2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Vandevska]

Also... thinking of Nationals.
I think the Rus fed seriously should consider adding another group for ladies at Russian Nationals.

It's beyond me why they haven't added another group really.

 

[LRK]

It's beyond me why they haven't added another group really.

There could be a rule that a minimum of X amount of spots should be qualified from the Cup of Russia competitions - that way, it would reflect the strength of any field at any given time.

 

[Scott512]

Nationals placements don't matter for GP selection - at least not directly. It might matter to the Rus fed whom they wish to push - but it seems not to have signified here.

Anastasia placed 9th.
Maria placed 16th.

Sima did not qualify for Nationals, but did very well at a Senior B.

Did not qualify for Russian Nationals! But gets Grand Prix selection. Lol!

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

I doubt the ISU or Alysa Liu will let there be an all Russian JGPF.

 

[katymay]

With the deep field in the russian ladies... it’s impossible a fair distribution

Skate América: Tukt, Shcherbakova, konstantinova … a easy field but a equal field ....Scherbakova it’s the favourite but I’ m not convince with her consistency… if she fails … that opens a door to anyone to win

Skate Canadá: Med, Sima, Trusova … It’s obvious that Med should skate canada but it’s not an easy field for her... Trusova can beat Medv and Khira depends in how many 4 or 3A she can land…. Khira depends on her consistency … because a superclean Med can beat if Khira has one bad program … It’s difficult to Med go the final

IF: Kostornaia, Zagitova, Sotskova … the easiest field … zagitova probably will win and kostornaya will be second …but last year not all days were good to zagitova and kostornaia can win …

Cup of China: Samodurova, Shcherbakova, Tukt …. Very equal to skate America .... it’s a easy ride to the final to Scherbakova ... I think she could win even without a quad

Rostelecom: konstantinova, Med, Trusova .... HOME ADVANTAGE ... I think at this point the score will depend on other things…. They will play the card who gets the best chance to win in the final or get to the final … If Medv has a good season or get a 4 she probably will win at home …

NHK: Samodurova, Zagitova, Kostornaia … it’s the last grand prix ... that gives time to kostornaya to get that 3A … if she gets it she can win … and even if she doesn’t get it … Khira it’s not the most consistent skater …. So to 2 places maybe can give her a chanceto get to the final….

Shcherbakova has the easiest road to the finals, and Trusova, IMO has the most difficult (Of 4A), especially Skate Canada. (Rika, Young You etc.).

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

Shcherbakova has the easiest road to the finals, and Trusova, IMO has the most difficult (Of 4A), especially Skate Canada. (Rika, Young You etc.).

... really? Anya will battle Liza and Lilbet at BOTH HER EVENTS. They both have 3A and Lilbet has 4S. Anna’s 4Lz seems to be growing more consistent, but still not a jump to rely upon. Sasha does have competition at Skate Canada but she should be able to at least get a silver/bronze (but probably will get gold IMO). At Rostelecom, I’m betting she’ll beat Zhenya. Sasha’s practically a lock for the final.

 

[*~RussianBleux~*]

Yeah she probably weighs 95 lb now.

Really surprised Anastasia did not get one. We know she has more upside than Sima and Masha and Masha has other priorities in life and it's fair to say Nastya performed better than both of those ladies last year. Maybe Rusfed has eye problems. They should not have even put Nastia on the reserved list it should have been Masha or Sima.

I say good luck to all the ladies because it's going to be a wild season.

Does Russian Nationals mean anything? Can someone tell me where Gubanova and Maria and Sima finished at Russian Nationals a mere 6 months ago? I'm pretty sure Anastasija did much better than the other two when they went head to head to head.

It seems to me that RusFed decided to consider World Standings as well as last years Seasons Best scores for the spots. Sima is higher than Nastya in both (high score at senior B really helped her). Masha and Stasya are significantly higher than Nastya in the World Standings. They are ranked #9 and #13, higher than the 3A and right behind Evgenia and Alina. Maybe RusFed felt it is only fair to take into consideration high world standing so as to not dump former high achieving skaters due to one bad year or injury.

It could also be that Nastya elected to stay in the JGP herself because she sees more opportunities as a junior. Maybe she feels like she has some unfinished business there after withdrawing last year due to boots. I am looking forward to seeing her get two spots and maybe go to JGPF rather than forgotten in seniors. It is tight enough there already this year.

If Nastya and Anna Tarusina receive JGP I am satisfied. This is the best way to maximize the assignments in my opinion.

 

[Scott512]

It seems to me that RusFed decided to consider World Standings as well as last years Seasons Best scores for the spots. Sima is higher than Nastya in both (high score at senior B really helped her). Masha and Stasya are significantly higher than Nastya in the World Standings. They are ranked #9 and #13, higher than the 3A and right behind Evgenia and Alina. Maybe RusFed felt it is only fair to take into consideration high world standing so as to not dump former high achieving skaters due to one bad year or injury.

It could also be that Nastya elected to stay in the JGP herself because she sees more opportunities as a junior. Maybe she feels like she has some unfinished business there after withdrawing last year due to boots. I am looking forward to seeing her get two spots and maybe go to JGPF rather than forgotten in seniors. It is tight enough there already this year.

If Nastya and Anna Tarusina receive JGP I am satisfied. This is the best way to maximize the assignments in my opinion.

Nastya is not in the Junior Grand Prix nor was she last year. She's trapped in never-never land for the second year in a row and it's crazy. I hope she gets some challengers and does well at open skates and Nationals if she's even invited to that. Anastasias season-best beats Stanislavas so if season-best means so much she should have gotten one of Stanislavas spots. But SB doesn't mean much if it's Nastya. I don't even know what to say anymore this is the third year in a row this girl got the shaft by the CHRF (Crack Head Russian Federation) 10 Russian girls got Grand Prix spots but not one of them was Nastya even though she was on the national team as a reserve. Lol. But it's sad.

 

[IndiaP12]

Nastya deserves one of Stasya’s spots or Sima’s spot. Why? Because Stasya is very inconsistent. The only time she got above 70 or skated a clean SP was nationally; she got silver at one GP (an easy one) and 5th at another. Sima didn’t even qualify for nationals and her “quad” has only ever been << fall in practice. Nastya performed well last season and has a quite consistent 3Lz+3Lo, she deserves a chance

 

[*~RussianBleux~*]

Nastya is not in the Junior Grand Prix nor was she last year. She's trapped in never-never land for the second year in a row and it's crazy. I hope she gets some challengers and does well at open skates and Nationals if she's even invited to that. Anastasias season-best beats Stanislavas so if season-best means so much she should have gotten one of Stanislavas spots. But SB doesn't mean much if it's Nastya. I don't even know what to say anymore this is the third year in a row this girl got the shaft by the CHRF (Crack Head Russian Federation) 10 Russian girls got Grand Prix spots but not one of them was Nastya even though she was on the national team as a reserve. Lol. But it's sad.

No she was given a spot on the JGP last year. Her name was on the ISU’s list for the event but RusFed had to withdraw her due to the boot issue. If not for this she would have skated there. They even allowed her to miss test skates due to this problem and still gave her the spot but it wasn’t enough time. So there was no shaft as far as that is concerned. I feel that people did not pay attention to the entry lists before the week of the event so they missed people who w/d early. Nastya never moved up to seniors on the GP. If last year was perfect for her she would have had JGP and then Senior Bs. This year will just be a repeat of that assuming she does get JGP (and if not I will be mad with you).

As for second part, again if you will read my comment I am saying it is not just Seasons Best that matters but also World Ranking. Nastya does not get to move up to senior GP this year not because they are overlooked her Seasons Best score compared with Stasya but because Stasya and Masha’s World Ranking is so much higher than hers. They basically took the highest Seasons Best + highest World Ranking. Once you combine all of that Tarusina and Gubanova were on the bottom.

 

[Scott512]

No she was given a spot on the JGP spot last year. Her name was on the ISU’s list for the event but RusFed had to withdraw her due to the boot issue. If not for this she would have skated there. They even allowed her to miss test skates due to this problem and still gave her the spot but it wasn’t enough time. So there was no shaft as far as that is concerned. I feel that people did not pay attention to the entry lists before the week of the event so they missed people who w/d early. Nastya never moved up to seniors as far as GP is concerned. If last year was perfect for her she would have had JGP and then Senior Bs. This year will just be a repeat of that assuming she does get JGP (and if not I will be mad with you).

As for second part, again if you will read my comment I am saying it is not just Seasons Best that matters but also World Ranking. Nastya does not get to move up to senior GP this year not because they are overlooked her Seasons Best score compared with Stasya but because Stasya and Masha’s World Ranking is so much higher than hers. They basically took the highest Seasons Best + highest World Ranking. Once you combine all of that Tarusina and Gubanova were on the bottom.

Thank you for that information. But they gave a freaking Grand Prix spot to someone who didn't even make Russian Nationals. Dumbfounding. Why even put Anastasia on the top 9 of the national team as one of the two reserves? Nonsense. Maria or Sima should have been on the reserve list since they got the Grand Prix spots. Right? It's really that simple. Nastya won't skate Juniors this year she's not even on the junior national team from the list I saw her recently.

The boot issue last year was a set back at the beginning of the season. I'm just hoping Nastya doesn't lose heart. But I don't blame her if she does. She's only human after all.

Speaking of super beautiful skaters I'm hoping for a big season from Alena. For her to stay healthy and clean and show her amazingly beautiful skating amid all the jumping beans.

 

[moriel]

Also... thinking of Nationals.

If we have 10 senior ladies with GP spots (I believe?) then that's 10 spots taken at Russian Nationals.
If 6 Russian junior ladies make the JGPF, then that's 6 more.
If that were to happen, then that would leave only 2 more that can qualify via the Cup of Russia series?

I think the Rus fed seriously should consider adding another group for ladies at Russian Nationals.

Some of the junior girls are too young for the rusnats. For example, Valieva cannot do rusnats yet.
Id say there will 5 or so spots up for grabs.

 

[Tolstoj]

Skate America: Shcherbakova can medal or even win but she has to skate clean which is not a given. Tursynbaeva can also medal or win, Sakamoto is a strong medal contender, Bradie also with the home push. Not the greatest GP for Liza but if she nails the jumps she should medal though, it's tough for Stasya as well, do we know if she is working on 3A? i've heard something about that few months ago, she needs clean performances.

Skate Canada: Trusova can win or at least get the silver (we'll see with Kihira, she's great but inconsistent), interestingly enough Bradie Tennell is going for the back-to-back GP events, which might affect her physical conditions especially in Canada. Idk much about Evgenia besides she is working on 4sal (but for some reason i don't think she'll show it early on, i hope i'm wrong), last season she peaked later. I'm happy for Sima, hope for the best!

Internationaux de France: Zagitova-Kostornaya could be an easy 1-2 here, the third one is probably Sakamoto or Higuchi if she is back to her old form. This one seems the weakest field.

Cup of China: Probably a mess. Field is similar to Skate America but you also have Samodurova which is more consistent than Konstantinova and Miyahara which is a wild card, she could be a 5-6th place or medal contender depending on the judging. I'm expecting Liza to do well here, she always skates well in China.

Rostelecom Cup: Miyahara going for the back-to-back as well, we don't know how that is going work with such a long trip in between. Home push could help the russians, Trusova is the favourite to win but this could be a russian sweep.

NHK: i'm expecting two out of three on the podium, the other is probably Kihira. Lim and Yamashita two possible dark horses for the bronze.

Nastya deserves one of Stasya’s spots or Sima’s spot. Why? Because Stasya is very inconsistent. The only time she got above 70 or skated a clean SP was nationally; she got silver at one GP (an easy one) and 5th at another. Sima didn’t even qualify for nationals and her “quad” has only ever been << fall in practice. Nastya performed well last season and has a quite consistent 3Lz+3Lo, she deserves a chance

I was mad for a year about this, and people told me it was going to be fine, Tarakanova, Gubanova can have another year in juniors, etc. Look that's exactly what happened.

At least i'm glad RusFed stayed coherent with their selection process, Sima thanks to her PB and World Standing got the GP spot and i'm happy for her, she needs her second chance. Same with Konstantinova, she got her spots, she did fine last season as debutant.

 

[Amei]

I don‘t think we should harp on anyone getting easier GPs or blame Rusfed. Alina won Worlds, she has very much earned to choose her GPs first. And she was on top of the World last season, rusfed would be stupid not to make at least sure to “protect“ their three skaters that are most likely to make up the team next season and beat the Japanese by not sending them against each other sooner than they have to. Those three are Zagitova, Trusova and Shcherbakova and thus they will not face each other during the GP. Simple logic. Alina was World Champ, she‘ll get the benefit of having easier GPs. But this season, she‘ll have to fight like anybody else because no GP truly is easy.

As for the Alena vs Sasha comparison. I disagree. Alena beat Sasha at JGPF because Sasha messed up badly. Had Sasha skated like she did at both Nationals and Junior Worlds, she‘d not have managed to do that. Also, Sasha‘s PCS will rise very quickly. We‘ve seen this in the past that those who have the TES, will soon find their PCS to follow. I believe that was one of the reasons they gave Sasha Rostelecom. As for Alena, she is by far my favourite lady excluding Evgenia. But unless she miraculously pulls off a 3A early in the season, which I doubt because of her injury, her technical scores are below Alina‘s. Her PCS advantage is also non-existant compared to Alina because Alina is Olympic and World Champ. Of course Alina will have to be consistent but she would have to be at literally every other event. More so if she was skating against Trusova because she might make mistake on quads but never misses the THREE 3-3 in her programs. So, no, in no way do I agree Alena is tougher to beat than Sasha. To be quite blunt, I‘d say this is more than delusional to even think, given what we‘ve seen the past seasons. Sasha will fight for Gold at her GP events, including the final. Alena will try to make it to the final in the first place.

I think it was unwise to keep Alina away from Trusova and Shcherbakova who both have competition ready quads - at this point Alina doesn't have a competition ready quad, if I was her I wouldn't want to wait till the GPF (assuming they all make it) or Russian Nationals to see how my Olympic Champion PCS will help me against technically stronger competition.

 

[LRK]

I doubt the ISU or Alysa Liu will let there be an all Russian JGPF.

I was not trying to make a prediction. Merely making a "worst case scenario" - as seen from the point of view of those competing at CoR, and having to earn their spots to Nationals in that way. There should surely be more than 2 - or 3, or even 4 - spots available there.

ETA - Have since seen moriel's post that some of the junior girls will be ineligible for senior Nationals.

 

[Elucidus]

I think with the matchups, Anya and Alina will have an easier road to the finals. Trusova-it will be more difficult. (Rika, for example in Skate Canada)

Definitely no. Anya against high-TES and reputation-PCS of Tuktamysheva and Tursynbaeva is harder than Trusova against unstable Rika.

It's strange that Sotskova is assigned over Gubanova and Tarusina. At the end of last season I got an impression that Anna and Anastasia were leading CSKA skaters.

Most likely WR is more important in assigning GP events than SB scores. It explains why Konstantinova got two events too.

 

[Elucidus]

It looks to me like they are trying to maximize the number of top Russian girls who get spots by keeping Gubanova and Tarusina on the JGP. This way there are assignments for them and girls like Sotskova and Sakhanovich can have a chance in seniors.

This was actually the scenario I was hoping for regarding both Anna and Nastya.
I think they both have a decent chance of making the JGPF and JW this year and that would be a better overall season for them than a one and done senior Grand Prix assignment.

Valieva, Liu, Kanysheva, Chromykh, Usacheva, Tarakanova, Kadyrova.. Very, very doubtful statement

Rusfed probably just wants Zhenya in Russia more + she's probably got the most starpower there to sell tickets and bring in viewers based on RusNats and RusCup final. Alina got NHK, the 3A girl without quads, and two ~easier~ GPs anyway. You can't really say they favored one over the other.

Don't underestimate Trusova's starpower though I am willing to bet it was Trusova who forces FIRST channel (main russian government tv channel) to translate JWC or JrRusNat, for example - which was never done before

 

[colormyworld240]

Overall, I'm most surprised by who the fed chose to protect. I had guessed that they would protect at push Sasha as the new star, and imagined that if the rest of the assignments were the same, she would have been given Anna's assignments. If I understand correctly, the fed chose which Russian skaters to pair up, and have no knowledge of which skaters from other nations in each event. Evgenia has a much larger PCS cushion than Liza, so I'd say Anna got the best assignments of the upcoming juniors. Which I'm thrilled about as she's the one I root for most of the 3As. It's just surprising. I wouldn't have had Sasha up against Alina or Evgenia as she seems to be projected as the one to make the biggest splash.

 

[moriel]

Definitely no. Anya against high-TES and reputation-PCS of Tuktamysheva and Tursynbaeva is harder than Trusova against unstable Rika.

I disagree.

Anna scored 72.86 + 147.08 at Junior Worlds (with -1 element) with 31 PCs in SP and 66 in FS
If we don't count WTT (which features weird scoring), Tuktamysheva's best last season was 76+144. At GPF, Liza was getting 32+66 PCs.

Tusynbaeva is from a small fed, and her PCs at worlds were 34 +69 - somewhat higher than Anna's, but still not such a big deal.

So I don't see it as "harder" really. Cleanish Anna can beat cleanish Liza. Anna has higher PCs potential than Liza, and her PCs may rise quite quickly, specially if she does some senior B before GP and skates clean to set a benchmark for the judges.
Also, its not like Tuktik and Lilbet are models of consistency. Tursynbaeva, also, doesnt really have to perform well at GPs, since she has no competition for her worlds and 4cc spot, so she may as well skate as she skated this season, for example.

 

[vesperalvioletta]

I'm actually not surprised that Gubanova didn't get a spot. It seems like maybe being on the reserve team was a consolation prize. Sima has a better season's best and world standing, and it's not as if she hasn't had her own share of hardships up to this point.

I do feel bad that Gubanova left Turenko for Buyanova presumably to get that CSKA boost, only to have Sima get more Challengers and now a GP under Turenko.