Who can defeat the Russian Women in 2021-22?

[anonymoose_au]

In head to head senior comps, Osmond 2 Sots 1. After finishing 9th at the previous Worlds, 2013, and rejected by her own federation for the Russia team event at the OG, Sots b/c Gold medalist in Sochi. Where did THAT come from, said everyone?

Wrong skater, they were talking about Maria Sotskova not Adelina Sotnikova. There weren't 3 Russian girls at Sochi to sweep the podium.

(I can't believe people are still throwing shade at Adelina all these years later. Anyone would think she totally bombed her programs, went to the judges table and slapped a stack of money on it to win. Her skates were full of passion and well skated, Yuna accepted her silver, why don't some of you guys try it?)

 

[Amei]

Wrong skater, they were talking about Maria Sotskova not Adelina Sotnikova. There weren't 3 Russian girls at Sochi to sweep the podium.

(I can't believe people are still throwing shade at Adelina all these years later. Anyone would think she totally bombed her programs, went to the judges table and slapped a stack of money on it to win. Her skates were full of passion and well skated, Yuna accepted her silver, why don't some of you guys try it?)

Letting go is an art form that very few people involved with figure skating have mastered, be it athletes, coaches, or fans.

 

[AlysaLiuStan]

Yes, I was addressing how many expected Maria Sotskova to complete a Russian podium sweep at Pyeongchang. And obviously that didn't happen. Whether or not she was favored for bronze vs Osmond is debatable, but my point stands that podium sweeps are unlikely. It's unwise to even suggest that this early, especially given we don't even know the Russian olympic team.

Rika and Alysa could easily beat Daria and Maia (if they were on olympic team).

I think a lot of Russians are really underestimating a lot of skaters...

 

[Osmond4gold]

Wrong skater, they were talking about Maria Sotskova not Adelina Sotnikova. There weren't 3 Russian girls at Sochi to sweep the podium.

(I can't believe people are still throwing shade at Adelina all these years later. Anyone would think she totally bombed her programs, went to the judges table and slapped a stack of money on it to win. Her skates were full of passion and well skated, Yuna accepted her silver, why don't some of you guys try it?)

Thanks anonymoose.

 

[Amei]

Yes, I was addressing how many expected Maria Sotskova to complete a Russian podium sweep at Pyeongchang. And obviously that didn't happen. Whether or not she was favored for bronze vs Osmond is debatable, but my point stands that podium sweeps are unlikely. It's unwise to even suggest that this early, especially given we don't even know the Russian olympic team.

Podium sweeps are difficult but given how strong the Russian ladies are right now, sure things could change but there are so many and they appear capable of stepping in and winning the Olympics or winning a medal based off what they do, not relying on someone else messing up.

Rika and Alysa could easily beat Daria and Maia (if they were on olympic team).

Rika could, it just depends on what Rika shows up - is it Nationals Rika who is amazing or is it the Rika that's shown up at the last 2 Worlds and has not delivered on expectations.

Alysa in her current state I don't think could beat either 1 of them "easily" based off the extremely limited data that we have on her this season vs. their data this season; if she gets her quad and triple axel back then its a different story.

I think a lot of Russians are really underestimating a lot of skaters...

I don't think that they really underestimate foreign skaters, I think they know that their main competition is what they see at Nationals.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Based on what I just read here, what is left to the fans of other than Russian skaters is expecting the skate of the lifetime from, say, Rika and a meltdown from Kamila. Can this happen? Theoretically, anything can happen. Practically? Zhenya, Alina, Elizabeth, Kamila, Alyona, Anna - they all delivered when it mattered most.

We haven't seen quads from the ladies at the Olympics. Of course, no one aside from Miki Ando was seriously training them, but the added pressure can affect the timing as we saw from skaters like Nathan and many others. Zhenya and Alina skated great at the Olympics, but what they attempted is far below what we'll see the next Russian team trying. The Russians might all skate great because, like you said, anything is possible. My opinion is just that, with all that risk, at least one is likely to fail executing it. But we'll see.

 

[Azikin]

Rika and Alysa could easily beat Daria and Maia (if they were on olympic team).

Wow, have you seen Daria and Maia skate lately?

 

[Lzbee]

It's definitely possible for Russia to miss the sweep at Worlds/Olympics/Euros because they're only allowed to send 3 athletes. It only takes one of them to have a disaster for a non Russian to podium (euros less so... They have more leeway there without Alysa or Rika or Young around unless Loena has a stellar season and the skate of her life).

However, I think there's very little chance of them not sweeping GPF as I'm assuming there'll be 5 Russians there. It'd just be a matter of which of them are getting the medals.

 

[lariko]

I also think sweep is unlikely, mainly because I feel that the three non-Russian contenders (at least) will all have a better year than the last year between the benefits of the coaching changes setting in and training conditions hopefully improving. I would also like to point out how under-appreciated Kihira’s SP was this year (in my humble opinion), and would love to see it get accolades it deserves in the Olympic year if she keeps it. It was a thing of beauty.

I also agree that there is no predicting Olympic ladies selection from Russia, or, as fairly pointed out, international event access for them next year.

 

[AlysaLiuStan]

Wow, have you seen Daria and Maia skate lately?

Yes. There is nothing special about Maia's skating if she doesn't land her quads.

 

[macy]

Yes. There is nothing special about Maia's skating if she doesn't land her quads.

i like Alysa and am rooting for her, but you can say the same about her skating. she was behind 3 other US ladies at nationals even with clean skates, and is behind all the top Russian girls in PCS. Maiia would outskate Alysa even if both did no quads or 3As and went clean.

 

[AlysaLiuStan]

i like Alysa and am rooting for her, but you can say the same about her skating. she was behind 3 other US ladies at nationals even with clean skates, and is behind all the top Russian girls in PCS. Maiia would outskate Alysa even if both did no quads or 3As and went clean.

I would be inclined to agree with you a year ago. But now? I don't think you can make that statement anymore.

And we may disagree here, but I don't think Maiia is capable of beating a clean Alysa (unless her quads are landed). There is no universe where Maiia's PCS would be higher than Alysa.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

There is no universe where Maiia's PCS would be higher than Alysa.

I know everyone says "speed isn't everything" but Alysa is still very slow across the ice relative to the top skaters in the world. She's got to improve in that area because Eteri's skaters will have programs that check all the PCS boxes.

 

[sinus]

Yes. There is nothing special about Maia's skating if she doesn't land her quads.

I would say so about Alysa Liu.

 

[Novalis]

I would say so about Alysa Liu.

Burn

 

[nussnacker]

Alysa is a lovely girl, and I really like her work ethic, her optimism and passion for what she does. I‘ll put it like this: I do think Alysa has a higher ceiling than Maiia when it comes to what each of them can achieve. I think with a lot of work, Alysa can get to greater heights than what Maiia will be able to in best case scenario. However, I don’t think that at this point, if both skate without any 3A/quads, that she’ll be able to beat Maiia.. but seeing how quickly Alysa is progressing, I see a great future ahead of her.

 

[sinus]

seeing how quickly Alysa is progressing

Where can I see her progress? Last time I saw her (US Nats?) she couldn't rotate her triples.

 

[Amei]

Where can I see her progress? Last time I saw her (US Nats?) she couldn't rotate her triples.

I believe she's posted stuff to her social media, while progress, practice is not competition where nerves come into play and we often see skaters regress to old habits.

 

[nussnacker]

Where can I see her progress? Last time I saw her (US Nats?) she couldn't rotate her triples.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m comparing where she was at the beginning of the season to were she was at Nationals. She was popping every jump and doing mostly singles and doubles at some point, by Nationals it looked much better overall.

 

[sinus]

Don’t get me wrong, I’m comparing where she was at the beginning of the season to were she was at Nationals. She was popping every jump and doing mostly singles and doubles at some point, by Nationals it looked much better overall.

I don't think you can even compare progress of maintaining of 2 different quads with improving from singles and doubles to underrotated triples.