Well, “give her 5 points” was a direct quote from you - I obviously don’t think Nastya should get 5 more points in PCS. 2-3 points should be a reasonable margin. And interesting enough, the WR Alina set in that free skate was precisely 2+ points over Nastya’s.
What you said about the order of the skate is indeed a factor, to some extend understandable, but I don’t think it’s rightful.
Seems like we have some common ground there ) - while it IS political, you don’t have to ACCEPT it to be.
Well, it wan’t obvious at all to me. Konstantinova was already a senior at that point (2 years older than the rest of the competitors), getting senior PCS (FS 69+, way higher than the top juniors). The fact that she was still competing in Junior Nationals makes no sense to me. For that third WJC spot, Gubanova was obviously the first to go (4 clean programs at Nationals and Junior Nationals). Before the competition I even thought of Panenkova or Tarakanova, basically anybody but Konstantinova.
I think what you‘re trying to do here is to explain the actions of the RusFed - which I totally understand, but seeing it “very obvious going to happen” doesn’t prevent me from absolutely despising it to happen.
The thing is that Nastya wasn't 2-3 points better than Alina. She had much better skating skills. That accounts for exactly 1 factor. She was stunning and graceful and elegant - but those aren't PCS bullet points. She was a performer but so was Alina, actually. She was maybe 1? point better.
As for the order of the skate - being understandable is the point. PCS are inherently subjective and therefore most susceptible to emotions and the attitudes during/following a skate - and the events leading up to it. And Alina had just performed what was at the time the skate of a lifetime. (It was obviously superseded later but that's revisionary. And that's what's happening here. Because Nastya was typically underscored (both nationally and later internationally as she got left behind), people are looking at this skate with revisionary lenses. But that WASN'T the what was happening here. And because Alina went on to have a dream career (and was often gifted sky high PCS because of her reputation,results, etc), people are assuming that was what was happening here. But it also WASN'T. She was just being rewarded for a WR skate - keep in mind at the time she was the first junior skater to eclipse the 200 mark. (For the record, the same thing happened with Sasha later - when she was rewarded as the queen of quads and a groundbreaker with scores as a junior that could beat the junior and senior World.)
As for the political comment, I pointed out that that DIDN'T apply here - once more, this JGPF isn't a good argument for that at all. The PCS in this case, were actually emotional.
Nastya in later years was frequently subjected to unfair AND political PCS and
criminally underscored. That WASN'T the case
here though. Furthermore, there is a difference between accepting something and understanding the forces at work though. Certainly talking on an internet forum isn't going to bring about change. But looking closely at protocols and taking into account all the external factors do help to understand what's really happening and why things did happen.
I also think the problem with evaluating, is that everyone forgets that teams don't exist in a vacuum. Therefore, it was obvious that Stanislava was going to Junior Worlds that year. That year Stanislava was actually competing as BOTH a junior and a senior. Her only GP was actually a JGP. So that's actually wrong - she wasn't skating as a senior yet completely. She was doing CS as a senior but not fully a senior yet. So it actually makes perfect sense she was still competing at Junior and Senior Nationals (Anastasia T did that too while technically a senior and others have too before they get their first senior GPs). She was still competing at Junior Nationals because internationally she was still competing as a junior (at some events). And as for Nastya skating 4 clean programs (at both junior and seniors RusNats), well Stanislava beat her at both. (Now Stanislava beating her at Junior RusNats is controversial and mainly due to her PCS but she did beat her.) In fact, Stanislava did well enough to be first alternate for Euros, Olympics, Worlds, which should say something about her standing as a Russian ladies skater (and how much they were not sending Polina.) So if they thought that she was first alternate for the Olympics, then naturally she was one of their first options for Junior Worlds. (This has also happened before and since where they'll send skaters who don't make the senior team but are in conversation to Junior Worlds provided they still have their junior eligibility - the men do it all the time.) And then when Evgenia withdrew from Worlds, Stanislava went to Worlds too.
I'm interested to see how you thought Anastasia was obviously the first to go to Junior Worlds. Both only had one GP - a JGP. Stanislava medaled in hers and scored 180. Anastasia did not medal and scored 160. (Now obviously different judging panels but a 160 is not necessarily inspiring especially in front of international judges.) Secondly when they competed in the same competition Stanislava "won" both times. Now neither were consistent but Stanislava was ahead by all their metrics. Yes Anastasia G scored in the 180s at two junior "B" cups, but Stanislava scored in the 170s at one senior "B" cup and then scored twice in the 190s (with one of them being almost 200) at her next two senior "B" cups. Also this is for the third spot anyway. None of those previous things, anywhere indicates that Anastasia G was "obviously" the first to go to Junior Worlds - in fact, you can make a strong case that the opposite was true.
