2018-19 Russian Ladies' figure skating

[GINO]

She's an alien. https://twitter.com/mishubrunelo/status/1076843218229256194

 

[skatenewbie]

I don't think she lost it due to growth, I believe she said at gpf that the success rate was never too big to begin with, but there's definitely potential for it seeing as how huge her 2A is.

i think people put very high expectation on her landing that 3A because that video of her doing 3A was randomly and kind of suddenly posted, usually when skater train new jumps there is some kind of hype/infos but there is no info she's training 3A and suddenly she can land it perfectly in practice, no help that she is Eteri's student which = really good at almost everything and have skater who can do quads. So people expect her to master it already and we can see it this season, but unfortunately its not the case

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Maybe they just have 2 spots? Idk but I doubt they‘d not send the maximum of ladies.

Wikipedia says that each nation can send 3 spots per discipline regardless. So there is no excuse for Zhenya to not be on the team since she was named 1st alternate to a team of 2.

I hope they can just add Zhenya somehow.

 

[Orlov]

She's an alien. https://twitter.com/mishubrunelo/status/1076843218229256194

I like it Grishin laughing and says "she conceived something" and Daniel, at first says with a half-smile, “I don’t like this” and than he is aware of the seriousness of Sasha's intentions and says with an anxious sigh - “It seems she’s going to quad-lutz...” (I just can see how Danya in the comments room, habitually closes his eyes and begins to pray ). After landing "We can only stand up in admiration. She is doing this without a warm-up!"

 

[Kittosuni]

Can anyone explain why Stasya got the spot at Universiade? I mean I totally understand the Euros decision, it‘s absolutely fair. And Liza probably can‘t be at Euros due to her health issues and so will be at Universiade to get to compete before Worlds. But Stasya? She‘s already going to Euros. Why not give either Maria or Evgenia the chance who both struggle this season and would need some more competitive experience? Doesn‘t make much sense to me.

How is the WTT team assigned? By the fed or are skaters invited?

I think if Stasya doesnt do well at Euros then she will go to Universiade to prove herself one more time for Worlds but if she skate good(meaning doesnt finish last among the 3 Russians) then she will not go. Wether we like it or not Stasya is going to worlds. I just hope she doesnt fck up at worlds like she did in junior worlds and senior worlds last year.

 

[Fluture]

Wikipedia says that each nation can send 3 spots per discipline regardless. So there is no excuse for Zhenya to not be on the team since she was named 1st alternate to a team of 2.

I hope they can just add Zhenya somehow.

I‘ve given up hope, if they already announced the team they won‘t suddenly add a third entry. And there must be a reason because this really does NOT make any sense at all to only send 2 if you could send 3. I want an explanation. :dev2:

 

[Backload]

Team composition for the Universiade

(when forming the composition of the team, in addition to the sporting principle, the age limits of the Universiade participants and the availability of a student certificate were taken into account. In addition, in the women's single skating competitions each country can only declare 2 skaters)

Source: https://fsrussia.ru/news/4163-sostav-rossijskikh-figuristov-na-chempionat-evropy-i-universiadu.html

 

[melgirl25]

I‘ve given up hope, if they already announced the team they won‘t suddenly add a third entry. And there must be a reason because this really does NOT make any sense at all to only send 2 if you could send 3. I want an explanation. :dev2:

Maybe she doesn’t want to do it? Or a said she wants to think about it?

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Team composition for the Universiade

(when forming the composition of the team, in addition to the sporting principle, the age limits of the Universiade participants and the availability of a student certificate were taken into account. In addition, in the women's single skating competitions each country can only declare 2 skaters)

Source: https://fsrussia.ru/news/4163-sostav-rossijskikh-figuristov-na-chempionat-evropy-i-universiadu.html

What? Why? Why now and how come only in ladies? It's never been this way before :think:

 

[ice coverage]

Wikipedia says that each nation can send 3 spots per discipline regardless. ...

Wikipedia is wrong re "regardless" -- per 29th Winter Universiade 2019 Figure Skating Competition Announcement (pp. 5-6; emphases not added):

Where the number of quantitative entries in Men, Ladies, Pairs and Ice Dance is larger than the authorised number of skaters, the following selection criteria will be applied:

• One or more selection rounds will be made until the maximum number of authorised entries is reached (as described in the table above);
• During each selection round a maximum of one (1) athlete or couple in each category from each country will be selected, except for the 1st round where two (2) athletes or couples may be selected for the host country and countries with medallists at the last Winter Universiade.

The selection criteria within each round are the following:

• 1. Host country;
• 2. NUSF participating in the previous WU figure skating competitions – based on the higher ranking in the final results of the last WU (from top to bottom);
• 3. NUSF who did not participate in the last WU will be selected by a wild card system according to the criteria defined by the FISU CTI-UH (geographical and continental representation, participation in previous WU).

A reserve list will be made with the number of skaters that have not been selected for each country.
Three (3) months before the Opening Ceremony (March 2, 2019) of the WU the OC, upon FISU approval, will inform all participating countries about the number of skaters selected for each country and the ones on the reserve list. ... ​

Per the table mentioned, the maximum number of entries is:

36 men; 36 ladies; 20 pairs; 25 ice dance couples.​

Team composition for the Universiade

(when forming the composition of the team, in addition to the sporting principle, the age limits of the Universiade participants and the availability of a student certificate were taken into account. In addition, in the women's single skating competitions each country can only declare 2 skaters)

Source: https://fsrussia.ru/news/4163-sostav-rossijskikh-figuristov-na-chempionat-evropy-i-universiadu.html

What? Why? Why now and how come only in ladies? It's never been this way before :think:

So a possible explanation would be that demand for slots for 2019 in the ladies discipline exceeded 36?

According to the Announcement, seems to me that in the first selection round for ladies, Russia and Japan (which had two medalists in 2017) would have been entitled to two slots apiece. Other federations entitled to one slot.

Would seem that all 36 slots were used up in the first selection round?? I think??

 

[LenaRadiFan]

Wikipedia is wrong re "regardless" -- per 29th Winter Universiade 2019 Figure Skating Competition Announcement (pp. 5-6; emphases not added):

Where the number of quantitative entries in Men, Ladies, Pairs and Ice Dance is larger than the authorised number of skaters, the following selection criteria will be applied:

• One or more selection rounds will be made until the maximum number of authorised entries is reached (as described in the table above);
• During each selection round a maximum of one (1) athlete or couple in each category from each country will be selected, except for the 1st round where two (2) athletes or couples may be selected for the host country and countries with medallists at the last Winter Universiade.

The selection criteria within each round are the following:

• 1. Host country;
• 2. NUSF participating in the previous WU figure skating competitions – based on the higher ranking in the final results of the last WU (from top to bottom);
• 3. NUSF who did not participate in the last WU will be selected by a wild card system according to the criteria defined by the FISU CTI-UH (geographical and continental representation, participation in previous WU).

A reserve list will be made with the number of skaters that have not been selected for each country.
Three (3) months before the Opening Ceremony (March 2, 2019) of the WU the OC, upon FISU approval, will inform all participating countries about the number of skaters selected for each country and the ones on the reserve list. ... ​

Per the table mentioned, the maximum number of entries is:

36 men; 36 ladies; 20 pairs; 25 ice dance couples.​

So a possible explanation would be that demand for slots for 2019 in the ladies discipline exceeded 36?

According to the Announcement, seems to me that in the first selection round for ladies, Russia and Japan (which had two medalists in 2017) wpuld have been entitled to two slots apiece. Other federations entitled to one slot.

Would seem that all 36 slots were used up in the first selection round?? I think??

Wouldn't by that criteria the spots go to Masha and Lena or was that two seasons ago [emoji23]

 

[thedude]

That's great. How is the Eteri-Zhenya dynamics so far? I think they should come around as well.

I don't see it happening. Med didn't leave Alina, she left Eteri. Since neither one pulled a Tony Harding and whacked the other on the shin with a tire iron, there really shouldn't be any animosity between Alina and Med. Their fan bases on other hand can get a little crazy.

Eteri doesn't have a history of really saying too many positive things about skaters that left her. Apparently there is some Russian custom of giving flowers when you leave, and Med didn't give her any. I guess it's a big sin in Eteri's world, so I don't see her extending the olive branch even though she is the much older adult.

Med has given interviews where she talks about the statement that Eteri gave on tv about how Med wanted Alina to stay in juniors so she could win the Olympics. Med basically said that she doesn't remember saying that and that she has a very good memory. So, she all but called Eteri a liar.

It sounds like from other skaters who left Eteri, they thought that the Eteri and Med relationship almost a mother-daughter one. That wound won't heal anytime soon.

 

[Baron Vladimir]

So a possible explanation would be that demand for slots for 2019 in the ladies discipline exceeded 36?

According to the Announcement, seems to me that in the first selection round for ladies, Russia and Japan (which had two medalists in 2017) wpuld have been entitled to two slots apiece. Other federations entitled to one slot.

Would seem that all 36 slots were used up in the first selection round?? I think??

Ladies competition is always the crowded one, so the max spots left for Russia and Japan is most likely 2. In other disciplines where is free spaces for skaters to fill in they can send 3 representatives.

 

[moriel]

I don't see it happening. Med didn't leave Alina, she left Eteri. Since neither one pulled a Tony Harding and whacked the other on the shin with a tire iron, there really shouldn't be any animosity between Alina and Med. Their fan bases on other hand can get a little crazy.

Eteri doesn't have a history of really saying too many positive things about skaters that left her. Apparently there is some Russian custom of giving flowers when you leave, and Med didn't give her any. I guess it's a big sin in Eteri's world, so I don't see her extending the olive branch even though she is the much older adult.

Med has given interviews where she talks about the statement that Eteri gave on tv about how Med wanted Alina to stay in juniors so she could win the Olympics. Med basically said that she doesn't remember saying that and that she has a very good memory. So, she all but called Eteri a liar.

It sounds like from other skaters who left Eteri, they thought that the Eteri and Med relationship almost a mother-daughter one. That wound won't heal anytime soon.

The custom is not really give flowers, but go and thank coach / professor / teachers personally for their effort with you. Flowers / cholocate / whatever fitting the person's tastes is sort of a "gratitude token". In this case, when people say "Zhenya didn't give Eteri flowers", flowers are more of a symbol than actual flowers.
In this specific case, i'd say is up to Zhenya to extend the olive branch. At least for most russians i know, in such conflict, the younger one / student should be the one to do it (this is why you see so many Russians complaining about said flowers) - in their world, the student was ungrateful, and it would be pretty lame for a teacher to run after the student begging for gratitude.

Right after Zhenya left, Eteri's daughter, Diana, after being bullied for not (keeping in touch / being best buddies / ollowing Zhenya on instagram / some s**t like that) by crazy fans freaked out and wrote some angry stuff, mentioning that her mother [Eteri] was crying because of the whole issue. Not sure about Zhenya (break ups are usually easier for the one who leaves, she made a decision, she was ready for it), Eteri was very upset for sure.

At all the events this year, whenever they got close on camera, both would pretend the other person is not there. Also, if i recall correctly, Zhenya was caught on camera walking by the rink, then seeing Eteri and turning around, presumably not to meet her.

I'd say both are pretty *upset / unhappy / angry / whatever* at this point, and I don't see this turning into a somewhat friendly relationship in the next couple of years.

 

[Alexz]

I don't see it happening. Med didn't leave Alina, she left Eteri. Since neither one pulled a Tony Harding and whacked the other on the shin with a tire iron, there really shouldn't be any animosity between Alina and Med. Their fan bases on other hand can get a little crazy.

Eteri doesn't have a history of really saying too many positive things about skaters that left her. Apparently there is some Russian custom of giving flowers when you leave, and Med didn't give her any. I guess it's a big sin in Eteri's world, so I don't see her extending the olive branch even though she is the much older adult.

Med has given interviews where she talks about the statement that Eteri gave on tv about how Med wanted Alina to stay in juniors so she could win the Olympics. Med basically said that she doesn't remember saying that and that she has a very good memory. So, she all but called Eteri a liar.

It sounds like from other skaters who left Eteri, they thought that the Eteri and Med relationship almost a mother-daughter one. That wound won't heal anytime soon.

unfortunately, yes. This won't heal fast. But it will. For their own sake. Eteri is usually very brutally honest. That's how I would call that. She is too straight-forward even for the Russian (well, Russian-American-Gerogian). She usually not too wordy, but then she is giving it she gives it straight right to the point, almost on the edge of being rude. Dry and short. She is a natural leader, big alpha, that's just how she is. Back in the days this would be called a "male character", nowdays it is just a strong-willed independent modern woman. And I can applause to changes in our modern society.

Yeah, many says they had like daughter-second mother relationship. Whey had been together at Khrustalny for how long, 10-11 years? Stubbornness and grit Zhenya probably inherited from Eteri. That's unavoidable. So, yeah, I can see they both being stubborn and silly, but they will make peace at some point. And figure skating establishment and fans will be raving. It could be a beautiful PR campaign, if they play it wisely. Picture this. Brain and Eteri together watching Zhenya and Alina skate beautifully on the same ice at TCC and/or Khrustalny. A tiny tears run on the side of their proud and delighted faces. I bet there will be a lot of people falling off their chairs worldwide. I would sell tickets to PR-stunt show like that or sell it as a TV fluff piece. And let TAT and Ted Bartton to do commentary. And a short feature on commercial break with Tara and Johny praising current Russian and Japanese junior crop. Plus up and coming Da Big American Hope - Alysa. Make some hype in 2020-2021 and Olympics 2022 FS will be the most watched ever. Especially here in US where FS is loosing grounds and viewership.

International FS establishment really should lay off their nationalistic pride about whose skating school, choreography or artistic taste are better and become more globalized and laid-back friendly sport. Like modern gymnastics is nowadays. There are no more cold-war style death stares and silly gossips in gymnastics now. And world fans love it. International friendship in globalized sport is so much better to attract more viewers.

 

[fabienne1996]

The custom is not really give flowers, but go and thank coach / professor / teachers personally for their effort with you. Flowers / cholocate / whatever fitting the person's tastes is sort of a "gratitude token". In this case, when people say "Zhenya didn't give Eteri flowers", flowers are more of a symbol than actual flowers.
In this specific case, i'd say is up to Zhenya to extend the olive branch. At least for most russians i know, in such conflict, the younger one / student should be the one to do it (this is why you see so many Russians complaining about said flowers).

Right after Zhenya left, Eteri's daughter, Diana, after being bullied for not (keeping in touch / being best buddies / ollowing Zhenya on instagram / some s**t like that) by crazy fans freaked out and wrote some angry stuff, mentioning that her mother [Eteri] was crying because of the whole issue. Not sure about Zhenya (break ups are usually easier for the one who leaves, she made a decision, she was ready for it), Eteri was very upset for sure.

At all the events this year, whenever they got close on camera, both would pretend the other person is not there. Also, if i recall correctly, Zhenya was caught on camera walking by the rink, then seeing Eteri and turning around, presumably not to meet her.

I'd say both are pretty *upset / unhappy / angry / whatever* at this point, and I don't see this turning into a somewhat friendly relationship in the next couple of years.

But zhenya at least did not throw eteri name in the mud . I don't hate or dislike eteri but seriously ? To drag a deeply private moment into the press? That is more or less disgusting from someone that is in her 40th. We will not know if eteri told the truth or not. But in my eyes that should no not even matter. Even if she said it it would have been in a deeply emotional moment were you often say something you don't mean at all. I know I had more than one such moment too in my live .than to basically say that zhenya isn't talented but a product from her factory? I can understand that she was/is hurt and angry but as the more mature one in this situation she should not have acted like that. The break up was handed poorly on both sides.

 

[dobrevaria]

I don't really want to take part in this debate, but anyway. Yes, this breakup was poorly handled on both sides. But are things going to be great again or at least decent between the two in the future ? I don't think so, at least, not in the near future. Evgenia didn't "bring flowers" to Eteri, but she said she had her reason, and her reason is none of our business. Evgenia thanked Eteri (and her former coaching team) many times in the press after her "departure". She never dragged Eteri. Eteri, on the contrary, did. Maybe Eteri said what she said because she was upset, or didn't mean to, but in the end, it doesn't matter. She revealed deeply private informations (we don't know if all she said is true, since Medvedeva recently basically said Eteri was a liar) and Eteri knew those informations were going to hurt Zhenya's reputation, she is not stupid. So, yeah, it is an issue difficult to solve. After all, they have known each other for a decade, and were extremely close, and the breakup was rough. Healing this wound will be difficult. But time heals everything.

 

[Fluture]

And here we go again.

No, honestly, I‘m glad Alina and Zhenya are communicating and from what it seemed from one of the videos Alina initiating the contact not the other way round.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrvhY_MBIzm/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=cpbpn4cvkrbb


One user translated what they said it was something like

Alina: Oops, I forgot my bag and Zhenya (laughing): Quick, go get it!

It isn’t some special conversation but it means Alina isn‘t angry at Zhenya for the... things that have been reported by... someone in the media. This was like an early figure skating Christmas present for me, considering I‘m usually a pretty peaceful person, I like both of these girls and hate it when they‘re constantly being pit against each other by the media. And it‘s enough for me seeing them talk in a friendly manner. They‘ll never be best friends but that‘s okay. It‘s just great to see that they don‘t hate each other. I personally feel like whatever will happen, they‘ll always have some kind of connection simply due to them going through the Olympics and the process and training to get there together. That’s something that connects people even if the things that happened afterwards were unfortunate.

And about Eteri and Zhenya... well, this will take some more time, I feel. The breakup wasn‘t handled well by either of them but considering what happened after that, r.e talking on national tv about private conversations... I feel like it‘s a bit much to ask Zhenya now to initiate contact with Eteri to sort this out. Maybe in the future when years have passed and they both realise that this was just an unnecessary fight. They‘ll never have the old relationship again, that‘s for sure. But maybe one day they‘ll be able to politely great each other again when they meet and not ignore the other one completely. That‘s all I‘d ask for.

 

[thedude]

The custom is not really give flowers, but go and thank coach / professor / teachers personally for their effort with you. Flowers / cholocate / whatever fitting the person's tastes is sort of a "gratitude token". In this case, when people say "Zhenya didn't give Eteri flowers", flowers are more of a symbol than actual flowers.
In this specific case, i'd say is up to Zhenya to extend the olive branch. At least for most russians i know, in such conflict, the younger one / student should be the one to do it (this is why you see so many Russians complaining about said flowers) - in their world, the student was ungrateful, and it would be pretty lame for a teacher to run after the student begging for gratitude.

Interesting... I wonder if this is what saved Alina when Eteri expelled her and she gave her one more chance after receiving flowers.

 

[[email protected]]

I don’t want to keep posting my Rusnats live reports in the competition section as no one is reading there once the competition is over. And there are no wrap-up threads about Rusnats yet. Hence, my final report will go to Russian ladies – the main GS thread with the number of posts roughly equal to all other front page threads combined. And it will be about ladies….in the end.

These four days in Saransk brought me a lot of events and emotions. Not always were they related to figure skating. I described them in earlier reports that are safely hidden behind the wall in the competition section. Besides impressions from short programs and men’s free program I wrote there about Saransk, about the venue, about a Soviet style cafeteria there with amazing bread. I was in Saransk alone, Wednesday through Friday. On Saturday my family arrived: wife, kids, and grandmother. Events and impressions continued, both pleasant and, alas, unpleasant. The top one is my losing passport in a cab. There is Uber like service Yandex-taxi that I use. They are just the front desk for many providers. The driver that took me last night left the phone number that does not answer. The same is true about the taxi company – no one answers. It is very shaky to be in another Russian city without a passport. And the worst of them all is not being able to take a flight or a train. You have to wait several days before they issue a temporary certificate – this does not work with me because we have to fly outside Russia next Thursday. So, I am writing this while seating in a cab “Saransk – Moscow”. The drive is going on for 7 hours now and we are still quite far from Moscow. Yes, among others I had to skip the gala. My family went there, then flew to Moscow, and now they are going to bed while I am looking at snowy Russian landscapes from the window of the car….

On Saturday pairs and ladies competed with their free programs. I wrote in my previous report how strongly I enjoyed the short program of pairs. Most of them showed above average performances so that I had to cry out “wuzrobbed” in several occasions. For one thing, the big gap between T/M and B/K, P/Kh and many others seemed unfair to me. The depth of Russian pair skating looked immense. It all changed on Saturday. Everyone made mistakes sometimes multiple. Everyone but top 3 teams. That’s why the gap between them and the rest is very big so that depth discussion can be postponed for the time being.

At first, I was spellbound looking at B/K’s Nutcracker. They were committed both to their elements and their performance. The latter is not common in pairs. Somehow they started to remind Kavaguti/Smirnov although they still need to grow to the level of K/S Manfred performance. I already saw Dmitry boxing with the air after the good performance in one of GP stages. Here he went further: he hit the ice with his fist, then one more time he boxed with the air and, finally he produced a growl. I understand that they had to be above P/Kh – they managed it.

T/M surprised me. I never saw them that good. Good elements, skating in sync. But they also performed. This program suits them very well. If they skate it like that in Europeans and Worlds they can challenge any pair for the gold.

After T/M’s perfection and strong B/K skating, Z/E had a challenge. One stumble, one mistake and there would be the bread for critics: “overscored as the nominal #2 Russian pair”. They did not give that bread – they were as perfect as they could be. And for yet another time I would say that they are much better live with good ice coverage, posture, etc. than on TV.

The leaders left no doubt about who are the leaders in Russian pair skating….

Now ladies – the main event which brought us both drama and unexpected results.

Nastya Tarakanova had a rough warm-up. I was nervous how she would manage it. She managed it brilliantly. I said after the SP that Stasya Konstantinova is the fastest skater here and may be in the world. I take my words back. Nastya was as fast as a rocket. And I never saw such an impressive Moon Sonata program. Yes, she bombed the SP and she skated first. Yet, judges were too cautious (I don’t want to say political). She deserved more – what a skater!

Zhenya was last in the first group, last but not least, as they say. Siding from the stands’ insanity I tried to look objectively at her skating. My verdict: she is good – she is different – I liked previous Zhenya better. It’s hard to explain – I used to re-watch Medvedeva’s old programs. This tango somehow did not get to me like Tarakanova’s Moon Sonata did. So I won’t watch it at my leisure time. Although, objectively it was her best performance this season and the way she made the stands cheer her step sequence was a good sign of her returning self-confidence. Yes, 2 highlights were 3S-3Lo and the step sequence. And she was fast. Yes, the stands went berserk – I can imagine what the reaction would be if she did not fall.

I don’t want to say much about Alina – she was not her own self. Something is definitely happening. All those night trains – you can explain everything but the best is when you don’t have to explain. Is she injured? Is she unwell? Does this psychological pressure have its toll on her? She was nervous during the SP but she delivered. On Saturday she did not. OK, I shall stop here. The stands supported here fiercely. It’s my conspiracy theory but I think there was a coordinated performance of Alina’s fans who oppose Zhenya at the same time. After Zagitova finished many red hearts rather than usual toys were thrown on ice. If you don’t know, after Korea Medvedeva was named “the champion of our hearts”.

Anna Tarusina is my sentimental favorite. She stays within one lyrical style but she knows how to deliver those lyrical programs. I am hooked from the beginning untill the end. And her insane consistency helps here. I am glad that her scores are going up. When she is off juniors she will be a good competition to Sofia and Nastya’s G.

Nastya Gubanova is still the angel we all know. She is smooth, her arms are perfect. At the same time, I somehow was not engaged watching her program. And she made a mistake. Hence, it is hard to accuse the judges. It is clear that she had to be under near clean Stasya and Sofia. And Medvedeva is Medvedeva. The key thing is that she has motivation to go on. And scoring 200+ is a good signal. I am not sure about another former prodigy Liza Nugumanova in this respect.

Nastya Gulyakova is a typical “good average skater”. She has to think about her packaging and her programs. It was not a typical case when I found a program of a Russian lady skater ultimately boring.

Stasya Konstantinova was much more cautious there than during the SP. She might have “felt the blood”. I cannot say that I was impressed by her Anna Karenina – once again I enjoyed her SP much better. But she did the job. 2 performances with no falls and just 1 small pop – she means business, finally.

I wrote in the previous report how I enjoyed Anna S’ short program. She was not that emotional during the FP. But she landed 4Lz, she landed all other jumps. And she is just precious in her little princess dress.

Alena Kostornaya was perfect as usual. Her opening 2A is massive. I am sure this is a placeholder for a 3A that she should introduce soon.

“Tiny Boss” skated confidently. She nailed 4T at JGPF. That was her ticket for Russian title. But she was close anyway….

Such a cute podium and a new era for Russian figure skating. 3A are coming!

Ok, I am in Moscow now. This will finish my last live report from Russian Nationals.