2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[brakes]

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.

Wow, where did this girl come from?
Technique is very bad though.

 

[chasingneverland]

Therein lies the dilemma. She's really the one who can ultimately take the gold from Kamila if both skate clean. Sarah Hughes only landed two 3/3's ONCE in her career and it was at the Olympics. Who's to say Sasha won't by miracle of miracles have the competition of her life with 5 quads and 2 3axels? It's improbable, but all it takes is hitting it when it counts. So Kamila is in a tough spot, should she continue learning new quads and risk injury or just focus on what she has now? I think Kamila should rather work on perfecting a --3loop combo because that's a lot more points than a --2toe and won't require a crash helmet to perfect it.

Yeah but that's the case for everyone. Anna is also said to be working on the 3A/4T and she already has two quads (4Lz and 4F) and can do both in combo (so 3 in a program) and already has the 3Lo combo. And she's not the only one. Rika already has 2/3 3As and a 4S and is training a 4T. In fact Rika is the only lady (besides Sasha) to score over 200 points in every competition in 2018-2020. And others will show other upgrades. For everyone, it comes down the maximum they can skate cleanly while under pressure and still be able to perform/interpret and still have the energy for all other elements to the best of their abilities including spins and step sequences.

 

[Fried]

The real problem is that when Anna's fan s 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.
(..)

I don't understand why one thing leads to another. I don't know whose fans you mean, but they are right on that point. She doesn't have an international title. Of course, nobody has to keep mentioning that, but in fact it is not wrong. As for the call to return to juniors, that was a long time ago. Why keep digging this up for all eternity? Just to use it as a justification for continuing the own wrongdoing?

 

[Shayuki]

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.

Yep, Trusova's best program by far. Not sure all the "epic movie music"-type songs she keeps getting suit her all that well.

 

[chasingneverland]

All of you discussing this makes me realize that this season was really unfortunate for Aliona. Had worlds been held, she likely would've been world champion, now she'll probably never get that chance again.

Yeah. That's why Kamila's skating hurts Aliona the most. Last year she was really at her peak and worlds was cancelled. All the senior skaters have had difficulties with injuries, illnesses, coaching changes, lost training time, etc, but everyone else has shown improvements or at least regained their competitive peaks from last year somewhere - Sasha's landed her 3A and her jumps and artistry look better, Anna's 4F looks better, Liza's performance qualities are amazing and her jumps look good - Rostelecom was the best she's been in awhile, etc. So Aliona has the most to do to get to last year's peak and she has the lowest BV (even with her 3As). Also where she gets her points is the most political - PCS and even last year Anna was catching her. So everyone - Aliona, Anna, Sasha, Kamila, Daria, Liza - lost out on GP/JGP, GPF/JGPF, Junior Worlds, Euros, Worlds - medals/PBs/rankings, etc but it seems to be hurting Aliona the most because she hasn't been able to regain her peak from last year, so far. And other than Liza, she's older than everyone else so there is more wear and tear on her body. That said, I hope she has the skate of her life at the Cup Final and claims a World's spot and has the skate of her life there - as it stands I worry she needs that even to get on the podium. (Rika is still a threat and has a higher BV and super high PCS.)

 

[chasingneverland]

Unfortunately, Anja can only be judged "fair" by the jumping jacks of the Federation. It's a shame.

It wasn't just the RusFed that judged her and awarded her a silver on Euros and GPF. (And gave her the win in the FS.) So that statement is misleading and wrong.

 

[flanker]

I don't understand why one thing leads to another. I don't know whose fans you mean, but they are right on that point. She doesn't have an international title. Of course, nobody has to keep mentioning that, but in fact it is not wrong. As for the call to return to juniors, that was a long time ago. Why keep digging this up for all eternity? Just to use it as a justification for continuing the own wrongdoing?

Because all the meltdowns about Anna are here for eternity as well and return with nearly every of her performance. It's once again action and reaction. You blame those who simply react to the people who are bellitling her achievements (for instance claiming that winning nationals means nothing) by simple stating that for instance winning russian nationals among ladies can be and in many cases truly is much harder than winning international competitions. People wouldn't need to remind that without such constant undermining.

BTW ranting about Anna's fans doesn't give you much credit, when your emotional meltdown about particularly Anna after the last russian nationals when you blamed her of literally everything from faking her health problems to doping hardly bear any comparison.

 

[brakes]

All of you discussing this makes me realize that this season was really unfortunate for Aliona. Had worlds been held, she likely would've been world champion, now she'll probably never get that chance again.

I'm pretty sure Anna would have won Worlds.

 

[Shayuki]

Unfortunately, Anja can only be judged "fair" by the jumping jacks of the Federation. It's a shame.

Actually, Shcherbakova kept getting relatively low scoring until she did well internationally and got very high scores. Then the domestic scores followed. Not the other way around.

For example 2018 junior nationals SP, Sasha got 32.31 PCS, Anna got 29.52 PCS.

 

[Fried]

BTW ranting about Anna's fans doesn't give you much credit, when your emotional meltdown about particularly Anna after the last russian nationals when you blamed her of literally everything from faking her health problems to doping hardly bear any comparison.

In general, I never blame active skaters for anything because they are caught in addictions and have to play along. With teams, things look different. I no longer comment on the Chanel One - TT - coproduction of the Nationals Christmas fairy tale, I have served my ban. Anyway, I found the whole thing repulsive.

 

[nussnacker]

I'm pretty sure Anna would have won Worlds.

I think all 3 had a fair shot Them competing against one another was very exciting last season, because it was hard to tell who’s going to win, all depended on who made errors and who skated clean.
This year things are different, because Aliona didn’t manage to get back to her level of last year, so it will between Anna and Sasha.
Though, Aliona can too come out and surprise everyone with a 3A, like she did last season.

I think any win last season for either of the three was a big deal. They were essentially just competing between each other, and every single competition for them was just as hard because they faced each other every time. Winning Nationals would mean less, had Sasha, Aliona and Anna all been from different countries and not being direct competitors there. But with them essentially going head to head every time I’m sure it was just as stressful and hard.

 

[brakes]

Actually, Shcherbakova kept getting relatively low scoring until she did well internationally and got very high scores. Then the domestic scores followed. Not the other way around.

For example 2018 junior nationals SP, Sasha got 32.31 PCS, Anna got 29.52 PCS.

She had to earn everything, including fans' respect, though injuries, tournament disappointments and fallen quad attempts.

 

[flanker]

In general, I never blame active skaters for anything because they are caught in addictions and have to play along. With teams, things look different. I no longer comment on the Chanel One - TT - coproduction of the Nationals Christmas fairy tale, I have served my ban. Anyway, I found the whole thing repulsive.

Maybe not in general, but surely in particular. Definitely it's hard to accept any critique about the fans after what you've shown here on december 26th.

 

[Dawn825]

I was wondering about GP too. Maybe they'll take old season's best and rankings into account. In any case, 3A, Liza T, Kamila, Daria are definitely getting 2 spots each. Alina, Evgenia too, but don't know if they'll compete next season. Remaining spots will be given to Ksenia, Sofia, Nugu, Maiia or maybe Guliakova as a host spot. Once again even the GP is too small for this field.

I'm confused. If 6 skaters get 2 GP spots, wouldn't that only leave one left? (2 at 5 GPs, 3 at Rostelecom)

 

[Vilord]

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.

Yep, Trusova's best program by far. Not sure all the "epic movie music"-type songs she keeps getting suit her all that well.

I totally agree. She should have at leats one "fun" program for next season. Big spender and Unstoppable are my two favourite sasha programs. I think either something swing or jazzy related and a 20s/30s theme would be a good fit. Chicago (maybe not the husband murdering part) and sing sing sing are two classics I think could be a good fit but there must be far more out there and I think that it might be a good thing to choose a less warhorsey music so that there arent to many easy comparisons to make.

 

[flanker]

I'm confused. If 6 skaters get 2 GP spots, wouldn't that only leave one left? (2 at 5 GPs, 3 at Rostelecom)

Nine skaters can get two spots.

 

[Fried]

Maybe not in general, but surely in particular. Definitely it's hard to accept any critique about the fans after what you've shown here on december 26th.

You don't even have to. It just crossed my mind that I am glad that I ended up not among Anna's but Sasha's fans. Here in GS there are hardly any. I now know why. There are more pleasant places.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

I'm confused. If 6 skaters get 2 GP spots, wouldn't that only leave one left? (2 at 5 GPs, 3 at Rostelecom)

You might be thinking about JGP.
Russian ladies get 3 spots at each of the six GPs - hence 18 spots.
If 3A+Liza+Daria+Kamila each get 2 that means there's still six left.

 

[flanker]

You don't even have to. It just crossed my mind that I am glad that I ended up not among Anna's but Sasha's fans. Here in GS there are hardly any. I now know why. There are more pleasant places.

So you literally say you ended completely on your own. But why this sounds like what catolics say about protestants and a vice versa: "We (or in your case you) are the right ones and the other ones are nasty evil stingy heretics."

Though I bet many Sasha fans should appear now and start to disprove your words by confessing their colours.

 

[Dawn825]

And other than Liza, she's older than everyone else so there is more wear and tear on her body. That said, I hope she has the skate of her life at the Cup Final and claims a World's spot and has the skate of her life there - as it stands I worry she needs that even to get on the podium. (Rika is still a threat and has a higher BV and super high PCS.)

I'm not sure that's technically true about the wear-and-tear, she's only a year older and I imagine quads put more strain on the body than triple axels.
Either way, it's hard to know what to do with Aliona. She was amazingly consistent last year with beautiful triple axels and beautiful skating skills. It's a shame she didn't get to go to Worlds and I want her to get another chance. However...she's barely competed this year and might not have a triple axel anymore. Not her fault, and she still might be the most beautiful senior ladies skater in the world. But does Elizaveta probably deserve it more at this point? Yeah, probably. I'd rather watch Aliona skate at worlds but I will feel so bad for Elizaveta if she doesn't make the team again, under basically the same circumstances as 2019. I don't want either of them to knock RIka off the podium tho.