Russian Federation should be pushing hard at the ISUfor more than three spots for any country that has earned it through world rankings and dominating the Grand Prix series. If it's a country other than Russia so be it but there needs to be a system in place that rewards dominant countries with more than three spots four worlds Olympics and Europeans. and let's be honest Russian Nationals is something the Russian Federation can improve upon and have more than 16 or only 18 skaters or whatever it is. That's ridiculously low.
when after the last World championships Canada went from three spots to only one rusher should have gotten one of those spots for finishing first third-and-eighth at worlds in the ladies discipline. but I don't know what the Russian Federation is doing maybe they're just sitting on their hands enjoying the brilliance of their top 5 to 10 ladies. it's funny how we've been wondering for decades while Russia was great in the other three disciplines in worlds and Olympics or wondering when are the ladies coming when are the ladies coming? that was the other way around I'm a wondering when the other three Russian disciplines are going to step their games up.
The Russian ladies are going to make the world championships more relevant than ever because of the next five to ten years you could have a handful of different girls winning worlds.
This is never going to happen, sorry. Russia will never get more than three spots, on the contrary, look at what happened to Rhythmic Gymnastics. We should be glad to see three Russian girls at the Olympics in figure skating...
And in a way, I understand it. It‘s the Olympics and World Championships, not championship of Russia + Japan + USA and a few selected of other European countries like Italy (Kostner), Finland (Lindfors), Belgium (Hendrickx). And I think these young skaters deserve the chance to compete at the highest level, too. Their success might actually help making figure skating more popular in their own country... And some of them are actually really great. Who would have thought Viveca would win Bronze at Euros? I also immensely enjoyed some of the lower ranked skaters at Junior Worlds this year because they were probably the ones who skated with the most freedom. They know they‘re realistically not going to be anywhere close to medal position, so they‘re just thankful for the opportunity to be there and enjoy every second of it. It‘s refreshing to see something like this after all the fighting of the tough as nails ladies from Russia and Japan. And while I do admit that I enjoy the latter more because their skating is simply more refined and at a higher level, I do think that skaters from smaller federations have every right to go to Worlds as long as they meet the technical minimums. I think they deserve respect and giving 10 more spots to Russia and Japan (which they could all probably fill) is not that.
If I was the one to choose (thankfully I‘m not since as a fan I‘m heavily biased lol) I‘d let the reigning European and 4CC champion get a free ticket to Worlds. So, let‘s say this year Sofia and Rika would have earned their spots respectively and Russia and Japan could have sent three more girls to the Worlds. I think this could be a fair solution, it‘s only one spot more at maximum for a country and it does make a competition like 4CC more prestigious as well. But, like I said, this is never going to happen. We‘ll have to deal with the heartbreak. At least they have three spots, not two like in other sports or like Japan did at the last Olympics... that was horror.
It is a bit curious though that for all the talent in Russia they have not managed to sweep the podium at Euros for the last three years, I think.
2016 was the last time they did, I believe with Medvedeva, Radionova and Pogorilaya.
2017 and 2018 Kostner beat Sotskova for the bronze and 2019 Lindfors won over Konstantinova.
I have a strong feeling that they‘ll do it this year, though. All the girls they send to Euros will have to go through Nationals and whoever makes it out there on top will be ready to stand on any podium.
I do agree that there should definitely be another flight at Nationals. 18 girls is ridiculous. They have so much talent, they should give more skaters the opportunity to skate at Nationals. Money shouldn‘t be an issue. Figure skating is so popular that they will even show the JUNIOR TEST SKATES live on TV. I mean, come on, that‘s just crazy. They‘re not even going to wear costumes, it‘s not even a real competition. And yet so many people want to see this. So, if there‘s so much interest, surely people will also be interested in watching 6 more skaters at Nationals....
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. New free program. Cleopatra.
