2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[tempo]

OMG, I’m so happy for Safonova!!!! When she competes tonight, can someone please post a link to her performance?

Livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3wCjZO8gMw

Vika Safonova will be 3rd (of 6 girls), don't be late

 

[Edwin]

Livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3wCjZO8gMw

Vika Safonova will be 3rd (of 6 girls), don't be late

Everybody in the comments rooting for Vika

Burlesque: "so cool and statuesque" which is completely true for Vika

Did I see her Moscow trainer with her, the male with the stubbly beard?

And the superior score for her SP: 64.17, besting all the previous and later BLR girls by almost 25 points margin.

 

[SkateSkates]

Everybody in the comments rooting for Vika

Burlesque: "so cool and statuesque" which is completely true for Vika

Did I see her Moscow trainer with her?

Glad to see everyone rooting for her. She deserves it! She seemed to skate pretty well, maybe a UR. 2A, 3Lo, 3Lz-3T. Layout meets Jr SP requirements. Edit 64.17 easily in 1st.

 

[Lunalovesskating]

She scored 64.17

 

[nussnacker]

#TeamTutberidzeForProgress is planned obsolescence of sorts, but that's inevitable in every sport at the highest level.

Did these past skaters continue their careers at a lower level, or has their passion for figure skating been extinguished for good? Being dismissed because of an injury is always sad, but one can imagine there have been many dismissals for lack of discipline/motivation/progress the skaters rather not speak about. And then we will get the inevitable 'interviews' with disputable hosts and bloggers to cast shade on Khrustalniy.

But lets not deny this, #TeamTutberidzeForProgress has a challenge ahead of them in keeping all of their current seniors motivated to work hard to stay at the very top as the girls and boys grow into young adults with other interests, whishes and priorities in life. We'll see once Bejing Winter Olympic games have concluded.

Well... Serafima had very tough life situations though.
In her interview she said that when she started skating her family was very well off and they could easily afford her training, which in turn helped her to achieve competitive success and get funding. And then something happened (she didn't elaborate what), but her mom lost her beauty salon business, they were left together all alone without any income, and her mom had to find a job in medical emergency, which didn't pay well.
Given what an incredible stress that must have been for all those years, I have nothing but utter respect for her for continuing this journey and getting a GP and 200+ last season. She's a fighter.
For her I don't think it has something to do with loss of motivation or discipline (well maybe, I don't know for sure), but I think the hardships they had to go through had a lot to do with what happened.
She never blamed any of her results on those life events, but in hindsight, it can not go unnoticed for a teen.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

It is Summer Cup of SUB Open 2019 according to the official score sheets.

So in theory, any Minsk club could hire Safronova and have her compete for them this weekend in the Open division?

In gymnastics, you often see members of the Russia B-list competing the in national club leagues of Italy, France, Germany, often just for one competition after a trainers clinic, training camp etc.

Now, if Viktoriya were to compete as an individual, that's another matter with ISU.

Plus there is always the transfer sum ...

Her fskate.ru bio shows her as competing for Belarus, so I think it’s pretty official at this point!

 

[Edwin]

Well... Serafima had very tough life situations though.
In her interview she said that when she started skating her family was very well off and they could easily afford her training, which in turn helped her to achieve competitive success and get funding. And then something happened (she didn't elaborate what), but her mom lost her beauty salon business, they were left together all alone without any income, and her mom had to find a job in medical emergency, which didn't pay well.
Given what an incredible stress that must have been for all those years, I have nothing but utter respect for her for continuing this journey and getting a GP and 200+ last season. She's a fighter.
For her I don't think it has something to do with loss of motivation or discipline (well maybe, I don't know for sure), but I think the hardships they had to go through had a lot to do with what happened.
She never blamed any of her results on those life events, but in hindsight, it can not go unnoticed for a teen.

Thanks for the clarification.

I read on one on many interviews from Test Skates that 'The Anointed Seven', the core national team have all expenses covered, but for the lower ranks, figure skating can be a financial strain.

When you go through the virtual Wall of Achievements of the Moscow rinks, you see quite recent 17-18 season achievements from skaters that appear to have completely vanished from the earth while still in their mid teens.

 

[Edwin]

Her fskate.ru bio shows her as competing for Belarus, so I think it’s pretty official at this point!

I don't blame Safonova for taking the risk and chance, Viktoriya is literally head and shoulders above the BLR girls, not only figuratively, she is 24 points ahead in the short program already, no errors.
That's more than 50% over the best BLR score.

If these other girls from today are indicators of the top level in BLR figure skating, there is room for more Russians.
Having 'foreigners' in your program is also a motivator for the local girls to work towards that same level.
Sports education for trainers is probably still quite good in BLR, but perhaps pay isn't so well?

 

[Undino]

So since Safonova is no longer in the mix for Russia's JGP-team, who do you think will take her place?

I could also imagine that RusFed will consider the results of Moscow Open as usual. Does Kadryova has a chance or Kostyuk or even Smirnova?

For me the "The Anointed Seven" (cr. Edwin) are at this point: Valieva, Khromykh, Usacheva, Tarakanova, Sinitsyna, Kanycheva and Vasilieva (?). I count Frolova and Tarusina rather as reserves (but Tarusina only due her knee injury).

 

[Bluediamonds09]

I just watched Safonova’s sp. She did great! Honestly, I think she was a bit underscored comparing her to the other top Russian juniors. Safonova is just as good. But because she’s from a small federation, will she be underscored all the time?

 

[tempo]

Viktoria Safonova, SP, 09.08.2019, Summer Cup of BSU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fdqTVH-uls

 

[*~RussianBleux~*]

So since Safonova is no longer in the mix for Russia's JGP-team, who do you think will take her place?

I could also imagine that RusFed will consider the results of Moscow Open as usual. Does Kadryova has a chance or Kostyuk or even Smirnova?

For me the "The Anointed Seven" (cr. Edwin) are at this point: Valieva, Khromykh, Usacheva, Tarakanova, Sinitsyna, Kanycheva and Vasilieva (?). I count Frolova and Tarusina rather as reserves (but Tarusina only due her knee injury).

I thought “The Anointed Seven” referred to senior skaters - Zagi, Med, Tukt, Trusova, Kostornaia, Shcherbakova, Samodurova?

I think Tarusina would have to be included in the core group of juniors for this season despite her injury. In my opinion they are a very solid group of 8 for the JGP and there is potentially one more spot remaining.

 

[Edwin]

I thought “The Anointed Seven” referred to senior skaters - Zagi, Med, Tukt, Trusova, Kostornaia, Shcherbakova, Samodurova?

I think Tarusina would have to be included in the core group of juniors for this season despite her injury. In my opinion they are a very solid group of 8 for the JGP and there is potentially one more spot remaining.

Yes, I referred to the seniors. Will they become The Magnificent Seven as well?

I believe it was in the Samsonov interview from Test Skates that was mentioned the National Team members have all expenses covered, but I must play and read it back to find out if they were referring seniors exclusively.

Anyway, how would this arrangement work out for Safronova in practice?

Will BSU foot her Moscow training expenses so she can stay at home and train and study where she now is, and only travel to Minsk when called upon for competition?
Or will she start living as an intern at some sports education establishment and train full time in Minsk, or at least substantial stages, so other skaters can learn alongside her?
I can hardly imagine BSU will hire her Moscow trainer. Then Viktoriya needs to adapt herself to the BSU training regime and quality, which might not be beneficial? She can probably maintain her present level, but advancing? At least there will be no language or cultural barriers standing in her way.

 

[Elucidus]

All this sounds kind of sketchy, especially the phone call bit. It sounds like way too much of a coincidence.

I said it sounds fishy, didn't I?

What's more, there's no reason for Sasha to be putting two quad combos in her FP because you can't repeat two of the same quad anymore. If she's doing two -3T combos then that's just a waste of the Zayak rule. Unless maybe she wants to land a quad-3Lo combo, which would make more sense, but in that case I think it would have been mentioned that she has been training it because that's a pretty big deal.

No, +Lo combo won't help her there since by new rules repeating a quad more than once is forbidden now. How it's gonna make a difference? Still, two quad combos is very plausible scenario considering that it was said about training process - and in training, as we all know by now, it's common for Eteri students to add extra jumps for stability. Of course it doesn't mean they gonna add two quad combos in real competition program - but it doesn't make this testimony any less believable too.

Do they mean that Anna has an inconsistent 4lz or an inconsistent new quad?

Most likely they meant her 4F.

Also if Alina attempted 4lz in Japan, wouldn't there have been fans who witnessed it?

I thought about that too - which was exact reason why I said it sounded fishy. Still, in the source defence, I can remember recent Alina's instagram videos where she made them being in absolutely empty skate rink in Japan at night (!). Which raises the question - why she wouldn't be able to train quads then and there without witnesses? In theory it's possible :confused2:

it’s hard to believe because
Alyona didnt even jumped single 2a when she was at Japan Ice show.
and she’s now doing 3a hmm

And why not? Whether she jumped 2A at show or not - it means nothing.

also it’s very curious Alina was at Japan and she might simply used Russian
and there were ppl understand her conversations.

And who said that overhearing part was from Japanese side? As I understand, there were people at Chrustalny who presumably overheared Dudakov talking with Zagitova over phone. Source said that he was very pleased with something after asking how many times "she landed it".

Elucidus what are you doing? This is obviously a fairy tale.

She writes disgusting things about skaters, but does it in a pseudo-realistic style - "Guys, this mother of a little skater, of course, she has a subjective opinion about Trusova cuz training is stopped due to the fact that Sasha is gaining speed and no one should be around. She is mad that Sasha may want to jump for a couple of hours and then her daughter’s training is ruin" This is complete nonsense. how does she imagine the training process? how can little children (the youngest group) be on the same ice with Trusova?

Elucidus i am really surprised cuz you are a reasonable person. Did you yourself read all that nonsense that she writes? This "insider" - is another "urban madman" who wants a bit of attention.

No, I didn't read it. Still.. is it what she said is so unbelievable? We both know that Eteri rink is overcrowded with so many top skaters she has now. And there are huge queue of other skaters of different coaches and age groups - who are skating in the same rink too. Chrustalniy is not Eteri rink - it's Sambo-70 rink. One can easily assume that for skaters such as Trusova extra ice time for training jumps is needed except those two 1.5h sessions she usually have each day. That, or when part of the Eteri group is absent due to various reasons (off days, trips to various comps, test skates etc.) they can let skaters from other groups on ice during Eteri sessions - to make the usage of ice maximally productive.
Is it possible to imagine? It is. So what's the problem then? You think it somehow impeach the image of Trusova? I don't think so. What I've seen there is just common working process "burrs", so to speak, - which are pretty much unavoidable in any overcrowded environment. As for age difference - it's common Eteri policy to mix ages too - I've seen videos where Zagitova was on the same ice as Akatieva, for example - so they don't see it as something wrong :think: Anyway we don't know exact age of a skater whose mother got offended - I doubt that the talk was about some 4-6 y.o.

 

[ec00834]

Wait I'm a little confused. So doing a 4t-3t and a 4t in the free isn't allowed anymore?

 

[Elucidus]

Wait I'm a little confused. So doing a 4t-3t and a 4t in the free isn't allowed anymore?

It is. What are you confused about? You can jump 4T and 4T+3T. You can jump 4T, 4T+3T, 4Lz. You can jump 4T, 4T+3T, 4Lz+3T. But you can't jump 4T, 4T+3T, 4Lz+3T, 4Lz.
As for third option - there is zero sense in doing it. Quads compination exists only for one purpose - to avoid 70% penalty when you repeat a single jump. If you are not going to repeat a quad - it's much more easier to jump some triple+3T instead -without any losses in points.

 

[Edwin]

Rodina running her mouth again: https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1077034930.html spouting the usual vitriol against Zagitova, Khrustalniy etc, all the while plugging her Figurka ... FFKKR still accredits this serpent?

Kostomarov on the other hand, diplomatic while a little critical about the current state of Russias FS: https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1077048162.html

 

[Edwin]

Pretty soon, August 19-21 will be the Sankt Peterburg local federation Test Skates for KMS and MS level skaters (which disciplines?)

The organisator is FFKKSPb, not FFKKR, so I suppose only Winged Blades skaters will participate and there is no chance to get that last international assignment?

 

[Tavi...]

Gleikhengauz's programs won Olympics, GP, World, European, Russian Championships, JGP, World and Russian Junior Championships golden medals. And silver medals. I don't understand why some people who are literally nobody in the figure skating world decided that they are entitled to teach DG how he should do his job.

You have to be “somebody” before you’re entitled to criticize something?

 

[nussnacker]

Rodina running her mouth again: https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1077034930.html spouting the usual vitriol against Zagitova, Khrustalniy etc, all the while plugging her Figurka ... FFKKR still accredits this serpent?

Kostomarov on the other hand, diplomatic while a little critical about the current state of Russias FS: https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1077048162.html

Let's please ignore her and not bring her in this thread.
That person is only after drama and attention at any cost.