it will be just Alena and Alexandra moving to seniors next season.

Anna doesn’t have enough international experience and even if she makes the JW team, I think another year in Jr and the opportunity to win the JW title will be a better choice.

There is also no need to send all three to Sr next season as Russia has plenty of other skaters that can keep full spots for worlds in the mean time.

I also think Tarakanova will remain junior next season as well.

 

[moriel]

I think after this weekend it will be just Alena and Alexandra moving to seniors next season.

Anna doesn’t have enough international experience and even if she makes the JW team, I think another year in Jr and the opportunity to win the JW title will be a better choice.

There is also no need to send all three to Sr next season as Russia has plenty of other skaters that can keep full spots for worlds in the mean time.

I also think Tarakanova will remain junior next season as well.

Anna Shcherbakova is #10 in the SB list currently, ahead of skaters like Medvedeva and Samodurova. There is literally no reason to keep her in juniors since she can get 2 GPs next season.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Anna Shcherbakova is #10 in the SB list currently, ahead of skaters like Medvedeva and Samodurova. There is literally no reason to keep her in juniors since she can get 2 GPs next season.

People keep saying this but I could name several reasons why it would be beneficial. For both Anna and RusFed. I don’t think we’ll know though until after Jr Nats and maybe not even until after JWC. I wouldn’t put much stock in this weekends results though. It’s just too early to say with any certainty and a lot may depend on the situation in seniors. I do recognize though that it would be equally if not more beneficial for Anna to turn senior.

FWIW: I think the Federation has complete faith that Anna will be able to replicate those scores that got her on the SB list. I’ve thought since the beginning of the year that Anna “might” stay back one more season and I think the way the season has unfolded has only increased those chances. I won’t be surprised either way TBH. It would be strange to only see a couple Russian juniors at JGPF though. Anna would certainly help increase the odds of running that podium yet again.

 

[Fluture]

I hope that advisors who by all means have only good intentions won't come close to Alina in real life. And I hope that she is a smart girl who cannot but see where those advises have lead Evgenija.

Alina experiences rapid body growth, she sprained the ankle. Yet she got 226 at GPF. Why would she change the coach and the choreographer? To please some people who will sing: "there are immediate improvements, now she needs to rework her technique so that do not expect quick results but in some years you will all see!" ?

I am not surprised to hear (from usual suspects) that Rika is a better skater with better skating skills. Deja-Vu: Gracie was also "a better skater" than Medvedeva with "better skating skills". Those skating skills....

And of course, Rika is immune to growth issues because "it's different for Asian ladies". Yes, yes, when Marin Honda or Wakaba struggle it's everything but puberty.

May be I am too emotional here but for me the ideas for Alina to change the team is sheer madness.

But trying out a new choreographer doesn‘t necessarily mean changing team as well. Zhenya worked with more than one choreographer during her Eteri days and Alina, as the OGM, I don‘t see what would be so wrong for her to try different styles. I don‘t want her to change coaches at all, she works really well with Daniil and Eteri and seems to be fairly happy there, too. But suggesting that a Team as successful as Eteri‘s could hire a new choreographer to help Daniil and make some of the programs isn‘t something too far fetched.

 

[[email protected]]

But trying out a new choreographer doesn‘t necessarily mean changing team as well. Zhenya worked with more than one choreographer during her Eteri days and Alina, as the OGM, I don‘t see what would be so wrong for her to try different styles. I don‘t want her to change coaches at all, she works really well with Daniil and Eteri and seems to be fairly happy there, too. But suggesting that a Team as successful as Eteri‘s could hire a new choreographer to help Daniil and make some of the programs isn‘t something too far fetched.

Let them decide for themselves. I like Daniil's programs and I find a lot of Japanese and US skaters' programs ultimately boring. Notable exceptions are Wakaba's Bond, Satoko's Star Wars, this year Bradie's programs, this year Marin Honda's FS, may be something else - these were the first to come into my mind. If someone offers to Alina programs of that caliber - I would not mind. But if we are talking about the usual snooze fest of most Japanese programs or the nightmare that Zhenya has this season - thank you, no - let's stay with Daniil.

 

[moriel]

But trying out a new choreographer doesn‘t necessarily mean changing team as well. Zhenya worked with more than one choreographer during her Eteri days and Alina, as the OGM, I don‘t see what would be so wrong for her to try different styles. I don‘t want her to change coaches at all, she works really well with Daniil and Eteri and seems to be fairly happy there, too. But suggesting that a Team as successful as Eteri‘s could hire a new choreographer to help Daniil and make some of the programs isn‘t something too far fetched.

Actually, there are at least 2 other people in the team who could contribute with choreo already, so its not like Daniil is the only one.
Daniil's mother i think even helps him with ballet stuff, i recall it mentioned at some interviews (in fact, Alina's DQ and Carmen have quite a few ballet references), and she is very likely part of the team.
Alexei Zh. is the dance teacher, and does off-ice choreography.

Not sure if it actually made sense to have yet another choreographer in the team.
They likely could send a skater or two to get choreo with someone else, but i suppose there is a matter of workflow also - team Eteri cares big time about having a choreo that fits the specific skater, and that would be hard to achieve with a choreographer that is not part of the team.

 

[Fluture]

Let them decide for themselves. I like Daniil's programs and I find a lot of Japanese and US skaters' programs ultimately boring. Notable exceptions are Wakaba's Bond, Satoko's Star Wars, this year Bradie's programs, this year Marin Honda's FS, may be something else - these were the first to come into my mind. If someone offers to Alina programs of that caliber - I would not mind. But if we are talking about the usual snooze fest of most Japanese programs or nightmare that Zhenya has this season - thank you, no - let's stay with Daniil.

I think Lena Radionova once worked with a foreign choreographer - I think it was Shae Lynn Bourne - and her program fit her really well. It doesn‘t even have to be a foreign one, she could try working with Averbukh or who was the one Zhenya worked with in her first senior season? Zhulin, I think? It doesn‘t really matter, though. Alina doesn‘t necessarily have to change choreographer, Daniil‘s programs work for her and she gets high marks. I don‘t even have anything against Daniil himself, he showed multiple times that he‘s capable of producing high quality programs. Especially last season, Tarakanova‘s programs were masterpieces and Anna‘s programs this year are great as well as Alena‘s and Sasha’s SP. It‘s just that he has to choreograph for so many athletes that he‘s bound to run out of ideas from time to time. And that‘s why I think it could help for some of the skaters to work with someone else occasionally. They did it in the past when the group was smaller, it doesn‘t make sense to focus on soely one person now that it is expanding.

 

[plushyfan]

https://rsport.ria.ru/20181210/1547707972.html
Alina's interview, not sure if people brought it already

https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/samokhvalovs-interview-with-zagitova.104934/#post-5483246 translate thanks to TAHbKA

 

[vesperalvioletta]

I think Lena Radionova once worked with a foreign choreographer - I think it was Shae Lynn Bourne - and her program fit her really well. It doesn‘t even have to be a foreign one, she could try working with Averbukh or who was the one Zhenya worked with in her first senior season? Zhulin, I think? It doesn‘t really matter, though. Alina doesn‘t necessarily have to change choreographer, Daniil‘s programs work for her and she gets high marks. I don‘t even have anything against Daniil himself, he showed multiple times that he‘s capable of producing high quality programs. Especially last season, Tarakanova‘s programs were masterpieces and Anna‘s programs this year are great as well as Alena‘s and Sasha’s SP. It‘s just that he has to choreograph for so many athletes that he‘s bound to run out of ideas from time to time. And that‘s why I think it could help for some of the skaters to work with someone else occasionally. They did it in the past when the group was smaller, it doesn‘t make sense to focus on soely one person now that it is expanding.

You're right about Radionova. Shae-Lynn Bourne did her Porgy and Bess free skate. I hope as Alena, Sasha, and possibly Anna move to seniors, the Eteri team considers outsourcing at least some of their choreography. What the three of them are working with is fine this year, I guess, as they're still in juniors, but it would be a shame for Alina, Alena, Sasha, and Anna to all have blah hit-or-miss programs next season because Daniil has to come up with something unique for each of them that will maximize their potential.

 

[uhh]

Anna Shcherbakova is #10 in the SB list currently, ahead of skaters like Medvedeva and Samodurova. There is literally no reason to keep her in juniors since she can get 2 GPs next season.

The only guarantee of 2 GP spots is placement at senior Worlds. There will be so many Russian ladies in top 24 WS and SB lists that it will be hard for those that don't go to senior worlds to get any more than the one they are guaranteed because of the only 3 spots/ country at each event restriction. Assuming 6 spots are taken by the ladies on the World team, I count 9 more women that are entitled to a spot currently based on SB (assuming Kostornaia, Shcherbakova & Trusova go senior), plus Sotskova should still be high enough on WS points to get one. So there's 16 places out of 18 available to Russia gone already. A lot of women will only get one place, even if they are in the top 10 of SBs.