2018-19 Russian Ladies' figure skating

[BillNeal]

It'd be far more relevant to use the entire quad, and to weigh the Olympics of 17-18 far more highly than the worlds of 17-18(if not outright ignore that one).

Like it or not, Worlds, and not Olympics, determines the number of spots that a Fed has for Worlds the following year, post-Olympic year included. The Russian Ladies were super lucky to obtain that magic number 13 given the lacklustre performances from ALL three entrants at 2018 Worlds. I guess their mindset was also to ‘outright ignore’ it? If the judges weren’t so generous with them, we may only see two Russian ladies at Worlds this year, which would have been perhaps the biggest irony of the quad.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Judging by Alina's reaction to her skate, I'm sure she didn't "ignore it". And I'm sure Evgenia didn't "ignore it" when she was sitting at home and injured.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Judging by Alina's reaction to her skate, I'm sure she didn't "ignore it". And I'm sure Evgenia didn't "ignore it" when she was sitting at home and injured.

Suggesting they ignored the importance of attending this event is an outright insult to the skaters and the training they put in. Sometimes skaters have tough outings.. It is slippery out there after all or so I’ve been told.

It was a strong event too. Five skaters scoring over 200pts is usually a good indicator. Zhenya wasn’t there to defend her title and skaters like Ashley weren’t there to help fill in the rest of the top ten and Russia debuted a Stasya who just skated at JWC . It was still a good event in spite of it being a post Olympic Worlds IMO.

IMO we should be talking about RusNats next week though. As has become the norm of this event we’ll see one of the strongest fields all season. Should be a good one. It’s a time to be excited!

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I've noticed for some unknown reasons video of Sasha's triple Lutz with cantielever entrance in her Big Spender program bacame very popular over facebook and gained about 5 millions of views in sum in about two weeks.

Well deserved attention IMO

 

[Mawwerg]

Well deserved attention IMO

Yeah, but it's always curious to realize what is behind. Why does 15 seconds cut of slowmotion replay of just one element performed a year ago become so successful? And now there're already almost six millions.

 

[DougDorsey]

Google Translate works quite well with these things.

The event is taking place in Saransk, which is GMT+3.

December 19, 2018, Wednesday
15.00 - 19.00 Judges' meeting
20.00 - 21.00 Draw

December 20, 2018, Thursday
14.00 - 16.30 Men short program
16.30 - 16.50 Ice make
16.50 - 18.50 Pairs short program
18.50 - 19.15 Ice make
19.15 - 20.10 Opening ceremony
20.10 - 20.30 Ice make
20.30 - 22.30 Rhythm dance

December 21, 2018, Friday
14.00 - 16.30 Ladies short program
16.30 - 16.50 Ice make
16.50 - 19.50 Men free skate
19.50 - 20.10 Ice make
20.10 - 22.15 Free dance

December 22, 2018, Saturday
15.30 - 17.45 Pairs free program
17.45 - 18.00 Ice make
18.00 - 20.50 Ladies free program

December 23, 2018, Sunday
13.00 - 13.45 Victory ceremony
13.45 - 14.00 Ice make
14.00 - 16.30 Gala (if I'm reading it right)

We had a stream last year, but links usually become available a day before the competition or the day of the competition itself. This page always posts links for international competitions, it's worth checking it for nationals as well: https://soyouwanttowatchfs.com/
Links will definitely be posted in the competition threads on this forum as well.

Thank you! Super helpful.

 

[Shayuki]

Yeah, but it's always curious to realize what is behind. Why does 15 seconds cut of slowmotion replay of just one element performed a year ago become so successful? And now there're already almost six millions.

Unfortunately, that just is how figure skating gets its name nowadays. So many people seem to care about the memes and the highlight clips rather than full performances. Similarly, Trusova's 4Lutz got a ton of views and attention. Well, that one's more deserved, certainly. It's a bit of a shame that figure skating gets most of its attention with the "Wow, that's very impressive" meme factor rather than in actual sport viewership. On the other hand, that still is better than getting no attention at all. And at Olympics it still is very highly regarded.

 

[katymay]

Yeah, but it's always curious to realize what is behind. Why does 15 seconds cut of slowmotion replay of just one element performed a year ago become so successful? And now there're already almost six millions.

I think that Sasha now has an agency-not sure how this works in Russia. I know that her instagram, just like Zhenya's-is professionally handled. I'm sure Zagitova has a decent agent as well-but not sure about Aloyna or Anna. Part of what a good agency does is make sure even your bowel movements trend on social media. (cf: Adam Rippon, whose every utterance 'trends'). I would actually be interested to know how the fame game plays out in Russia. I would like to believe that all of the Russian skating stars are able to cash in in some way.

 

[Mathman]

Unfortunately, that just is how figure skating gets its name nowadays. So many people seem to care about the memes and the highlight clips rather than full performances. Similarly, Trusova's 4Lutz got a ton of views and attention. Well, that one's more deserved, certainly. It's a bit of a shame that figure skating gets most of its attention with the "Wow, that's very impressive" meme factor rather than in actual sport viewership...

I think it has to do with viewers' attention spans. A full short program goes on for almost 3 minutes. (That is about my limit, and is why I enjoy short programs better than long programs. )

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Has Eteri ever been asked about how smiley Sasha is? I’d be curious to hear her thoughts on the matter

 

[RingOfEndlessLight]

Has Eteri ever been asked about how smiley Sasha is? I’d be curious to hear her thoughts on the matter

I have zero insider information or anything like that, but I do sometimes look at interview footage of her and think, "She reminds me of my sister." My sister, especially when she was younger, felt VERY socially awkward and would giggle or laugh when she felt social discomfort. Even if a teacher was reprimanding her, she would laugh -- an unfortunate instinct! I have NO idea whether Sasha feels the same, but occasionally, when I see her interacting with interviewers... I do remember my sister. My sister would even make a very similar combination of smile and grimace if she made an error she really didn't want to make. I suppose it is a possibility.

 

[Arbitrary]

Oleg Vasiliev (OGM in pars with Valova, and a coach now) shard his thoughts about the RusNats ladies.

1) Zagitova is better than Medvedeva now.
2) Samodurova may have a medal after Tukt withdraw.
3) There is no good reason to push Trusova and Kostornaya to Seniors.

The last he explained as those two are "not ready yet but may scare others". Let them grow up enough to participate as real Seniors and not as Juniors among Seniors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87y8HV_rdws
(Russian only for now)

 

[DenissVFan]

Kostornaya is so unready for seniors that she even medalled last year...

 

[malya]

Oleg Vasiliev (OGM in pars with Valova, and a coach now) shard his thoughts about the RusNats ladies.

1) Zagitova is better than Medvedeva now.
2) Samodurova may have a medal after Tukt withdraw.
3) There is no good reason to push Trusova and Kostornaya to Seniors.

The last he explained as those two are "not ready yet but may scare others". Let them grow up enough to participate as real Seniors and not as Juniors among Seniors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87y8HV_rdws
(Russian only for now)

And another opinion critizising skaters before important competitions

I agree with 1+2, but 3...

Trusova is the leader of the russian ladies in jumps (not only quads, she also has the most difficult tripple combinations and performs them with ease) and
Kostornaia is the leader and reference for literally everything else. Spins, Interpretation, 'anything pcs', you name it.

Why should the obvious best not compete with the best in the most prestigeous category??

For me, Alina is a mix of both this season. Improved in spins, interpretation,... but puberty makes her struggle with jumps a bit. I would not be surprised if she trains a lot with Alena while Anna and Sasha jump with the boys... any Info?

 

[Tolstoj]

Oleg Vasiliev (OGM in pars with Valova, and a coach now) shard his thoughts about the RusNats ladies.

1) Zagitova is better than Medvedeva now.
2) Samodurova may have a medal after Tukt withdraw.
3) There is no good reason to push Trusova and Kostornaya to Seniors.

The last he explained as those two are "not ready yet but may scare others". Let them grow up enough to participate as real Seniors and not as Juniors among Seniors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87y8HV_rdws
(Russian only for now)

Agreed with him.

1) Yes of course she is better right now, the difference in the season was very clear. We'll see in the future.

2) I think so, Samodurova deserves more love from the Federation now, considering she is probably the most consistent skater this season in seniors. She's a perfect backup plan in case Zagitova, Tuktamysheva (she is very consistent this season though) or Medvedeva/Konstantinova have one of their bad days.

3) Yes, Trusova and Kostornaia will have their chance in seniors next season, they should stay in juniors up until JW.

 

[GINO]

I think Sasha will not do 3 quads, because she is doing 3F-3T combination on training(like in Armenian JGP).https://www.instagram.com/p/BrdY9qQlQY7/ Most likely there will be two single quadruple jumps.

 

[karina17]

I think Sasha will not do 3 quads, because she is doing 3F-3T combination on training(like in Armenian JGP).https://www.instagram.com/p/BrdY9qQlQY7/ Most likely there will be two single quadruple jumps.

Anna might be scrapping one quad as well. In that post she’s doing 3Lz-3T where she usually does 3Lz-3Lo, which is what she was doing when she was doing her layout with one quad and 3F-3Lo as the second jump.

 

[katymay]

Kostornaya is so unready for seniors that she even medalled last year...

My opinion is Kostornaya is the second best woman in the world-after Rika. The best woman in the world PCS.

 

[DenissVFan]

My opinion is Kostornaya is the second best woman in the world-after Rika. The best woman in the world PCS.

I think Alena has a realistic shot at winning RusNats and I'm going to put her first in the prediction game.

 

[Scott512]

Kostornaya is so unready for seniors that she even medalled last year...

Good one! Some think Alena should have won or at least done better than bronze at last year's rusnats. She should medal again this year with gold possible.