2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating

[katymay]

It seems there will not be any Russian Women at Lombardia Trophy challenger.

I know it is the same time as Test Skates, and it could have been a great opportunity for the likes of Gulyakova, Frolova, Tsibinova and maybe Shulskaya to get some international senior experience.

And, it looks like Frolova has been replaced by Sofia M. for her JGP.

 

[katymay]

I just saw a picture of Sofia looking more than a head taller than Adelia and Veronika - I know they're both kind of short but is Sofia unusually tall or was it just a weird angle?

I think she is a normal size for a 15 year old, Adelia and Veronika are super teeny tiny. (4'7"), but 13.

 

[Skatesocs]

I believe she injured her ankle during one of the off-ice dance lessons, had to leave the summer camp early and then they decided to go on a vacation and stay at their home town for the time being while she’s fully recovering. Per her mom, she only started skating sometime in August, doing simple stroking. Yet, she’s already doing 3A attempts without a harness at the same time, also not under the supervision of coaches of more elite athletes. I’m not sure how this works, but perhaps her mom knows what she’s doing and for sure she is better informed about her daughter’s health situation to make those decisions.

Either she's a prodigy, or we'll hear about an injury soon...

 

[Paulipau]

And, it looks like Frolova has been replaced by Sofia M. for her JGP.

I'm happy for Sofia but seems unfair.

Why not take the second spot away from someone instead? I would probably take from Adelia or Maria

 

[Imminielle]

I'm happy for Sofia but seems unfair.

Why not take the second spot away from someone instead? I would probably take from Adelia or Maria

Maria Zakharova only had one spot and probably won't get another one.

 

[Jontor]

And, it looks like Frolova has been replaced by Sofia M. for her JGP.

I knew this would happen. Sofia was great in Slovakia so her 2nd spot is well deserved. The last two spots will probably go to Samodelkina and Zinina (but they have to perform well of course).

Poor Frolova, she really is in no mans land between seniors and juniors. Another great Russian skater who would probably win Nationals in any European country except Russia.

 

[Jeanie19]

I'm really sad for Frolova. They should have given her Lombardia at least. She would have medalled there.

 

[nussnacker]

Age is just a number, but these attempts are in my mind, dangerous. She isn't ready from what I saw, and in fact, it looks like she will injure herself if she continues (the UR showed her ankle was twisted in the wrong direction). She needs to continue it on the harness. Also there was a picture that perhaps her mother posted, and she looked odd, worrisome, and not healthy.

I thought the same, but then there is a coach who’s overlooking her regardless, probably it’s done on their approval.
Her mom said the coach she’s currently with (it’s her first coach) doesn’t own any harnesses, that’s why they are doing it without harness. This doesn’t sound right to me. First 3A attempts without harness at all and at 9.

 

[nussnacker]

I think she is a normal size for a 15 year old, Adelia and Veronika are super teeny tiny. (4'7"), but 13.

I know, I can’t believe Adelia is senior eligible next year! She’s so tiny!

 

[kmw227]

I knew this would happen. Sofia was great in Slovakia so her 2nd spot is well deserved. The last two spots will probably go to Samodelkina and Zinina (but they have to perform well of course).

This is definitely the key. If Samodelkina performs like she did at the recent Moscow competition, there's no way she gets a second spot, even with her ultra-c potential. Which is crazy to think about, because last season, I assumed she'd be the top junior lady and probably the junior world champion (before everything got cancelled of course).

I do feel awful for Frolova. She was one of the best at test skates and she really does deserve one spot at least. Hopefully she'll be able to do some senior Challengers and set a solid total score to put herself in the mix for senior GPs next year.

 

[Tolstoj]

This is definitely the key. If Samodelkina performs like she did at the recent Moscow competition, there's no way she gets a second spot, even with her ultra-c potential. Which is crazy to think about, because last season, I assumed she'd be the top junior lady and probably the junior world champion (before everything got cancelled of course).

I do feel awful for Frolova. She was one of the best at test skates and she really does deserve one spot at least. Hopefully she'll be able to do some senior Challengers and set a solid total score to put herself in the mix for senior GPs next year.

I'm worried either Frolova or Samodelkina or Berestovskaya will soon do a Tarusina and retire before even reaching seniors.

Samodelkina and Berestovskaya have some clear jump issues, due to the body growing and technique very much about fast rotation and nothing else.

Frolova instead she is very good, but she is not getting the spots, maybe she'll consider switch to Buyanova for more political "help". Honestly she should have been in seniors already.

It is curious that now Frolova is out, but Sadkova is in which i thought was overall really rough at the test skates.

 

[alexocfp]

From Fonbet.

Alena 10.0 I'll probably risk betting on her.

I still haven’t properly processed that you can actually bet on figure skating.

Hope these punters aren’t the degenerate gamblers that bet on tennis, lose, then abuse the tennis players on social media.

 

[Shayuki]

Sadkova has definitely not shown enough to get a JGP spot yet. It'll be interesting to see if team Eteri has something in store and we'll be surprised by her, or whether she has another performance where she shows some potential but ultimately doesn't quite get there.

 

[kmw227]

I agree on Daria. I like her, I think she has good potential, and I hope she has a great performance in Krasnoyarsk. I just think it's interesting that she was selected over more proven options such as Frolova and even Berestovskaya. Especially since Liza was one of the first to get an assignment (I believe she was originally assigned to Courchevel 2) but she hasn't been assigned again since then. Daria still seems pretty rough around the edges to me. And that's okay, she's 13(?) and she has time to improve. I'm just not sure I'd give her a spot over others who have had more success than her in Russian events at least.

 

[Shayuki]

Yeah, that's the thing. I'm actually quite a big fan of hers but I really am not sure why she's earned a spot. I can only imagine Eteri's had good results or something, otherwise it's puzzling.. It's not like with Zhilina where we knew that if she figures it out she could be unstoppable.

 

[NaVi]

There also seems to be some skating parent drama about some yogurt (?) with Margarita Bazilyuk. That being the reason they don’t train there, while they are still wishing to be back. I don’t know… Super strange things and too much to handle for this little prodigy. Whoever they end up staying with, I hope she’s happy and will be doing well! Lena is such a remarkable talent.

Funny story... the first time she left Crystal it was because her mother felt that she wasn't receiving enough attention... and IIRC said some pretty nasty things about Arina Parsegova who she felt was given too much attention by Rozanov. Let's be real though, the skill gap between them was and is still likely pretty big. Parsegova followed Rozanov to Plushenko and the angelsofplushenko instagram account posted her doing an off-ice triple axel today: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTeGs26jcZu/

 

[Amei]

I agree on Daria. I like her, I think she has good potential, and I hope she has a great performance in Krasnoyarsk. I just think it's interesting that she was selected over more proven options such as Frolova and even Berestovskaya. Especially since Liza was one of the first to get an assignment (I believe she was originally assigned to Courchevel 2) but she hasn't been assigned again since then. Daria still seems pretty rough around the edges to me. And that's okay, she's 13(?) and she has time to improve. I'm just not sure I'd give her a spot over others who have had more success than her in Russian events at least.

I don't follow Juniors super well, so I have limited ability to speak on Berestovskaya, but regarding Frolova, I think she is running into the issue of Tarakanova a bit - she's 16, still in juniors and getting beaten and outskilled by skaters several years younger than her. The junior grand prix is really about development and exposure for the senior circuit and there's a limited number of spots for each country, now who does it make sense to give a spot to - a 13 year old from a school that's produced champion after champion (and in all likelihood will have at least 2 if not 3 skaters on the ladies Olympic team) or a 16 year old that's never placed in the top 5 at junior or senior nationals?

 

[halulupu]

I don't follow Juniors super well, so I have limited ability to speak on Berestovskaya, but regarding Frolova, I think she is running into the issue of Tarakanova a bit - she's 16, still in juniors and getting beaten and outskilled by skaters several years younger than her. The junior grand prix is really about development and exposure for the senior circuit and there's a limited number of spots for each country, now who does it make sense to give a spot to - a 13 year old from a school that's produced champion after champion (and in all likelihood will have at least 2 if not 3 skaters on the ladies Olympic team) or a 16 year old that's never placed in the top 5 at junior or senior nationals?

Frolovas only hope are some easy challenger where she must score above 200 to climb the rankings to get international assignments/even grand prix. Domestically she is too weak

 

[Shayuki]

Funny story... the first time she left Crystal it was because her mother felt that she wasn't receiving enough attention... and IIRC said some pretty nasty things about Arina Parsegova who she felt was given too much attention by Rozanov. Let's be real though, the skill gap between them was and is still likely pretty big. Parsegova followed Rozanov to Plushenko and the angelsofplushenko instagram account posted her doing an off-ice triple axel today: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTeGs26jcZu/

Interesting. She was not even doing triples last season.

 

[florin]

sport.ru published a small note by former figure skater Anna Ovcharova, where she described her joint flight with Tutberidze from Japan to Moscow. I found it interesting and posted the translation in the fan-fest, here. As it turns out, Eteri has a strong fear of flying and "every flight is hard for her". And indeed, as a rule, Dudakov and Gleichengauz fly to competitions. I remember how often the fans try to make some kind of analysis out of this. And everything is explained by the usual fears of flights.