2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Flying Feijoa]

I'm wondering based on my limited view, if the problem at AOP is that its a collection of inexperienced coaches, yes Plushenko has a ton of experience as a skater but that doesn't translate automatically to 'great' coach especially right out of the gate. Where does inexperience really start to show - when things are going wrong and 2 of their 3 prominent/most talented skaters have struggled all season and they haven't really improved; perhaps its bad circumstances with a bit of a strange season and getting sick but perhaps its not...

Maybe it depends on the coaching group? Mikhailov's group is doing ok (Trusova, Muravieva). Volkov's group is mixed (Kovalev made good strides this season by men's standards. Ryabova and Konstantinova not). Rozanov's group is kind of confusing because the members of his group keep changing (Leonid Sviridenko struggled - Kostornaia too but she was impacted by numerous things).

The effect of inexperience might show more through organisational issues as opposed to coaching per se. Volkov's group (the most experienced, pre-dating AOP) was affected just before Nats by lack of ice access when the academy shifted to a new rink but his folks still trained in the old rented one. That messed up Artem Kovalev's performances at Nats and seems to have played a part in Ryabova and Konstantinova departing.
Sometime ago Alferova (Zhilina's mum) took on a more expanded role - she was initially just coaching some lower-level kids. I wonder if this was due to Lipnitskaia joining, as the latter works with the younger kids. There were intra-AoP coach shifts at various points in the season e.g. Shulskaya (from R to M), Zhilina and Sarnovsky (from M and R to A).

Trusova's environment has actually been relatively stable. She's been with Mikhailov since April based on training camp videos and interviews, stuck with the same programmes (give or take a few quads/3A) and besides a non-debilitating injury has been pretty healthy i.e. no COVID AFAIK. I guess it shows.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

I think this goes against the rules of this thread: Note: Please refrain from discussing coaches in this thread. This includes speculations, jokes, sarcasm, "what-ifs", comparisons, private lives, personalities, etc.

Oops sorry, just saw your post!
I hope mine can be considered more of a 'club'/'training environment' comment.

 

[sclloyd]

I'm wondering based on my limited view, if the problem at AOP is that its a collection of inexperienced coaches, yes Plushenko has a ton of experience as a skater but that doesn't translate automatically to 'great' coach especially right out of the gate. Where does inexperience really start to show - when things are going wrong and 2 of their 3 prominent/most talented skaters have struggled all season and they haven't really improved; perhaps its bad circumstances with a bit of a strange season and getting sick but perhaps its not...

Ehhhh... I disagree to an extent. Plushenko has invested the most time; as far as we’re aware, into Sasha. And Sasha has shown the most improvement out of any of the senior ladies this season. She is a visibly better skater, and this is of course the season she should’ve been working on those little things even if they are not quite so apparent in podium results.

Zhilina has her mother’s involvement which is where inexperience may play a part. He may not know yet how much, if any parental involvement he wants for his athletes.

Aliona was tough to take in already. She’d not fully recovered from the quarantine period, had extensive off-ice time, had (apparently multiple) chronic injuries, and then got covid.

Given these circumstances I would think that the true extent of his abilities will not be fully assessable until next season, when he has not just a shortened, post-lockdown, middle of a pandemic, off-season period and brand new coaching team to work with but rather an established environment, and the ability to start and plan with athletes and coaches at the pre-season what their expectations are for the year.

 

[sclloyd]

Ehhhh... I disagree to an extent. Plushenko has invested the most time; as far as we’re aware, into Sasha. And Sasha has shown the most improvement out of any of the senior ladies this season. She is a visibly better skater, and this is of course the season she should’ve been working on those little things even if they are not quite so apparent in podium results.

Zhilina has her mother’s involvement which is where inexperience may play a part. He may not know yet how much, if any parental involvement he wants for his athletes.

Aliona was tough to take in already. She’d not fully recovered from the quarantine period, had extensive off-ice time, had (apparently multiple) chronic injuries, and then got covid.

Given these circumstances I would think that the true extent of his abilities will not be fully assessable until next season, when he has not just a shortened, post-lockdown, middle of a pandemic, off-season period and brand new coaching team to work with but rather an established environment, and the ability to start and plan with athletes and coaches at the pre-season what their expectations are for the year.

I’m committed the cardinal sin of the Russian ladies thread- discussing the coaches. Oops. If I need to delete lmk, I’ll abstain or redirect to another thread in the future

 

[Tonight's the Night]

Watch the first twenty seconds or so of this video -- in which the ladies are all wearing skates because they are about to go on the ice -- first to see just how short Adeliya and Sonya are (but especially Adeliya) next to Anna Frolova. Then watch Sofa and FroLo pass each other a little later to see that Sofa is close in height to FroLo. And this was over two months ago. Sofa keeps growing. She said in an interview that she has been fortunate not to have big growth spurts but rather gradual growth.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

Wow!! Sofia A just won the senior event too!

 

[Pale]

Disappointing perfomance from Adeliya, that was bad. No fire at all with such a music

 

[Skatesocs]

Wow!! Sofia A just won the senior event too!

Without a chsq at that...

 

[meadow]

Today unfortunately I only had time to see my favorites, but well done to the medalists!
It's a hard time to be a Veronika Zhilina's fan, but I'm glad today she was able to skate better than yesterday. I agree with all people saying they should ditch the 3A in the SP, because that first fall really cost her a lot of points. I don't think the coaching situation is working for her because at the start of the season she seemed far more sure of herself, now it's like she's regressing. I'm glad this is her last competition of the season, I hope this will give her time to regroup.
Sofia Akatieva was incredible today. I have to say, she's always so perfect that she doesn't really transmit me anything emotion-wise, but she really is a marvel. Her 4Ts were so effortless they seemed more like triples than quads.
Sofia Samodelkina was also great! I greatly prefer her SP at her FS, but it does its work. I think she seemed a bit disappointed with her score, but she should really be proud of her silver medal!
I don't really like both of Adeliya Petrosyan's programs this year, but I always look forward to seeing her skate. She's usually so fast and energetic that I find her very entertaining. But her jumps often look "wrong", I'm not an expert so I don't know how to explain it, maybe it's the axis but I always have the impression she's about to fall.
I'm sorry she seemed sad about her score and her performance. Clearly, today wasn't her day because she was really hesitant but she shouldn't beat herself up too much about it. Unfortunately, without ultra c elements and with the two Sofias clean there wasn't much chance of her taking the silver or gold, but I hope she will get to upgrade her jumps in the off-season.

 

[silveruskate]

It's so fun to watch a skater where you're not worried about the jumps! Akatieva is such a star. I was even waiting for that 2nd 3A at the beginning of the FS. I think this was the exact same layout Valieva did in the Team show a few weeks back? There isn't too much between the two, but Valieva at the moment has the clear edges of Lz/F and everything is a little more effortless when landed.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

It's so fun to watch a skater where you're not worried about the jumps! Akatieva is such a star. I was even waiting for that 2nd 3A at the beginning of the FS. I think this was the exact same layout Valieva did in the Team show a few weeks back? There isn't too much between the two, but Valieva at the moment has the clear edges of Lz/F and everything is a little more effortless when landed.

I'd say Kami still has the edge in terms of performance ability and musical attention, but then again, Sofia A is 13 and two generations younger than Kami.

 

[Shayuki]

I'd say Kami still has the edge in terms of performance ability and musical attention, but then again, Sofia A is 13 and two generations younger than Kami.

But, Valieva had an edge in performing even 2 years ago.

Akatieva might end up becoming a stronger jumper but I doubt she can catch Valieva in the other categories.

Zhilina on the other hand, she could become a better spinner than Valieva, in terms of jumps she likely has the most untapped potential out of anyone, actually she had a step out in the FS today because she overrotated on a 4T...

 

[Scott512]

Oops sorry, just saw your post!
I hope mine can be considered more of a 'club'/'training environment' comment.

It is FF. And the not hot Sergei was the winner of this season for sure.

Do people have any updates on the health of Anya and Sasha? Are they 100% now? 90% healthy would be okay too.

 

[Arbitrary]

It is FF. And the not hot Sergei was the winner of this season for sure.

Do people have any updates on the health of Anya and Sasha? Are they 100% now? 90% healthy would be okay too.

More like 40%.
Or 39.99% in advs.

 

[Scott512]

Wow!! Sofia A just won the senior event too!

By how much? Because they've obviously been holding the S Kat's scores down this season. Especially in the SP.

But we're still going to have to wait a couple years to see what you can do on the senior level other than Russian Nationals.

 

[Vlad Karigov]

Someone has the translation of everything that Eteri said to Adelia at the end of her skating... it was enough see how Adelia did not want to see her face due to shame...

During the award ceremony they called Eteri but we saw a gentleman specialist in jumps rtransformed into her...

 

[nussnacker]

Wow!! Sofia A just won the senior event too!

She’s simply incredible. I’m honestly at shock every time I see her, she’s just so good.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

By how much? Because they've obviously been holding the S Kat's scores down this season. Especially in the SP.

But we're still going to have to wait a couple years to see what you can do on the senior level other than Russian Nationals.

Maybe they were holding them down in the SP (again, I don't see it but I guess I'm in the minority) but I really don't think they were purposefully trying to hold down her score in the FS. Her PCS were actually extremely high for a novice! She almost got a 9 in PE and IN (which I also disagree with since she was off her music for a lot of the middle section and wasn't really that into performing in the FS). She also got a range from +1 to +4 for her step sequence, which had a stumble.

Overall I believe she won by 3.04 points.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

She’s simply incredible. I’m honestly at shock every time I see her, she’s just so good.

I gasped at the 3A - it is such a gorgeous jump!

 

[Fluture]

By how much? Because they've obviously been holding the S Kat's scores down this season.

Akatieva? They weren‘t holding her scores down at all, she got high PCS and GOE even when she made mistakes lol. But she’s pretty brilliant and finally delivered a completely clean program today, so her victories were absolutely deserved. I hope she grows into the performance aspect some more because for now, she‘s normally (not today) utterly outclassed by my darling Petrosyan, IMO.

Speaking of which: Adelia! Today wasn‘t as great as at Nationals and both the technical elements and her interpretation suffered as a result. I’m also worried about some of her jumps - she has almost a catlike instinct to save them midair but even when is on, they sometimes look rather wonky. I fear that once she grows, this could be problematic. But she still got a medal today and is absolutely set to get JGP spots next season, so I‘m happy. Can‘t wait for her international debut.

Samodelkina just isn‘t my cup of tea. Also, her jumping technique is.. kind of bad, I think. Her 4S also doesn‘t seem to have a ton of height and I wonder whether she‘ll be able to keep it even after growth. But she does have nice musicality and the silver was deserved today.

I was sad for Osokina, she really needed a better placement her to qualify for the JGP next season. There‘s just so many girls! I still have hope they invite her to test skates and she gets at least one chance, but...

Zhilina had a nice comeback, although I‘m baffled why they‘d complicate her layout even further when she had trouble landing the old one. It‘s the kind of mismanagement that just makes no sense and could potentially ruin her chances.

Agneta Latushkina is the name of the girl coaching herself, I think? She wasn‘t as good as at Nats but I‘m still so impressed by what she manages to accomplish even without professional guidance. I really hope she gets noted by a coach in Moscow or St. Petersburg soon and receives some funding!