2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Edwin]

Many different schools and an increasing number of commercial clubs, academies occupy the 50 or so ice skating rinks in Moscow.
So there are lots of the "open" kind of competitions, where you pay your registration fee and are allowed to compete.

CKSA, Khrustalniy usually send quite a number of kids in all age groups.

1sp and 2sp ranks are the strongest and most advanced:
Here is CSKA's Sof'ya Vazhnova from recent:


Or CSKA's Liza Kulikova:


Khrustalniy's Veronika An:


the original complete live streams have already been taken down by YT over music rights.

In each of these events there are always standout performances, no matter the age of the contestants.

Plus the average level of skating, quality of performance, variety in dresses is exemplary.

 

[flanker]

Some of this talk on Anna's different strategy forgets they were coached by the same team until last year. Also Anna only had 4Lz until GPF last year so it was never possible to do more than 2 quads.

On the topic of 1 or 2 quads, Anna fell on her 4Lz at Canada and her coaching team decided to put in 2 for the stage event straight after. Remind you of the strategy they produced for someone else? Yes, she made them, but the strategy is the same as for Trusova.

And then what about Valieva and Kostornaia? For Valieva, after the first competition where she landed a 4T she has always had 2 in her program, and the only time she ever landed 2 with positive GOE was a few weeks ago. Kostornaia, they put in 2 3As right from the start.

Edit: Sorry for the confusion, by Canada I mean Richmond, Canada not the JGPF.

The consideration whether one or more quads in a program after previous attempt I think is more about whether it is the same or different type of the quad. If a skater delivers a particular quad to some level of reliability in training, incl. in a combination, there is a reason to try this jump two times in a competition even if that skater was unsuccesful at the previous event.

 

[Novalis]

Many different schools and an increasing number of commercial clubs, academies occupy the 50 or so ice skating rinks in Moscow.
So there are lots of the "open" kind of competitions, where you pay your registration fee and are allowed to compete.

CKSA, Khrustalniy usually send quite a number of kids in all age groups.

1sp and 2sp ranks are the strongest and most advanced:
Here is CSKA's Sof'ya Vazhnova from recent:


Or CSKA's Liza Kulikova:

Khrustalniy's Veronika An:


the original complete live streams have already been taken down by YT over music rights.

In each of these events there are always standout performances, no matter the age of the contestants.

Plus the average level of skating, quality of performance, variety in dresses is exemplary.

Thanks Edwin! Liza Kulikova was impressive there. And I hadn't even heard of her before. Another fine talent at Team Davydov.

Edit: She is only two months younger than Berestovskaya: https://allskaters.info/elizaveta_kulikova/

I think I already watched those performances by Vazhnova and An.

 

[Thrashergurl]

A clean 3 quad program is extremely difficult, even for Sasha. Last season they tried this strategy - either GPF, Nats, or Euros and it was still a disaster. And she didn't have any room for mistakes, so that probably put her off.

Sasha was clear in her interview after leaving Eteri that she was upset because they limited her jumping, so I think she'll try all her quads.

It's hard for Sasha because she needs to have 3 clean quads and land the 3A but Alena/Anna/Kamila don't because they have the spins + PCS. Especially Kamila.

It's interesting how the 3 were able to add quads/3As faster than Sasha was able to improve her spins and PCS.

I think the girls were working the elements longer than most believe, so I don’t think it was as quick as some think. Sasha seems to be head strong and her strength and focus is jumping. I see she’s working on other aspects of her skating now and improvements are showing.

 

[Mawwerg]

One more thing regarding quads - 0 of 175 attempts I've recorded happened in St.Petersburg.

 

[Novalis]

One more thing regarding quads - 0 of 175 attempts I've recorded happened in St.Petersburg.

The city is cursed. There's some kind of a spell on it surely.

 

[silveruskate]

I hope something happens for Daria soon. Khromykh can now do 4S and 4T with 4T in combination. No need to rush, but it makes you wonder what is stopping Daria from being successful.

 

[kolyadafan2002]

I hope something happens for Daria soon. Khromykh can now do 4S and 4T with 4T in combination. No need to rush, but it makes you wonder what is stopping Daria from being successful.

I have a crazy idea.... I might be wrong... but perhaps quads are difficult?

 

[silveruskate]

I have a crazy idea.... I might be wrong... but perhaps quads are difficult?

They are, but this is Sambo where everyone is doing a Quad/3A. My curiosity is which problems she's facing that so far she hasn't been able to. I'm not saying this because I dislike her, it's concern. She's been working on a 3A for a long long time, and it looks like you'll need a Quad or 3A to podium at the biggest events.

Also in Japan now there are so many skaters that have at least shown to be able to land a 3A. Everything these skaters do is difficult and top level. Saying it's difficult won't get the medals. We haven't seen a single attempt yet.

(We've even seen attempts from Amber Glenn and other skaters)

 

[Scott512]

I think at this point, Valieva is the clear favorite, with Shcherbakova in close second. Trusova is a total wildcard - she could either win it all or fall off the podium completely.

The others - Tuktamysheva, Kostornaya, Usacheva - have too many weak areas to realistically challenge for the win. Tuktamysheva and Kostornaya both had covid recently, missed trainings and likely lost some shape. And neither Kostornaya nor Usacheva seem to have any ultra-c elements at the moment. I‘d say they have a fair chance at the podium, though, if one of the above don‘t perform as well. Shcherbakova was sick, too, but she‘s had the most time to recover.

So, yeah. My prediction is Valieva for Gold and Shcherbakova and Trusova for Silver or Bronze. Tuktamysheva, Usacheva and Kostornaya to make up the rest of the top 6.

Just for fun:
1. Valieva
2. Shcherbakova
3. Trusova
4. Usacheva
5. Tuktamysheva
6. Kostornaya

Kostornaya being so low kind of breaks my heart but she was already scored lower on the Cup series than Usacheva, missed the most training time of the top 6 during the summer and now got covid as well. So, if she attends, I can‘t see her do too well, just because she‘s got basically all the cards stacked against her.

And now I’m waiting to watch the whole thing fall apart and my predictions crumble.

Aliona 6th? No chance. You're trying reverse psychology which I perfected as a sports fan .

These kids shake off the covid-19 like it was just a head cold for a few days. No one else canskate like aliona as in as beautiful as Aliona skates. o she will shine no matter what.

If AK finishes 6th her head coach is going to take a pounding. I mean there's no Zhenya there's no Alina and
Liza had covid and Anya had a five-day battle with pneumonia. This is a fairly unpredictable Russian Nationals for the ladies except for maybe KV. But there's a lot of pressure on her we have to see how she handles it.

 

[Edwin]

The whole covid situation under the roof of the Academy of Angels is a bit confusing.
Wether everybody went into isolation or quarantine properly?
There might be more people ill that they let us know, check their IG page and wade through all the messages for names and hints.

Kostornaya has been seen doing PE, but no sign of Shulskaya or Muravyova?

Trusova insists on her " do not take my pictures " policy, and apparently has enforced it, but this is still no guarantee she is 100%.

Content for Russian National Championships need to be declared by December 18, 72 hours is the maximum age of covid tests, so there could be early- and last minute cancellations still.

 

[Amei]

The whole covid situation under the roof of the Academy of Angels is a bit confusing.
Wether everybody went into isolation or quarantine properly?
There might be more people ill that they let us know, check their IG page and wade through all the messages for names and hints.

Kostornaya has been seen doing PE, but no sign of Shulskaya or Muravyova?

Trusova insists on her " do not take my pictures " policy, and apparently has enforced it, but this is still no guarantee she is 100%.

Content for Russian National Championships need to be declared by December 18, 72 hours is the maximum age of covid tests, so there could be early- and last minute cancellations still.

Well perhaps some coaches might start handling students differently to avoid them spreading it from 1 student to another (single skaters might not come into contact 1 another but a coach working in a group probably) I saw a video yesterday of Lipnitskaia at the rink helping skaters and she had a mask on - its the first time I've seen a video of a coach or skater on the ice in Russia with a mask on.

 

[Vilord]

Content for Russian National Championships need to be declared by December 18, 72 hours is the maximum age of covid tests, so there could be early- and last minute cancellations still.

I would honestly be surprised if no one withdraws from Nationals due to Covid for two reasons. These withdrawals may not nessesarily be in the ladies though.
Firstly there have been many cases in the russian fs community and they dont appear to be doing anything different now compared to previously so cases will probably continue to pop up.
Secondly most skaters participating is of an age and fittness level where its fairly likely they wont notice it to much if they have covid. (This is one of the reasons its so hard to contain). Therefore its verry possible for them to feel fine and then go take their pree competition covid test olny for it to turn out positive and therefore have to sit out the competition despite not feeling ill (or at least not more than a minor cold level of ill).

 

[Edwin]

Veronika and Alyona Zhilina still jumping ultra-si with ease:


Their mother is a strict and tough but competent trainer.

Came by this nice close up with Veronika:

 

[silveruskate]

If skaters/coaches are smart, for those that haven't had the virus they'll be limiting all interactions with others leading up to Nationals and I expect that from them.

 

[Edwin]

In the meantime, Veronika Yametova skated a wonderful short program in the KMS ranks of Sverdlovskaya Oblast Ultimate competition for 36.91+29.52 = 66.43.


Hopefully, some more individual clips from this competition, which has the strongest skaters from Ural region, will eventually emerge to be archived.

 

[Edwin]

Fresh ice being made in Chelyabinsk for the coming National Championships of Russia:

Лед для сильнейших спортсменов. В Челябинске начали подготовку площадки для чемпионата России по фигурному катанию - 31TV.RU

«Каждая заливка — это примерно полмиллиметра, максимум миллиметр, насколько мы поднимем лед». Заливка льда для фигуристов — ювелирное занятие. Сотрудники идут очень медленно, чтобы аппарат разбрызгивал воду равномерно. Покрытие сравнивают с пирогом — рабочие укладывают около 20 таких слоев. «Мы...

31tv.ru

Has this clip with the ice making in progress, a tedious, but most important process.

 

[Skatesocs]

I need someone to translate Ari Zakarian's latest interview so I can know that a person related to the sport didn't just say "We have a lot of good skaters and even if someone gets sick, there's always a replacement."

 

[halulupu]

I hope something happens for Daria soon. Khromykh can now do 4S and 4T with 4T in combination. No need to rush, but it makes you wonder what is stopping Daria from being successful.

She is more of a 3a girl

 

[Edwin]

Preview of the National Championships:

Половина сборной России поедет на чемпионат страны после карантина. Стоит ли форсировать подготовку?

Это может привести к новым проблемам со здоровьем.

www.sport-express.ru

Half of the Russian national team will go to the National Championship after being in quarantine. Should they speed up their preparation?

This can lead to new health problems, including new injuries or worsening of old ones.

linked article with resume of jump collections:

teamrussia.pro

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