2019-20 Retirements, Splits & Partner Changes

[ice coverage]

Of course the partnership ended. The fact that she took off the post doesn’t mean that they suddenly miraculously got back together. It just mean that she realised that she shared more than she wanted, and that’s why she took it off. And possibly because it is quite raw for her, she couldn’t be bothered to redo her post. What’s so hard to understand?

I make my own decisions as to what assumptions and extrapolations I do not (or do) want to make.

What's so hard to understand about that?

 

[lizardlass]

Noooo, Anna P. is retiring? I was hoping to see her compete again, all healed up.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Also, I would add Panenkova/Tsurskaya to unconfirmed list, tbh. I can't see any perspectives for them in future in fs - and probably they can't see them too.

You never know. I was adamant that Mirai should retire in 2017 and go to college, then she goes and lands a 3A to help the USA win an Olympic medal.

 

[Baron Vladimir]

Wow! I wasn't expecting that.

When ive watched them I was commenting that she is too big for him and he can hardly lift her properly. To me they've already looked like Guignard/Fabbri almost and i think she will outgrow him even in future years. So i'm not suprised with the end of their partnership at all. But i still think he is/was the best junior male dancer in the field and i hope he will find more appropriate partner for him

 

[surimi]

Also, where did you hear about Anna Pogo? I haven't seen anything in the English speaking pages I normally visit. But, as I said, I can't translate anything from the Russian pages at the moment. So, I may have missed it.

As for the unconfirmed list, I don't think this thread is a place where we should be speculating. It should be kept to things that have been officially confirmed.

Anyway, thank you for starting the thread.

CaroLiza_fan

The information about Anna P was somewhere in the depths of the Russian Ladies thread, but right now I cannot even recall if it was the old one or the new one. It seems she confirmed she was retiring for a Russian news source, so in that way I'd consider it 'official'.
As for speculation, as long as it's clearly labeled as unconfirmed/suspected retirements, I don't think it can do much harm. People are always speculating about who is 'done' even in threads about confirmed stuff anyway. If there are negative responses and misunderstandings, I can always edit it out.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Yes, I can also confirm. I´m sad by this, but I can understand the reasons. I had a feeling she would retire soon, but not so soon. I hoped she would stay for another year, trying to get to WC. I also had a feeling about that this was upcoming news, because I noticed, like with Anne Line Gjersem, that Camilla hasn´t been posting videos from the ice lately. I know she has been busy with exams and stuff and she has also been hospitalized recently because of an appendix removal, so I also thought she might had to have a break because of that. Allthough, I have seen videos from Camilla training after the last competitions, so I have a feeling that the decision was made very recently.

I was the same. Once Anne Line retired, I knew that it wouldn't be long before Camilla followed suit. After all, they are the same age. But, since Camilla was always a step behind Anne Line when they were coming through the ranks, I thought she would carry on for at least a couple of years after Anne Line retired. To really cement her position as the undisputed Norwegian #1.

But, as you have explained, Camilla has had other things going on in her non-skating life recently. And in the long run it is wiser for her to concentrate on them. Although her sister did tend to overshadow her in their skating careers, Camilla still had a very successful career that many skaters would be jealous of. So, she should be proud of what she achieved.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

The information about Anna P was somewhere in the depths of the Russian Ladies thread, but right now I cannot even recall if it was the old one or the new one. It seems she confirmed she was retiring for a Russian news source, so in that way I'd consider it 'official'.

Ah. The Russian Ladies thread. That thread scares me, so I tend to avoid it.

It's a shame if she has retired, but understandable. She has had a VERY successful career and, although it would have been nice for her to get a gold medal at a Major, there is nothing more that she needs to prove. We all know just how good she is.

So, it is wise for her to step back for the good of her long-term health. We may love her beautiful skating, but we don't want her to end up with serious problems in a few years time.

As for speculation, as long as it's clearly labeled as unconfirmed/suspected retirements, I don't think it can do much harm. People are always speculating about who is 'done' even in threads about confirmed stuff anyway. If there are negative responses and misunderstandings, I can always edit it out.

Don't worry, that was just me talking based on my personal experience.

When I started the corresponding thread in previous seasons, I asked that posters keep it to official announcements, so as to try to prevent the thread descending into arguments between members about whether somebody was retiring or not. You know, the sort of arguments that are currently happening in the Splits Thread.

It worked for a while, but then the speculation and arguments started. And because I had started the thread, I felt personally responsible.

And that is why I didn't start the thread this time.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Anni234]

As for this thread - I believe it’s best to stick with the names that have actually confirmed retirement to avoid confusion. I believe at least in Estonia both bigger names, Liinamäe and Kiibus, are continuing.

 

[pohatta]

As for this thread - I believe it’s best to stick with the names that have actually confirmed retirement to avoid confusion. I believe at least in Estonia both bigger names, Liinamäe and Kiibus, are continuing.[/url]

BTW, no dramatic Finnish retirements as far as I know.

 

[NoNameFace]

Excuse me but you cannot choose to retire people when you feel like it. They have competed last season, even had GP events and have expressed desire to continue, at least Tsurskaya. But anyway, both are done when they say they are, not earlier and certainly not when a random fan on the internet sees “no future for them“. I mean, I totally get that they would have to do a lot to get a redemption on international level and that it will be quite hard but if they want to go for it, why not? We never know. And since they made no such comments and haven‘t been away from competition for a long time like someone like Pogorilaya has for example, I see no reason to add them to any list regarding retirement.

Just because they‘re Russians, had a rough year and 3A are moving up doesn‘t mean they have to retire.


Reminds me of this.

https://www.instagram.com/theskatinglesson/p/BxSbPPyHIDd/?igshid=1nhvbrpkdvh37

Thank you Fluture for this post.

By the logic of OP quoted, there should be a public vote at the end of every season to vote off those skaters who are seen to have 'no perspectives in the future', or that skaters not doing certain things/frequently doing them (either being quads/3As or having a winning streak/high scores/'reputation') should decide (or worse, be forced) to retire. It's a very sad utopia created just because someone seems to operate in very particular, 'exclusive' subjective standards and holding skaters to them regarding competitiveness and retirement notions - we should remember to not use OUR favourite skaters or skaters who are winning ones as strict determinant of someone else's retirements, determinants of others' decisions whether continue competing actively or not.

Real life & athletic reality are not the arena taken from 'Hunger Games' or other fictional creation to that date and there are multiple factors to consider for each skater before deciding on continuing I believe. I wish we, as an audience, would rather encourage skaters to continue (if healthy and poised to do so, to challenge themselves, if there are no personal/mental/physical obstacles to do so) than opining/speculating who among healthy, just maybe not the most successful skaters, should now retire. And what's even worse is putting such 'no perspectives' mind-set upon skaters themselves, voicing that with no consideration over the real state they are currently in; 'perspectives' in general is a pretty broad term in my personal opinion and each skaters should define it individually - if someone still has a competitive drive and eagerness to improve in their OWN right, why to retire just because e.g. the competition in your country is very high? I would like to see skaters come into the term by themselves, with no 'concern' expressed towards them regarding 'no perspectives' taken subjectively in the eye of beholder.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

As for this thread - I believe it’s best to stick with the names that have actually confirmed retirement to avoid confusion. I believe at least in Estonia both bigger names, Liinamäe and Kiibus, are continuing.

BTW, no dramatic Finnish retirements as far as I know.

Good to hear.

I'm still trying to get over Laura Lepistö and then Kiira Korpi retiring...

(By the way, it was lovely to see Laura in an official capacity at the GP this season. It's a pity it was just a one-off, though).

CaroLiza_fan

 

[halulupu]

Thank you Fluture for this post.

By the logic of OP quoted, there should be a public vote at the end of every season to vote off those skaters who are seen to have 'no perspectives in the future', or that skaters not doing certain things/frequently doing them (either being quads/3As or having a winning streak/high scores/'reputation') should decide (or worse, be forced) to retire. It's a very sad utopia created just because someone seems to operate in very particular, 'exclusive' subjective standards and holding skaters to them regarding competitiveness and retirement notions - we should remember to not use OUR favourite skaters or skaters who are winning ones as strict determinant of someone else's retirements, determinants of others' decisions whether continue competing actively or not.

Real life & athletic reality are not the arena taken from 'Hunger Games' or other fictional creation to that date and there are multiple factors to consider for each skater before deciding on continuing I believe. I wish we, as an audience, would rather encourage skaters to continue (if healthy and poised to do so, to challenge themselves, if there are no personal/mental/physical obstacles to do so) than opining/speculating who among healthy, just maybe not the most successful skaters, should now retire. And what's even worse is putting such 'no perspectives' mind-set upon skaters themselves, voicing that with no consideration over the real state they are currently in; 'perspectives' in general is a pretty broad term in my personal opinion and each skaters should define it individually - if someone still has a competitive drive and eagerness to improve in their OWN right, why to retire just because e.g. the competition in your country is very high? I would like to see skaters come into the term by themselves, with no 'concern' expressed towards them regarding 'no perspectives' taken subjectively in the eye of beholder.

However it would be a lot to fun to retire skater by the choosing of the forum community[emoji23] [emoji23] lets be serious again: i don't believe kostner is retiring. She is still on the ice nearly everyday according to her instastories. And she looks very fit and competitive weight, not like some others in the list. And she never
announced retirement

 

[VenusHalley]

However it would be a lot to fun to retire skater by the choosing of the forum community[emoji23] [emoji23] lets be serious again: i don't believe kostner is retiring. She is still on the ice nearly everyday according to her instastories. And she looks very fit and competitive weight, not like some others in the list. And she never
announced retirement

I would love love love her to stay, but she cancelled her Japan shows because of her chronic hip problems and said she needs to rework her skating because of this. So I am not sure she will continue. Sure she could compete for next ten years in Italy at this rate, if she wanted.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Some new splits after the last IcePartnerSearch's update :

- Maria Miliukova & Nikita Vitrianiuk (Cyprus) - he's listed, they were supposed to make their junior debuts next season

Cypriot Nationals start tomorrow and, according to the Entries / Results Page, Nikita is entered with a new partner, Diana LEKHTMAN from Saint Petersburg.

Here is Diana's fskate.ru Bio

Diana started this season with Fedor Sharonov (with whom she finished 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] in the first stage of the St. Petersburg Cup), and finished this season with Roman Atoyar (with whom she finished 6[SUP]th[/SUP] in the St. Petersburg Championships).

As with Maria and Nikita in last season's Nationals, Diana and Nikita are entered as guest competitors in Advanced Novice Ice Dance. (Her Bio doesn't give her exact DOB, so she might still be too young for Juniors).

Incidentally, the other partnership that was so impressive for Cyprus in Advanced Novice Ice Dance this season, Angelina Kudryavtseva / Ilia Karankevich, are competing in Cypriot Nationals for the first time. But, to my surprise, they have not moved up to Junior level yet either.

I wonder what is happening with Maria. She is too good to be left on the sidelines.

CaroLiza_fan

P.S. I'm going to a motorbike race tomorrow, so I'll make a thread out for Nationals on Sunday.

 

[Nirti]

Good new for Cyprus!
Both dancers will only perform the free program, as the event takes place a bit late (it was originally scheduled in april but then postponed), they probably begun to work on their (junior?) programs of next season, but are not ready yet, so they skate their novice program again.
If the other pair is only a guest, it obviously means that the girl isn't released from Russia for the moment.

By the way, I wonder what is the connection of all these Russian skaters with Cyprus? Are they living and training in Cyprus?

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Good new for Cyprus!
Both dancers will only perform the free program, as the event takes place a bit late (it was originally scheduled in april but then postponed), they probably begun to work on their (junior?) programs of next season, but are not ready yet, so they skate their novice program again.

Very good point. I never actually thought about the fact that the timing of the Championships would mean them not having time to prepare new programmes if they moved up a level.

If the other pair is only a guest, it obviously means that the girl isn't released from Russia for the moment.

Yeah, I worked that out. Personally, I'm still sad that Nikita's previous partnership with Maria Miliukova split, because I liked them.

As for this new partnership, it does concern me how often that both Diana and Nikita have been changing partners. So, I am already worried that we may end up with the same situation in 12 months time.

By the way, I wonder what is the connection of all these Russian skaters with Cyprus? Are they living and training in Cyprus?

Nearly all the Russian skaters representing Cyprus are actually living and training on the island. In fact, the only ones that I know aren't training on the island are:

• the Ice Dancers (presumably because there was no history of Ice Dance in Cyprus until Nikita switched from Singles. So, it is all still brand new).
  
  
• the new girl that only started competing for Cyprus a couple of months ago, and who currently has a MASSIVE lead in Junior Ladies after the SP

I am a regular visitor to Cyprus, and over the past decade, the island has become full of Russians. In fact, it's got to the stage that when you see job ads, one of the things that is specifically being looked for is the ability to speak Russian. Because that is the first language of a lot of the customers.

And it is so surreal when you are walking down a street in a hot Mediterranean country, and you see shops selling fur coats!

For Angelina and Ilia, I don't actually know what their connection to the island is (basically because I know very little about Ilia, and absolutely nothing about Angelina). But, Nikita Vitryanyuk has lived most of his life in Limassol. Same with Polina Ustinova (who is competing in Senior Ladies), and Kristina Dubrovskaya (the pathfinder for Cypriot skating, who unfortunately retired through injury a few years ago while still in Juniors).

Indeed, some of the skaters with Greek names are actually half Russian. For example, the reigning Junior Ladies Champion Chryso Georgiou (who has not been competing this season), and the Afxentiou sisters (Christiana in Advanced Novice, and Maria Nelly in Cubs).

So, although it may be surprising to people who are looking in from other countries, if you know the island it isn't actually strange that there are so many Russians competing in the Cypriot Championships.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Skater Boy]

Is Kostner competing this year? Does anyone know if there is a show with say Adelina, Yulia, Anna and Elena? Retirement or not it would be nice to see these skaters.

 

[sweetice]

Is Kostner competing this year?

Still no announcements about that but she is on the list of skaters expected on the "Rock The Rink" tour http://rocktherink.com/

There's almost no chance to see her on the Gran Prix 2019/2020

 

[icetug]

Does anyone know if there is a show with say Adelina, Yulia, Anna and Elena?

Yulia is announced for Hyoen 2019 (here is the cast, photographed in costumes: https://hyoen.jp/cast.html).

Daisuke Takahashi, Stephane Lambiel, Shizuka Arakawa, Yulia Lipnitskaya, Akiko Suzuki, Nobunari Oda, and Kanako Murakami are among the performers for Hyoen 2019.

Hyoen combines figure skating and kabuki. The shows will be July 26-28 at Yokohama Arena.

[after: https://twitter.com/figureskatingm1/status/1099826213340667904]

Hope to see a broadcast...

 

[bramweld]

The russian boys for the most part with probably the only real exception being Drozd, are of medium height and compact, relatively short and thin or fairly tall and thin. Unless you're built like Alina Cojocaru (ballerina), there comes a point where you really have to search for someone new (maybe on international scene) or move on. If there was also a personal relationship that ended even worse the male partner is no longer invested in presenting you well. While it is sad now, it may just work out to be the best for both of them going forwards. Smart decisive action was taken apparently by Liza, good for her.