2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating

[silveruskate]

Yes, these talented Russian skaters need to stop being so precious. If they get the opportunity to leave just go. Better than being beholden to "the system".

Sinitsyna is talented and I'm happy for her, but she didn't even have a season whereas Nugumanova is left out to dry and Khromykh doesn't have a confirmed second spot.

 

[Jontor]

All the top 24 in the combined SB list got 2 spots (except for Zagi/Med/Vas who RusFed obviously didn't submit), so Sinitsyna and Kurakova (and Eunsoo Lim who also didn't do anything last season) got their spots because of that.

Tarakanova and Nugumanova are indeed unfortunate, but I also feel a lot for Anna Frolova who seems to fall into the same nowhere-land as so many Russian ladies have done recently.

 

[nussnacker]

I can't help but cry for tarakanova. I didn't expect her to receive a gp but I guess seeing it for real makes it real? She tries so hard. She has a gofundme and everything. She wants to stick around. She wants it so bad. I don't want to see her sobbing in the kiss-and-cry like after that jgp a few years back. But this sport is tough.

That’s really sad. Tarakanova is naturally gifted with big jumps, no tech issues, good SS. A very talented skater, yet her chances of competing internationally are currently slim to none…
Another coaching change last off-season really killed all her chances. It meant she was late with getting her shape back, she couldn’t compete on the same levels as others and didn’t make nationals or jr nationals.
I don’t know what was the situation with Panova, but it‘s really sad she couldn’t stay with her.

 

[flanker]

Yes, these talented Russian skaters need to stop being so precious. If they get the opportunity to leave just go. Better than being beholden to "the system".

The solution is obviously to revoke the obsolete "3 max rule"

 

[MiraiFan]

All the top 24 in the combined SB list got 2 spots (except for Zagi/Med/Vas who RusFed obviously didn't submit), so Sinitsyna and Kurakova (and Eunsoo Lim who also didn't do anything last season) got their spots because of that.

Tarakanova and Nugumanova are indeed unfortunate, but I also feel a lot for Anna Frolova who seems to fall into the same nowhere-land as so many Russian ladies have done recently.

I honestly don't know what Anna has to do to get anything in Russia .

 

[flanker]

I don't think there's need to overdramatize just this part, for instance rember Evgenia in 2016/17 season, her most golden one, went to SC and France.

 

[Jeanie19]

I don't think there's need to overdramatize just this part, for instance rember Evgenia in 2016/17 season, her most golden one, went to SC and France.

Anna probably chose COC , Liza Russia and Sasha Skate America as first picks. I think Anna has the best competitions. Skate Russia is the last competition, a lot of skaters don't want the last competition. I'm sure Anna is happy with her choices.

 

[Jontor]

Anna probably chose COC , Liza Russia and Sasha Skate America as first picks. I think Anna has the best competitions. Skate Russia is the last competition, a lot of skaters don't want the last competition. I'm sure Anna is happy with her choices.

Yes, and I remember back in the 90s when I started following FS. For seven seasons and sometimes with three assignments, Maria Butyrskaya never did a GP in Russia. She hated to skate at home.

 

[Dawn825]

An easy podium spot? She's landed her quads once in competition and she won't have the PCS forgiveness that Shcherbakova/Valieva have and she doesn't have the quantity of quads to throw like Trusova.

But she never has to beat any of those girls. This is just my opinion/speculation. At RC, Valieva will presumably win, and Tuk will be there in unknown shape. But unless Maiia is a disaster, I cant see a Russian panel of judges letting her fall behind Mariah Bell or Loena Hendricks even if she doesn't land a quad. At CoC, Anna is currently the favorite to win unless she's regressed a lot. That leaves Bradie and Yelim, maybe Loena, to challenge for two more podium spots. If Maiia lands even one quad, she'll probably beat all of them. I'm not saying Maiia is going to be amazing next season, just that China doesn't have the toughest field and Russia's is basically empty.

 

[silveruskate]

The solution is obviously to revoke the obsolete "3 max rule"

I agree with that. I would say the "system" in all ways. Russian as well as ISU. The real world solution at the moment is to switch, and I wish more singles skaters tried to.

edit: typo

 

[Artemisa]

First thought...
SA: Trusova vs Usacheva -- > quads against every point that you can get by a eteri's program . Sinitsyna wild card
SC: a test for valieva. can she beat every one of them? Tuk vs Kostornaia Vs Kihira Vs Liu-> a true test for kostornaia more than the others
Cup of china: an easy road for Scherbakova.. and I think Khromykh can be in the podium
NHK: well russfed can repeat SA .. and test them against kihira
IdF: well to be honest a Kostornaia clean with a perfect 3A can defeat a Shcherbakova .. can be hard but is possible
Rostelecom: the easy cup ... I would like TBA for medvedeva

 

[Minz]

Skate Russia is the last competition, a lot of skaters don't want the last competition. I'm sure Anna is happy with her choices.

What on earth is Skate Russia? Do you mean the Rostelecom Cup?

 

[Jeanie19]

What on earth is Skate Russia? Do you mean the Rostelecom Cup?

Yes.

 

[Azikin]

Tarakanova and Nugumanova are indeed unfortunate, but I also feel a lot for Anna Frolova who seems to fall into the same nowhere-land as so many Russian ladies have done recently.

Especially in light of Sinitsina's 2 spots..

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Yes, and I remember back in the 90s when I started following FS. For seven seasons and sometimes with three assignments, Maria Butyrskaya never did a GP in Russia. She hated to skate at home.

Did she? Her best results came at Russian Nationals, where she won 6 times.

 

[Jontor]

Did she? Her best results came at Russian Nationals, where she won 6 times.

Yes I know, but she had no choice there. Nationals is nationals. But out of 18 GP assignments she never once skated in GP Russia. One GP Final was in Saint Petersburg - 1999, her best year when she won almost everything, but she didn't win there, she came 2nd.
Maria had problems with her nerves sometimes, and I remember I read an interview with her long ago that she felt it most nerve wrecking to skate at home. She felt the pressure was too high.

That said, I think Anna is completely the other way around. She feeds off the audience and take the pressure as a challenge. She has proven that at Nationals 3 times already.

People are different.

 

[*~RussianBleux~*]

Especially in light of Sinitsina's 2 spots..

People act like there wasn’t some kind of criteria that got Kseniia those spots and it was just randomly chosen.

From what I remember Kseniia got a huge SB at the JGP Italy before her injury. SB is one criteria used to determine the spots. Kurakova also benefitted from a Challenger in Poland where she scored exceptionally well. All you need is one really good competition when it matters.

I think the issue is that the international season was cancelled so many of the SB scores and world ranking points that are being used to determine these GP spots come from the 2019-2020 season. So skaters that may have been successful back then but injured/struggling since are getting GP over skaters who appeared to be doing better last season. But since those competitions were all domestic it didn’t count for anything. RusFed doesn’t determine who gets spots other than their host pick.

Nugu/Frolova/Gulyakova/Tarakanova need to go to Challengers and work their way up to the top. If they can pull a Kurakova at one of those events they can be in the mix next season. Cracking the top 6 at nationals wouldn’t hurt either.

Realistically at this point unless you have Ultra-C you can forget about it.

 

[Minz]

Realistically at this point unless you have Ultra-C you can forget about it.

Yeah, the sport is changing… and fast.

A few years ago a clean 7 triple long, decent PCS, and maybe a few backloaded jumps could get you pretty far….

Now it will barely get you 5th at a GP, depending on the field.

TBH, I feel like these changes came fast, maybe too fast, for some people.

And yet, there are very few humans alive who can do what it now takes to get to the podium, and all those who were once at the top, are now being pushed to the side.

 

[Jontor]

News that I have completely missed. Anastasia Gracheva has changed nationality to Moldova.

 

[SnowWhite]

Interesting anomalies...

Safonova didn't get a GP spot. That positive COVID test in Stockholm was really unfortunate for her. She is also the highest on the SB list from 2019-2020 (29th) that didn't get a spot. Technically Tarakanova is placed higher at 25th, but we all know Russia has too many ladies.

Glenn got two spots although she isn't in the Top 24 in the SB or the WS list.

Schizas got a spot besides SC.

Mihara got a spot although she is not in any Top 24 list.

Pure speculation, but Davis/Smolkin got a spot at Skate Canada when I don't think they were guaranteed anything. So I kind of wonder whether Madeline's spot at Rostelecom was kind of a trade for D/S at SC.

But she never has to beat any of those girls. This is just my opinion/speculation. At RC, Valieva will presumably win, and Tuk will be there in unknown shape. But unless Maiia is a disaster, I cant see a Russian panel of judges letting her fall behind Mariah Bell or Loena Hendricks even if she doesn't land a quad. At CoC, Anna is currently the favorite to win unless she's regressed a lot. That leaves Bradie and Yelim, maybe Loena, to challenge for two more podium spots. If Maiia lands even one quad, she'll probably beat all of them. I'm not saying Maiia is going to be amazing next season, just that China doesn't have the toughest field and Russia's is basically empty.

But if Maiia does get bronze at those two events, she'll still most likely miss the final. Two thirds isn't typically enough to make it.