I guess we will never know about alot of things with Zhenya. I hope she is happy. Her shaky results this year shocked a lot of people and got a lot of people asking questions. Next season will be big for her especially 3 great Russian juniors will become seniors.
I know from your writings you are not very fond of Eteri but she is more than good coach. Be fair to Eteri no one leaves her and gets better. In fact they get worse. No coach has ever had the run of talent over a few years from Yulia to Zhenya to Alina to Sasha to Alena to Anna than Eteri has. to be fair its not just Eteri. Sergei Danil and other deserve credit too. They are a great team.
Hoping for Alina to nail Euros after rusnats problrms.
I think next year will be big for every Russian lady, not only Evgenia. How will they handle it when these three turn senior and suddenly sweep the ranks? Russian Nationals was definitely a sign of what‘s to come. And even for those who like to scream about the puberty monster... if it‘ll come, then not next year. Something could still happen, of course, that prevents one of them to dominate alongside the others but what‘s the chance of that? So, yeah, I think next year will be crucial for all of them. It will be interesting to see how Eteri handles it with 4 top senior skaters.
Zhenya will either manage to get it together with her nerves and injuries, or she will not. I was sad by her results in the beginning too but they were to be expected and after thinking this through logically, it would have to be expected anyway, which coach she had chosen in the end. Maybe not as drastic with Eteri this year. I guess her mindset and body could have managed another year of this training method. But after that? I believe she would have been done completely. No one says she won‘t be with Brian either. But at least she made a choice and she is happy. To stay with Eteri would have meant she‘d have to think about the Olympics everyday.
I‘m not fond of Eteri and I have no problem admitting that. That‘s not in relation to Brian in any way, so please don‘t start any comparisons. He has his fair share of problems as well and I‘m aware of that.
“Be fair to Eteri, no one who leaves her gets better.“
Tarakanova begs to differ. I like her skating much more this year and that after loving her programs last year already. She is more refined now, her movements aren‘t as rushed but she still has many transitions so it’s in no way at the cost of that. She explores new styles and while she‘s even more underscored than last year, I think she got better in every possible aspect. She has problems with her consistency in the SP admittedly but she wasn‘t as consistent of a skater under Eteri either.
The others? Well, in my opinion, they left when they were already broken or starting to break. The reason why Tarakanova isn‘t declining is that she was very young when she made the choice. Tsurskaya, Lipnitskaya, Medvedeva? The system started to fail them already, things were already going downhill for them. Yes, for Medvedeva too. Her jumps were muslced and the technique declining. Her spins weaker as well as the steps and skating skills. If you compare her from 2016 onwards, every year things looked more forced. Besides that, she was injured and had to miss the Worlds and half of the off-season, too. So, no, I don‘t think that “everyone who leaves Eteri gets worse“. I see skaters leaving who were already experiencing the system fail them who then went to other coaches with their already existing problems.
If I have to be fair to Eteri: She creates champions. She helps girls fulfill their dreams, she gets them to the World and Olympic medals. She truly excels at that like probably no other coach in recent times.
I‘m not fond of her because I see at what cost this is happening and because I simply don‘t like this factory kind of system. I don‘t like it in any sport. And in my personal opinion I think coaches should support their students even when they‘re struggling and maybe try to adapt their working method for each individual at least a bit. That‘s why in my opinion, she creates champions but I don‘t see her as a great coach. But that‘s just what I think and my definition of “great coach“ is probably very different from yours. That‘s okay, though.
I‘m hoping for Alina to nail Euros too and I‘m fairly confident that she will. She is a strong girl and this title is hers to lose. Maybe that will give her confidence.
.)
