2018-19 Russian Ladies' figure skating

[icybear]

Got to give admiration for these 2 girls for pushing the boundaries of sport even though Alena is my favourite out of the 3. The junior girl champion landed more quads than the junior boy champion. Who knows maybe it will also be the case at senior worlds next year.

 

[SkateSkates]

Finally information on the injury
rsport.ria.ru/amp/20190310/1551665168.html

 

[bostonskaterguy86]

I highly doubt it. Bronze for sure though. Honestly, a clean Alena can't challenge Sasha and Anna with their quads, as we've seen multiple times throughout the season.

Yeah, like the JGPF .... oh wait

 

[Ophelia]

I highly doubt it. Bronze for sure though. Honestly, a clean Alena can't challenge Sasha and Anna with their quads, as we've seen multiple times throughout the season.

It's a real shame because Kostornaia is sublime. If I could choose anyone to skate like, it'd be her, medals be damned.

 

[SkateSkates]

I highly doubt it. Bronze for sure though. Honestly, a clean Alena can't challenge Sasha and Anna with their quads, as we've seen multiple times throughout the season.

Well her score at JGPF was only 2 points behind Anna here and that was with a 2-footed triple toe and a shaky triple flip in her LP. I think had she not been injured and skated to her full potential with high quality in all elements like Jr Nats the scores would have been very close due to her SP and PCS advantage. But as I said earlier, we will never know and there is no need to speculate.

Good luck to these amazing talented skaters in their senior debuts next year.

 

[Jontor]

I keep wondering though, how long can these girls keep their quads? Can they still do them after puberty and growth spurts?

 

[sx98423]

Yeah, like the JGPF .... oh wait

well yea obviously alena can win if sasha and anna fall but it's unlikely/impossible if they all go clean

 

[Sam L]

I gotta say it is obvious the current up-and-coming generation of Rus ladies are the strongest Russia ever had. Trusova, Kostornaya, Shcherbakova, Kanysheva, Synitsyna, Tarusina, Panenkova and Tarakanova at their current age are stronger and more talented than Sotnikova, Lipnitskaya, Tuktamysheva, Medvedeva, Zagitova, Radionova, Ngumanova and Gubanova were at the same age of 14-15. The new wave of Russian ladies is phenomenal. And a new generation of Usacheva, Valieva and &Co is coming too. Scary fact:some of them are Beijing2022-eligible! :giveup:

The constant quick generation changes (short lifespan of 3-4 years) in Russian ladies in the past 7 years are very understandable because of their amazing depth and constant evolution - the new generation is better than the previous one. Evolution. It is easy as that. Win for figure skating fans - our sport is getting more beautiful and more technically advanced.

How about we just wait until they can go 1-2 in Olympics like Zagitova and Medvedeva or win back-to-back European and World titles like Medvedeva. This is still the best generation for me and they're far from done.

 

[Alexz]

How about we just wait until they can go 1-2 in Olympics like Zagitova and Medvedeva or win back-to-back European and World titles like Medvedeva. This is still the best generation for me and they're far from done.

Where did I say that Zagitova or Medvedevs are done? I just compared the current 14-15 yo crop with Medvedeva and Zagitova back then when they were 14-15 yo girls. The new generation IS just stronger. And it is obviously noticeable. Both PCS- and TES-wise. #FACTS. Current Russian juniors just went 1-2. AGAIN. Oh, and remember the previous JWC? They are on the same path as well, but quality of elements, technique and choreography skills are observably better, the amount of sheer talent is more distinguishly indisputable as well.

 

[katymay]

I keep wondering though, how long can these girls keep their quads? Can they still do them after puberty and growth spurts?

I don't know. But they have pushed the sport to a new level, and no one can take that away. Contenders all over the world are working on quads and 3A's.

I still say that on any given day, any one of the three can win. I love Anna's program, but I am really going to miss Trusova's music and program. All season long-it was exciting. The minute the music starts my heart starts racing. There is so much Eteri backlash on choreography, and I'm not a fan of Alina's programs, but I think 3A's programs were all perfect for them, and really wonderful programs.

 

[leilaraj]

Wow next season is going to be major.
I feel like Alina will thrive when competing with the 3a‘s as seniors..

 

[Amei]

Why so much hate on Sasha? I really like her programs this season and her jumps are really nice too honestly, very good spring in the toe-jumps and there’s always so much confidence going into the jumps. Especially her +Lo combos when they are done cleanly... so beautiful. Her rippons are really nice too (but aren’t rippons universally pleasing?) Anyway, I think she deserved first place here.

Her jumps are awesome, but like someone else said it's jumps done to music; she loves to do jumps and that's fine but its clear when watching her that jumps are what she focuses on, while she has improved in other areas, not near where her training mates are and I think its ridiculous that her and Shcherbakova's spins/PCS are close to each other.

I still say that on any given day, any one of the three can win. I love Anna's program, but I am really going to miss Trusova's music and program. All season long-it was exciting. The minute the music starts my heart starts racing. There is so much Eteri backlash on choreography, and I'm not a fan of Alina's programs, but I think 3A's programs were all perfect for them, and really wonderful programs.

With the exception of Alina's programs this season while Eteri's choreographers get some hate for the stuff they do, they should be praised for the fact that they choreograph highlighting the strengths of the skaters.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Wow next season is going to be major.
I feel like Alina will thrive when competing with the 3a‘s as seniors..

While I totally think Alena is miles ahead of these two artistically, their technical ability is leagues ahead of her. If Alena gets a consistent 3A, she can contend, but as far as points go, there simply isn't enough room. Alena getting 70 PCS to Trusova/Sher's 64/66, is immediately negated by a successful 4Z. If she doesn't upgrade her difficulty, Alena could still very well be the best of the non-tripleaxel/quadsters next season though (I like her skating more than Alina's), and hope she recovers ok.

 

[sx98423]

Her jumps are awesome, but like someone else said it's jumps done to music; she loves to do jumps and that's fine but its clear when watching her that jumps are what she focuses on, while she has improved in other areas, not near where her training mates are and I think its ridiculous that her and Shcherbakova's spins/PCS are close to each other.

sasha has really nice spins this season, she gets good speed and her spins are always centered. i don't see a huge gap between her and any of the other girls in that regard. anna's last spin in her fs actually looked pretty off today

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

So apparently Sasha’s going to train 3A and 4Lo. If she succeeds she will really be able to compete with the men, and she will be unbeatable in TES in ladies.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

sasha has really nice spins this season, she gets good speed and her spins are always centered. i don't see a huge gap between her and any of the other girls in that regard. anna's last spin in her fs actually looked pretty off today

Anna’s layback was pretty bad today, in her standards at least. Anna’s spins have more speed and better positions that’s sasha in my opinion, but Sasha’s centering and speed in her layback is superb.

 

[j00mla]

sasha has really nice spins this season, she gets good speed and her spins are always centered. i don't see a huge gap between her and any of the other girls in that regard. anna's last spin in her fs actually looked pretty off today

Anna has problems with flexibility in comparison with many other girls, it's noticeable if you look at her knees during the I-spin, and she never performs "windmill" variation in her spins. She often has difficulties with the centering of spins, which I didn't notice before her arm fracture, now it became better but there is still a room to improve.

 

[moriel]

So apparently Sasha’s going to train 3A and 4Lo. If she succeeds she will really be able to compete with the men, and she will be unbeatable in TES in ladies.

She already can compete with men. Even with 0.8 / 1.6 PCs factoring, her FS score of 150.4 is just 0.5 point behind the top scoring junior man in FS at JW.

If she competed with men (and got the 1x PCs factoring), she would have scored 80.33 in SP and 167.51 in FS. She would be 4th or 5th in SP - tied with Gumennik, and 1st in FS, 17 points ahead of the highest placing junior man, and 1st overall with a total score of 247.84.
With such score, she would win bronze if she competed with senior men at Europeans. She would be 8th at 4cc, 5th at senior GPF and 1st at junior GPF among men. Yes, that is maybe not a "Yuzuru Hanyu" or "Nathan Chen" level, but she would easily compete with Kolyada, Kovtun and Samarin for a spot in the team.

 

[karina17]

Alysa Liu (not Ting Cui ) had a livestream today and when she was asked which figure skaters she looked up to, she said Sasha, Anna and Alyona. And I think that’s adorable.

 

[IndiaP12]

While I totally think Alena is miles ahead of these two artistically, their technical ability is leagues ahead of her. If Alena gets a consistent 3A, she can contend, but as far as points go, there simply isn't enough room. Alena getting 70 PCS to Trusova/Sher's 64/66, is immediately negated by a successful 4Z. If she doesn't upgrade her difficulty, Alena could still very well be the best of the non-tripleaxel/quadsters next season though (I like her skating more than Alina's), and hope she recovers ok.

Well, Alena does have a pretty low base value of triples. She only does 3S+3T and 3F+3T and 3Lz+2T+2T in the beginning. I don’t understand why. She can clearly do 3Lz+3T. I’d swap that for the 3 jump combo or at least do 3Lz+2T+2Lo