2018-19 Russian Ladies' figure skating

[fabienne1996]

1. There is a counterpart for Europeans, which means that everyone has 4 big comps in a calendar season.
2. It's pretty low to say that momentum is shifting away from Alina based upon her worlds free skate. That was by far the worst she's ever skated, and she's grown both as a skater and as a person from it. Most Olympic champions don't even go to post-Olympic worlds. Alina did, despite being sick and having to attend many state functions that took away from her training time. You can't say that momentum is shifting away from her because of that. And Alina still held her own at the GPF this year, despite having a minor injury. Silver is not a loss.
3. No one is done after two competitions. Alina is competing at nationals - the biggest competition of them all objectively - and has a good chance to win, if not the BEST chance to win. So, no, momentum has not shifted away from her.

For me the juniors have a better chance over alina if they go clean. At least sasha and alena

 

[LenaRadiFan]

Sorry, but Euros is not a Big 3, and the GP Final of 2017 was just that, in 2017. That said, 1 out of the last Big 3 is not just 'talk' but a reality.

Then what would be the other big 3? 4cc? Bc that's just unfair imo. She can't go there, and europeans is the equivalent of that

 

[Scott512]

Yup. They had 3 spots - which went to Leonova, Sotnikova, and Tuktamysheva. Adelina was 9th with ~175 points, Liza was 10th just under her, and Leonova was 13th. So the sum of the best two placements was 19 (9+10) which was much greater than 13. So 2 spots for the Olympics. But they earned those spots back at worlds that year! With Yulia's silver medal and Anna's questionable 4th place

Thank you for all that information. I had no idea what weighs down and why they didn't have three spots for the Olympics.

 

[Scott512]

For me the juniors have a better chance over alina if they go clean. At least sasha and alena

It would be crazy if one or both although younger training Alina at Nationals. I would have such mixed emotions if Alena beat Alina at Nationals.

 

[DenissVFan]

European Championships in most sports are either the first, second or third most important competitions of the year – including football (I'm talking about national teams), athletics, figure skating etc. If athletes want to take some time off, a considerable number of them will skip earlier competitions but return for Europeans. It's about prestige and tradition. Just ask any European skater what's more important: GP or Europeans.

 

[fabienne1996]

It would be crazy if one or both although younger training Alina at Nationals. I would have such mixed emotions if Alena beat Alina at Nationals.

For me alena is better than alina. She is the whole package. I just dont get emotions from alina and alina is struggling a bit with underrotations and one of her combos caused by her growhts. But that is just my opinion

 

[DenissVFan]

Oh, and by the way, Fernandez's six European titles are also not a big deal by this reasoning, since he didn't have a lot of competition?

 

[Ziotic]

For me alena is better than alina. She is the whole package. I just dont get emotions from alina and alina is struggling a bit with underrotations and one of her combos caused by her growhts. But that is just my opinion

Agreed. Her flow and grace is unmatched by almost all current senoir ladies. Realistically, if judging was fair and everyone clean I can only think of one person internationally I would have ahead of Alena.

 

[Casual]

European Championships in most sports are either the first, second or third most important competitions of the year – including football (I'm talking about national teams), athletics, figure skating etc. If athletes want to take some time off, a considerable number of them will skip earlier competitions but return for Europeans. It's about prestige and tradition. Just ask any European skater what's more important: GP or Europeans.

Football is huge in Europe, not so much in Asia. But figure skating is bigger in Asia than in Europe (except in Russia, where it's on par in popularity with Asia), and the competition is deep.

So, it's not a fair comparison with other sports. FS Europeans are more like Nationals in stature, due to major and main competitors excluded. It's still very prestigious of course to win a regional competition.

 

[MRani]

Oh, and by the way, Fernandez's six European titles are also not a big deal by this reasoning, since he didn't have a lot of competition?

I think the fact that Javi didn’t compete at all on the Grand Prix and won’t be at worlds but has announced that he will compete at Europeans to close out his career shows how special that competition is to European skaters.

 

[[email protected]]

For me alena is better than alina. She is the whole package. I just dont get emotions from alina and alina is struggling a bit with underrotations and one of her combos caused by her growhts. But that is just my opinion

Both skaters are exceptional - why do we need to compare them at this point, they even don't compete with each other outside Rusnats? As for emotions and whole package, DQ is my most watched program ever, the one that eclipsed even the masterpiece of them all - Yulia's SL in Sochi which has close to 11 million youtube views now. Somehow I feel connected and hooked. If some other spectators feel differently, may be it's the problem of spectators rather than the skater?

 

[Fluture]

Or maybe it‘s not a problem of anyone but rather just a matter of taste? Judging whether one “connects“ to a skater‘s performance or “feels something“ is pretty subjective imo. Of course it‘s somewhat obvious whether or not someone has a certain ability to act, perform and portray roles but beyond that it‘s just too difficult. I liked Alina‘s DQ, felt it was well constructed and choreographed but never felt hooked, connected or particularly emotional whereas Evgenia‘s AK still makes me tear up when I watch it. Is that mine/anyone else’s problem? No. Just my personal taste. Just like everyone has theirs.

 

[Seren]

Or maybe it‘s not a problem of anyone but rather just a matter of taste? Judging whether one “connects“ to a skater‘s performance or “feels something“ is pretty subjective imo. Of course it‘s somewhat obvious whether or not someone has a certain ability to act, perform and portray roles but beyond that it‘s just too difficult. I liked Alina‘s DQ, felt it was well constructed and choreographed but never felt hooked, connected or particularly emotional whereas Evgenia‘s AK still makes me tear up when I watch it. Is that mine/anyone else’s problem? No. Just my personal taste. Just like everyone has theirs.

So true- it's very personal what we connect with and don't connect with. You can also appreciate the greatness of someone's skating without having the same emotional connection to them. That's not a bad thing, it's just personal taste. The good thing about the depth in Russian skating right now is we should all be able to find someone who we can both marvel at technically, and emotionally connect with!

 

[DenissVFan]

Football is huge in Europe, not so much in Asia. But figure skating is bigger in Asia than in Europe (except in Russia, where it's on par in popularity with Asia), and the competition is deep.

So, it's not a fair comparison with other sports. FS Europeans are more like Nationals in stature, due to major and main competitors excluded. It's still very prestigious of course to win a regional competition.

The depth of competition depends on the discipline and changes with time. For example, at the 1983 World Championships 7 of the top 10 ladies were European.

Europeans aren't like a national competition. When you win Europeans, you're the champion of the entire continent = ~35 countries (depending on the year and discipline). If you only define big championships by the depth of competition, then the Russian and Japanese nationals should be "bigger" than Worlds as they're more competitive overall.

Europeans have been broadcasted on the main national channels for decades. Casual fans don't watch the GPF but watch Europeans. Some skaters, for example Alina, Liza and Evgenia, don't list their GPF medals in their instagram bios but list their European medals. Javier Fernandez is planning to come back specifically for Europeans this season.

By the way, ISU actually has the official hierarchy of competitions: 1) Olympics / Worlds; 2) Europeans / 4 Conts; 3) Junior Worlds; 4) GPF; 5) GP; 6) JGPF; 7) JGP; 8) international senior competitions.

I think the fact that Javi didn’t compete at all on the Grand Prix and won’t be at worlds but has announced that he will compete at Europeans to close out his career shows how special that competition is to European skaters.

Exactly.

 

[moriel]

I've seen fans mentioning that there are rumors about Zhenya changing programs (or one of them). Do we have any info on this?

 

[Spirals for Miles]

I've seen fans mentioning that there are rumors about Zhenya changing programs (or one of them). Do we have any info on this?

So, she was doing spins with new music playing. But, it was just a Christmas carol. So, no new SP - just practicing to Christmas music

 

[moriel]

So, she was doing spins with new music playing. But, it was just a Christmas carol. So, no new SP - just practicing to Christmas music

i was getting worried =S
that wouldn't be a very smart move so close to rusnats

 

[Osmond4gold]

For skaters representing European countries, Europeans are a very important competition, more important than the GPF. It's a very prestigious competitipn and has a long history. Olympics > World > Europeans > GPF.

Understandable, and as you know this event excludes the top NA and Asia skaters. Given the lack of depth in some Euro countries skating as of late, it appears for many to be a Russian nationals repeat, most notably in the ladies event.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Understandable, and as you know this event excludes the top NA and Asia skaters. Given the lack of depth in some Euro countries skating as of late, it appears for many to be a Russian nationals repeat, most notably in the ladies event.

I don't understand this. Europeans and 4CC are both ISU championships and are both prestigious events - neither is "more important" than the other. Both Alina's win at Europeans and Kaori's win at 4CC are valuable and important. Regardless of the competition, they both performed their best at their respective championships.

 

[Scott512]

For me alena is better than alina. She is the whole package. I just dont get emotions from alina and alina is struggling a bit with underrotations and one of her combos caused by her growhts. But that is just my opinion

It will take a while for her to be better than Zagitova. Yes Alena is brilliant and beautiful and artistic but she's not at the Zagitova level yet. Give her time don't rush things.