2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[MaggieLin]

Maya! Great great redemption! She's never been my "type of skater" but I wholeheartedly love seeing this kind of perseverance. Boy, I wish junior worlds are still happening!

 

[chasingneverland]

Maya just threw everything I thought I knew about russian skaters out the water.

Total shock for me

No, I knew she could do it. She wouldn't be attempting it in comp if she wasn't at least somewhat consistent in practice. Eteri likes skaters to have muscle memory going in.

 

[chasingneverland]

What happened to Kamilla?
Not just the jumps, her limbs were disjoint ...all over the place...

CONGRATS to Elizavetta Tukkie!

It's almost like a 3A 3 quad skate is incredibly hard (especially when you just learned the 3A and 4S this year).... Not even Sasha has managed that. And it takes soo much concentration and effort...which makes everything else harder..

 

[Fantik]

They actually took quite a few points off.

The one thing they did wrong is that for the obviously downgraded 4S(she landed directly forward and slipped along the skate onto her butt) they gave it only an UR call.

But Valieva's first 4T's score for example got annihialated.

From a technician point of view, you are probably right. But from spectator's angle, falling on ice spoils the impression absolutely. I remember how Trusova kept falling down over and over again and still was awarded 1st place. That didn't make much sense to me.

 

[Shayuki]

So than its Liza. What is this about davydovs skaters? They are all well prepared, do their tricks, tick the boxes. But all so bland with 0 charisma. He seems to aquire a taste in that 0 style

But that's not entirely fair. Anna Tarusina had plenty of charisma, her career just got derailed by the bus accident. Sofia Samodelkina and Elizaveta Berestovskaya both have plenty of charisma.

 

[meadow]

I'm sorry for Aliona, but Liza really deserves the third spot at Worlds, based on this competition and this season. I'm glad Aliona didn't have a meltdown today and I like her FS better than her SP, but something it's clearly missing. Even before she got her triple axel there was always something special about her and I found it lacking today. Honestly, the PCS was way too generous. After seeing her yesterday and considering what she went through I expected so much worse today, though, so I hope she and her coaching team will use what happened as the starting point to help her regain her strengths.

Maia was the real surprise for me here. After seeing her struggle with her 4S for so long I didn't think she could pull it off with a 4T. I hope today's skate helps her with her confidence because if she can hold on to her quads she could really establish herself. That said, her hydroblade has something wrong, I don't why but it's disturbing to see

I'm very happy about Anna Frolova. I think she was somehow underscored in PCS, especially compared to Aliona, but I'm still glad she had two good performances here. I know a lot of people don't find anything special in her, but I'm always drawn to her and I really like her skating style. I think it's unfortunate that she doesn't have strong technical elements (3A or quads), because I think the rest of her skating is really lovely.

I'm really happy about Liza. Her skating style and her programs have never been my cup of tea, but I've always admired her determination and it seems it finally paid off

Daria is lovely. I can't wait to see her when she gets an ultra c element, because she's already a wonderful skater. I think she always gets the worst of Gleikhengauz's programs, but somehow she manages to make them watchable, and that's an accomplishment in itself.

About Kamila, today clearly wasn't her day, but she has time to stabilize her layout and she still won, so... I'm just sorry we aren't going to see her, Daria and Maia at Junior Worlds, but at least they have time to get ready for next season!

 

[chasingneverland]

I expected Valieva to bomb, since it was obvious that she was in peaking form at Nationals.

She actually peaked at the Channel 1 cup. And added another 4S to this (which she literally JUST learned) and backloaded a 4T which she's never attempted before. It was an experiment guys, not what she'd actually try in a big competition. It was to try to get some competition experience with new jumps.

 

[Shayuki]

From a technician point of view, you are probably right. But from spectator's angle, falling on ice spoils the impression absolutely. I remember how Trusova kept falling down over and over again and still was awarded 1st place. That didn't make much sense to me.

Yeah but the issue's more that her PCS and GOE on the other elements is so inflated. The amount of points that were reduced for her were quite fair though, I think. And more harsh than I'd have expected. But, I think that Khromykh would have won if the 4S downgrade was called.

 

[Gabby30]

They didn't take away enough points for the falls

What did you expect?


I find it hilarious that people bash skaters who bomb one or two competitions after leaving Eteri, but having all kind of excuses when it happens to her actuall skaters... When Trusova bombed last years nationals, it was not a big deal, but after her Rostelecom performance this season, there were snarky comments ( especially from that Hirsh guy on twitter, who behaves like a 12 yo girl ). Yeah, as if this kind of things didn't happen while still being with Eteri. Bias and double standards are such a thing...

 

[chasingneverland]

Frolova is not old enough. I get everyone loves making jokes about her skating being old fashioned and resembling a grandma and whatnot, but her age group is the same as Valieva's.

She's actually almost a year older than them.

 

[Skatesocs]

especially from that Hirsh guy on twitter, who behaves like a 12 yo girl

Lol. Accurate.

 

[Shayuki]

She's actually almost a year older than them.

The age group's from July 1 2005 to June 30 2006.

Similarly, Kostornaya's almost a year older than Trusova but people have considered them to be of the same age group right?

 

[chasingneverland]

From a technician point of view, you are probably right. But from spectator's angle, falling on ice spoils the impression absolutely. I remember how Trusova kept falling down over and over again and still was awarded 1st place. That didn't make much sense to me.

Because math is still a thing. Which people fail to understand.

 

[Gabby30]

She actually peaked at the Channel 1 cup. And added another 4S to this (which she literally JUST learned) and backloaded a 4T which she's never attempted before. It was an experiment guys, not what she'd actually try in a big competition. It was to try to get some competition experience with new jumps.

Ah, true, it was THAT competition... i knew it was something in Russia sorry, but these competitions are all the same to me

 

[icybear]

I expect Alena will keep these 2 programs for next season (unless she leaves for a new coach ) . Its hard to judge her fs program when she is so obviously tentative and probably at the lowest point of the career. She was clearly very behind the music going into the step seq. I cant say its better than her old one. The music is more interesting and it definitely has more potential to be climactic. I seriously hope Shae Lynn Bourne didnt charge them a lot because there is literally no choreo. Even the couple of movement at the start of the program is very generic.

 

[chasingneverland]

When Trusova bombed last years nationals, it was not a big deal, but after her Rostelecom performance this season, there were snarky comments ( especially from that Hirsh guy on twitter, who behaves like a 12 yo girl ). Yeah, as if this kind of things didn't happen while still being with Eteri. Bias and double standards are such a thing...

Not a big deal?? It was a giant deal. People were talking about her being replaced on the team. She was still with Eteri at this point..It happened again after Euros...It was A GIANT DEAL. Let's not change past narratives to suit your current mindset.

 

[JazzUp]

Congratulations to the winners - TeamTut!

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

Maiia was absolutely amazing today!

 

[Decoder]

She actually peaked at the Channel 1 cup. And added another 4S to this (which she literally JUST learned) and backloaded a 4T which she's never attempted before. It was an experiment guys, not what she'd actually try in a big competition. It was to try to get some competition experience with new jumps.

Yeah, to me it is obviously an experiment, and the team made the right decision. It is not very far from the Olympics and the team needs time to plan and polish everything.

 

[Fluture]

if children are allowed to compete at broadly televised events like the Worlds

They already are. And every two years it‘s a new bunch. Didn‘t we just have a “historic“ trio of 14-15 year olds beating the outdated seniors? I could have sworn their names weren‘t Valieva, Usacheva and Khromykh.... time flies and Russian ladies skating even faster.

Anyway. Proud of Aliona for fighting. Only one pop, did the rest of the jumps without falls. URs of course, and loss of stamina in the second half but she made it through. For all who were so “concerned“ about her not breathing heavily enough after yesterday‘s SP - I hope today satisfied your expectations. It‘s perfectly clear she‘s suffering from COVID after effects and performances like those won‘t get her anywhere, even outside of Russia. It absolutely sucks she misses her second Worlds through absolutely no fault of her own but that‘s life. If she can fully recover, she can come back. How she‘ll fare at the ancient age of 18 against the army Eteri just unleashed once again is anyone‘s guess. Liza just made it to Worlds. Maybe she can make it to the post-Olympic Worlds in a similar fashion. Anyway, as a fan I‘m happy with what she did today.

Speaking of which: Good on Liza. Her skating does less than nothing for me (meaning, I pretty much dislike it) but what she‘s done for the sport is very admirable. There‘s no one like her and yes, she deserves that spot. Give it to her.

Khromykh: Landed the quads, did she? Surprising but it was bound to happen eventually, I guess. I don‘t care for any of the current front runners for the OG team in terms of skating (other than Trusova for her sheer tenacity and grit), so if anyone has to win, might as well make it Khromykh. That would at least be entertaining. And she does have a lot nice qualities.

Usacheva: She‘s a beautiful skater. Very solid, nice, good skating skills (other than that random stumble - probably still got positive GOE because...reasons?). I can‘t say she particularly moves me or anything but maybe if she gets better programs?

Valieva: it‘s kind of ridiculous that she still won with two falls on what seemed to be downgraded quads. But it‘s not like it matters much anyway. She‘s the favorite, with the 4S or without. Needs to be clean, though, and as we saw today, there can still be surprises.

I liked Frolova. She used to bore me, not anymore. Give her higher PCS please.