2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Fried]

Who's claiming it? Certainly not me.

I'm just saying on the day of European Championships Anna was the best skater there.
Under any fair judging: Russian, European, Asian, Eskimo or extraterrestrial.

If Alyona didn't fall and hit the board with the force of hockey player at full speed, I wouldn't say a single word.

Well then, in God's name, say it. The world will get over it, although I really wonder what degree of absurdity the "If, would, should - Anna fanfiction" will still reach. First quad in training? Not Sasha, actually Anna, unfortunately there is just no proof. Quad revolutionary? Not really Sasha, actually Anna, if she hadn't broken her leg! Alyona European Champion? No, actually Anna, if the judges had been fair. Did I forgot something? Certainly. No matter. More important is: what may come next? The whole story is really ridiculous. Anna is really not to be envied for these kinds of fans, because they are doing her no favors. Instead of simply congratulating Anna on the successes actually achieved, the attempt is made to negate the successes of other skaters and ascribe them to Anna. Has there ever been something comparable with another skater?

 

[brakes]

Yes, technically winning the national title is less prestigious than a major international one, even the Europeans. Moreover, in the Russian sports title ranking list you are still just a "master of sports" after you win Rusnats, winning the Europeans give you "international master of sports", and winning the worlds "honored master of sports".

Anya has "international master of sports", so it may be medalling as well.

 

[brakes]

Well then, in God's name, say it. The world will get over it, although I really wonder what degree of absurdity the "If, would, should - Anna fanfiction" will still reach. First quad in training? Not Sasha, actually Anna, unfortunately there is just no proof! Quad revolutionary? Not really Sasha, actually Anna, if she hadn't broken her leg. Alyona European Champion? No, actually Anna, if the judges had been fair. Did I forgot something? Certainly. No matter. More important is: what may come next? The whole story is really ridiculous. Anna is really not to be envied for these kinds of fans, because they are doing her no favors. Instead of simply congratulating Anna on the successes actually achieved, the attempt is made to negate the successes of other skaters and ascribe them to Anna. Has there ever been something comparable with another skater?

I've never had problems with congratulating successes to another skaters, so don't imply such things. It's false and rude.
I have also right to question fairness of judging in some competition, that's what fans of all sports do all the time.
And Anna's quad video from April 2017 appeared sooner than Sasha's. If you wanna reverse timeline, be my guest - I'll be younger.

 

[Fried]

I've never had problems with congratulating successes to another skaters, so don't imply such things. It's false and rude.
I have also right to question fairness of judging in some competition, that's what fans of all sports do all the time.
And Anna's quad video from April 2017 appeared sooner than Sasha's. If you wanna reverse timeline, be my guest - I'll be younger.

When exactly which video was recorded and published can no longer be clearly assigned today. On the other hand, a member had already linked an interview several times in which eyewitnesses reported the reactions to the first quad that landed. And it was NOT about Anna.

 

[brakes]

When exactly which video was recorded and published can no longer be clearly assigned today.

It can be clearly assigned by anyone following Russian fs back then. Those vids were big deal.

 

[starlight97]

Please. Anybody saying some GP stage GM or European GM is worth more or leave alone "harder" than a Russian Nationals Ladies Gold has either been sleeping for 6 years since Sochi or has no idea about skating and can just read big words.

Russian Nationals is the most competitive, by FAR hardest event to win in modern day ladies skating. All the top female skaters are Russian. Plus, the Russian juniors who are just as good or even better skate at those nationals.
Anna, Sasha, Alena(if back), Kamila, Darya, Liza.. and that's just the top tier. Even the second tier with Medvedeva, Maya and the likes would stomp most girls from other countries.

Who do you have at worlds (where there are no Russian Juniors) that makes it harder to win than RusNats? Rika? I beg to differ and chuckle.
And Europeans or some random GP stage? Give me a break.

 

[GINO]

It doesn't really matter as Anna should have won Euros with fair judging.

Sasha's fans will say you that she should have won RusNats in 2018 with fair judging
Alena's fans will say you that she should have won RusNats in 2019 with fair judging

As for the prestigious title EC vs RN. Definitely European title is more prestigious and for example last year it was easier to win Russian nationals. The gap between the first place and 4 was 57 points at RN and 48 at EC.

 

[Shayuki]

Yes, she is very good performer.
After winning Moscow's Younger Novices, she already managed to win two another competitions, in the last one she beat younger Zhilina, by the way - do I correctly hear Grishin commentating?

2 competitions during the same week, wow!

On this second competition, I think she did even better, especially with the jumps. Over 52 points for the SP is really insane actually, I'm not sure I ever saw that in this category, even by Sofia Akatieva. And the jumps are REALLY big. They also are done with significantly better technique than the last competition's. Isn't it great when a skater fixes jump technique issues in just 3 days?

Her improvement in this past year is absolutely insane to me. A year ago I saw her doing her first "triple" as a downgraded 3T that barely got off the ice, and now we have up to 18/30 frame triple jumps, which is same air time as some quads have been. Actually, Shcherbakova's first 4T all the way back in 2017 was 17/30.

 

[Fried]

It can be clearly assigned by anyone following Russian fs back then. Those vids were big deal.

About as clear as the fact that Anna would have become European champion under any fair assessment, about as clear as the fairness of the Russian judges and about as clear as Anna's Lutz-Edge.

 

[brakes]

2 competitions during the same week, wow!

On this second competition, I think she did even better, especially with the jumps. Over 52 points for the SP is really insane actually, I'm not sure I ever saw that in this category, even by Sofia Akatieva. And the jumps are REALLY big. They also are done with significantly better technique than the last competition's. Isn't it great when a skater fixes jump technique issues in just 3 days?

Her improvement in this past year is absolutely insane to me. A year ago I saw her doing her first "triple" as a downgraded 3T that barely got off the ice, and now we have up to 18/30 frame triple jumps, which is same air time as some quads have been. Actually, Shcherbakova's first 4T all the way back in 2017 was 17/30.

Still, don't you think Kostyleva is gonna win nats?
What's your predictions for both groups?

 

[Lzbee]

National and international scores can't be compared directly anyway, due to a slightly different internal scoring system that promotes difficult risky elements that can be polished later in the season, and due to a more favorable subjective judging (unconscious or to promote the athletes among foreign judges).

On the other hand, nationals are held early in the season, when skaters are not quite used to their new programs yet.

Grand Prix Final is held before nationals though?

I agree it is difficult to compare international and national scores.

 

[brakes]

About as clear as the fact that Anna would have become European champion under any fair assessment, about as clear as the fairness of the Russian judges and about as clear as Anna's Lutz-Edge.

I've never heard of anyone bending time using sarcasm, but feel free to try.

 

[dante]

Grand Prix Final is held before nationals though?

Oops, my bad.

 

[NaVi]

Astashenkova. The new girl with a 3A who popped out of nowhere (well Army of Skaters actually). I guess she has a jumping talent and maybe if she moves to Eteri/Davydov she could be "The One".

She landed a 3A in competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4FO8HhE8rs

She's not very remarkable besides the 3A but who knows if she got better coaching.

 

[flanker]

Well then, in God's name, say it. The world will get over it, although I really wonder what degree of absurdity the "If, would, should - Anna fanfiction" will still reach. First quad in training? Not Sasha, actually Anna, unfortunately there is just no proof. Quad revolutionary? Not really Sasha, actually Anna, if she hadn't broken her leg! Alyona European Champion? No, actually Anna, if the judges had been fair. Did I forgot something? Certainly. No matter. More important is: what may come next? The whole story is really ridiculous. Anna is really not to be envied for these kinds of fans, because they are doing her no favors. Instead of simply congratulating Anna on the successes actually achieved, the attempt is made to negate the successes of other skaters and ascribe them to Anna. Has there ever been something comparable with another skater?

The real problem is that when Anna's fans simply "congratulate her on the success she actually achieved", some very active fans of other skaters have emotional meltdown, claim they want to "throw up" and start to whine that it means nothing, she never achieved anything internationally, she should go back to juniors, she's faking her health issues (because 1TV microphone was turned up to 200 % ) or whatever salty comments they do. This level of undermining particular skater is truly incomparable with another skater.

If the European Championship and the GPF were so easy to win, why didn't the outbidding skater stand on top of the podium?

First, I never said "so easy". Second. Speaking of difficulty, Europeans are out of the question, currently the only hard medal competitors are other russian ladies that are competitors in russian domestic competition as well. As for GPF, that is much closer, particularly precisely because more than three russian skaters can qualify. But I would say more prestigeous are still Europeans than GPF, mostly because of the tradition.

 

[GINO]

Actually, Shcherbakova's first 4T all the way back in 2017 was 17/30.

Why is the training quad is such a sore point for Anna's fans? Tursynbaeva jumped quad on practice in September 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aJlhZmCOYQ is this some kind of achievement? Has this changed something? No, many skaters jumped quads in training and even a couple of times at competitions (Ando, Bonaly), but it was Trusova who began to constantly insert quads into the program and the rest followed her (Sasha has jumped quads in all competitions since 17-18 season and 22 competitions in a row does not leave the ice without landing at least one quad). I'll just remind you that by the time Anna decided to do a quad at competition, Sasha had already jumped 3 quads in one program.

 

[eterialskating]

oh that’s so awkward. i just saw the post and got angry. (you’re right i thought about daria u not daria sadkova though it makes sense now that i think about it that this was about daria s since she did just compete).

I got pissed off too thinking someone was trying to compare D. Usacheva to V. Zhilina. They are absolutely not in the same stratosphere performance wise. A lot of Russians share the same first name/nickname so a clarification is warranted. Speaking of Zhilina, she looks like a great jump technician but I just find her skating generic and campy. She also has I'm sorry to say this, a sour looking face, which does not help with emoting on ice. I think she could become a technical power skater on the mould of Trusova but she needs to develop and learn to have stage presence and charisma, traits which Trusova had naturally.

 

[Shayuki]

Why is the training quad is such a sore point for Anna's fans? Tursynbaeva jumped quad on practice in September 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aJlhZmCOYQ is this some kind of achievement? Has this changed something? No, many skaters jumped quads in training and even a couple of times at competitions (Ando, Bonaly), but it was Trusova who began to constantly insert quads into the program and the rest followed her (Sasha has jumped quads in all competitions since 17-18 season and 22 competitions in a row does not leave the ice without landing at least one quad). I'll just remind you that by the time Anna decided to do a quad at competition, Sasha had already jumped 3 quads in one program.

1. My post had nothing to do with that.
2. Anna would also have had she not broken her leg, but hey.

I don't get why you make such a post when my post had absolutely nothing to do with Trusova in any way at all. I just remembered the frame count for Anna's 2017 4T off the top of my head.

 

[Shayuki]

She landed a 3A in competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4FO8HhE8rs

She's not very remarkable besides the 3A but who knows if she got better coaching.

This jump tech is absolutely ridiculous. This isn't how you jump an axel. I don't think there's any chance that that would last for very long.

 

[Lzbee]

I think she could become a technical power skater on the mould of Trusova but she needs to develop and learn to have stage presence and charisma, traits which Trusova had naturally.

Big Spender may have been questionable in age appropriateness but Sasha performed the heck out of that program. So much natural charisma and stage presence. We haven't really seen anything like that from her since but I think it's a style the judges would take to. I wonder what she'd do with a similarly sassy and fun program nowadays.