2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating
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- Apr 17, 2018
I mean Melkumova had leg surgery (or something?) just before so I would expect she isn't at top shape right now. I just really want her to go to a better jump coach. Her skating skills/performance quality is so great it would be sad to see her struggle with staying on top due to inconsistent jumps. She's a little slower on the ice here than before but I would say her skating skills are still extraordinary.
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- Nov 24, 2006
Thank god. I was worried she got injured again.
Very good skating and performance skills, but rather average jumping talent - not much height, poor in-air position, average rotation speed.
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- Nov 2, 2013
Wonder why her jump technique's so different from Krivonosova's even though they had the same coach for all their early careers. Melkumova twists into the jump, Krivonosova doesn't at all, Melkumova somewhat hammers Krivonosova doesn't, Krivonosova has a different and much more steady leg wrap and no axis issues...
Really wonder what's with that as Melkumova was the one who started doing triple jumps when she was like 8 years old already, while Krivonosova even at a double jump level was doing 1A+1Lo combos. Now it's like she's completely overtaken her even though she's over a year younger. Melkumova was rushing her jumps and didn't learn proper technique like Krivonosova, or...?
I told you why 2 years ago in the other place. These are two different physical specimens.
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2019
As much as I would like to see a 3A reunion at Worlds, I think Liza has earned the right to be the top choice for the third spot. Or at least it feels like the fairer choice based on this season.
But basically, Aliona needs to skate clean and even without the triple axel, she will get the third spot, while Liza needs to skate clean WITH the triple axels to get the spot.
There's also a high chance that they will both finish behind Kamila and Daria.
It will be interesting to watch and compare Aliona and Daria, since they have similar styles and none will have an ultra-c jump here. Also, I'm hoping for good, clean skates for Maiia.
But basically, Aliona needs to skate clean and even without the triple axel, she will get the third spot, while Liza needs to skate clean WITH the triple axels to get the spot.
There's also a high chance that they will both finish behind Kamila and Daria.
It will be interesting to watch and compare Aliona and Daria, since they have similar styles and none will have an ultra-c jump here. Also, I'm hoping for good, clean skates for Maiia.
I wonder what's gonna happen when all of them skate at their present max:As much as I would like to see a 3A reunion at Worlds, I think Liza has earned the right to be the top choice for the third spot. Or at least it feels like the fairer choice based on this season.
But basically, Aliona needs to skate clean and even without the triple axel, she will get the third spot, while Liza needs to skate clean WITH the triple axels to get the spot.
There's also a high chance that they will both finish behind Kamila and Daria.
It will be interesting to watch and compare Aliona and Daria, since they have similar styles and none will have an ultra-c jump here. Also, I'm hoping for good, clean skates for Maiia.
- Alyona skates and preforms great without triple axels, but there is a spark and program works,
- Liza lands two great 3 axels with her 'usual' kinda meh performance/program,
- Daria skates super clean, even better than at 1 Channel Cup?
As much as I like her, I think Liza Nugumanova has only an outside shot at third Worlds' spot, if all above has disastrous performances and she skates at her Nats level or better (which happened once in her life up to date). I will certainly root for her though!
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She does remind me a bit of little Kamila, though she has much better skating skills and Kami had better arms.
Her landing position reminds me a little bit of Kami on her off-axis jumps as well. They both seem to land on the inside edge and then wabbles to the outside edge for some reason?...Eteri, please take little Ksenia?
CSKA is the worst place I can think of for her to be in right now...She really needs to get those jumps stable. Jumping height, rotation speed, edge on Lutz & Flip, pre-ratation...all look fine to me. She just need better landing positions. Maybe now (after injury) is a good time to rebuild her technique, as her technique has never quite gotten there before.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2021
Smacks of desperation to me !!! How many more people is Plushenko going to trot out to "help Sasha " !! She doesn't need all this!! She just needs to own who she is as an athletic skater and have the program's to match!! Plushenko is a mess of a coach!! Oh no Kwan, Cohen ... yawn... that ship has sailed !!
I see massive improvement in hips shake department.
How many coaching and/or choreographer changes is this now for Trusova?
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- Apr 17, 2018
To be honest, inviting an outside choreographer isn't always a bad choice. Say, Elena Radionova with her Shae-Lynn program, it was so enjoyable and fun! One of her best programs for sure. Yulia's Olympic SP and FS were her first programs with Averbukh and look how well they turned out. Of course, I think choreographers who are (1) good at choreographing and (2) understand their clients are the best - look at Lori Nichol's programs for Sui/Han, or Benoit for Kaori.
But if we're counting it would be (of this season) 1. to Rozanov/Plushenko, 2. to Mikhailov/Plushenko, 3. Rozanov choreography, 4. Morozov choreography, 4.5 Ilinykh and then no Ilinykh. (though would Morozov be choreographing next season's programs? I wouldn't expect them to change her programs now).
But if we're counting it would be (of this season) 1. to Rozanov/Plushenko, 2. to Mikhailov/Plushenko, 3. Rozanov choreography, 4. Morozov choreography, 4.5 Ilinykh and then no Ilinykh. (though would Morozov be choreographing next season's programs? I wouldn't expect them to change her programs now).
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2013
It is an interesting comparison. Valieva was from the same club as Melkumova was and also had significant issues with her jumps - she couldn't skate a clean competition all year until she joined Sambo-70 at the end of the season, and they indeed share most of the same issues with the jumps, which Valieva was mostly able to fix. Incidentally, that happened around the same age that Melkumova will be after this current season, but now that she joined CSKA that will likely not happen.
Still, rather than the jumps, I think the way she performs has lost that something, the freedom of expression as I'd like to call it... It remains to be seen whether that's just due to the long hiatus, or whether the change of coach caused her to lose something there, which would be a shame.
I get what you're saying - lets hope it's due to the long hiatus! I got the same feeling when Kami moved to Eteri: she still has beautiful postures and arms, but that "something" from her Swan program (8yo?) is gradually loosing.
From the Ice Age program it seems like Ksenia is a much more outgoing kid, very expressive both on and off ice / willing to show her emotions (her expressions were adorable when she received all 6.0s in PCS).
Agree, an outside choreographer isnt a bad thing, fresh eyes/ideas, but she's gone through many coaching/choreographing changes in a short amount of time it's really odd.
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- Feb 27, 2014
I'm like you I was on the fence about this program for many months then through Nationals and the team competition I've been won over especially with that amazing dramatic finish of hers to Bolero. She hits the music just right when she closes it.If anyone's interested...
I'm still on the fence with the program, but her improved confidence is kind of selling me on it.- YouTube
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- Nov 2, 2013
She's improved when it comes to performing the program, but I still don't think the program's all that great. At nationals it at least made some sense and wasn't completely disconnected like it had been in the past, so that's good. Still I think she needs to improve it quite a bit for it to be nearly as memorable as her girl ball program, for example. Well, I don't think that that's possible in the first place, but we'll see.
Yeah, that sort of natural extrovert / outgoing performing is what I'd associate with Melkumova and she used to go out of her way to perform with the attention to detail, didn't really see much of that in that skate...
And Kamila Valieva, she too seems to perform so... introvertly now, when she used to project more openly. Of course it still is beautiful to watch in its own right but...
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2018
To be fair, Sasha has changed the choreography of her SP a few times. There are a lot of movements she did in the test skates or Stage 2 versions that were absent in latter performances. The FS undergoes some choreography changes due to her changing her jump layout but besides that not much has changed.
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