2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[chasingneverland]

I don't think so. Knowing at Nationals that Europeans was already cancelled might have influenced the judging. We will never know.

But if the results stands, then the RusFed has rules. The first two at Nationals goes to Euros, then the third place is up for debate. But, and that is a big but, they ALWAYS goes with the third placed skater. For Euros. The only exception (I think) we ever had was when Medvedeva was sent to Euros 2018 though she didn't compete at Nationals. But I have to check, but I'm pretty sure that's the only one.

For Worlds it's a different story, they kind of use Euros as a check, as Konstantinova will know as a 4th place at Euros wasn't enough for her to be sent to Worlds in 2019. But then they had that new "skate off thing" at RC Final which had never occured before.

That's kinda what I mean though. For one thing knowing Euros was at stake, Aliona would have tried to come back for it. For another, look at Liza N's scoring between RusNats and the Cup Final.

I meant that there was less than .5 of a point between Liza N and Liza T and RusNats.

It would have influenced the judging. When it actually came to picking a team, they called everything on Liza N.

 

[Jontor]

That's kinda what I mean though. For one thing knowing Euros was at stake, Aliona would have tried to come back for it. For another, look at Liza N's scoring between RusNats and the Cup Final.

I meant that there was less than .5 of a point between Liza N and Liza T and RusNats.

It would have influenced the judging. When it actually came to picking a team, they called everything on Liza N.

Yes I agree. But we will never know though. Maybe the judges would have scored up Liza T if Euros what at stake? I don't think Aliona was a chess piece, she was way out of form at the time.

And I checked. RusFed always goes for the top three at Nationals for Euros. Except for 2018 when Medvedeva didn't compete but took the place over Konstantinova.
AND, I discovered the same thing happened back in 2003 when Viktoria Volchkova was injured during Nationals but was sent anyway to Euros over Tatiana Basova.

There are a couple of other cases, but those were due to injuries.

So conclusion, if you want to go to Euros, you better finish top three at Nationals...OR...be injured at Nationals (like in 2003 and 2018). There is no other way.

Fun fact: In 1999 Irina Slutskaya was only 4th at Nationals and wasn't picked for Euros or Worlds. She had already a great resumé, the year before she finished 2nd at Euros, 5th at the Olympics and 2nd at Worlds. She also managed to finish 3rd at the GPF in 1999 which was after Nationals but before Worlds at the time. But no. RusFed didn't send her anywhere. The problem was that Butyrskaya, Soldatova and Volchkova, who was the top three at Nationals also managed to sweep the podium for Russia at Euros (for the first time ever). So, the same team went to Worlds. Butyrskaya won Worlds (the first Russian girl to do so), Soldatova came 3rd, Volchkova kind of flopped though and only finished 10th...maybe Slutskaya would have done better?
Slutskaya has said that this was the hardest time ever in her skating career and she almost gave up skating...

 

[sclloyd]

I mean Lilbet is a World's silver medalist....

Alina is the reigning OGM (and silver team medalist), a World champion, Euros champion (and silver medalist), GPF champion (and silver medalist), Junior World's champion, JGPF champion, EYOF champion, RusNats senior champion, and RusNats junior champion.

Evgenia is an Olympic silver medalist (and silver team medalist), a two-time World's champion (and bronze medalist), two-time Euro's champion (and silver medalist), two-time GPF champion, Junior World's champion (and bronze medalist), JGPF champion (and bronze medalist), two-time RusNats senior champion (and bronze medalist), and RusNats junior champion.

Aliona is the reigning Euros champion, the reigning GPF champion, a Junior World's silver medalist, JGPF champion (and silver medalist), RusNats silver medalist (and two-time bronze medalist), and two-time RusNats junior silver medalist.

Anna is the reigning World's champion, a Euros silver medalist, GPF silver medalist, Junior World's silver medalist, EYOF champion, three-time and the reigning RusNats senior champion, and RusNats junior bronze medalist.

Kamila is the reigning Junior World's champion, the reigning JGPF champion, RusNats silver medalist, and RusNats junior champion.

Elizabet is a World's silver medalist, 4CC silver medalist, and Youth Olympics bronze medalist.

Sofia is the reigning RusNats junior champion (and has won everything domestically that she's entered.) - She's too young for international events right now.

Daria is a Junior World's silver medalist, JGPF bronze medalist, and RusNats junior bronze medalist.

Daniil is a Youth Olympics bronze medalist, JGPF bronze medalist, and two-time RusNats junior champion.

Morisi is a Euros bronze medalist (and at one point was RusNats junior bronze medalist).

Maiia placed 4th at junior World's (didn't make the JGPF) and 5th at RusNats seniors and 5th and RusNats juniors.

She's not exactly been snubbed but she's not even close to a headliner. Elizabet's resume is actually better. Also no guarantee that Maiia does two numbers - Daniil, Sofia, Daria all only do one. Even Elizabet and Morisi do one, I think.

Evgenia, Alina, Anna, Aliona, and Kamila do two.

Not to be rude, but I don’t really care about her “resume”. She hasn’t been active in competition for a while now and she’s not Russian. I love her. I love her program with the violin at the beginning. But if the supposed reasoning that Maia isn’t there is because she is a replacement, I’d 100% have to disagree. Maia has been slowly gaining status, especially after the Russian Cup final. Can’t really say “oh but her RusNats placement was bad” bc she then beat Daria, and lost to Kamila by what, like two points?

Anyways, those are my two cents

 

[chasingneverland]

Not to be rude, but I don’t really care about her “resume”. She hasn’t been active in competition for a while now and she’s not Russian. I love her. I love her program with the violin at the beginning. But if the supposed reasoning that Maia isn’t there is because she is a replacement, I’d 100% have to disagree. Maia has been slowly gaining status, especially after the Russian Cup final. Can’t really say “oh but her RusNats placement was bad” bc she then beat Daria, and lost to Kamila by what, like two points?

Anyways, those are my two cents

It's an exhibition. It's ALL about the resume. That is the POINT.

It's why Alina and Evgenia have star billings. Lilbet is one of Eteri's stars. It's why Aliona does two performances a show despite having no international assignments this season and a bad season based on her lofty standards. It's why Alina and Evgenia despite not competing all year - also not active in competition like Lilbet - are stars.

The resume is why they're there.

Note: I didn't say Lilbet had a better star billing than Alina, Evgenia, Aliona, Anna or Kamila. But she does have a better one than Maiia.

(The Russian Cup didn't have everyone in attendance and is never the "main start" of the season.)

 

[Dawn825]

Daniil is a Youth Olympics bronze medalist, JGPF bronze medalist, and two-time RusNats junior champion.

I love you CN but it's hilarious that you tried to justify Daniil on this list

 

[Amei]

Not to put down Tursynbaeva, but it would be quite the snub to make Maia the substitute instead of her (or someone else?). Probably the timing is convenient, but I can’t imagine TT would intentionally leave Maia out of the show just because they couldn’t fit in two more numbers.

I'm not sure why people tend to panic or call it a 'snub' (no offense meant to anyone) that a skater isn't shown in pictures at practice or isn't doing shows. Khromyh might've had school or family stuff, there might not have really been any 'substituting' of athletes, just a matter of skaters availability or desire to go.

 

[Amei]

Yes I agree. But we will never know though. Maybe the judges would have scored up Liza T if Euros what at stake? I don't think Aliona was a chess piece, she was way out of form at the time.

And I checked. RusFed always goes for the top three at Nationals for Euros. Except for 2018 when Medvedeva didn't compete but took the place over Konstantinova.
AND, I discovered the same thing happened back in 2003 when Viktoria Volchkova was injured during Nationals but was sent anyway to Euros over Tatiana Basova.

There are a couple of other cases, but those were due to injuries.

So conclusion, if you want to go to Euros, you better finish top three at Nationals...OR...be injured at Nationals (like in 2003 and 2018). There is no other way.

Fun fact: In 1999 Irina Slutskaya was only 4th at Nationals and wasn't picked for Euros or Worlds. She had already a great resumé, the year before she finished 2nd at Euros, 5th at the Olympics and 2nd at Worlds. She also managed to finish 3rd at the GPF in 1999 which was after Nationals but before Worlds at the time. But no. RusFed didn't send her anywhere. The problem was that Butyrskaya, Soldatova and Volchkova, who was the top three at Nationals also managed to sweep the podium for Russia at Euros (for the first time ever). So, the same team went to Worlds. Butyrskaya won Worlds (the first Russian girl to do so), Soldatova came 3rd, Volchkova kind of flopped though and only finished 10th...maybe Slutskaya would have done better?
Slutskaya has said that this was the hardest time ever in her skating career and she almost gave up skating...

I think that bolded part is highly unlikely to be the case for awhile where an 'injured' skater gets a pass to Europeans even though they didn't compete at Nationals given the talent depth of the Russian ladies.

 

[chasingneverland]

I love you CN but it's hilarious that you tried to justify Daniil on this list

I included him with the subs. He is, same as Daria and Maiia. (I included him with the when we have room group not in the star billing group - I have them ranked roughly in order of billing. He's at the bottom in case you didn't notice.

Also if you don't think the RusFed is interested in Daniil's progress...lol)

Daria herself said in an interview that she knew she was in two and wasn't sure about the rest of it.

 

[Amei]

Not to be rude, but I don’t really care about her “resume”. She hasn’t been active in competition for a while now and she’s not Russian.

Morisi isn't an athlete that competes for Russia and he was at the shows. And actually both Morisi and Tursynbayeva are Russian by birth and based on their bios they generally live their lives in Russia, they represent their parents native countries - likely decisions that were made so that they had easy routes to major competitions, if you look at their competition history they both actually at 1 point skated for Russia but they transferred to their current countries.

And why exactly does the country they represent matter? Its a show, as long as they are entertaining or have a fan base that buys tickets, I don't think organizers care all that much.

 

[Pale]

I find it quite interesting. I think not only the country but also the club they represent matters.
I mean, it is hilarious when Tutberidze speaks about loyalty when certain skaters dare to leave her, but at the same time ready to replace skaters from her own club at the show. And not only that, remember when she invited Shoma for a trial period. What the hell was that. Daniil was considered as one of the highly promising juniors, an Olympic hope. She was ready to invest in a direct competitor.

So yeah, nice to see Maya finally skating at the show.

 

[sclloyd]

I'm not sure why people tend to panic or call it a 'snub' (no offense meant to anyone) that a skater isn't shown in pictures at practice or isn't doing shows. Khromyh might've had school or family stuff, there might not have really been any 'substituting' of athletes, just a matter of skaters availability or desire to go.

I didn’t say it was a snub, in fact I was the first one to say that she probably wasn’t there because of other obligations. I only said it would’ve been a snub to exclude her when she’s a really vital part of the TT image while including other skaters who have been inactive. Which is why I didn’t think she was a replacement, because I don’t think TT would intentionally leave her out of anything. Liza is there too, and she’s not a TT skater— so again INTENTIONALLY excluding Maia from a TT show would’ve been a snub. But I don’t think that’s what happened here. As for nationality— I think it does matter in some regards. Everyone is a little bit patriotic. This is the most popular sport in Russia is it not? I’m sure they want to see their current and up and coming champions of their country. Sure Tursynbaeva may be “Russian” but TT would’ve been barred from coaching her for past Olympic seasons. Not a dig at her at all, but IMO I think Khromykh has more media influence going into the Olympic season so they’d probably try to boost her name and use someone else as a replacement. So again, I think because there are other more “replaceable” girls in the show, that it is because of other obligations.

 

[chasingneverland]

I didn’t say it was a snub, in fact I was the first one to say that she probably wasn’t there because of other obligations. I only said it would’ve been a snub to exclude her when she’s a really vital part of the TT image while including other skaters who have been inactive. Which is why I didn’t think she was a replacement, because I don’t think TT would intentionally leave her out of anything. Liza is there too, and she’s not a TT skater— so again INTENTIONALLY excluding Maia from a TT show would’ve been a snub. But I don’t think that’s what happened here. As for nationality— I think it does matter in some regards. Everyone is a little bit patriotic. This is the most popular sport in Russia is it not? I’m sure they want to see their current and up and coming champions of their country. Sure Tursynbaeva may be “Russian” but TT would’ve been barred from coaching her for past Olympic seasons. Not a dig at her at all, but IMO I think Khromykh has more media influence going into the Olympic season so they’d probably try to boost her name and use someone else as a replacement. So again, I think because there are other more “replaceable” girls in the show, that it is because of other obligations.

Liza wasn't at both shows. She was at Moscow. She's a guest - that's DIFFERENT. They're invited. Same with Mikhail. Also Liza and Mikhail were only invited to one. Also invited were S/K, S/B, M/G, T/M, and B/K. Once again - champions.

The show is a portrayal of Eteri's champions on ice and other distinguished guests - Russian champions.
It's not JUST Eteri's skaters - it's also inviting the best of Russia so they can see their competitive performances and exhibitions.

Also Eteri was only barred from training Lilbet at ONE olympics. The Sochi one.

Who exactly is more replaceable? LOL

Also, they're NOT replacing them. Daria HERSELF said she only knew she was skating in two shows. And would find out the rest later - probably based on guests accepting invitations, Anna going to WTT, etc.

Look at the posters advertising the tour. It's not all of Eteri's girls. The posters ONLY show Alina, Evgenia, Anna, and Kamila. (And then Aliona came back.)

 

[chasingneverland]

I find it quite interesting. I think not only the country but also the club they represent matters.
I mean, it is hilarious when Tutberidze speaks about loyalty when certain skaters dare to leave her, but at the same time ready to replace skaters from her own club at the show. And not only that, remember when she invited Shoma for a trial period. What the hell was that. Daniil was considered as one of the highly promising juniors, an Olympic hope. She was ready to invest in a direct competitor.

So yeah, nice to see Maya finally skating at the show.

I don't think the plan was for Daniil to make the Olympics this cycle.

He's the hope for after the Mikhail/Dimitri generation.

And Eteri has never hesitated from investing in direct competitors. She literally trains 5 of them right now. In fact, she encourages it.

 

[sclloyd]

Liza wasn't at both shows. She was at Moscow. She's a guest - that's DIFFERENT. They're invited. Same with Mikhail. Also Liza and Mikhail were only invited to one. Also invited were S/K, S/B, M/G, T/M, and B/K. Once again - champions.

The show is a portrayal of Eteri's champions on ice and other distinguished guests - Russian champions.
It's not JUST Eteri's skaters - it's also inviting the best of Russia so they can see their competitive performances and exhibitions.

Also Eteri was only barred from training Lilbet at ONE olympics. The Sochi one.

Who exactly is more replaceable? LOL

Also, they're NOT replacing them. Daria HERSELF said she only knew she was skating in two shows. And would find out the rest later - probably based on guests accepting invitations, Anna going to WTT, etc.

Look at the posters advertising the tour. It's not all of Eteri's girls. The posters ONLY show Alina, Evgenia, Anna, and Kamila. (And then Aliona came back.)

you're so defensive over me saying that i don't think maia was there as a replacement for anyone and i don't get it, like literally what are you even arguing about i don't even know.

 

[nussnacker]

I believe they announced on IG that only Alina and Evgenia will be present at all shows (?), but all other cast of the show will be varied.
Regardless, I think they weren’t planning to have all skaters at all shows, except for Alina and Evgenia.

 

[Lzbee]

I didn’t say it was a snub, in fact I was the first one to say that she probably wasn’t there because of other obligations. I only said it would’ve been a snub to exclude her when she’s a really vital part of the TT image while including other skaters who have been inactive. Which is why I didn’t think she was a replacement, because I don’t think TT would intentionally leave her out of anything. Liza is there too, and she’s not a TT skater— so again INTENTIONALLY excluding Maia from a TT show would’ve been a snub. But I don’t think that’s what happened here. As for nationality— I think it does matter in some regards. Everyone is a little bit patriotic. This is the most popular sport in Russia is it not? I’m sure they want to see their current and up and coming champions of their country. Sure Tursynbaeva may be “Russian” but TT would’ve been barred from coaching her for past Olympic seasons. Not a dig at her at all, but IMO I think Khromykh has more media influence going into the Olympic season so they’d probably try to boost her name and use someone else as a replacement. So again, I think because there are other more “replaceable” girls in the show, that it is because of other obligations.

Arguing that Tursynbaeva is more replaceable despite her resume being better because of the country she skates for is a pretty slippery slope. She's still a TT girl.

It's not cool when foreign employees are treated worse just because of their nationality.

 

[starlight97]

I love how Daniil G flails around the dark rink at the beginning of the show and upon being graced by his touch, the girls' spotlights turn on one after the other, like some puppet master who is showing off all the little dolls he "created"

 

[chasingneverland]

you're so defensive over me saying that i don't think maia was there as a replacement for anyone and i don't get it, like literally what are you even arguing about i don't even know.

Maiia isn't there as a replacement FOR anyone. I never argued that.

You're the one who's defensive about arguing that she's earned a spot. She hasn't. It's Eteri's show. She'll invite the guests that will bring in the most amount of money and publicity and prestige. Eteri is a businesswoman at her core.

If Eteri wanted her there 100% she'd be there 100%.

You're the one that said intentionally excluding her would be a snub. It's NOT. Daria wasn't there either. Daniil didn't go to all of them. Eteri picks who to invite for her shows. I'm arguing that it's NOT a snub to NOT have her. Let's admit it - no one is there to see Maiia. (As talented as she is.)

Also it's important to note. This is the Perm show, which as recently as a month ago wasn't going to happen. It's not going to have the lineup of the other shows.

 

[Apple1078]

I assume Anna and Liza won't be in Perm as WTT is just around the corner. I think they'd have to fly to Osaka Sunday or no later than Monday.

 

[starlight97]

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Interview with Alena after the show.
She says she hasn't even been attempting the 3A yet, since Dudakov hasn't been available to hold her in the harness, and she fears repeated injury from trying without it. This doesn't come as a surprise and she has the whole summer left, but it still makes me feel a bit deflated and worried that she hasn't even been attempting it at all yet. Especially since Darya's "I wanna get it over with the 3A as soon as possible so I can move on to the 4S".
Even if Alena gets back her 3A in summer, there'd be no time to even hope for a quad I fear