2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating | Page 254 | Golden Skate

2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

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So, according to some sources from Instagram, Zhenya is severely injured. Her back injury again, and is getting one her nervous roots. She was strongly advised against jumping by doctors, Brian and Tarasova, but she wanted to go for it anyway. That’s why she said she didn’t go for her donut spin.

Aliona is having a free program made by Shae-Lynn, now that’s some interesting news. Pluschenko said she’s also injured and that she was on injections during her performance. I wonder what the music will be. I really like Shae-Lynn’s work, and I’m more excited for it now.

I’ve said it before, but I would like to point out what both Sasha and Aliona have said in interviews about Eteri’s team:


https://youtu.be/7_M1fXitsbk

About why she hasn’t learned 4 loop at 20:15.

She said all the coaches that work with harness were too busy with everyone else to teach her.

Of course these girls need more individual attention, there’s no problem at all if they need it! Aliona probably didn’t have anyone to try the 3A on harness with her after the quarantine, as Dudakov was the only one who worked with it and probably had to use it for the juniors too.

Sasha needed someone to work with the harness with her even during the season.

Imagine a crowded rink and these girls having to practice quads and triple axels, while their coaches were only paying half attention on them, because there were more than 8 skaters already. I would hate, and it’s not appropriate.

I’m very happy that Aliona was open about how she was treated at Eteri’s group.
 
dunffvanstorn said:
So, according to some sources from Instagram, Zhenya is severely injured. Her back injury again, and is getting one her nervous roots. She was strongly advised against jumping by doctors, Brian and Tarasova, but she wanted to go for it anyway. That’s why she said she didn’t go for her donut spin.

Aliona is having a free program made by Shae-Lynn, now that’s some interesting news. Pluschenko said she’s also injured and that she was on injections during her performance. I wonder what the music will be. I really like Shae-Lynn’s work, and I’m more excited for it now.

I’ve said it before, but I would like to point out what both Sasha and Aliona have said in interviews about Eteri’s team:


https://youtu.be/7_M1fXitsbk

About why she hasn’t learned 4 loop at 20:15.

She said all the coaches that work with harness were too busy with everyone else to teach her.

Of course these girls need more individual attention, there’s no problem at all if they need it! Aliona probably didn’t have anyone to try the 3A on harness with her after the quarantine, as Dudakov was the only one who worked with it and probably had to use it for the juniors too.

Sasha needed someone to work with the harness with her even during the season.

Imagine a crowded rink and these girls having to practice quads and triple axels, while their coaches were only paying half attention on them, because there were more than 8 skaters already. I would hate, and it’s not appropriate.

I’m very happy that Aliona was open about how she was treated at Eteri’s group.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn’t get what interview “from few weeks ago” you were referring to, cause I watch Sasha quite closely and last time she spoke about it was in Spring.

In the interview you linked, she never said they were busy training with younger skaters, it clearly has nothing to do with any kids in any rinks, she doesn’t even remotely refer to any situation on the rink.
She said both Sergejs were away on competitions (I assume with juniors and novices). If that what you think caused lack of attention, well I don’t think it’s realistic to expect that coaches would just keep skipping competitions of younger athletes.
Aliona never said that she had any lack of attention from Dudakov, in fact she said she had all her triples back, except for 3A.

While we’re in the topic, it’s that “crowded” rink where Sasha learned a 3A and 4 types of quads, Anna learned 2 types of quads, Aliona -3A, Kamila -4T, Maiia -4S, Elizabet - restored her 4S and got 3A, so clearly there was never an issue with learning jumps in that rink. And Sasha never even said she had any issues with her training conditions. She said she wasn’t happy that they kept stopping her from jumping the amount of quads she wanted to jump.
 
TripleAxelQueens3 said:
Okay but it is so barely outside that I wonder whether or not that slight outside will last until the next competition. On a different note, do people count the edge when the toepick hits the ice or when the body starts to rotate?
Click to expand...

It should be simultaneous -toe touch and the body starting to rotate, otherwise it would be more like a Salchow :)
 
I like that Aliona pushes the envelope with her programs and chooses music that has meaning for her which underscores a certain maturity of expression uniquely hers despite her age; this sets her beyond the others in my view. Her Billie E SP is like a piece of avant-garde art, thoroughly modern, so well done even in this early stage. The fully crafted, perfected piece this will become will be breath-taking in a very non-lyrical way!! Stretches FS expression to a new realm ..
 
At the beginning I was of the opinion that it is irresponsible to hold the event with an audience. But when I read now that athletes with a fever can simply keep training and start instead of isolating them as quickly as possible, I realize that empty ranks would have been of no use either. Frankly, I think the security concept is a bad joke.
You could call it Russian Roulette.
 
Alena was nervous and not ready I think they should let her skip the test. She needs more time to master her news programs plus she was injured.

Sasha is more artistic, I like her new SP, the lyric type fits her.

Sofia, I hope it’s just a simple cold. It’s a pity she and Alena have to withdraw their FP. Skating with a fewer, she did well knowing her circonstances.

zhenia, I like her music and she wasn’t at her best but she’s fighting. She was also injured. I wonder if she will able to skate today.

I like Liza’s new costume and her program was cool.

Anna et Kamilia are both stunning. They are my favorites this saison.

This test skate seems cursed with so many injuries and withdrawals. Finally I’m glad that Alina is not there.
 
nussnacker said:
But that’s the part that puzzles me... judging by the videos from her new rink, she skates with way more than 8 people now, and with little skaters too (since Plushenko has a lot of very young skaters).
Sasha also was seen training with 7yo Sasha Plushenko, with Sofia Titova and Zhilina sisters.

So I’m not sure if a lot has changed in this regard by now for Aliona. I think she really acted on an impulse, she was probably unhappy that they didn’t budge and listen to her, and thought that those relationship‘s are irredeemable.
I hope everything will turn out well for her nevertheless.
Click to expand...

But then why would Sasha leave for close to the same reason? Was this impulse as well? In my opinion, no.

Maybe prioritizing elite skaters wasn't the right word, but they should absolutely be separate from younger, more inexperienced skaters for safety and productivity reasons. Especially if the little ones aren't given much direction on right of way and such, it can be really difficult for higher level skaters to be productive when they are always getting in your way. There is a reason many clubs and rinks separate low level from high level.

Also, the way I read what Aliona said about approaching TT about her concerns made me think it was something that had changed after everyone went back to training, or maybe things got worse.

But I dont think either of these girls acted out of impulse, now that we know everyone's sides of the story.
 
CVD

Like i said in the short, Trusova looks like the one who made the most improvements and the one who looked the most ready. New free is better than last year's GoT, although i'd still add a little more choreo at the beginning. But that 4t-3t looked wow! I see they are working on skating skills, it's a long process but at the very least i see the effort now compared to previous seasons.

Shcherbakova is growing, i like the dress if that is the final one, that 4ltz was very underrotated and i don't get why going for 3-4 lutzes in the program if your edge is almost never on the outside. Are they going for it and complain when judges call them as they did in China last season? The choreo was okay, not the most memorable work i've to say. Opening reminded me of Valieva's free from last season.

Valieva. I'm a little more surprised cause she looked ready in the short, while the free looks very empty and not particularly fitting, Bolero doesn't seem her thing at all, i wonder how much the first very scary fall on the quad toe influenced the rest of the performance.

Tuktamysheva some lovely jumps, some improvements on spins and choreography but it's still all very work in progress, while Medvedeva even more work in progress than Liza cause even Zhenya's jumps are now a bit of a question mark on the full rotation.

I've to say the boys were almost more fun to watch than the girls here.
 
Time to sum it for today.

As for the score, the first three are:
1. Sasha (with 4T-3T being the most notable element of today).
2., 3. Anna/Kamila (Kamila gains more for the quad combo, the rest would be so-so, some spins and stsq for Anna IMO)
4. Liza
5. Evgenia

The order doesn't have anything to do with the skaters effort, they did everything they could at this moment. Nobody was clean today. Nobody of those was clean a year ago. I can only hope they will improve through the season and there is no reason to think they shouldn't, if they avoid injuries and illness..

As for the programs themselves:
1. Anna's program, with all the objections that it is similar, it's just her comfort zone and whatever, doesn't matter, doesn't care. It's precisely her strong weapon and she is not afraid to use it.
2. Kamila's Bolero (I love Bolero, I confess). Hard choice for her, but it's a program.
3. Liza - program, on Mishin's standards, doesn't look bad at all.
4. Sasha - not sure whether it's a program or just training seassion with the music ;) I liked Sasha's program yesterday, this one maybe later, in full parade, I will appreciate it more.
5. Evgenia - that isn't the evaluation of the potential of the program, just how it looks at this moment under those circumstances, where Zhenya herself said she didn't have much time and opportunity to train that (and by the phone instructions).
 
Some thoughts now that the event is over:

Sasha: That was quite possibly the best 4T-3T that she's ever done. It was so pretty and effortless! This program definitely needs more work in comparison to her short, but overall she really impressed me here. She looks SO solid and I cannot wait to see how the rest of her season pans out!

Kamila: I may be biased because I hate Bolero, but this wasn't it for me. I just don't think she has the performance ability to pull it off quite yet. There were some nice moments but overall a miss for me. But kudos to her for skating so well after opening with that terrifying fall!

Liza: Definitely prefer this program over her short even though I'm not completely sold on either of them. I do appreciate that she's trying new things and I like that she's brought back some different spin positions! Interested to see how this one develops. (Also, the +2A sequence has returned to haunt us all :laugh:)

Anna: The music was a little monotonous at times but overall I thought the program was stunning. It shows off her delicate interpretation so well. Jumps were a little iffy and looks like the 4Lz isn't quite back yet, but she looks more than ready for her first Cup stage next weekend!

Evgenia: She is such a fighter and I love her to pieces but this was a tough watch. I'm not a huge fan of Cirque programs either, but I do appreciate that she's branching out and I think the program has the potential to be really quirky and cool if she gets into it a little more. I am a little worried though, as she's also supposed to compete next weekend and she looks nowhere near ready. Really hope she'll pull it together :pray:

Overall a great event as always, but I did really miss Alena and Sofia :( But, I'm very excited to see Alena's new program and I hope Sofia gets better soon!
 
macy said:
But then why would Sasha leave for close to the same reason? Was this impulse as well? In my opinion, no.

Maybe prioritizing elite skaters wasn't the right word, but they should absolutely be separate from younger, more inexperienced skaters for safety and productivity reasons. Especially if the little ones aren't given much direction on right of way and such, it can be really difficult for higher level skaters to be productive when they are always getting in your way. There is a reason many clubs and rinks separate low level from high level.

Also, the way I read what Aliona said about approaching TT about her concerns made me think it was something that had changed after everyone went back to training, or maybe things got worse.

But I dont think either of these girls acted out of impulse, now that we know everyone's sides of the story.
Click to expand...

I don’t think Sasha acted on an impulse. Quite contrary, I think she was upset she didn’t skate clean, was limited in the amount of quads her team allowed to her to do etc. So she had an issue that was building up throughout the season.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Sasha never mentioned anything about her training conditions. I think her main issue was the ownership of the process in general. Since Eteri I assume is quite rigid and puts many restrictions what to do when, she went to the place where she would be given more freedom and take responsibility for what she does.


But I don’t even get the whole thing about Aliona to be honest. If it’s something that was always there, there has to be a reason why it became an issue for her now. If it was something new, I would assume Eteri wouldn’t do something just to make the training of all of her top skaters hard, or just plain annoy them for no reason. Likely, there was no other way, either due to lack of resources or perhaps it wasn’t even permanent, since they all were at that base only for summer.
If that’s the real reason, I would assume Eteri failed to communicate to Aliona why things were the way they are. I think the fact that Aliona didn’t get answers to her suggestions it just reached a boiling point for her.
 
Tolstoj said:
CVD

Like i said in the short, Trusova looks like the one who made the most improvements and the one who looked the most ready. New free is better than last year's GoT, although i'd still add a little more choreo at the beginning. But that 4t-3t looked wow! I see they are working on skating skills, it's a long process but at the very least i see the effort now compared to previous seasons.

Shcherbakova is growing, i like the dress if that is the final one, that 4ltz was very underrotated and i don't get why going for 3-4 lutzes in the program if your edge is almost never on the outside. Are they going for it and complain when judges call them as they did in China last season? The choreo was okay, not the most memorable work i've to say. Opening reminded me of Valieva's free from last season.

Valieva. I'm a little more surprised cause she looked ready in the short, while the free looks very empty and not particularly fitting, Bolero doesn't seem her thing at all, i wonder how much the first very scary fall on the quad toe influenced the rest of the performance.

Tuktamysheva some lovely jumps, some improvements on spins and choreography but it's still all very work in progress, while Medvedeva even more work in progress than Liza cause even Zhenya's jumps are now a bit of a question mark on the full rotation.

I've to say the boys were almost more fun to watch than the girls here.
Click to expand...
To zhenya apparently she wasnt even supposed to jump at all yesterday, thats why TAT looked like she did, apparently her old back injury is flaring up a bit( thats sadly a given since some spins are not easy on the back i would imagine) and it pinched a nerve if the info is correct. So on one hand i wantto scream at zhenya that she puts herself i danger on the other hand i have nothing but respect for her to come out here .

Gesendet von meinem SM-T813 mit Tapatalk
 
Sasha's 4T+3T was awesome!

And I actually feel like I might really love Zhenya's program. Was there supposed to be a cartwheel in there or something?
 
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