Alena Kostornaia

[icybear]

I could totally see Alena pulling off this version of My Baby Shot Me Down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSNHCdSR6tc. It's perfect for a sp.

 

[SkateSkates]

It seems like there will be a show in Moscow on February 26 featuring the skaters of Team Tutberidze and Team Mozer where we will see Aliona again before worlds! I wonder if we will see her gala program or a competitive program...? I guess time will tell

 

[SnowWhite]

Edwin, I have been worrying about EXACTLY this since I first saw Aliona jumping her trixels in the corners at Finlandia Trophy. :yes:

But I didn't want to say anything earlier for fear of jinxing Aliona's chances to make the World team in the first place. :noshake:

The Ladies SP at Worlds starts on Wednesday, which will be really weird for me because the 4 competitions I've been to have always had the ladies last. But in that case, I really hope the Russian girls arrive in time for practice on Monday (instead of only practicing the day before the SP) so they can get used to the rink size.

Anna had a chance to skate on an NHL-sized rink at Skate America, and it's possible that Sasha did too at Skate Canada, but Aliona has not skated on an NHL rink this season. She probably skated on one at JGPF in Vancouver, but she wasn't doing 3As then. I'm quite worried that the long and narrow rink will throw her off, but more recently she hasn't been doing her axels so far in the corner. But now that her lutz cuts across the narrow length of the rink, I'm also worried about that.

And I'm also really concerned about her trying a 4S for the first time on a weird shaped rink.

I think Mao Asada's team did put some foam barriers down on her home rink to make it narrower, so she could get used to it. I wonder if Team Tutberidze would consider doing the same...

I couldn't find online for sure, but I would assume that the Skate Canada rink was NHL-sized since most North American rinks are, and that rink is used for a WHL team. But actually the facility that hosted that JGPF does have an International-sized rink (it may also have an NHL rink, I couldn't tell for sure).

 

[Falun]

PHENOMENOLOGY OF ALIONA KOSTORNAIA
[...]

Adding to that, I think that in her unconventionality she is still principled. So far, whenever someone asked her to comment on rivals, I have seen her refuse to do so. So she is clearly not just blurting out her thoughts without filter, but intentional about what she says (or does). In the case of the little dance on the podium with Anna, she seems to spend some seconds thinking about it before saying something to Anna and starting to dance: https://youtu.be/lkM0pRB-d3g?t=449.

 

[Edwin]

Alyona has been on Vecherniy Urgant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fl0FIKM0ME , with some of the other medalist

Talking about the lack of hot water, but the ice was excellent.
Talking about the 'hangar', where the arena was comfortably heated, but the dressing rooms and press rooms were in other tents, which were often cold, so some athletes caught a cold.
Hardly anybody knew how to waltz, but Ivan Bukin gave some emergency lessons.

 

[sk8kirsty]

Did you know that Alyona is actually smaller than Trusova in real life??!! She actually looks the same age (or possibly even younger) than both Anna and Sasha!! [emoji33] :shocked: on video she looks much older and more mature but in real life she is tiny!!

 

[vesperalvioletta]

Did you know that Alyona is actually smaller than Trusova in real life??!! She actually looks the same age (or possibly even younger) than both Anna and Sasha!! [emoji33] :shocked: on video she looks much older and more mature but in real life she is tiny!!

Yes, she is the tiniest of the 3A. I believe this is fairly well known. They were all around the same height until Sasha and Anna hit growth spurts last year.

 

[SkateSkates]

Did you know that Alyona is actually smaller than Trusova in real life??!! She actually looks the same age (or possibly even younger) than both Anna and Sasha!! [emoji33] :shocked: on video she looks much older and more mature but in real life she is tiny!!

Yes! She’s always been shorter than them, you can see it in pictures of her and Sasha from the 2017-18 season. She started to catch up to them when she had a growth spurt before/towards the beginning of the 2018-19 season, but they seem to keep growing at a faster rate than Aliona

I don’t think she will get much taller since she’s already taller than her mom, and it’s clear if you look at pictures that she has “matured” so she will probably remain around 151-155cm (unless something unexpected happens).

 

[Heikkitapani]

Yes! She’s always been shorter than them, you can see it in pictures of her and Sasha from the 2017-18 season. She started to catch up to them when she had a growth spurt before/towards the beginning of the 2018-19 season, but they seem to keep growing at a faster rate than Aliona

I don’t think she will get much taller since she’s already taller than her mom, and it’s clear if you look at pictures that she has “matured” so she will probably remain around 151-155cm (unless something unexpected happens).

It is amazing that such a tiny cutie has the biggest, boldest and most beautiful trixel ever. On the ice she grows about a feet!

 

[McBibus]

It is amazing that such a tiny cutie has the biggest, boldest and most beautiful trixel ever. On the ice she grows about a feet!

If you get close to her she seems so tiny and delicate, yet she's so explosive!
Her skating is of a 20 years old.
She has a massive stage presence and natural ability to communicate emotions.
To make it short: She's the best

 

[McBibus]

Aliona's charm has arrived!!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8EeD-zIlBl/

asu_graphite, a comic artist from Venice, created this in two variants and gifted it to Aliona at Bolzano Passiona Gala.
I ordered one and arrived today.

I attached it to my motorbike keyring, so angel Aliona can watch over me.
I'm also totally happy to have even such a little object that Aliona has too!.

I know it may sound silly or childish, but receiving this charm really made my day... and you're probably the only people who can understand it

 

[Azikin]

Aliona's charm has arrived!!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8EeD-zIlBl/

asu_graphite, a comic artist from Venice, created this in two variants and gifted it to Aliona at Bolzano Passiona Gala.
I ordered one and arrived today.

I attached it to my motorbike keyring, so angel Aliona can watch over me.
I'm also totally happy to have even such a little object that Aliona has too!.

I know it may sound silly or childish, but receiving this charm really made my day... and you're probably the only people who can understand it

OMG, beautiful! I went to etsy and I see "8 people have this in their carts right now." It may sold out quickly..

 

[Edwin]

Aliona's charm has arrived!!!

Every biker needs a guardian angel, and Alyona will do obviously, for she also has a devilish side, just like many bikers ;-)

But you should not let Alyona infatuate you to act recklessly, for everything Alyona does is calculated and measured.

 

[McBibus]

OMG, beautiful! I went to etsy and I see "8 people have this in their carts right now." It may sold out quickly..

I think she just made 10 white and 10 blacks, but I may be wrong

 

[McBibus]

Every biker needs a guardian angel, and Alyona will do obviously, for she also has a devilish side, just like many bikers ;-)

But you should not let Alyona infatuate you to act recklessly, for everything Alyona does is calculated and measured.

Very sensitive Edwin :agree:
Are you a biker too?

I hope it could also be a memento that there are many beautiful thing in life, but you can find them only if you get home safely.
Bikes can really be devils speaking of temptations.

 

[Heikkitapani]

If you get close to her she seems so tiny and delicate, yet she's so explosive!
Her skating is of a 20 years old.
She has a massive stage presence and natural ability to communicate emotions.
To make it short: She's the best

Yeah, her stage presence is huge and artistic impression fantastic. They should count more, not just points of jumps. She reminds me a bit of legendary Irina Rodnina; of course Aliona is far better skater and far more beautiful but Irina R was also a master of communicating emotions.

 

[McBibus]

Yeah, her stage presence is huge and artistic impression fantastic. They should count more, not just points of jumps. She reminds me a bit of legendary Irina Rodnina; of course Aliona is far better skater and far more beautiful but Irina R was also a master of communicating emotions.

The PCS difference between Aliona and Sasha SP+FS was 5,54 points
4Lz - 3Lz (BV) = 5,6

That's how much PCS counts: nothing.

 

[SkateSkates]

Hopefully Aliona will be back to her best at worlds and her PCS scores will reflect this. She seemed to lack a bit of confidence this time, which is understandable if she didn’t trust her technique after experiencing coordination problems after the break. Plus, knowing a worlds spot was on the line added some pressure I’m sure.

At least now it seems like she is consistently scoring in the 9s for SS. This should always be her highest mark, in my opinion. I hope the judges accurately mark her transitions score next time. She is doing difficult entries and exits into every element except her 3Lz doesn’t have a complex entry, only the exit (understandable as she is focusing on the edge this season). No one else is doing difficult entries into all of their Ultra-C elements....actually no one is doing turns on deep edges with ease into any of their elements the way Aliona is. I don’t understand why this mark continues to lag behind her others - for example at Europeans, it wasn’t her best performance, yet PE was higher than TR. This is not accurate in my opinion.

 

[Batsuchan]

So I was rewatching that interview with Aliona and Anna...
https://youtu.be/I4aUsSZn414

And I have to say that the thing that surprised me the most was that Anna and Aliona roomed together! (Well, only when Anna wasn't staying with her parents.)

I was not at all surprised that Aliona stayed up most of the night watching TV. Or that she and her cousins fought over pens at New Year's--after all, this is how they celebrated someone's birthday:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BydUIxGJMeA/?igshid=19k15l4eqv959

I wasn't even surprised that she went through 7 pairs of Chorus boots--as someone else said, no wonder she got injured! :yes:

But yeah, I was truly surprised when Anna admitted that they were rooming together! I had always assumed that Aliona would room with Dasha, but I guess maybe the ladies arrived so much later than the pairs that that didn't make sense...? Or maybe Aliona and Anna actually prefer to share a room..? I suppose Anna stayed with her parents for most of the days, so Aliona effectively had a room to herself. (In my mind, I imagine that Anna is very neat and tidy, and Aliona is a total slob, with clothes and makeup and stuff strewn everywhere! )

I was kinda surprised by the pictures at Russian Nationals of Anna & Aliona arriving at the draw together--but I guess if they were sharing a room then too, it makes sense that they came together... :yes:

At least for now it seems like the 3 A's get along really well, and it's really heartwarming for me to see. I hope they can keep that friendly vibe! :agree:

 

[Azikin]

I think she just made 10 white and 10 blacks, but I may be wrong

Yes, 9 were still available. I couldn't decide, so I bought both versions.. :