That was emotionally exhausting to watch - so unpredictable, so fraught. Well done to all the ladies, though!
I missed Kamila S. and most of Maria Talalaikina's skate, so will have to rewind to catch them, but I did get home in time to see Maria finish and flick that happy little salute at the judges. So I imagine she had a good skate!
Sofia needs a big hug. Something seems very wrong, whether it is skating related or something else, as she has looked on the verge of tears both days. She has such fun programmes this year, which are really very different from everyone else's, but she just didn't seem to feel them this weekend. That pop on her opening flip was really unfortunate, but she fought back and I think it was her first combination looked like it got a lot of air. I hope that whatever is upsetting her is resolved and that she can be happy Sofia again, smiling, bubbly and singing along to her music.
Ksenia Tsibinova did a good job; she was pretty solid in her execution, but alas, the programme isn't sticking with me. And I thought Elizaveta Nugumanova had different music for her free, but I suppose I was wrong? Not her best skate, sadly, and the underrotations really knocked her down the standings, but before she got her score, at the end of the free, she did have the good humour to take the problems with a philosophical shake of the head and a laugh.
Anna Frolova delivered another competent, consistently clean skate, and it is paying off - her delight at her score and how overwhelmed she was almost immediately afterwards was really heartwarming. She has really grown into herself, and is learning how to emote as a performer, and to connect with the audience. She is a treasure, and I hope that she gets GP spots when she goes senior - she deserves to be seen on the international stage.
Maiia! Wow, Maiia! That was amazing! I confess that I was starting to think she'd never land the quads, and then she goes out and does that. Two quads! Both looking so secure! Well done to her for persevering and proving me so, so wrong. These young skaters are determined and talented and hard working, and it pays off. She won the free skate so convincingly, and I am so thrilled to see that a long-limbed skater can land quads, and showing that it's not only small, compact skaters who have the physique for it. May the off season be kind to her, because she has just entered the conversation for Olympic spots, however premature the discussion may be.
I think both Daria and Kamila were rattled by Maiia's success; I know skaters say they don't pay attention to what their competitors are doing and that they are focused on their own warm-ups, their own preparation, their own programmes, but I feel that they surely must have known that Maiia landed her quads. Daria felt rushed in her skating, zooming all over the ice, and not as connected to her music as usual, and then she had the hand down and that bobble in the StSq (or was it the ChSq? I have to go back and watch her skate again, because I can remember the bobble but not where it occurred). She's usually so unhurried, so unflustered, so consistently foot-perfect, that the two teeeeeeeeny tiny flaws surprised me. But I loved her reactions to the playback - her grimace at the bobble, her laughter at the face she pulled when leaving the ice.
Kamila looked less settled and focused at the start of her Bolero today than she has since RusNats, when she went out there with that serene confidence and left the ice on fire; she had that same assurance at the Channel One Cup, but today, it wasn't there. The fall on the second 4T looked nasty, but props to her for regrouping and for not just getting through the rest of the skate, but performing it as well. You would never have known that the quads had been unkind by the fierce smile on her face as she struck her final pose. I freely admit I had a good giggle at the judges when they parsed step out in her quad combo as an euler instead, but Russian domestic scoring has been allowing dodgy combinations all season, so at least they were consistent.
As for the battle for the Worlds spot between Liza and Aliona, I think Liza has booked her ticket. She has upped her technical game with that +3T on her 3Lz, she is getting her 3As landed, even if imperfectly, and she has improved her spins ... mostly. What happened in that last spin, Liza? What happened? Loved how she laughed it off, though. She really did deliver a convincing argument for that third spot today, on top of a season of pretty consistent improvement. And Aliona? She showed great bravery going out there today, after her devastation yesterday, and she skated clean. She landed her jumps. She delivered her spins. She got through that StSq, even though she looked like she had no breath left at all. Physically, this took a great effort from her. Mentally and emotionally, it showed determination and grit to rally after a disappointment, and to eke out everything from that final spin onwards. I hope she can be satisfied with her performance today, inasmuch as she understands that she delivered what she is currently capable of, and delivered it cleanly. Also, I liked her new FS's new dress! It reminds me a bit of Eva-Lotta Kiibus' dresses with geometric patterning - a nice clean design.
). Yeah, as if this kind of things didn't happen while still being with Eteri. Bias and double standards are such a thing...
