2018-19 Russian Ladies' figure skating

[Fluture]

It‘s great that Anna won but I really hoped she would not be going for the quad if she injured herself before in training. This competition is not worth it to risk so much! It was obviously a good opportunity to gain some experiences and make new friends but she had no rival here at all. Why would she do a quad there? She needs to be fit for Worlds so play it safe, she would have won anyway... I mean, sure, it‘s a way to be more confident at Worlds if she lands it here but with the injury before... I‘m worried. It doesn‘t really make sense at all. And the fall on the 4Lz looked quite painful too...

But congrats on her win. She did really well given the circumstances. Still, I don‘t think a competition of this caliber is worth pushing herself that much.

 

[Edwin]

I think Anna is really ambitious and wants to prove herself. In her eyes, and in Khrustalniy’s culture, there is no such thing as ‘a skate half done’.
Khrustalniy skaters go for the maximum achievable at any competition.
Of course, given the level of competition Anna faced here, there was no need for stress. Relaxing too much isn’t good either, so Anna will take this as a valuable learning experience and will not make excuses.
She probably was very focused on delivering a clean FP and no doubt will be disappointed with herself she fell.
Back home tomorrow and with lots of new friends she’ll probably still have positive memories of EYOF.
Junior Worlds is the real test for Anna and the other Tutberidze’s Awesome Aces.

Edited: In the interviews Anna indeed made no excuses for herself. She is a fierce competitor indeed.

 

[Autumn Leaves]

EdRoz and Giltedge, thank you.

 

[Fluture]

I think Anna is really ambitious and wants to prove herself. In her eyes, and in Khrustalniy’s culture, there is no such thing as ‘a skate half done’.
Khrustalniy skaters go for the maximum achievable at any competition.
Of course, given the level of competition Anna faced here, there was no need for stress.
She probably was very focused on delivering a clean FP and no doubt will be disappointed with herself she fell.
Back home tomorrow and with lots of new friends she’ll probably still have positive memories of EYOF.
Junior Worlds is the real test for Anna and the other Tutberidze’s Awesome Aces.

Yeah, and that‘s exactly the problem. Of course Anna is ambitious and dedicated and she needs to be, otherwise you can‘t survive in this sport. But sometimes it‘s necessary to look after to your body, especially if there isn‘t much at stake like it is here and a much more difficult, challenging and important competition is coming up soon.

Now, if this was Junior Worlds - her only Junior Worlds before going senior - the situation would maybe be a bit different. But this way? There was no need to push that hard and frankly, it was a bit reckless too. Under normal circumstances, yes, surely, go for the quad and get the practice done. But after injuring herself in practice, this isn‘t necessary. She needs to be fit for Worlds because this will be the real test, like you said.

Of course she will have positive memories from EYOF. She‘s won it but more importantly, it was a chance to meet many different athletes from Europe and communicate with them. That‘s a great opportunity and I think she had lots of fun despite the problems in practice and the missed 4Lz in her FS.

 

[tempo]

Interview with Anna after the competition (in Russian)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn64nRdk2C0

Should be another interview in English soon.

Text version is here (in Russian):

https://teamrussia.pro/news/novosti...olnyat-chetvernoj-lutts-nesmotrya-ni-na-chto/

“For all athletes this happens — I fell,” commented Shcherbakova on an incident that took place in training. - Let's hope it's just a bruise. I have never had such a thing so that I fell in training right before a free program. And I had to deal with it, this is also a very important experience.

-Daniil Gleykhengauz said that the final decision - whether to go for the quadruple or not - was yours.

- Yes. These competitions are very important for me, and bruising is not a reason to simplify the program. I knew I could handle everything. Just need to tune and skate. In spite of everything, I will continue to perform the quad Lutz.

- What can you say about your skating?

- Of course, you can skate better. It is a pity that Lutz did not work again. It seemed everything was normal on the warm-up - it seemed that I felt a jump. It was a pity. So, I have to work more on it, to bring it to such stability that there are no questions.

+

Few comments from Daniil Gleykhengauz:

https://teamrussia.pro/news/novosti...chetvernoj-pryzhok-shherbakova-prinyala-sama/

“The hip ached a bit, so we drank a painkiller before the performance and anointed it with ointment,” said Gleykhengauz. - But the decision - to go on the quadruple jump or not - was for Anya. I gave her the opportunity to take it. She said she wanted to perform with the quad. And in the warm-up she had it twice. So the fall during the skating - this is a technical failure, and not some consequences of discomfort in the thigh. In any case, in Moscow, we will conduct an additional examination and give Anna rest and recovery. And then we will prepare for the Junior World Championship.

 

[Edwin]

Anna gives smart answers, good to hear.

 

[Mawwerg]

Are there any chances Anna Tarusina will be selected to Worlds?

 

[RingOfEndlessLight]

Are there any chances Anna Tarusina will be selected to Worlds?

Absolutely minimal, I think.

 

[Tavi...]

Did Jason and Adam land going forward instead of backward?

Can’t recall and I’m not currently in a place where I can look at videos. When I can, I’ll let you know.

 

[asingingwife]

Agreed. Hopefully she will realize that her health needs to come first. Seeing her fall like that is so hard to watch. No one doubts Anna's strength of will and desire to succeed. However part of being successful is knowing when to say "No" and how to protect yourself.

 

[Giltedge]

Fabulous skating in the FS by Alёna and Ksenia secure them Silver Medal and Bronze Medal respectively in the Children of Asia Winter Games.

FS Alёna
https://youtu.be/-wJM5TSK2vI

FS Ksenia
https://youtu.be/D52Y5fkZEgY

Ceremony
https://youtu.be/fdJmRP1UqlU


[And simply marvellous skating by Daniil in both SP and FS result in Gold Medal for him, and yet another Gold Medallist for Eteri, Sergey, Daniil and Sergey.
See here
https://goldenskate.com/forum/showt...gure-skating&p=2341489&viewfull=1#post2341489
on the RM thread for his SP, FS and Ceremony.

Here we truly have the prospect of a Yagudin-Plushchenko level skater in the not-too-distant future.]

 

[starlight97]

How many times has Anna landed that 4Lz this season?
Once? At nationals?

It's completely unstable for her, it's a huge surprise when she doesn't fall on it, when a fall should be a surprise.

Don't understand why they don't let her do a beautiful clean program with 3Lz-3Lo 3Lz-3T or whatever

 

[Arbitrary]

How many times has Anna landed that 4Lz this season?
Once? At nationals?

It's completely unstable for her, it's a huge surprise when she doesn't fall on it, when a fall should be a surprise.

Don't understand why they don't let her do a beautiful clean program with 3Lz-3Lo 3Lz-3T or whatever

Her 4Lz is pretty OK in practice. Unfortunately she cannot land it in competition without actually attempting it. So...

 

[Edwin]

The success rate of Anna's 4Lz is about 40%, which is too low.

By the end of last year, she was still on her old boots, but tried to break in new boots just before/at JPGF and failed to land the quads in Vancouver.
For Russian Nationals she apparently went back to her old boots, perhaps stifled the pain in her feet, and skated well enough to become National Champion.

Now, she could still be getting used to her new boots, and perhaps a small growth spurt messed her micro coordination up?

From what I gathered from her (excellent b.t.w.) answers in her last interviews to the official teamrussia.pro website, Anna isn't too bothered by her low success rate on the 4Lz, she keeps working on it relentlessly.

 

[Alex65]

Also Sasha is next to her, as an example in last season and as an opponent in the current one.
If you do not try, then surely nothing will turn out.

 

[Mawwerg]

How many times has Anna landed that 4Lz this season?
Once? At nationals?

It's completely unstable for her, it's a huge surprise when she doesn't fall on it, when a fall should be a surprise.

Don't understand why they don't let her do a beautiful clean program with 3Lz-3Lo 3Lz-3T or whatever

.

As I remember she landed three quad lutzes, one of them in combo. Anyway she loses almost nothing when fails and clean quad lutz is a huge addition to tech score. At Rus Nats she gained almost 16 points for it.

 

[Elucidus]

Fabulous skating in the FS by Alёna and Ksenia secure them Silver Medal and Bronze Medal respectively in the Children of Asia Winter Games.

I still can't get over the fact that Sinitsina got only 63 PCS for her brilliant FP while Young You got almost 67 for her old pirate program

 

[voolfee]

I still can't get over the fact that Sinitsina got only 63 PCS for her brilliant FP while Young You got almost 67 for her old pirate program

I agree, very terrible judging and this is in Russia with Russian judges, what a shame. :disapp:

 

[SkateSkates]

I agree, very terrible judging and this is in Russia with Russian judges, what a shame. :disapp:

I thought that was very strange as well. Maybe they wanted to seem unbiased towards the Russian skaters? Either way I don’t understand how Ksenia didn’t get over 8 for skating skills.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

.

As I remember she landed three quad lutzes, one of them in combo. Anyway she loses almost nothing when fails and clean quad lutz is a huge addition to tech score. At Rus Nats she gained almost 16 points for it.

She landed four quads actually, 1 at RusNats, 2 at II stage and 1 at IV stage.