2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Amei]

Anna was brilliant as well. I very much liked her program, although the leg-grabbing (2-3 times shortly one after another) ruined a little bit the overall composition for me. Still, there were some new movements and I like the darkness and the heavy mood of the music, hopefully her official dress will be also black or some other dark colour. And she herself showed what a great natural actress she is. Some people have to train and train and train to get better in performance, and others like Anna are born performers.

I loved Anna's program she has such a gift with her musicality, but I wish they'd vary her entrances/exits - every single jumping pass in the SP has a grabbed leg extension, I get that it's for points though....

I adore the costume to be honest.
But yeah, I think this theme needs some red vibe in the dress due to the character of the story and the movie poster.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/66/13/bc/6613bc3f527abc54bf7ce9ebd24c6a00.jpg

I believe she was wearing the dress that she wore at Russian Nationals for her exhibition so it this might not be her competition dress, though I think it works fine for the program. Russian Nationals: https://www.instagram.com/p/BxSl7jgHJpH/

I am concerned for Alena though. She has great chances to have good/very good placings this season but I feel like she's the only one from the group who doesn't really show any obvious improvement in comparison to previous years. Is it possible that she's already maxed out?

I believe I read in a translated interview on this board before that every time she starts to train the triple axel again that she gets little injuries.

 

[Happy Skates]

I believe she was wearing the dress that she wore at Russian Nationals for her exhibition so it this might not be her competition dress, though I think it works fine for the program. Russian Nationals: https://www.instagram.com/p/BxSl7jgHJpH/

The dress was actually made last year for her Rondo Cappricioso fp at DOI before the "real" dress was ready, and then she used it again for Dreamcatcher at the RN gala. She sure is getting a lot of mileage out of this dress. I'm guessing she used it here because her new dress isn't ready and she probably wants to get as much use out of this dress as possible, as it was made by Olga and it would be a shame to only wear it once or twice. Plus it fits the mood. But I hope she'll have a red dress for the actual one.

 

[ec00834]

Is Olga still making their dresses?

 

[Jontor]

Last year about this time the Cup of Russia group stages began.

When does it start this year??

 

[Happy Skates]

Last year about this time the Cup of Russia group stages began.

When does it start this year??

The first stage is September 18-22.

I wonder who will participate - is Sofia Akatieva old enough to do COR/JNats since she is 12? If so she'll be an interesting factor even though she can't compete internationally yet. Hopefully Gubanova/Tarusina will be competing in seniors to get those nationals spots, as well as Tarakanova/Vasilieva if they don't qualify to JGPF. Maybe They'll send Kanysheva/Sinitsyna to some senior stages as well. And I'm guessing the Eteri juniors will all at least do one stage like usual.

 

[Jontor]

The first stage is September 18-22.

I wonder who will participate - is Sofia Akatieva old enough to do COR/JNats since she is 12? If so she'll be an interesting factor even though she can't compete internationally yet. Hopefully Gubanova/Tarusina will be competing in seniors to get those nationals spots, as well as Tarakanova/Vasilieva if they don't qualify to JGPF. Maybe They'll send Kanysheva/Sinitsyna to some senior stages as well. And I'm guessing the Eteri juniors will all at least do one stage like usual.

Thanks.

As I see it right now there will probably be two qualifying for Nationals from JGPF and that's Sinitsyna and Kanysheva. That would mean that there is at least 6 spots left for RusNats via the Russian Cup. I am of course also hoping that Gubanova and Tarusina will make it through. And I would also like to see how Nugumanova and Gulyakova have progressed this year. Hopefully we'll see Talalaikina too, I think she was great last year. And then there is of course Tarakanova and Vasilieva, and what about Leonova and Gracheva? The Russian Cup Group Stages will be tough. Not all of these girls will make it through.

 

[katymay]

Did you notice how between Alena's and Sasha's skates crowd shouted: "ETERI, ETERI!!!"?

At 50:10 mark (geoblocked): link

I loved the raucous crowd. I loved that there was a super charged audience. I think the skaters skated well because there is nothing at stake-meaning, if they miss a jump it isn't the end of the world. Just a chance to do a run through in front of hundreds of screaming fans and no one loses unless they show up extremely unprepared or out of condition. (In this case, I think they just don't show up for this event). Today, so many of the skaters really seemed to be having fun, (like a show or exhibition) and yet, we still got to see full competition programs. Sort of a win-win for everyone involved.

 

[mathlike]

I loved the raucous crowd. I loved that there was a super charged audience. I think the skaters skated well because there is nothing at stake-meaning, if they miss a jump it isn't the end of the world. Just a chance to do a run through in front of hundreds of screaming fans and no one loses unless they show up extremely unprepared or out of condition. (In this case, I think they just don't show up for this event). Today, so many of the skaters really seemed to be having fun, (like a show or exhibition) and yet, we still got to see full competition programs. Sort of a win-win for everyone involved.

Agreed. I absolutely didn't get any negative vibe towards test skates out of those interviews - some skated better, some worse, but they all seemed to appreciate the attention from fans, a bit of stress even (liza's "test skates are pinch on the butt" lol) and performance test before the real competition.

I don't know who invented them and when, but kudos to him/her. :thumbsup:

 

[Grin]

Some fan camera vids

https://youtu.be/4gWKcOHRUys

https://youtu.be/Brewf8N4w-U

https://youtu.be/rYDoNwJvDk0

https://youtu.be/cjQV6GxSaMM

https://youtu.be/fWFJ5D5QiF0

 

[mathlike]

Skaters leaving: https://streamable.com/63vin
Eteri and Daniil leaving: https://streamable.com/jf38g

 

[hippomoomin]

I finally had the chance to watch all test skate videos except Konstantinova. Most of them showed great shape, even Evgenia with a fall because her ss and 2A are much improved. Liza popped jumps but landed an amazing 3A. The one did not do well is Sofia. It seems she has trouble with jumps, and judging by the video shot from far away, the height of her jumps seem worse than last season.

 

[madison]

I also think that Anna had the performance of the evening. She managed to depict all the subtle, mysterious nuances of the music and made me watch the program several times in order to discover and rediscover something new.
Then i liked Evgenia's program which suits her very well. I love the atmosphere she creats with this program, her movements and SS are much improved.

 

[Edwin]

Did you notice how between Alena's and Sasha's skates crowd shouted: "ETERI, ETERI!!!"?

At 50:10 mark (geoblocked): link

To go by the fan videos and photos shot before, during and after the event, Eteri, Danill and all the skaters almost needed bodyguards and a closed off zone to leave the premises. People were everywhere, wanting to touch their idols, speak a few words, have a selfie, etc. Heartwarming, but also a little scary, and it gets very tiring for those in the middle of attention.

 

[Edwin]

Agree. I initially thought she was a bit off to the music, but seeing it again multiple times I have to say I was wrong. The music is very complex and Anna follows it beautifully. This might turn out to be my favourite program so far this year.

There seemed indeed to be a few tiny synchro problems and with the ending that require some fine tuning, this will be done in due course and we will have another masterpiece that will go down in history. Anna IMO already has had so many 'angelic' routines that were excellent and fitted her completely, this is just one more from 'young' Anna. By next season, she'll be 16 and she or #TeamKhrustalniyForProgress might want to stage something different for 'adolescent' Anna. She did well in that wicked Geisha/Samurai routine from the Tutberidze Show of Champions, showing 'bad Anna' ;-)

For now, lets enjoy this masterpiece, where probably some new touches will be discovered in every performance to come.

 

[ruga]

Movie soundtrack, those are the problem. And greedy US entertainment industry. YouTube is their slave.
If the skaters’ federations have paid the royalties needed for public performances?

Even ISU event streams get struck down the moment they’ve concluded and might never be reuploaded in whole again.

But that’s perhaps because the rink plays hits during breaks?

My plan from now on is to record every live stream live and keep them until my interest in the event has waned.

When I turn on old links, it says something like ''removed because of the claim of xmd1tv". I assume it has something to do with Channel 1. The only available videos of junior test skates are the ones posted by their official channel. Too bad they didn't post senior ones on YouTube and geoblocked them.

 

[Grin]

If youtube or Ok.ru are geoblocked, you can try vids from vkontakte
https://twitter.com/figureskatingRu/status/1170516364550914048?s=20

 

[ruga]

Skating order:
1. Evgenia
2. Elizaveta
3. Sofia
4. Stanislava
......
5. Alina
6. Anna
7. Alexandra
8. Aliona

https://www.fsrussia.ru/news/4507-s...lnykh-prokatov-na-proizvolnuyu-programmu.html

 

[Edwin]

I loved the raucous crowd. I loved that there was a super charged audience. I think the skaters skated well because there is nothing at stake-meaning, if they miss a jump it isn't the end of the world. Just a chance to do a run through in front of hundreds of screaming fans and no one loses unless they show up extremely unprepared or out of condition. (In this case, I think they just don't show up for this event). Today, so many of the skaters really seemed to be having fun, (like a show or exhibition) and yet, we still got to see full competition programs. Sort of a win-win for everyone involved.

Nothing at stake? I don't think so, some came out to do business, others less so in my opinion. #TeamTutberidzeForProgress certainly held nothing back, they never do. Today will even be more interesting, longer programs more freedom of elements, after today we'll probably be able to mark out the prime candidates for the Russian team in the coming Continental and World Championships. Out of 4A only 3 can compete ...

Will be nice to hear proper evaluation and protocols or some professional assessment from the likes of Inna Goncharenko.

And of course what TSL to say :disapp:

 

[zounger]

I am concerned for Alena though. She has great chances to have good/very good placings this season but I feel like she's the only one from the group who doesn't really show any obvious improvement in comparison to previous years. Is it possible that she's already maxed out?

I don't think she maxed out. I will correlate it more with the effect of seeing the same program, so whatever differences, improvements are not so visible, because we have as a reference some very good skates of that program from last season.

 

[karina17]

When I turn on old links, it says something like ''removed because of the claim of xmd1tv". I assume it has something to do with Channel 1. The only available videos of junior test skates are the ones posted by their official channel. Too bad they didn't post senior ones on YouTube and geoblocked them.

The official channel just posted the senior ones. I guess it just took them a while?