2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Jontor]

Trusova has gotten so tall...wow. I don't know where she will be long term, but gutsy she is, and fearless she is. And she changed ladies figure skating forever.
I'm so glad all three got a medal-together again, and they seemed to be having so much fun. All three were fabulous. This year has been a pressure cooker for all three, so nice that they can relax a bit and enjoy.

I think the good thing in it all is that they have each other. You could see in that sofa when they were waiting for Alina to skate that they were sitting there casually joking with each other and just having fun.

I guess it would be so much harder if you are alone. These girls have each other.

 

[Amei]

I don't understand how they (her team) would even say that publicly even if it were true.

Eteri has talked on TV about private conversations between her and Evgenia Medvedeva before so I don't know why anyone is shocked if someone from Sambo has said something that Alina needs to or is considering retiring. And it's not like it's a "bad" thing that Zagitova might be considering retiring, she's won everything, she's got business commitments outside of skating (I swear I'm not saying that in a negative way, just stating fact), and for safety reasons she's not able to train the difficult jumps that Trusova/Shcherbakova/Kostornaia are doing. It's probably really easy to say that she only wants to go out perform; basically implying she's knows winning would be difficult without the quads/triple axel, but in reality quite difficult to go out 'competing' knowing that you have a 10-20 point technical deficit against skaters that you are going have to beat to get to the 'big shows' of Europeans/Worlds. Alina has really grown artistically, maybe she should consider doing a Han Yan situation and take a season off and decide if continuing the grind of competitive skating is what she wants because most likely to get to another Europeans/Worlds/Olympics will require a quad or triple axel.

I'd really appreciate it if someone translated what Tat and Averbukh were saying during at least the performances of the 3 medalists... and any interesting comments they made elsewhere.

I've only gotten partially through the NBC recording of the Short program (FS is in a couple hours) so far and I have to say the catty duo are pretty balanced in complimenting the skaters and not stating what they need to work on in a snide way. I do wish that they would stop referring to Shcherbakova as 'fragile' though.

 

[anonymoose_au]

I don‘t want to be snippy too but... only lately?

Oh snap!

I must say I wasn't able to watch live, but I checked the results this morning and congratulations Aliona! I thought Sasha would come roaring back, but there you go.

I hope Alina isn't too disappointed.

I wonder, if Liza can do a 3A in the short as well as a 4T in the FS (along with the 3As) how does that place her? Could she get third at Russian Nats? Or would that be a Christmas miracle

 

[VenusHalley]

Sasha can do a 4-5 quad program cleanly, and her recent inability to do so has nothing to do with any stamina issues. Her 4S is a bit inconsistent at the moment and that has nothing to do with stamina. She can be a bit hesitant with that jump. Yes, she fell on the 4T at the end in today’s FS, but that’s an aberration. Sasha would never try all those quads if she wasn’t capable of performing them clean.

She cannot do a five quad program. If Alina did not have a meltdown, she would be off podium.

 

[VenusHalley]

Oh snap!

I must say I wasn't able to watch live, but I checked the results this morning and congratulations Aliona! I thought Sasha would come roaring back, but there you go.

I hope Alina isn't too disappointed.

I wonder, if Liza can do a 3A in the short as well as a 4T in the FS (along with the 3As) how does that place her? Could she get third st Russian Nats? Or would that be a Christmas miracle

Honestly, if Sasha decides to further complicate her FS, like adding 3A or going for SIX quads or something equally ridiculous... Liza could sneak in front of her on Nationals. She seems to be all about being first to do quad related so and so, but her scores are not getting better for it.

 

[SkatingFan9]

She cannot do a five quad program. If Alina did not have a meltdown, she would be off podium.

Sure she can, and she will. And soon. Her 4S and her hesitancy with this jump at times are the only things holding that back. Sasha would never attempt 5 quads without the ability to perform them.

I don’t see the point in your last statement? And if we’re being honest, it was hardly a given that Alina would have scored the 154 or so that she needed to take over third, even with a clean program. Her best ever FS score is 158.5, and she is clearly not at that level this season.

We all can play that “what if” game, though...and there are no what-ifs about Trusova controlling her own destiny whenever she skates.

 

[Amei]

Honestly, if Sasha decides to further complicate her FS, like adding 3A or going for SIX quads or something equally ridiculous... Liza could sneak in front of her on Nationals. She seems to be all about being first to do quad related so and so, but her scores are not getting better for it.

Well we have yet to see Elizaveta do a quad in competition so let's hold off on penciling her in on the podium. But I do think that Trusova has sacrificed quality for quantity of quads while she does more types of quads than Shcherbakova I feel that the quads that Shcherbakova does are more impressive than Truosova's quads.

 

[Mishaminion]

She cannot do a five quad program. If Alina did not have a meltdown, she would be off podium.

She HASN'T managed to do one you mean? I'm not sure Alina would have been able to stay ahead, her SB from JO was 151 skating clean. Sasha had ten points more than that in the FS.

 

[Jontor]

Honestly, if Sasha decides to further complicate her FS, like adding 3A or going for SIX quads or something equally ridiculous... Liza could sneak in front of her on Nationals. She seems to be all about being first to do quad related so and so, but her scores are not getting better for it.

True. Looking at the protocols here in the GP Final you can see that both Alena and Anna are way ahead of Sasha in all other elements. Sasha is focusing too much on her quads. She has already lost her 3Lz3Lo. And tonight she didn't even do the Biellmann.

 

[PrayOrDie]

She cannot do a five quad program. If Alina did not have a meltdown, she would be off podium.

She can. She doesn't look as tired as some MEN skaters with lesser amount of quads. Its just matter of time when she'll do it.

 

[Mishaminion]

Honestly, if Sasha decides to further complicate her FS, like adding 3A or going for SIX quads or something equally ridiculous... Liza could sneak in front of her on Nationals. She seems to be all about being first to do quad related so and so, but her scores are not getting better for it.

161+ is higher than her Rostelecom score of 160+

Of course she managed 166+ at Skate Canada but she's still above 160

 

[Jontor]

She HASN'T managed to do one you mean? I'm not sure Alina would have been able to stay ahead, her SB from JO was 151 skating clean. Sasha had ten points more than that in the FS.

But Alina only had to do 153.58 to take bronze here, and that was in her reach with a clean skate. But sadly it was not to be...

 

[Mishaminion]

True. Looking at the protocols here in the GP Final you can see that both Alena and Anna are way ahead of Sasha in all other elements. Sasha is focusing too much on her quads. She has already lost her 3Lz3Lo. And tonight she didn't even do the Biellmann.

Sasha does Sasha. I don't think anyone can tell her differently, she wanted to try this 5 quad program and she gave it her all.

She might be more sensible for Nationals and try a clean 3 or maybe 4 quad instead, this is more achievable.

Drop the 4S and keep the 4F she landed here.

Hopefully get that 3A in the SP too, she was very close.

 

[SkatingFan9]

True. Looking at the protocols here in the GP Final you can see that both Alena and Anna are way ahead of Sasha in all other elements. Sasha is focusing too much on her quads. She has already lost her 3Lz3Lo. And tonight she didn't even do the Biellmann.

She didn’t lose it. It is just too risky when one considers the reward for doing ‘only’ a 3Lz+3T is very similar. She’s definitely not losing that many points by doing a 3Lz+3T, that’s for sure.

As for the rest...and yet, with a clean FS, Trusova would still be the one to beat (even with a botched SP 3A).

 

[Mishaminion]

But Alina only had to do 153.58 to take bronze here, and that was in her reach with a clean skate. But sadly it was not to be...

Sadly not.

Sasha did deserve her Bronze though and she looked happy with it. She's experimenting and not as concerned with victory at the moment...good on her, I like her mentality.

 

[VenusHalley]

True. Looking at the protocols here in the GP Final you can see that both Alena and Anna are way ahead of Sasha in all other elements. Sasha is focusing too much on her quads. She has already lost her 3Lz3Lo. And tonight she didn't even do the Biellmann.

That 3Lz3lo has been problem for her for a bit.

At one hand one has to admire her... but you should skate with actual program, not a jump drill.

 

[NadezhdaNadya]

Shcherbakova does not jump very high... The jump for which was shown height, distance and speed at the end had height only 39 cm. Alyona's element was 57 cm and Sasha's - 56 cm. Bradie had 43 cm.

 

[Jontor]

That 3Lz3lo has been problem for her for a bit.

At one hand one has to admire her... but you should skate with actual program, not a jump drill.

I think though that at nationals (hopefully) Eteri will guide her to do a more sensible short and long program. The World Team place is at stake and I am sure Sasha would hate to miss out on that!

 

[SkatingFan9]

I think though that at nationals (hopefully) Eteri will guide her to do a more sensible short and long program. The World Team place is at stake and I am sure Sasha would hate to miss out on that!

Do you really think they’d keep Sasha out of Worlds? She’s their best hope for the gold. They’re not stupid.

 

[ec00834]

Shcherbakova does not jump very high... The jump for which was shown height, distance and speed at the end had height only 39 cm. Alyona's element was 57 cm and Sasha's - 56 cm. Bradie had 43 cm.

Lol have you seen her quad lutz?