2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[flanker]

Well the older girls have finished for Younger Age Nationals. We have a surprising winner in Alisa Dvoeglazova. I do think she has potential and I prefer her SP over her FS (common trend for novices), but there are definitely a lot of things that her team can work on to make her an even better skater. Sofia Titova came second, much to my surprise. I do like Titova and I think the last few moments of her SP are fantastic but Je Suis Malade is not the first choice i’d give a 12 year old (is she even 12?) She does well enough with it and I notice she has fantastic speed across the ice but the edges need work and she could use some refinement in her arms and upper body movement. Liza Kulikova came third with a fantastic SP and FS. I’m so happy for her! I used to dislike the FS, but Liza really sold me on it in her step sequence. The SP was fantastic IMO. She really performed (both in movement and expression) through the entire program. Daria Sadkova finished fourth, which might be a bit disappointing, but i do think her artistry was a step ahead of everyone here (at least in the FS i felt she was a bit disconnected from her music in the SP). She really needs to build some jump consistency though.

She is, but she turned 12 only two months ago.

Yes, Alisa is a little surprising winner, I've expected Sofia would win. It was very tight among the top girls, Alisa received 256, Sofia 255 and Elizaveta 254 points.

Daria is still unstable with jumps but much better than at the beginning of the season (and she was 16th last season so 4th place is pretty big improvement). I guess they will spend much time during summer on stabilizing them. Lyuba on the other hand doesn't fall but she does more smaller mistakes that cost her a lot of points.

 

[Jeanie19]

She is, but she turned 12 only two months ago.

Yes, Alisa is a little surprising winner, I've expected Sofia would win. It was very tight among the top girls, Alisa received 256, Sofia 255 and Elizaveta 254 points.

Daria is still unstable with jumps but much better than at the beginning of the season. I guess they will spend much time during summer on stabilizing them. Lyuba on the other hand doesn't fall but she does more smaller mistakes that cost her a lot of points.

Who are the coaches of Alisa and Elizaveta?

 

[flanker]

Who are the coaches of Alisa and Elizaveta?

Alisa's from Khrustalnyi, there was Sergei Dudakov with her (in fact with all Khrustalnyi skaters), at some previous competitions there was Polina Tsurskaya with her. Elizaveta is from CSKA, she trains in Sergei Davydov's group.

Edit: cute podium, BTW

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMXSmaiHXpx/

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

She is, but she turned 12 only two months ago.

Yes, Alisa is a little surprising winner, I've expected Sofia would win. It was very tight among the top girls, Alisa received 256, Sofia 255 and Elizaveta 254 points.

Daria is still unstable with jumps but much better than at the beginning of the season (and she was 16th last season so 4th place is pretty big improvement). I guess they will spend much time during summer on stabilizing them. Lyuba on the other hand doesn't fall but she does more smaller mistakes that cost her a lot of points.

Yeah, I think Daria S could really be a foil to Zhilina/Akatieva/Samodelkina and such if she can pull out two clean performances. The 2A is just massive! Her spins are wonderful as well. It looks like she has the little bounce between jumps that Kamila has too, but as it hasn't harmed Kamila I doubt it would be a problem for Daria.

Lyubov seems to struggle with getting jumps to look clean or effortless IMO. Like if I were to look at the jumps from the top 3 and then her jumps there's a bit a difference in quality. I'm not sure if it's the programs or a lack of confidence or jumping issues but I feel like Lyubov hasn't really been performing all that much in her programs, even though emotion and expression were some of her biggest strengths on Ice Age Kids.

I believe all of these ladies (Alisa, Sofia, Liza, Daria, Lyubov) will be domestically junior eligible next season? It will be interesting to see how they improve as they grow older since all of them have great potential.

 

[Novalis]

I believe all of these ladies (Alisa, Sofia, Liza, Daria, Lyubov) will be domestically junior eligible next season?

Yes, and Liza and Daria internationally as well

 

[katymay]

Well the older girls have finished for Younger Age Nationals. We have a surprising winner in Alisa Dvoeglazova. I do think she has potential and I prefer her SP over her FS (common trend for novices), but there are definitely a lot of things that her team can work on to make her an even better skater. Sofia Titova came second, much to my surprise. I do like Titova and I think the last few moments of her SP are fantastic but Je Suis Malade is not the first choice i’d give a 12 year old (is she even 12?) She does well enough with it and I notice she has fantastic speed across the ice but the edges need work and she could use some refinement in her arms and upper body movement. Liza Kulikova came third with a fantastic SP and FS. I’m so happy for her! I used to dislike the FS, but Liza really sold me on it in her step sequence. The SP was fantastic IMO. She really performed (both in movement and expression) through the entire program. Daria Sadkova finished fourth, which might be a bit disappointing, but i do think her artistry was a step ahead of everyone here (at least in the FS i felt she was a bit disconnected from her music in the SP). She really needs to build some jump consistency though.

I thought Elizaveta should have won the free skate, but it was very close. Almost all of these little girls have the same jumps, same polish, same amazing skating skills. Some in the first group to skate had the same jumping ability as those in the last group. All in all, 50 gifted little girls. (Between younger and older age Novice) A triple axel will make the difference for some of them next year. (Or a quad). Without a 3A or a quad they will just be lost in the shuffle of wonderful little skaters. (And they are ALL wonderful little skaters-so far above the level in other countries)

 

[Tonight's the Night]

This is helpful. (Posted a ways back by former ice hockey great Doug Dorsey.)

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[TripleAxelQueens3]

I thought Elizaveta should have won the free skate, but it was very close. Almost all of these little girls have the same jumps, same polish, same amazing skating skills. Some in the first group to skate had the same jumping ability as those in the last group. All in all, 50 gifted little girls. (Between younger and older age Novice) A triple axel will make the difference for some of them next year. (Or a quad). Without a 3A or a quad they will just be lost in the shuffle of wonderful little skaters. (And they are ALL wonderful little skaters-so far above the level in other countries)

Me too! I felt she performed her free skate the best and her jumps looked really quite steady and stable. I do think her SS are a bit better than the rest here, she seems to have pretty good edges (most of these ladies appear to struggle a bit with deep edges), good speed, good power and effortlessness in difficult steps and turns. She really sold both her step sequence in the SP and FS too. I've liked Liza Kulikova and rooted for her since Ice Age Kids but this competition was the first time since Ice Age Kids that she really blew me away. I hope she can gain consistency and that we'll be able to see similar performances from her in the future.

 

[brakes]

Kinda questionable outcome of Novice Nats, Older Age if you ask me.

I don't especially like Titova's autopilot skating, but Dvoyeglazova is not some excellent performer herself, plus she fell hard in the beginning of her program, while Titova went clean and was in tears after her score announcement. Her coach Plushenko was visibly upset by this, protesting to senior feds afterwards. Sofia was swallowing tears on the podium as well, I feel for her to be honest.
I time-marked the video at the beginning of Dvoyeglazova's skate (Plushenko storms in at the end of Sadkova's skate, who skated last and finished 4th):




Tomorrow the winner of Younger Group decides.

 

[flanker]

Kinda questionable outcome of Novice Nats, Older Age if you ask me.

I don't especially like Titova's autopilot skating, but Dvoyeglazova is not some excellent performer herself, plus she fell hard in the beginning of her program, while Titova went clean and was in tears after her score announcement. Her coach Plushenko was visibly upset by this, protesting to senior feds afterwards. Sofia was swallowing tears on the podium as well, I feel for her to be honest.
I time-marked the video at the beginning of Dvoyeglazova's skate (Plushenko storms in at the end of Sadkova's skate, who skated last and finished 4th):




Tomorrow the winner of Younger Group decides.

Just look at the BV. Alisa's BV is seven points higher than Sofia's even even with "<" on her 4T. And Sofia wasn't even second in her FS, she was third even behind Liza. She received 1.5 higher PCS than Alisa, though, I think deservedly as I admit Alisa is not that good performer yet. Daria Sadkova was IMO the best performer today, but she made some more technical mistakes.

 

[brakes]

Just look at the BV. Alisa's BV is seven points higher than Sofia's even even with "<" on her 4T. And Sofia wasn't even second in her FS, she was third even behind Liza. She received 1.5 higher PCS than Alisa, though, I think deservedly as I admit Alisa is not that good performed yet. Daria Sadkova was IMO the best performer today, but she made some more technical mistakes.

Yeah, but 4-5 of these points are from downgraded spin and steps that are discussable judges' decision, plus planned quad which wasn't even close.

 

[flanker]

Yeah, but 4-5 of these points are from downgraded spin and steps that are discussable judges' decision, plus planned quad which wasn't even close.

I'm no expert on spins but LSp3 BV is 2.40 and LSp4 is 2.70. 0.3 point difference, can't be decesive. I still checked several of Sofia's recent competitions and she always receives lvl 3 on that spin even when there are no "Eteri bonus" girls in sight
Apart from this there is 4T vs. 2A, two backloaded Lutzes and flying camel spin against combination spin. That's for BV. Alisa also had "wiser" layout for GOE (one of TT's specialities).

As for the UR call. It was a correct call. I've tried the role of one particular user for a moment.

This is how Sofia landed:

And this is where the blade should have been:

IMO even the Lz in that combo was questionable, so I think we can be glad she didn't get the call for the Lutz as well.

Of course when I saw her crying in the K&C I felt pretty depressed for her, but that's the principle of the competition, someone has to be 2nd, 3rd etc.

 

[Novalis]

Titova didn't get the 10% bonus for her first second half combo. It was too early. That's more than a point. There's been what I consider an unsportsmanlike response at Titova's Insta channel to all this

I look at the protocols and all I'm thinking: I wish Dasha could pull off the second half jumps. It would have been an easy victory. And nobody would have anything to complain

 

[JazzUp]

There's been what I consider an unsportsmanlike response at Titova's Insta channel to all this

Titova's mum, who runs the account, went totally bonkerz there - seems that according to her, all the folks that keep telling her combo executed at 01:40 in the programme that is 03:40 long cannot get a 10% bonus are Eteri-bots, technical panel is bought by Eteri, judges are bought by Eteri, even the clock is bought by Eteri. It also seems she forgot that

 

[Novalis]

Titova's mum, who's runs the account, went totally bonkerz there - seems that according to her, all the folks that keep telling her combo executed at 01:40 in the programme that is 03:40 long cannot get a 10% bonus are Eteri-bots, technical panel is bought by Eteri, judges are bought by Eteri, even the clock is bought by Eteri. It also seems she forgot that

Was even the concept of time invented by Eteri?

 

[flanker]

I look at the protocols and all I'm thinking: I wish Dasha could pull off the second half jumps. It would have been an easy victory. And nobody would have anything to complain

IMO one of the reasons why Eteri's skaters are not that succesful in novice categories in comparison with juniors/seniors is that their programs, incl. backloading combos, are already done more complicated and difficult. They can have a problem with that when they are younger but thanks to that they master it earlier than their competitors.

 

[brakes]

I don't know guys. I don't like Titova's skating, Plushenko coaching style even less, but I feel like they lowballed them today.
Just a fs noob's impression.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

IMO one of the reasons why Eteri's skaters are not that succesful in novice categories in comparison with juniors/seniors is that their programs, incl. backloading combos, are already done more complicated and difficult. They can have a problem with that when they are younger but thanks to that they master it earlier than their competitors.

I mean but is this an Eteri centric thing anymore? Kulikova, Vazhnova and Titova all have their money combos in the second half (well Titova was supposed to have her combos in the second half), in the juniors, Samodelkina, Paramonova, Osokina and Liza B also have their money combos (excluding the quad) in the second half. In seniors, Frolova, Sinitsyna, Tsibinova (and I'm sure others as well) also have their big combos in the second half.

 

[flanker]

I don't know guys. I don't like Titova's skating, Plushenko coaching style even less, but I feel like they lowballed them today.
Just a fs noob's impression.

As a noob you need some guidance from seasoned veterans

 

[flanker]

I mean but is this an Eteri centric thing anymore? Kulikova, Vazhnova and Titova all have their money combos in the second half (well Titova was supposed to have her combos in the second half), in the juniors, Samodelkina, Paramonova, Osokina and Liza B also have their money combos (excluding the quad) in the second half. In seniors, Frolova, Sinitsyna, Tsibinova (and I'm sure others as well) also have their big combos in the second half.

It's not only about elements layout, which of course is not done by most skaters, but they try to integrate transitions, entries into jumps and all. Not that it always looks superb on this level, but there is a good use of it later.