2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating

[GS Forum Staff]

The Russian Women's thread for the 2021-22 figure skating season.

 

[flanker]

(Note: This is the starting comment of this thread.)

Russian national team, seniors:

Anna Shcherbakova
Alexandra Trusova
Kamila Valieva
Daria Usacheva
Maiia Khromykh
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
Aliona Kostornaia (reserve)
Elizaveta Nugumanova (reserve)
Sofia Samodurova (reserve)

Russian national team, juniors (13-19) and novices* 11-17):

Sofia Akatieva
Elizaveta Berestovskaia
Sofia Muravyova
Adeliya Petrosian
Sofia Samodelkina
Anna Frolova
Kseniia Sinitsina (reserve)
Maria Zakharova (reserve)
Alina Gorbacheva*
Alisa Dvoeglazhova*
Anastasia Zinina*
Elizaveta Osokina*
Daria Sadkova*
Ulyana Shiryaeva*
Veronika Zhilina* (reserve)
Elizaveta Kulikova* (reserve)

Note: Remember that being on the list of the national team is mostly about funding and doesn't always mean that a member
will get GP/JGP entry a vice versa.

Olympic assignments (4-20 february 2022, Beijing):

Results
Individual:	Team:
Anna Shcherbakova	Kamila Valieva
Aleksandra Trusova
Kamila Valieva

ISU Championships assignments:

Worlds (21-27 march 2022, Montpellier):

To ISU:

Europeans (10-16 january 2022, Tallin):

Results

Individual:

Anna Shcherbakova

Aleksandra Trusova

Kamila Valieva

Jr Worlds (7-13 march 2022, Sofia):

To ISU:

Skaters with GP assignments:

Skate America	Skate Canada	Gran Premio D'Italia​ note: moved from CoC	NHK Trophy	Internationaux de France	Rostelecom Cup
22-24 October 2021, Las Vegas	29-31 October 2021, Vancouver	5-7 November 2021, Torino	12-14 November 2021, Tokyo	19-21 November 2021, Grenoble	26-28 November 2021, Sochi
Entries	Entries	Entries	Entries	Entries	Entries
Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results
Kseniia Sinitsina	Alena Kostornaia	Maiia Khromykh	Alexandra Trusova WD	Alena Kostornaia	Elizavteta Tuktamysheva
Alexandra Trusova	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Sofia Samodurova	Daria Usacheva WD	Anna Shcherbakova	Kamila Valieva
Daria Usacheva	Kamila Valieva	Anna Shcherbakova	-	Kseniia Sinitsyna	Maia Khromykh

Skaters with JGP assignments:

JGP France I*	JGP France II*	JGP Slovakia	JGP Russia	JGP Slovenia	JGP Poland	JGP Austria
18-21 August 2021, Courchevel	25-28 August 2021, Courchevel	1-4 September 2021, Košice	15-18 September 2021, Krasnoyarsk	22-25 September 2021, Ljubljana	29 Sept - 2 Oct 2021, Gdansk	6-9 October 2021, Linz
Entries	Entries	Entries	Entries	Entries	Entries	Entries
Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results
Sofia Samodelkina	Elizaveta Berestovskaia	Sofia Muravieva	Sofia Akatieva	Adeliia Petrosian	Sofia Akatieva	Sofia Muravieva
Mariia Zakharova	Veronika Zhilina	Adeliia Petrosian	Elizaveta Kulikova	Sofia Samodelkina	Elizaveta Kulikova	Anastasia Zinina
-	-	Mariia Zakharova	Daria Sadkova	-	-	-
-	-	Veronika Zhilina	Sofia Samodelkina	-	-	-
-	-	-	Anastasia Zinina	-	-	-

*
Note: No russian skaters allowed because ot the local covid restrictions!

GP and JGP Final:

ISU GP of Figure Skating Final - Seniors	ISU GP of Figure Skating Final - Juniors
9-12 December 2021, Osaka	9-12 December 2021, Osaka
CANCELLED	CANCELLED

Winter Universiade (11-21 december 2021, Luzern):

Sofia Samodurova
Anastasia Guliakova

CANCELLED

Skaters with CS and other remarkable international assignments:

US Classics International, 15-18 september 2021	Alexandra Trusova
CS Finlandia Trophy, 7-10 october 2021	Kamila Valieva, Aliona Kostornaia, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
Budapest Trophy, 14-17 october 2021	Maiia Khromykh, Sofia Samodurova, Anna Shcherbakova, Karolina Kogan (junior)
CS Warsaw Cup 2021, 18-21 November 2021	Maiia Khromykh

Russian Sr Nationals:

21-26 December 2021, St. Petersburg

Info

Results

Entries:

Kamila Valieva

Anastasia Gulyakova (WD)

Ksenia Gushchina

Anastasia Zinina

Anastasia Morozova

Sofia Muravieva

Arina Onishchenko

Veronika Peterimova

Adeliia Petrosian

Sofia Samodelkina

Sofia Samodurova

Polina Sviridenko

Ksenia Sinitsina

Aleksandra Trusova

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva

Maiia Khromykh

Valeria Shulskaya

Anna Shcherbakova

Veronika Yametova

Russian Jr Nationals:

18-22 January 2022, Saransk

Info

Results

Entries:

Sofia Akateva

Veronika Zhilina

Sofia Muravieva

Adeliia Petrosian

Anastasia Zinina

Sofia Samodelkina

Elizaveta Kulikova

Maria Zakharova

Uliana Shiryaeva

Sofia Titova

Alina Gorbacheva

Alisa Dvoeglazhova

Viktoria Morozova

Nadezhda Ponteleenko

Natalia Lagutova

Inga Gurgenidze

Lyubov Rubtsova

Sofia Zakharova

Stages of the Russian Cup - seniors:

1st stage, Syzran	2nd stage, Yoshkar-Ola	3rd stage, Sochi	4th stage, Kazan	5th stage, Perm
22-26 September 2021	10-14 October 2021	24-28 October 2021	8-12 November 2021	17-21 November 2021
general info	general info	general info	general info	general info
results	results	results	results	results

Russian Cup Final - seniors:

23-27 february, Saransk:

Participants: https://fsrussia.ru/results/2122/cor2122_final/CAT004EN.HTM
Results: https://fsrussia.ru/results/2122/cor2122_final/CAT004RS.HTM

Stages of the Russian Cup - juniors:

1st stage, Syzran	2nd stage, Yoshkar-Ola	3rd stage, Sochi	4th stage, Kazan	5th stage, Perm
22-26 September 2021	10-14 October 2021	24-28 October 2021	8-12 November 2021	17-21 November 2021
general info	general info	general info	general info	general info
results	results	results	results	results

Russian Cup Final - juniors:

23-27 february, Saransk:

Participants: https://fsrussia.ru/results/2122/cor2122_final/CAT003EN.HTM
Results: https://fsrussia.ru/results/2122/cor2122_final/CAT003RS.HTM

Coming to senior age:

Maiia Khromykh
Daria Usacheva
Kamila Valieva

Coming to junior age:

Sofia Akatieva
Elizaveta Berestovskaia
Elizaveta Kulikova
Sofia Muravyeva
Adeliia Petrosian
Sofia Samodelkina
Mariia Zakharova
Veronika Zhilina
Anastasia Zinina

Coaching changes:

Alexandra Trusova - from Angels of Plushenko to Sambo 70 Khrustalnyi

Retirements and switching of disciplines/countries:

Anastasia Gubanova - representing Georgia since 2021-22 season

Main topics:

It's the olympic season

Useful links:

FS biographies
World standings
Allskaters.info
Skatingscores
RinkResults
Full list of the team members (taken from here)
Additional list
Additilona list 2

 

[flanker]

OK, I didn't see this coming, but it seems the off-season and the new season starts with a...

 

[spicymacaron]

Holy... I had to double check to see if this wasn't some kind of delayed April fools' joke. How is these even going to work? Does Eteri have conditions like she did with Aliona? Also, there's no way Daria and Maiia are happy with this, their chances at Olympics have gone down with Aliona and Sasha both returning.

 

[Arbitrary]

It was said already today's morning 1 May 2021 Trusova completed her first session with the commoners group of the Dome.
She started her way up to the skies from the very beginning, the Bantha fodder group, plankton...

 

[Azikin]

What what what? OMG, for real? LOL.

 

[flanker]

What what what? OMG, for real? LOL.

Eteri is the true indestructable iron lady.

The other thing is even I can hardly imagine how the team will be able to manage six top senior ladies at once who all have at least a decent chance for the olympics, plus of course Alina and Evgenia plus Lilbet if she's healthy plus Morisi plus the juniors.

 

[flanker]

BTW you can vote for the best russian lady of the season:

Россия вырастила уникальное созвездие фигуристок. Но кто лучшая?

РИА Новости, 30.07.2021

ria.ru

 

[Novalis]

Eteri is the true indestructable iron lady.

The other thing is even I can hardly imagine how the team will be able to manage six top senior ladies at once who all have at least a decent chance for the olympics, plus of course Alina and Evgenia plus Lilbet if she's healthy plus Morisi plus the juniors.

You would think that they would at least hire another choreographer, or at least let someone like Averbukh do some of their choreos

 

[Fluture]

Well, prefacing this by saying that the move probably increased Sasha‘s Olympic chances. While I was happy about some of her earlier improvements this season (that all vanished when she went back to the old “5 quads ride or die“ strategy...), it was clear that Plushenko and co. were unorganized, chaotic and just plain inexperienced. Also, the federation has made it obvious as can be that they‘ll prefer an all Eteri World/Olympic team. Now, they‘re pretty much guaranteed that.

However, all in all, I‘m still gutted by this move. Not because I liked Plushenko (I don‘t lol) or because I was such a fan of the academy but because I think this is overall a very discouraging situation for Russian ladies figure skating. Plushenko had all the chances to create a well-run alternative to Eteri‘s team and to - finally! - create some competition. Now, this season has pretty much “proven“ that in Russian ladies, you either skate with Eteri, or you don‘t skate at all (or, you can skate, ofc, but you won‘t make any teams). There‘s Mishin, sure, but he‘s old and not all too likely to coach for another few cycles. And Davydov, of course, but he already sees skaters leave him for Eteri because he doesn‘t get enough funding. Other than that? Nothing. I know there‘ll already be gleeful comments about how you cannot “defeat Eteri“ but realistically, if you look at the broader picture, a situation like this is very worrisome for a discipline overall. Has this ever worked out that ONE coaching team has coached all the top talents? And don‘t @ me with Viner, she just oversees the whole thing and every girl has their own coach.

It might work out for the Olympic season, sure, and Eteri will get the whole Olympic podium. But afterwards? There will be Akatieva and Petrosyan and Berestovskaia and now they decided they want to work with pairs too for whatever reason. 9 girls + Morisi and whatever other boys they‘re coaching on international competitions, and three coaches? (+ Tsurskaya, I guess) Are you kidding me? If Eteri really stays true to her “everyone gets the same chances/same amount of attention“ comments then the quality of coaching will inevitably go down for every single athlete. Not to mention Daniil‘s choreography, which already has suffered from the reduced time spent on an individual skater and him having to crank out like 50 programs each season. They pretty much have to bring in a new choreographer if they want to maintain at least a reasonable standard of programs.

We‘ll see how it goes, I guess. But I‘m worried for the skaters involved who know after this season that it‘s either Eteri‘s or they can kiss their medal chances goodbye. What a sad state for a discipline to be in, no matter the amount of medals it brings. You can call me an Eteri hater if you‘d like to but in my eyes, all it does is kill individuality. And that‘s pretty depressing for a sport as inherently creative and, yes, individual as figure skating.

 

[Azikin]

Plushenko had all the chances to create a well-run alternative to Eteri‘s team and to - finally! - create some competition.

It would be nice and he still has that chance. But he needs to raise his own skaters, not steal them from the others. We'll see how it will go with the skaters that he's raising... he still has Rozanov and Yulia, doesn't he? Maybe not for logn, we'll see...

 

[Fluture]

It would be nice and he still has that chance. But he needs to raise his own skaters, not steal them from the others. We'll see how it will go with the skaters that he's raising... he still has Rozanov and Yulia, doesn't he? Maybe not for logn, we'll see...

Yes, in theory. But the academy took such a big hit in reputation, it will be hard to recover from that. They lost four high profile skaters + a coach (Volkov) this season. I guess he could work his way up the rank with the Zhilinas, Muravieva and Titova, but it‘s a fact that he went into this season with lots of momentum and subsequently lost all of it.

As for ”stealing“. Tutberidze and her team just “stole“ T/M, despite them being a completely inexperienced team in pairs coaching. So, I don‘t want to hear anything else about this. You don‘t get to choose when it‘s stealing/poaching and when it isn‘t. Skaters change coaches all the time for a number of reasons. In the end they are individuals who make their own choices, they‘re not goods or products.

 

[nussnacker]

Has this ever worked out that ONE coaching team has coached all the top talents?

You’re saying this as if Eteri suddenly got all the skaters she never worked with. You do realize they all have been working with her for years, right?
Eteri’s group didn’t really change this year for seniors, the only new skaters she got were 3(?) novices (Sadkova, Dvoyeglazova, Kostyleva) and Evgenia (if we count her)
The skaters in her senior group otherwise remained the same, only Aliona and Sasha left, and now both are back.
It’s just Kamila, Daria and Maiia weren’t as strong a year ago, weren’t really considered to be major threats, now they improved a lot.

 

[Fluture]

You’re saying this as if Eteri suddenly got all the skaters she never worked with. You do realize they all have been working with her for years, right?
Eteri’s group didn’t really change this year for seniors, the only new skaters she got were 3(?) novices (Sadkova, Dvoyeglazova, Kostyleva) and Evgenia (if we count her)
The skaters in her senior group otherwise remained the same, only Aliona and Sasha left, and now both are back.
It’s just Kamila, Daria and Maiia weren’t as strong a year ago, weren’t really considered to be major threats, now they improved a lot.

I’m aware of this and have said something similar when Aliona went back. This is a situation that would have happened regardless of whether Sasha or Aliona returned, we were headed for a scenario like this all along. This doesn’t make it better, IMO. But my main argument is something else entirely anyway.

This season “proved“ something, which makes these transfers so noteworthy, despite Eteri having worked with all of them before (Or maybe exactly due to this). It proves that in Russian ladies singles, you cannot skate successfully without being in her team. All three ladies who sought out an individual path ultimately went back to her. You can interpret this as a success story for her team and you‘re perfectly free to do this. For me, however, it‘s a discouraging sign.

I personally think that a discipline needs more than one successful coaching team. Competition leads to growth and individuality after all and I don‘t see how it will be possible for one team to keep coaching all the increasing talent without there being a significant drop in quality both in terms of coaching and choreography.

 

[nussnacker]

her team just “stole“ T/M

Are you sure this is comparable?
T/M were basically rejected by everyone.
Mozer didn’t want to work with them, calling them an “uninteresting project”. Trankov said he can’t (and doesn’t want to) be their main coach, and that he isn’t fit for this job, but this again came to be his responsibility when T/M couldn’t work with Zoueva the whole season. I mean you could say she “stole” them from Zoueva, but they haven’t worked with her for a year. It couldn’t go on like this, I think it’s obvious. Going into Olympic season, they had too much uncertainty with their coaching, going between US and Russia would barely be an option. They needed someone to coach them in Russia, and as literally no one wanted to coach them here and Trankov doesn’t have a rink, I bet T/M are very thankful to have at least some certainty in their lives. Plus, they asked Eteri for help. I think they wanted someone to take responsibility for them, and organize the whole process of preparing for Olympics. It may very well backfire, but T/M spent a whole Olympic quad with no semblance of organized training, it was a chaos from start to finish.

 

[Fluture]

Are you sure this is comparable?
T/M were basically rejected by everyone.
Mozer didn’t want to work with them, calling them an “uninteresting project”. Trankov said he can’t (and doesn’t want to) be their main coach, and that he isn’t fit for this job, but this again came to be his responsibility when T/M couldn’t work with Zoueva the whole season. I mean you could say she “stole” them from Zoueva, but they haven’t worked with her for a year. It couldn’t go on like this, I think it’s obvious. Going into Olympic season, they had too much uncertainty with their coaching, going between US and Russia would barely be an option. They needed someone to coach them in Russia, and as literally no one wanted to coach them here and Trankov doesn’t have a rink, I bet T/M are very thankful to have at least some certainty in their lives. Plus, they asked Eteri for help. I think they wanted someone to take responsibility for them, and organize the whole process of preparing for Olympics. It may very well backfire, but T/M spent a whole Olympic quad with no semblance of organized training, it was a chaos from start to finish.

For the record, I don‘t believe Eteri stole T/M. Nor do I believe Plushenko stole Aliona and Sasha. They obviously all needed a change and were offered one. It‘s up to them to accept. Do you think Anna or Kamila would have accepted an offer from another coach last season? No. So, this proves that Aliona and Sasha went on their own accords. I‘ve just never understood the “poaching/stealing“ argument. If an athlete believes they‘ll have better chances/conditions somewhere else, they‘ll leave. If not, then...not. Calling this “stealing“ just weirdly makes it look like they‘re objects or someone elses property, which I personally take an issue with as it takes away their agency. But I see I‘ll be rehashing an old discussion that I really had no intention of. Let‘s agree to disagree.

 

[starlight97]

Well well Sasha's dad brings it again in spite of Sasha saying 3 weeks ago she wouldn't change coach in an Olympic Season

In this move, quiet the opposite to Alena, it's hard to see the obvious improvement they must be looking for.

She was as inconsistent with Plushenko as she had always been with Eteri and she has gotten pretty much the same placements under him as she did under her.
But: she got 100% individualized attention and special treatment, she got better programs and better costumes, they at least tried to improve her SS, the height of her working 4s actually improved and she had a millionaire and media celebrity ready to spend any amount of money necessary on her, to push her, meaning actually him and his academy, to the top. As well as pick any fight necessary with judges and the fed to excuse her failures and justify her wins.
Under Eteri she did nothing better in the senior season with her than she did last season under Plushenko as far as I'm concerned. But there she will be one of dozens of top skaters, one of 6(!!) serious OG contenders and receive one of Daniil's 50+ programs that that poor guy has to crank out next season, while waiting in a long line for harness work or any individualized attention. Eteri has 0 special interest in her over the other 5 girls, especially not now. It will be pure survival of the fittest and simple math for that team, while Plushenko would have really pulled for her and only her

 

[nussnacker]

I’m aware of this and have said something similar when Aliona went back. This is a situation that would have happened regardless of whether Sasha or Aliona returned, we were headed for a scenario like this all along. This doesn’t make it better, IMO. But my main argument is something else entirely anyway.

This season “proved“ something, which makes these transfers so noteworthy, despite Eteri having worked with all of them before (Or maybe exactly due to this). It proves that in Russian ladies singles, you cannot skate successfully without being in her team. All three ladies who sought out an individual path ultimately went back to her. You can interpret this as a success story for her team and you‘re perfectly free to do this. For me, however, it‘s a discouraging sign.

I personally think that a discipline needs more than one successful coaching team. Competition leads to growth and individuality after all and I don‘t see how it will be possible for one team to keep coaching all the increasing talent without there being a significant drop in quality both in terms of coaching and choreography.

This doesn’t prove anything about “not being able to be successful outside of Sambo”
It just proves that specifically Plushenko isn’t able to coach skaters like Sasha or Aliona *yet*. I’m sure if she switched to Raf or Mishin, the season have ended better for Sasha.
Eteri might not be perfect for Sasha, but she’s better than what Plushenko could do for her, and better than an uncertainty of working with a new coach in the Olympic season. Sasha even said that Plushenko is more nervous at competitions, I bet that didn’t help her to calm her nerves at worlds.
to be honest, I think it would be better if Sasha didn’t return. Probably she could’ve tried something else, since I don’t think Eteri’s strategy of being consistent and Sasha’s desire of being a history maker align at this point. There will probably be a lot of arguments about this again, I can’t see this as something positive for neither their team dynamics, nor for Sasha personally.

I do think Aliona is at her best with Eteri.

 

[nussnacker]

For the record, I don‘t believe Eteri stole T/M. Nor do I believe Plushenko stole Aliona and Sasha. They obviously all needed a change and were offered one. It‘s up to them to accept. Do you think Anna or Kamila would have accepted an offer from another coach last season? No. So, this proves that Aliona and Sasha went on their own accords. I‘ve just never understood the “poaching/stealing“ argument. If an athlete believes they‘ll have better chances/conditions somewhere else, they‘ll leave. If not, then...not. Calling this “stealing“ just weirdly makes it look like they‘re objects or someone elses property, which I personally take an issue with as it takes away their agency. But I see I‘ll be rehashing an old discussion that I really had no intention of. Let‘s agree to disagree.

That’s the difference. I don’t think she offered them anything. I think they were desperate and asked for help.

 

[Fluture]

This doesn’t prove anything about “not being able to be successful outside of Sambo”
It just proves that specifically Plushenko isn’t able to coach skaters like Sasha or Aliona *yet*. I’m sure if she switched to Raf or Mishin, the season have ended better for Sasha.
Eteri might not be perfect for Sasha, but she’s better than what Plushenko could do for her, and better than an uncertainty of working with a new coach in the Olympic season. Sasha even said that Plushenko is more nervous at competitions, I bet that didn’t help her to calm her nerves at worlds.
to be honest, I think it would be better if Sasha didn’t return. Probably she could’ve tried something else, since I don’t think Eteri’s strategy of being consistent and Sasha’s desire of being a history maker align at this point. There will probably be a lot of arguments about this again, I can’t see this as something positive for neither their team dynamics, nor for Sasha personally.

I do think Aliona is at her best with Eteri.

So, answer me this: Who else is there other than Eteri who is able to coach skaters like Aliona and Sasha? And is a realistic option, which neither Mishin nor Raf are. Mishin has Liza and it‘s very clear that he won‘t be taking in direct competitors of hers before she retires. Raf‘s in the US and ignoring the whole pandemic business, that‘s just not very financially feasible. Evgenia was able to go to Canada but she was twice the World Champ and an Olympic medalist. So. This leaves us with who, exactly? Davydov, Panova, or, god forbid, Buyanova? Yeah. That‘s what I‘m saying. There‘s a shocking lack of alternatives for a discipline as successful as Russian ladies skating has been in recent years.

I agree on Sasha and Eteri not being a good match. But she always seemed to have a bond with Dudakov, so I hope it will work out alright for her. No idea about Aliona yet but she seems to be happier so far, let‘s hope it stays that way.