2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Lunalovesskating]

Zagitova was annoyed because they implied she didn't won (the actual comp) imo. Downplaying her victory.

No that is not what they implied. Evgenia literally opened the press conference with the words "let's have the champion go first" refering to Alina and saying that she has the right to answer the first question as the champion of the competition, she clearly achknowledged that Alina's team was the champion of the competition.
Her "not accepting defeat" is essentially "we aren't losers and are proud of winning the audience award" and not saying "you didn't win". There were two awards at this competition and Evgenia was proud her team won one of the awards. The one who did not want to achknowledge that were winners on both sides is someone else.

 

[[email protected]]

I read the whole press conference. There was some mild confrontation but I didn't see any big fights. Zhenya put some gasoline in the fire. She said that she was crying for the first time since the Olympics - she brought the topic of her disappointment then. She said that she was not happy about the selection procedure. She claimed that if Alyona was there the result would be different. This might affect Maja's further confidence as she was hinted as not a top skater. Finally she said that it would be much better if the Russians competed with the rest of the world rather than with each other. If I were Alina I would feel that this is trying to diminish my victory.

The question is whether the victory in this "manufactured event", as one local poster labeled it, mattered. I was surprised that it did. Both Alina and Zhenya took this friendly competition very seriously. Their emotions were very real - at least it looked like that. I see that those emotions were still there when they were at the conference. But I would not go for further generalization what it means.

 

[colormyworld240]

No that is not what they implied. Evgenia literally opened the press conference with the words "let's have the champion go first" refering to Alina and saying that she has the right to answer the first question as the champion of the competition, she clearly achknowledged that Alina's team was the champion of the competition.
Her "not accepting defeat" is essentially "we aren't losers and are proud of winning the audience award" and not saying "you didn't win". There were two awards at this competition and Evgenia was proud her team won one of the awards. The one who did not want to achknowledge that were winners on both sides is someone else.

That's not what happened, though? Evgenia said there were two winners because her team won the audience award. And Alina said her team won the competition.

If it's alright for Evgenia to say her team doesn't accept defeat because they won the audience award, then surely it's okay for Alina to say her team won the competition trophy?

 

[readernick]

That's not what happened, though? Evgenia said there were two winners because her team won the audience award. And Alina said her team won the competition.

If it's alright for Evgenia to say her team doesn't accept defeat because they won the audience award, then surely it's okay for Alina to say her team won the competition trophy?

Everything they said was ok. What Alina said was ok. What said Evgenia was ok. They were both tired/ sick and a little less polite than usual. This is fake drama.

 

[Vandevska]

I think Daria likes this makeup. Do you follow her on Instagram? She often posts the dramatic eye looks she does on herself in her stories. It seems like she likes experimenting and doing makeup herself.

I'm all for skaters wearing whatever makeup/dress they like if they chose it. Even if it's a bright green catsuit like Carolina's. It's a great way to express yourself and teenagers often experiment with their styles and makeup is a good vehicle for them. Especially since none of them have a "normal" childhood where they can wear different things to school. It's workout clothes all day.

That's how I see it too. She should wear whatever makeup she wishes. I don't wear makeup often at all, but when I do I like the art process of it and it's a lot of fun.

 

[Lzbee]

That's the whole point. No one cares about packages any longer. They may be real - may be just imaginary. Moreover, Ksenia never showed Medvedeva's or (arguably) Usacheva's level of skating. But even if she did the standard has been set: you need big jumps or you are out the team. If current senior quadsters start to fail there's a group of young quadsters coming.

Whether Ksenia can learn and perform 3A and/or quads is the only question that matters speaking about her competitive prospects.

Ksenia has a higher international average score than Daria though. And she had the second highest junior seasons best last season at 215.58 (after Valieva).

You're right though, with so many quadsters around, both Daria and Ksenia would need ultra-c elements to challenge for a world's spot. But they should at least be safe for Grand Prix spots considering they're both top juniors.

 

[yume]

No that is not what they implied. Evgenia literally opened the press conference with the words "let's have the champion go first" refering to Alina and saying that she has the right to answer the first question as the champion of the competition, she clearly achknowledged that Alina's team was the champion of the competition.
Her "not accepting defeat" is essentially "we aren't losers and are proud of winning the audience award" and not saying "you didn't win". There were two awards at this competition and Evgenia was proud her team won one of the awards. The one who did not want to achknowledge that were winners on both sides is someone else.

Ermolina said "there is no winner".
Medvedeva said "i don't admit defeat".

This is channel one cup. Not channel one cups.

 

[starlight97]

The pettiness of that press conference
It surely must have been a little flashback to the Olympics for Evgenia.
I LOVED seeing Alina clap back and stand her ground to Evgenia's passive aggressiveness, she's not the 15yo anymore who was left to hug her Teddy Bear in Pyongyang, cause the second place finisher needed consolation and attention, neither the 15yo who swallowed Tarasova's "we wanted Zhenya to win cause we like her more" without defending that, too bad Tatiana, I was the better skater.
She's an adult now who knows her worth and position.

At the end of the day, no biggy, but very pleased to see Alina has found her voice and some personality over the last 3 years of being a star.

Edit: It's not the end of the world to be a bit of a diva that we know Evgenia can be, but what is very rude is the comment that with Alena there, they would have had a better result. Poor 14yo Maya is already on the ground mentally without such comments, no need to kick and spit an her on top.

 

[readernick]

Ksenia has a higher international average score than Daria though. And she had the second highest junior seasons best last season at 215.58 (after Valieva).

You're right though, with so many quadsters around, both Daria and Ksenia would need ultra-c elements to challenge for a world's spot. But they should at least be safe for Grand Prix spots considering they're both top juniors.

Ksenia is a really special skater. Her programs are superior to Daria's , her skating skills are even better. ( Daria has lovely SS, too). It would be an absolute pity if she never gets to compete as an international senior.

 

[Shayuki]

She mentioned she started feeling ill again during the competition if I am not mistaken. The real issue in Russian skating is the terrible way COVID 19 was handled by the federation which has had traumatic effects on many skaters, not some slightly annoyed exchange between one sick skater and one tired skater.I guess the latter drama helps the federation avoid discussing the real issue.

It doesn't help that they don't take wearing masks seriously at all, it seems. Tons of people in audience and even coaches just wear them completely incorrectly without covering nose, making them completely useless. It's really strange, since at least over here in Finland, when I'm at a supermarket people do wear the masks correctly. I very rarely have seen people wearing them incorrectly if they actually have them on. Of course, can't compare how they'd wear them during public events like that since those are just about nonexistent at the moment.

Ksenia is a really special skater. Her programs are superior to Daria's , her skating skills are even better. ( Daria has lovely SS, too). It would be an absolute pity if she never gets to compete as an international senior.

Sinitsyna at her best is a stronger skater than Usacheva, indeed. Even if Sinitsyna can't do seniors yet next season, she should be able to perform quite well at juniors considering Russia will be relatively light next year, and secure some sGP spots that way.

 

[flanker]

The pettiness of that press conference
It surely must have been a little flashback to the Olympics for Evgenia.
I LOVED seeing Alina clap back and stand her ground to Evgenia's passive aggressiveness, she's not the 15yo anymore who was left to hug her Teddy Bear in Pyongyang, cause the second place finisher needed consolation and attention, neither the 15yo who swallowed Tarasova's "we wanted Zhenya to win cause we like her more" without defending that, too bad Tatiana, I was the better skater.
She's an adult now who knows her worth and position.

At the end of the day, no biggy, but very pleased to see Alina has found her voice and some personality over the last 3 years of being a star.

Edit: It's not the end of the world to be a bit of a diva that we know Evgenia can be, but what is very rude is the comment that with Alena there, they would have had a better result. Poor 14yo Maya is already on the ground mentally without such comments, no need to kick and spit an her on top.

Completely agree with this post. I can understand the emotions that were still stirred up after the competition and all this, but there were clearly things that were not sensitive towards Maiia. Alina also didn't make any allusions towards lets say men in her team who could have not so great skate and that if there was Danielian or Gumennik instead of poor Mozalev who didn't have his day their victory could be more cemented or anything like that.

But let's put this aside, I wish Maiia to gain the consistency in her skating, she's definitely capable of it. I like her skating (this seson's SP is IMO one of the best of Daniil's works and he deserves a credit for it) and want to see her around in the next years.

 

[starlight97]

Completely agree with this post. I can understand the emotions that were still stirred up after the competition and all this, but there were clearly things that were not sensitive towards Maiia. Alina also didn't make any allusions towards lets say men in her team who could have not so great skate and that if there was Danielian or Gumennik instead of poor Mozalev who didn't have his day their victory could be more cemented or anything like that.

All I'd have to say to Evgenia about this is: if you weren't pleased with your female teammates effort, then why did you not skate two competitive programs in their place?
Then there would have been no question about who was the weakest female skater of the field.
At some point in life, learn how to lose graciously.


As for Maya, I have so much sympathy for that girl. She's in direct comparison with Kamila and Darya everyday and she is just not at their level. The feeling of "I'm not good enough, I'm inferior, I disappoint my coaches, I let down my team in this event etc etc" I don't want to be in her boots any day of the year.
That horrible guy from the Skating Lesson said sth along the lines of "Eteri must be thinking, well do we keep her? Do we even need her? He quads are clearly not coming" and I fear Maya must have thoughts along those lines

 

[Jontor]

Completely agree with this post. I can understand the emotions that were still stirred up after the competition and all this, but there were clearly things that were not sensitive towards Maiia. Alina also didn't make any allusions towards lets say men in her team who could have not so great skate and that if there was Danielian or Gumennik instead of poor Mozalev who didn't have his day their victory could be more cemented or anything like that.

But let's put this aside, I wish Maiia to gain the consistency in her skating, she's definitely capable of it. I like her skating (this seson's SP is IMO one of the best of Daniil's works and he deserves a credit for it) and want to see her around in the next years.

Yes, indeed poor choice of words by Medvedeva.
Saying Kostornaia should have been there doesn't help much. In fact it wouldn't have helped at all as Kostornaia would have max scored 20+ more points than Khromykh and that wouldn't have been enough.
In fact, Kamila won this event single handedly for Team Zagi. Switch her with Trusova then Team Med would have won with the same margin.

 

[flanker]

Yes, saying Kostornaia should have been there doesn't help much. In fact it wouldn't have helped at all as Kostornaia would have max scored 20+ more points than Khromykh and that wouldn't have been enough.
In fact, Kamila won this event single handedly for Team Zagi. Switch her with Trusova then Team Med would have won with the same margin.

If you presume that everyone's results would be the same, but many could deliver better or worse. Other day, other results, I think, as for the basic potential I definitely don't think the teams were unbalanced.

 

[Skatesocs]

That horrible guy from the Skating Lesson said sth along the lines of "Eteri must be thinking, well do we keep her? Do we even need her?

Yes, those must have been his own mother's thoughts at one point.

 

[Lzbee]

Yes, indeed poor choice of words by Medvedeva.
Saying Kostornaia should have been there doesn't help much. In fact it wouldn't have helped at all as Kostornaia would have max scored 20+ more points than Khromykh and that wouldn't have been enough.
In fact, Kamila won this event single handedly for Team Zagi. Switch her with Trusova then Team Med would have won with the same margin.

Eh Valieva skated exceptionally but it wasn't necessarily single handedly won by her. You could swap any of the pairs in ladies and it would have made up the difference.

Usacheva <--> Kromykh
Shcherbakova <--> Tuktamysheva
Valieva <--> Trusova

Basically each of the Red team scored about 30 points total more than their Blue team counterparts.

 

[Briananing]

I think Daria likes this makeup. Do you follow her on Instagram? She often posts the dramatic eye looks she does on herself in her stories. It seems like she likes experimenting and doing makeup herself.

I'm all for skaters wearing whatever makeup/dress they like if they chose it. Even if it's a bright green catsuit like Carolina's. It's a great way to express yourself and teenagers often experiment with their styles and makeup is a good vehicle for them. Especially since none of them have a "normal" childhood where they can wear different things to school. It's workout clothes all day.

ah no I didn't follow her Instagram account, I don't think I follow any figure skater on insta, to be honest. Oh so it was Daria herself who did her own makeup. I thought she hired a makeup artist because we don't usually have any junior with that much makeup as far as I remember. Though it would be more strange perhaps, if a makeup artist would let Daria go on that stage without blending her contour like yesterday. As a fan, I usually give my opinion on skater packaging as well, after all in a sport like figure skating, aesthetic kinda matter to a certain point. I personally think that since the skater is young and beautiful, rather than covering her face, it would be better to just enhance her beauty with more suitable makeup. After all, even if they are going with a more mature image for Daria transitions to senior field, it doesn't always mean that she needs to look "old" (that is a poor choice of word but i dont know what to call her makeup look was). But if that is what she chose to do, well then good for her to stand for her ground and know what she wants.

 

[Gabby30]

Yes, those must have been his own mother's thoughts at one point.

This comment doesn't make you any better....

 

[Skatesocs]

This comment doesn't make you any better....

None of yours do, either, dear. But at least mine was aimed at a grown man instead of a 14 year old.

 

[nussnacker]

That horrible guy from the Skating Lesson said sth along the lines of "Eteri must be thinking, well do we keep her? Do we even need her? He quads are clearly not coming" and I fear Maya must have thoughts along those lines

There’s no need to pay attention to them... it’s really sad, that Maiia is a target of constant harsh commentary. Not that she’s been rock solid to prove anyone otherwise, but she’s also not going to worlds anyways, and I think there’s no shame at not being 100% at this kind of event.

It’s really tough for her, and she never was a mentally strong competitor, she would often make mistakes on triples at first.
That being said, that quad was close at JrWorlds, she’s been landing quads at practices, and she’s been gaining consistency little by little. So I see improvements, they’re just not happening as quickly as it would be typical for a russian lady.

That JrWorlds FS was actually really beautiful, and I think it highlights what I grew to like about Maiia: she’s just a very unusual skater, with very long limbs, and yet still very elegant, graceful. That FS program shows it better than the one this year, and overall it was more successful.
Would be perfect if they kept it this season with her current SP, to show her diversity as a performer.