2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Jontor]

I have fallen out of love with Gubanova, sad to say. She can be an exquisite skater but today I came to the conclusion that if she wants to compete in the sport she needs to switch to another country. Far too many are just better in Russia. I didn’t understand with all of her musical abilities why she’d skate to “17 Moments of Boring”. And her jumps appear much more muscled and wonky and inelegant.

Poor Stasi, but that is her talent level. All her jumps were not high quality.

I’m thinking that this will be the moment when many girls see the writing on the wall and seriously start country shopping.

Gubanova's programs this season has been somewhat meh. I think with all the problems she had throughout the year might been a factor.

It's funny that at Europeans, the only interesting competition against the Russian ladies will probably be the ex-Russians Safonova (Belarus) and Kurakova (Poland). They will probably only fight for 4th and 5th places though.

 

[sweetice]

Can Shulskaya and Tsibinova be added to junior nationals by coaches' council?

I don't think is something to be expected, as they both have choose to not do the junior stages of the Cup of Russia. They still can try to catch the qualification to the Elder Age.

 

[Jontor]

Ladies competing in todays Nationals that for SURE won't be in any GPs next year

Anastasia Guliakova
Valeria Shulskaya
Anastasia Gubanova
Ksenia Tsibinova
Serafima Sakhanovich
Elizaveta Nugumanova
Maria Talalaykina
Anastasia Gracheva

Anyone of these girls will be glad if they can get a Challenger event, but that's not for sure either...

 

[Elucidus]

It's funny that at Europeans, the only interesting competition against the Russian ladies will probably be the ex-Russians Safonova (Belarus) and Kurakova (Poland). They will probably only fight for 4th and 5th places though.

Maybe Shabotova (Ukraine) appears as well. She jumps 3A as they say. But I agree, Europeans will be boring tournament for Russia and/or Eteri haters.

 

[DenissVFan]

Anyone of these girls will be glad if they can get a Challenger event, but that's not for sure either...

RusFed and their Challenger assignments :dev2:

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

Sinitsyna for two gp assignments next season!!

 

[Tavi...]

Anyone who thinks Sasha shouldn't have been on the podium today needs to get their brain checked. I thought she should've been fourth in the FS (behind the wonderful Kseniia Sinitsyna), but with the 16 point lead she had over Ksenia, she was going to be on the podium no matter what. The big mistake was the pop on the 4T, even with a fall, her 4F and 4Lz got the same amount of points as a 3S or 3Lo. Also can we please stop with the conspiracy theories about Zhenya. Stop doting on "what ifs" and look to the future. Zhenya withdrew. She could've gone on the podium, but she also could've gotten horribly injured and out for the rest of the season. We can't go back in time and try to prevent Zhenya's boots from breaking so why are we still saying "but if Zhenya didn't withdraw she would've been on that podium"? Who's to say that Zhenya would've skated clean? Sasha had clean practices and look what happened? Zhenya had boots that were basically dead so I wouldn't say her chances of skating clean were much higher than Sasha's. Zhenya had a wonderful skate at Rostelecom, but this is RusNats. Where the top 3 are always overscored by at least five-ten points so I have no idea why anyone would assume that domestic scores can be compared to international ones.

Umm, exactly who here is arguing that Sasha shouldn’t have been on the podium or setting forth conspiracy theories about Zhenya?

 

[sweetice]

Maybe Shabotova (Ukraine) appears as well. She jumps 3A as they say.

She is too young for this European Championship.

 

[Casual]

Too bad the "so-and-so deserves to go to the Men's World" thread was removed.

I wish she would. Because such side-by-side comparison would make it obvious to anyone who didn't notice already, how woefully unartistic most ladies performances are in comparison to men. It's very strange, but true.

This is why I like Kostornaya. At least she's musical and emotes.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

Umm, exactly who here is arguing that Sasha shouldn’t have been on the podium or setting forth conspiracy theories about Zhenya?

oh tons of people. Not on golden skate but on basically any other social media site (instagram, Tumblr, YouTube you name it).

About the Zhenya thing, perhaps not so much conspiracy theories about her withdrawing but we spent quite some time discussing one smirk from Eteri, as if Eteri somehow had a hand in all of this. I have seen few rumors (I didn't look much into them) that claim something was amiss about Zhenya's withdrawing at this time.

 

[Tavi...]

oh tons of people. Not on golden skate but on basically any other social media site (instagram, Tumblr, YouTube you name it).

About the Zhenya thing, perhaps not so much conspiracy theories about her withdrawing but we spent quite some time discussing one smirk from Eteri, as if Eteri somehow had a hand in all of this. I have seen few rumors (I didn't look much into them) that claim something was amiss about Zhenya's withdrawing at this time.

Oh okay, thanks!

 

[Mishaminion]

I was really really happy for Anna. She should have won by more than 2 points, though! I'm really sure with international scoring she will beat Aliona easily if she lands her 3 quads. As for Sasha, I was heartbroken for her and cried with her. But she is still the queen of quads and when she lands them all like she does in practice, she is truly unstoppable. Her time will come. Anna and Sasha are so humble both on and off the ice and gracious in victory and defeat, and I was so proud of Anna for not celebrating her win while her training mates were in tears.

Oh come on...

Anna scored 181 and that is not enough for you...and yet you were endlessly complaining about Alyona scoring almost 90?
Anna and Sasha are humble and gracious but you missed someone there didnt you?

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Too bad the "so-and-so deserves to go to the Men's World" thread was removed.

I wish she would. Because such side-by-side comparison would make it obvious to anyone who didn't notice already, how woefully unartistic most ladies performances are in comparison to men. It's very strange, but true.

This is why I like Kostornaya. At least she's musical and emotes.

Imo showing utter disrespect for those that your favorite skaters compete against is showing disrespect for the skaters that are your favorites. It’s a huge disservice to Alena and one I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate.

 

[Casual]

Imo showing utter disrespect for those that your favorite skaters compete against is showing disrespect for the skaters that are your favorites. It’s a huge disservice to Alena and one I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate.

Stating most ladies show less artistry then men is not "showing disrespect". It is what it is. I like many ladies skaters (most of them not Russian), but if I see that men are better, I say so. It's ridiculous to pretend they are just as good if they aren't.

As for "disrespect to competitors", there's a difference between 1) disliking a skater (which is fine, we're not obliged to love everyone) and 2) disrespecting score padding (it should never be respected IMHO).

As for the former, these are performers; they perform in front of the audience, and the audience has a right to pass judgement. You may disagree, and someone may find your favorite less than impressive, but that's okay. It's not "disrespect", it's "critique of performer".

As for the latter, it should never be respected. It's not a performer's fault, but if scores are padded, it should not be swept under the rug "to show respect to performer". Because such a thing disrespects all performers, and the audience most of all. JMHO

 

[colormyworld240]

Too bad the "so-and-so deserves to go to the Men's World" thread was removed.

I wish she would. Because such side-by-side comparison would make it obvious to anyone who didn't notice already, how woefully unartistic most ladies performances are in comparison to men. It's very strange, but true.

This is why I like Kostornaya. At least she's musical and emotes.

I hope you don't mean Anna, because many with dance and music backgrounds on this forum have recognized what a rare and incredible gift Anna's musicality is. And if you want a reputable figure skater, Ted has been gushing about Anna's musicality in all her performances this season. He was talking about it before most of the international FS community even knew who she was. He even asked Anna about how she feels her programs and music in his interviews with her. But if you'd like to point out time stamps to where she wasn't musical in her skates, or where she wasn't emoting to suit the music and theme of her programs, I'm sure it would be a valuable contribution here!

 

[Tolstoj]

I have fallen out of love with Gubanova, sad to say. She can be an exquisite skater but today I came to the conclusion that if she wants to compete in the sport she needs to switch to another country. Far too many are just better in Russia. I didn’t understand with all of her musical abilities why she’d skate to “17 Moments of Boring”. And her jumps appear much more muscled and wonky and inelegant.

Poor Stasi, but that is her talent level. All her jumps were not high quality.

I’m thinking that this will be the moment when many girls see the writing on the wall and seriously start country shopping.

The impression i got from this year Nationals is that the level was weaker than last season, there were more mistakes in general and scores were lower outside the podium.

Meaning those who goes for clean performances in both segments finished in a very good spot.

Gubanova could have been higher with cleaner performances, but honestly Rukavicin's girls were all not in great shape at these Nationals going in, judges were harsh, there's that too: for instance i don't think Gubanova's 3f-3t in the second half was under.

She needs a stronger preparation and a better free skate: she's still a far more interesting than all those Frolova, Shulskaya, of the situation which were all very snoozy to me: yes great jumps, but where's the performance?

Ladies competing in todays Nationals that for SURE won't be in any GPs next year

Anastasia Guliakova
Valeria Shulskaya
Anastasia Gubanova
Ksenia Tsibinova
Serafima Sakhanovich
Elizaveta Nugumanova
Maria Talalaykina
Anastasia Gracheva

Anyone of these girls will be glad if they can get a Challenger event, but that's not for sure either...

Wait, what?

Guliakova not getting a GP event after 7th place at Nationals, that would be nonsense.

Also RusFed needs to be more clear on the procedure of that, cause last season Sakhanovich got a spot without even competing at nationals, so i think it's more about the performances at the challenger events, and if you look at those Tsibinova might get something.

For me and this is entirely related to the way i see figure skating and not RusFed opinion, you need to give the chances to the older ladies who finished in the top 10 here, to make the journey worth something, so Guliakova, Gubanova (and a third one maybe Shulskaya or Tsibinova) should get those spots Sotskova, Konstantinova, Sakhanovich had this season.

On that note when Davydov or Panova are going to get a skater competing seniors? you have these new coaches bringing results but they are always doomed to JGP competitions and then the skaters leave almost like it's all planned from the start.

Otherwise what's the point, you keep pushing the same coaching team over and over, out of 20 teams, all the money goes to the same one, that's not healthy competition, the other coaches will give up sooner rather than later. Not only that but you keep pushing younger generations, trashing the old ones.

At this rate in 2-3 years Ледниковый Период/Ice Age Kids will be senior Nationals in Russia.

 

[Happy Skates]

I'm a bit late, but congratulations to all of the girls today!

For Anna, this was huge. She landed 3 quads, which is something that only one other lady has ever done. Her consistency this season has blown me away, and I just love her programs so much. When people say that she is in danger of not making the world team, she goes and wins her second national championship. Two time national champion, it sounds nice. And it feels like yesterday that he won her first, I can't believe its been a year. She really is good with the domestic competitions. If she continue skating consistently like this, and at least landing the two 4Lzs, I think her reputation and PCS will continue to rise. I keep waiting for the day where she'll stop being written off, but she might have to win an Olympics for that to happen .

And for Kostornaya, it was also amazing. Her triple axel consistency is frankly amazing, and the three she did here were beyond amazing. Height, transitions, everything. I have to say I don't love the first two parts of her free program and I am a bit bored of the short because she's been doing it for so long, but thats not on her, and I still enjoy her. As for the fact that she now has a 4S, yay! I totally believe it. It will be interesting to see how consistent she is with it considering how consistent she is with all of her triples, including the axel. But a quad is a different. I'm not sure that she'll necessarily put it in this season considering how high she is scoring without it, but we'll see. We also don't really know how well Kostornaya holds up after falling in a program, because she barely ever falls (which is quite amazing, she's just soooo consistent). That will factor into whether she puts it in or not.

As for Trusova, I was heartbroken for her, but I'm sure it will turn around. It must have been especially frustrating considering she was clean on her official run through. And what an amazing fighter she is to come back in that second half to come back with that amazing quad + eu + 3s combo (my favorite combo from anyone ever honestly) and her beautiful lutz loop which she's been struggling a bit on after such a disastrous first half. But she's such a good sport and managed to crack a smile just minutes after her performance. And the silver lining is that she still got on the podium and will (almost certainly) be going to Euros (and Worlds although that not officially decided 'til later.). It will be interesting to see how she comes back from this after having gotten 3rd twice. We haven't really seen her mess up this badly, except maybe at the JGPF last year, so I am interested to see how she handles it. In my opinion, I think she should leave the 3A until next season, after she's had the summer to perfect it. I just don't think its worth the risk unless she really is able to get it consistent, but for her it seems like she takes a little while to get these difficult elements consistent (which of course is understandable). If she just does a clean short and gets a score in the mid-70s, then she can come back in the free and out-score everyone. Which isn't easy of course, but imo is a lot more likely than her doing a clean 3A in the short.

And a congrats to Sinitsyna! a great comeback and 5th place is very respectable for a junior. I had forgotten that she would be debuting the senior version of this routine, so I was pleasantly when she did the added choreo sequence and her beautiful ina bauer came back (honestly one of the most beautiful ina bauers I've ever seen). This 5th place finish should get her senior team funding next year, no? I remember Tarakanova saying somewhere that top 6 automatically gets you on the national team, but maybe I misunderstood. Either way, this sets her up well for next year and I'm excited to see her senior programs where she'll get to do that ina bauer every time .

Now its time for Youth Olympics. I'm hoping for Sinitsyna to do great , but I'm also curious to see who is the other girl that goes with both Vasilieva and Tarakanova injured (?). Will one of them be recovered, or will Frolova go or something (she certainly did well here)?

 

[Casual]

I hope you don't mean Anna, because many with dance and music backgrounds on this forum have recognized what a rare and incredible gift Anna's musicality is. And if you want a reputable figure skater, Ted has been gushing about Anna's musicality in all her performances this season. He was talking about it before most of the international FS community even knew who she was. He even asked Anna about how she feels her programs and music in his interviews with her. But if you'd like to point out time stamps to where she wasn't musical in her skates, or where she wasn't emoting to suit the music and theme of her programs, I'm sure it would be a valuable contribution here!

Actually, no, I don't mean Anna. She's not half bad, compared to many others. (Still, even the best* ladies are not quite as artistic as the best men, which is confounding to me. *Best as in "best artistically", not by medal count.)

But I do have high hopes for the current crop of ladies. After severe lack of musicality in ladies skating, I'm ready for some breakthrough.

 

[Mishaminion]

Kseniia Sinitsyna was brilliant in the FS.
More consistency and she will be a real threat to the Eteri Juniors this season.

 

[Mishaminion]

Actually, no, I don't mean Anna. She's not half bad, compared to many others. (Still, even the best* ladies are not quite as artistic as the best men, which is confounding to me. *Best as in "best artistically", not by medal count.)

But I do have high hopes for the current crop of ladies. After severe lack of musicality in ladies skating, I'm ready for some breakthrough.

I don't see how the likes of Anna, Alyona, Alina or Zhenya are less artistic than the men...say Nathan Chen or Kevin Aymoz for example?
Yuzu is more artistic than any of them but that's Yuzu...