2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[alexocfp]

And not only are they the only option, they even get big names of the sport to join them! I mean, Olympic Medalists.. so that's what people see on Youtube as a representation of our sport's fandom...

So in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. Haha

I tried to give it a chance, but it‘s too gossipy and passive aggressive for my taste.

Even podcast options are limited and the vast majority of those are complete garbage too.

 

[silveruskate]

I'm not giving that channel any clicks after this morning. Here was from Shcherbakova's training today of a few of her jumps, look fine to me with no leg wrap
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMulz-ApIqL/?igshid=v85a5k03t9ws

These are her quads no leg wrap either https://www.instagram.com/p/CMul99ZBmw-/?igshid=1c96t11chuw6g

Shcherbakova is 1 im not concerned about bad practices, she's had instances in the past where she's had bad practices (Skate America last year it was said she couldn't hit the quads all week in practice) and warmups but competition time she always seems to deliver.

Anyone can have bad days so it doesn't need to be concerning, but to me the legs are not as tight as normal here. Just comparing to other performances this season. And very different to GPF 2019 for example.

 

[Scott512]

My second half of the 40-hour week:
Wednesday: Ladies SP.
Thursday: Visiting the dentist.
Friday: Ladies FS.
How should I survive this.

I'm so glad there's a day off between the SP and free skate.

What is the dentist doing to you? Postpone it if you must

 

[Anya00]

Anyone can have bad days so it doesn't need to be concerning, but to me the legs are not as tight as normal here. Just comparing to other performances this season. And very different to GPF 2019 for example.

Could this possibly be because she's been working on 3A or other quads (not sure if they would really do that before worlds but maybe it's worth considering)?

 

[silveruskate]

Could this possibly be because she's been working on 3A or other quads (not sure if they would really do that before worlds but maybe it's worth considering)?

She had a bad day so it's impossible to tell. The 3F-3T was most pronounced, but it could be tiredness, and she fell a lot before that I'm guessing.

 

[Amei]

I am worried about her because the competition atmosphere is not the same, it's more like a practice. Anna seems to thrive off the high energy atmosphere in competitions and she also feeds off the energy from the audience which brings out her best performances (she said the audience support helps her a lot too). They're not going to have that here, it's going to be dead silent which is more like a run through.

I don't know if she needs the atmosphere to be at her best, but from what we've seen she is a skater that thrives off competition.

Well Shcherbakova and Tuktamysheva have both competed this season without an audience at the third cup stage so she is used to the 'no audience' competition and she did fine there less popping her triple loop to a double in the SP.

 

[gsk8]

Ok folks, once again, we had to go through and clean house (60-some posts that littered and derailed the thread while other members are discussing Worlds practices). Please refrain from going off topic and/or bashing other skaters (see Forum Guidelines) in this thread. Lots coming up this week without rehashing old drama.

 

[Tonight's the Night]

Is it just me, or does it seem like Sasha is getting some incredible height on her 3A? I saw another practice video recently and thought the same thing. Is it just an illusion stemming from how high up the right leg gets at the beginning of the jump?

It just seems like a real monster to me. More apparent during the slo-mo, cued up here:

 

[readernick]

Is it just me, or does it seem like Sasha is getting some incredible height on her 3A? I saw another practice video recently and thought the same thing. Is it just an illusion stemming from how high up the right leg gets at the beginning of the jump?

It just seems like a real monster to me. More apparent during the slo-mo, cued up here:

Yes, it has nice height . It isn't surprising that her 3A is so high when 4S (her best quad imho) and her 4T are also quite high. Those three jumps are related. The setup time for that 3A isn't ideal. Rather more like Young You and Liza than Rika or Alena with their shorter setups, but it is a new jump. What really impressed me though in the SP was how much her basic skating seems to have improved. She was getting speed without the terrible posture or pumping we saw from her before. I love skaters who push themselves to improve in their weak areas!

 

[Tonight's the Night]

Yes, it has nice height . It isn't surprising that her 3A is so high when 4S (her best quad imho) and her 4T are also quite high. Those three jumps are related. The setup time for that 3A isn't ideal. Rather more like Young You and Liza than Rika or Alena with their shorter setups, but it is a new jump. What really impressed me though in the SP was how much her basic skating seems to have improved. She was getting speed without the terrible posture or pumping we saw from her before. I love skaters who push themselves to improve in their weak areas!

Yes, I really am seeing more and more elegance from Sasha in that SP.

A long setup for the 3A -- funny given just how quickly she can get into a 2A. For example, this moment in her 2019-2020 free, where the 2A just comes out of nowhere. The audience is literally unprepared to clap. Probably because Sasha is back up in the air exactly six seconds after landing a 4T-3T.



I would say Alyona had a pretty long setup for the 3A, at least in her 2019-2020 short: she goes half the length of the ice, really. Of course she gives us plenty to look at along the way. And not all swooping setups are created equal. I kind of like Sasha's long setup to her 4Lz. But something about Alyona's choice of curve on the way into the 3A is so stunning. Best camera angle was in the GPF, in my opinion:

 

[flanker]

I'm so glad there's a day off between the SP and free skate.

What is the dentist doing to you? Postpone it if you must

Just ordinary checkup, I hope. But this will be my the first time at this one, as my previous dentist retired and I had to find a new one, and don't know what to expect. References are very good, but still have to wait for my own experience.

 

[[email protected]]

I'm stunned hearing Meagan Duhamel words about Anna in TSL interview. This is pure body shaming and bullying cunningly dressed in false concern.
I suspect, if she said that about any North-American skater, nobody from fs community would've shaken her hand anymore, while humiliating 16yo Russian girl is completely cool there.

Олимпийская чемпионка Меган Дюамель: «Мне трудно болеть за Щербакову. Не могу получать удовольствие от ее катания, она выглядит болезненной»

Олимпийская чемпионка по фигурному катанию канадка Меган Дюамель сообщила, что ей будет сложно болеть за россиянку Анну Щербакову на чемпионате мира-2021 в Стокгольме.

www.sports.ru

Yes, if there is just a small hint on what they call "racism" or "homophobia" there is an immediate massive outcry. But being russophobic is kind of fashionable among some people nowadays. Which is sad in this particular case because her former partner seems to be a nice and decent person. He even writes music for Russian skaters, good music.

 

[Samoyed]

Yes, if there is just a small hint on what they call "racism" or "homophobia" there is an immediate massive outcry. But being russophobic is kind of fashionable among some people nowadays. Which is sad in this particular case because her former partner seems to be a nice and decent person. He even writes music for Russian skaters, good music.

With all due respect, it is false narrative: Meagan was not russophobic in her comment, on the contrary, she spoke very highly of Liza T. and Sasha and there was nothing there that would indicate that she has some issues with Anna being Russian. Still it does not make her look better - comments about Anya were completely out of line.

 

[starlight97]

Will there be 0 spectators?
I suppose it won't affect any of the 3 ladies cause none seems to thrive excessively of audience reactions like someone like Medvedeva or Hanyu.
I even suppose for Sasha in particular it will be a big plus, since she seems to have quiet some stage fright, at least to me. I really think this can be a good showing for her

 

[Scott512]

Just ordinary checkup, I hope. But this will be my the first time at this one, as my previous dentist retired and I had to find a new one, and don't know what to expect. References are very good, but still have to wait for my own experience.

It will be fine you just have to get used to a new office and staff. It will be okay. At least your appointment is on a day when the ladies don't complete.

 

[flanker]

With all due respect, it is false narrative: Meagan was not russophobic in her comment, on the contrary, she spoke very highly of Liza T. and Sasha and there was nothing there that would indicate that she has some issues with Anna being Russian. Still it does not make her look better - comments about Anya were completely out of line.

I'm afraid it's working a different way, with the experience from here. There are particular individuals that are "allowed" to be perceived positively. Like I have already written here, you can find quite positive articles about Ovechkin, or high jumper Lasitskene. Or, in figure skating, Mishin and of course Plushenko. From various reasons, I bet that some of them are seen more like cosmopolitan, e. g. when Evgenia Medvedeva went to Orser, the comments about her started to be much more positive. But those are particular individuals, while all the rest is plainly rejected. For instance, our sport servers do not write often about figure skating, but the transfers of Sasha and Aliona from Sambo to Angels were covered and "celebrated" pretty loudly. As Eteri is probably somehow seen as a part or even the top of the "bad system" (or directlly a country) that we are not supposed to like. So the reactions to Aliona's return are, let's say disconcerted.

And while I can't be sure in this case it is the same in other countries or in this particular case, the way many people in the west react on particular people looks very very similar to me and I am pretty sure that if Eteri wasn't Russian, her perception would be vastly different. As I said yesterday, her most loud critics openly said they never even spoke with her (like miss Korpi) or her skaters, attended her training etc. Yes, I think there is a bias and very large part of the bias comes just from the fact that Eteri is russian.

Disclaimer: I openly admit this is my (though very strong) impression that doesn't have to be true.

 

[Skatesocs]

It will be fine you just have to get used to a new office and staff. It will be okay. At least your appointment is on a day when the ladies don't complete.

He might start hallucinating about certain results after the SP during the anaesthesia

 

[flanker]

He might start hallucinating about certain results after the SP during the anaesthesia

Still better than this eventuality

 

[DSQ]

I'm stunned hearing Meagan Duhamel words about Anna in TSL interview. This is pure body shaming and bullying cunningly dressed in false concern.
I suspect, if she said that about any North-American skater, nobody from fs community would've shaken her hand anymore, while humiliating 16yo Russian girl is completely cool there.

Олимпийская чемпионка Меган Дюамель: «Мне трудно болеть за Щербакову. Не могу получать удовольствие от ее катания, она выглядит болезненной»

Олимпийская чемпионка по фигурному катанию канадка Меган Дюамель сообщила, что ей будет сложно болеть за россиянку Анну Щербакову на чемпионате мира-2021 в Стокгольме.

www.sports.ru

I’m impressed that I am able to pick out Megan’s name in Russian.

Personally I think there is a little dash of Russiaphobia around right now. However the real issue isn’t Anna it’s that she’s a part of a very powerful team right now. While there are some valid criticisms (remember the smelling salts?) it’s always the case that the bigger and more powerful someone gets there starts to be a backlash.

Also she had some fair points. Lately Anna has looked unwell, especially after her free skate. Are we supposed to pretend not to see? I think there is a high chance she’ll be World Champion this time next week but that doesn’t mean I’m not worried!

 

[Jontor]

Will there be 0 spectators?
I suppose it won't affect any of the 3 ladies cause none seems to thrive excessively of audience reactions like someone like Medvedeva or Hanyu.
I even suppose for Sasha in particular it will be a big plus, since she seems to have quiet some stage fright, at least to me. I really think this can be a good showing for her

On the contrary. I am pretty sure Anna feeds off the atmosphere as she seems to do well with big audiences. She even thanked the audience for giving her energy after her clean free skate at RusNats.

Will it matter? Hopefully not, but I think at least for Anna this might be a slight disadvantage.