2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Shayuki]

It is but not for the juniors. They've all said something to that effect. It's RusNats but as juniors it's just kinda an experience..

Well juniors don't really have important competitions. Even jr worlds has next to no prize money.

 

[chasingneverland]

Yes, Radionova was the last of the 14 year olds to skate in the GP I believe. Which I agree with them making that adjustment or reducing the age limit for Worlds because they could have easily ended up with a skater on the podium at the GPF and not be eligible for worlds - not a good look in my opinion.




I think everyone needs to make sure with Khromykh that we don't be victims of the moment, she was great today and it was amazing that she finally landed her quads, but this was her fifth competition attempting a quad and it was her first time landing 1, it's not like she fell only at the Channel 1 Cup.




I think Eteri and team knows that they have to push her; as of right now Valieva has the 2 lowest valued quads, Shcherbakova and Trusova have the 2 highest valued quads both are capable of doing the highest valued quad in combination. Shcherbakova has practiced the flip in combination so she could theoretically do both the lutz and flip in combination plus 1 of them again as a solo, BV for the 2 combinations alone would be over 30 points. They know that Trusova has the triple axel as well and they know that Shcherbakova is training it; it's in Valieva's best interests for them to be pushing her layout difficulty especially in a meaningless competition for her.

Yeah, it wasn't a super recent development though. That happened well before any of the junior beans were jumping quads..before they had even attempted them. Anna and Sasha were only 9 then when Elena was the last 14 year old GP skater.

Also I'm pretty sure Anna had a fall or at least negative GOE on the first 3 competitions of the first 4 that she tried her 4Lz. Not that uncommon.

And yeah, mathematically if all are clean and to potential Kamila does need to try to push her difficulty a bit.

 

[chasingneverland]

Saying there is no uninjured skater is very simplistic. Aliona struggled enough that she lost her 3A at Sambo and none of her jumps are the same, even while everyone else was regaining their quads/3As. Unless Aliona is uniquely bad and unmotivated, which some people probably convinced themselves of, most likely there are external factors injury/puberty that have severely affected her in a way others haven't been.

THIS.

 

[chasingneverland]

Well juniors don't really have important competitions. Even jr worlds has next to no prize money.

Junior World's is an important competition. The prize money is irrelevant - being on the national team means essentially everything is covered - that's not why they go to competitions..

 

[chasingneverland]

At their best aliona is better than Sasha Cohen. They are 2 of the most beautiful skatets ever.. I like your comparisons of the two.

Sasha did have a 4S then - well before the quad rush. She never landed it in competition but she didn't need it either. For reference, this is 3 years before Anna and Sasha were born.

She was a stunning skater..

 

[chasingneverland]

Mastery of the blades?! Are you kidding?! Just because Aliona has better skating skills than Sasha or Anna, it doesn't make her the master of the blades! Is she considered master of blades in Russia? Because in Canada or Japan no one would call her that . Her SS is far from that type of title.

This is what we call mastery of the blades in Canada. You see how efficiently Patrick is doing his crossovers to produce speed? 2 pushes and he's already at the other side of the rink. Unlike Aliona's slow speed stsq and how she constantly looses speed with her edge-work in her stsq, Patrick actually utilizes his edges to GAIN speed.

When Aliona could do the same quality footwork as Patrick Chan's, the same deep edges and the same speed and fluidity, we can have a discussion about mastery of the blades.
But until then I would rate her SS only above average at best

I love Patrick Chan - I'm Canadian haha however, there are few with that level of SS now (and none in ladies.)

And I am Canadian and I would say Alena's SS's are well well above average (at her peak when she's not exhausted and sick) and are good! Calling Alena slow is quite frankly wrong - here she was much slower than normal but typical Alena is NOT slow.

 

[Shayuki]

Junior World's is an important competition. The prize money is irrelevant - being on the national team means essentially everything is covered - that's not why they go to competitions..

Sure, if the skater wouldn't be on the national team otherwise. Not really relevant to Kamila Valieva, though.

I love Patrick Chan - I'm Canadian haha however, there are few with that level of SS now (and none in ladies.)

None in men either. No one has that level of skating skills at the moment.

Melkumova was the hope but now with the CSKA move, looking doubtful... it'll be a while before we see such skating skills again.

 

[brakes]

She didn't even blink or smirk, like she expects excellence. What a phenomenal woman.

 

[chasingneverland]

Sure, if the skater wouldn't be on the national team otherwise. Not really relevant to Kamila Valieva, though.
None in men either. No one has that level of skating skills at the moment.

I can't think of a single skater going to junior world's that ISN'T on the national team..

 

[chasingneverland]

She didn't even blink or smirk, like she expects excellence. What a phenomenal woman.

I mean she does...

 

[icybear]

Lol I just thought about the irony of Evgenia comments about wanting Alena instead of Maia on her team a few weeks ago. I'm surprised the cameras didnt show Evgenia reaction after each skate like they did in Rus Nats because she was also in the building today.

 

[alexocfp]

Lol I just thought about the irony of Evgenia comments about wanting Alena instead of Maia on her team a few weeks ago. I'm surprised the cameras didnt show Evgenia reaction after each skate like they did in Rus Nats because she was also in the building today.

Very astute observation and great recall here.

 

[chasingneverland]

I mean yes, Maiia has only landed her two quad program cleanly once..

BUT

Anna has only landed her 3 quad program cleanly once. She's landed her two quad (4Lz and 4F) program cleanly once and her two quad (two 4Lzs) twice I think.

Sasha has landed her four quad program cleanly once. She's landed her three quad program cleanly once. She's landed her two quad program cleanly three times I think.

Kamila has landed her two quad program cleanly once. She's landed her 3A and 2 quad program cleanly once.

Let's not act like everyone else didn't struggle to perfect everything and they're still not perfectly consistent. And they've been doing quads for longer..

 

[chasingneverland]

Lol I just thought about the irony of Evgenia comments about wanting Alena instead of Maia on her team a few weeks ago. I'm surprised the cameras didnt show Evgenia reaction after each skate like they did in Rus Nats because she was also in the building today.

I was thinking that the entire time. And the issue is it wasn't Maiia alone who lost the competition. Kamila had a perfect skate, Maiia, Sasha, and Liza didn't. If everyone went clean (including Anna) it would have been a lot closer, especially if Sasha did her 3A in the SP and Liza didn't pop her 3A in the SP.

 

[Shayuki]

Lol I just thought about the irony of Evgenia comments about wanting Alena instead of Maia on her team a few weeks ago. I'm surprised the cameras didnt show Evgenia reaction after each skate like they did in Rus Nats because she was also in the building today.

That is one reason I'd have wanted Khromykh to have won with these performances.

Thats why he's the one that deserves the "master of blades", not a skater like Aliona.

Of course, I think Kostornaya's skating skills are quite overrated anyway.

 

[Lechat]

Saying there is no uninjured skater is very simplistic. Aliona struggled enough that she lost her 3A at Sambo and none of her jumps are the same, even while everyone else was regaining their quads/3As. Unless Aliona is uniquely bad and unmotivated, which some people probably convinced themselves of, most likely there are external factors injury/puberty that have severely affected her in a way others haven't been.

And why is it Sambo’s fault ? Maybe it’s puberty or something else.

You forget that she won every title except the national. I don’t think it would be the case if she wasn´t in Eteri’s group.

Alena said herself that it was a great achievement to be there knowing how the selection is difficult.

Let’s admit now it thanks to Rosanow, then he should help her to regain her 3A.

 

[chasingneverland]

And why is it Sambo’s fault ? Maybe it’s puberty or something else.

I don't think ANYONE said it was Sambo's fault..

 

[Ophelia]

Kostornaia has the it factor, and that LP is very promising.

 

[colormyworld240]

So I've always found Maiia boring and I still don't love her skating today, but I'm very happy for her. After the team comp, I said she really needed a big moment to boost her confidence, like Daria has been getting. And she got it here. I really think the judges could have given her the win overall too, given how Kamila skated and how close it was, and it would've made a world of difference for her mentally.

She's been the one lagging behind the others for 2 whole seasons now, and she got some comments from journalists (like the one who straight up said to her "you're not one of the favourites, how does that feel" that probably knocked her confidence down. Plus, she's never skated clean.

Who would've thought Maiia could beat Daria, let alone win the free skate in a competition with Kamila, Liza, Alena, and Daria. Good for her, hopefully she got a huge confidence boost for next season. It's always nice to see to come together for someone struggle. It reminds me of Alina's SP in the Olympic season.

 

[Scott512]

Yes, Radionova was the last of the 14 year olds to skate in the GP I believe. Which I agree with them making that adjustment or reducing the age limit for Worlds because they could have easily ended up with a skater on the podium at the GPF and not be eligible for worlds - not a good look in my opinion.




I think everyone needs to make sure with Khromykh that we don't be victims of the moment, she was great today and it was amazing that she finally landed her quads, but this was her fifth competition attempting a quad and it was her first time landing 1, it's not like she fell only at the Channel 1 Cup.




I think Eteri and team knows that they have to push her; as of right now Valieva has the 2 lowest valued quads, Shcherbakova and Trusova have the 2 highest valued quads both are capable of doing the highest valued quad in combination. Shcherbakova has practiced the flip in combination so she could theoretically do both the lutz and flip in combination plus 1 of them again as a solo, BV for the 2 combinations alone would be over 30 points. They know that Trusova has the triple axel as well and they know that Shcherbakova is training it; it's in Valieva's best interests for them to be pushing her layout difficulty especially in a meaningless competition for her.

Yes they have to make things tougher for KV but not today. I wanted another clean competition from Kamila. I think she's ahead of where Anna and Sasha were at 14 almost 15. But the competition is fierce. No one knows what's going to happen next season and that's part of the excitement and that's part of the uneasiness and then we still have coronavirus to think about,