2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating

[Skatesocs]

I mean... when Tuktamysheva's now apparently a "flawless feminist queen", I'd give "replaced Anna" (or whoever) a few years at least to transform into that - and do it much better.

Personally, I want to see how Kromykh is scored against Liu. I assume Valieva and Shcherbakova will make the team, but if the RusFed catches wind of Kromykh's scoring being affected by USFSA politics, then whom they'll pick will become interesting.

 

[Jontor]

I mean... when Tuktamysheva's now apparently a "flawless feminist queen", I'd give "replaced Anna" (or whoever) a few years at least to transform into that - and do it much better.

Personally, I want to see how Kromykh is scored against Liu. I assume Valieva and Shcherbakova will make the team, but if the RusFed catches wind of Kromykh's scoring being affected by USFSA politics, then whom they'll pick will become interesting.

Unfortunately that won't happen until a hypothetical GPF. And if that doesn't happen,they will only meet at Olympics if they are chosen.

 

[Skatesocs]

Unfortunately that won't happen until a hypothetical GPF. And if that doesn't happen,they will only meet at Olympics if they are chosen.

Well, I think Maiia can say goodbye to the Olympic spot if she can't go to the GPF. So then it won't matter. Still, at least the scoring trends will be interesting through the GP series... 70 debut PCS is HUGE.

 

[Jontor]

Sinitsyna has WD from Denis Ten Challenger.

Tuktamysheva is listed to skate at the Challenger Cup of Austria (the only Russian woman). Which makes sense as it is two weeks after her SC and two weeks before Rostelecom Cup. Some interesting names here, like Tennell, Gubanova, Higuchi and Park.

At Challenger Warsaw Cup only Russian woman listed is Khromykh. Tennell, Gubanova and Park here as well. And Kurakova and Thorngren.

 

[yume]

When coaches are not supposed to be discussed here, I'll just make a simple answer. I think people are too focused on the one team and do not apply experience from elsewhere. Hardly any skater is 100% perfect all the time and all seasons. While in russian skating currently some consider Liza to represent an example of all time top skater, the truth is that between her 17 and 20 she was completely out of the russian top. Kudos to her for being able to return to the top, but I do not see people making similar assumptions with Mishin even if Sofia Samodurova since her senior debut season was never able to repeat her best or to reach 200 points again and similarly with his other skaters. And that can be applied to any other coaching team not just in Russia. So, IMO, people just should not estimate that a skater, as any other athlete, will be flawless for the whole career, whether he's from Eteri's team or not. As Ted Barton always says: "there will be ups and there will be downs."

Honestly i'm more afraid about Rusfed's politicking than their own abilities.
As you said, no skater in this world never had downs. Basically everyone has bad competitions or entire seasons when they don't do well. Others skaters struggle but they are not written off and people expect them to bounce back because they usually don't face the same domestic field. No multiple skaters who have ultra-c, or who are ultra consistents.
And fed usually bet on the younger one if she has a stronger tech or is more consistent. I really didn't expect Maia to get 70 PCS that soon (and in an event where the judging was stingy) nor get those GOEs. Girl would have gotten at least 165 if she had jumped a 4T-2T and had a clean first 4T. That's a score that Anna struggled to reach with two 4lzs and 3lz-3lo.
I won't even talk about Kamila.

I expect Anna to get back her quads and Aliona to get more consistent, but wouldn't that be too late (at least for this season) Especially if the younger ones were just even semi-consistents.

I don't know if people realize in what conditions Liza had to win worlds spot. First year when she got back great shape, fed preferred to bet on Medvedeva who was younger and had better reputation. Last season, fed was clearly betting on Aliona. It took a pandemic and unfortunate coaching changes to get her back at worlds. Before that she solidly struggled for at least 3 seasons.

 

[LiamForeman]

Sinitsyna has WD from Nepela Memorial Challenger.

I'm trying not to, but I have been having *grave* concerns for Ksenia Sinitsina for a while now. And her pulling out of another competition is only reinforcing it. Get healthy, Ksenia.

 

[Jontor]

I'm trying not to, but I have been having *grave* concerns for Ksenia Sinitsina for a while now. And her pulling out of another competition is only reinforcing it. Get healthy, Ksenia.

She is still listed at Skate America though, and going to the Denis Ten Ch the week after was a bit much. So hopefully this means nothing.

 

[flanker]

^ I bet you mean Denis Ten Memorial.

 

[Jontor]

^I bety you mean Denis Ten Memorial.

Yes of course! My bad...

 

[flanker]

Yes of course! My bad...

I was just confused because Nepela takes place in september and was cancelled this year, so I started to check whether they did just postpone it

 

[alexocfp]

I doubt you will find anyone who respects Anna more than me. She has all the attributes I love in an athlete.

That being said, I’m very happy that Maia is taking the next step. I am of the opinion that more competition is better for everyone. I want more top level skaters. I want 9 or 10 skaters to be fighting for the 3 spots in Russia.

And Maia took a lot of crap last season let’s not forget. She had responded well.

 

[Shayuki]

It's very fortunate for Maia that Anna had such a weak performance there - you'd imagine that her scoring wouldn't have been nearly as strong had Anna skated flawlessly, whereas Anna's reputation probably won't suffer all that much from it. It'll be interesting to see how Usacheva's handled and how her scoring develops in relation to Trusova's, especially if Trusova has a very strong performance and is in absolutely no danger of losing to her. The danger then is that Usacheva's scoring won't be a priority because it "wouldn't look wrong" to score her so low in relation to a struggling more established skater(like Anna was).

 

[Scott512]

I knew Maiia was one to watch out for. I think she can make GPF as her assignments are a couple of the less tough ones.

I really wanted 3A to be the ones to disprove the curse of the expiry date. It's sad to see them struggling.

Part of it is they know who's coming after them and other countries like Japan and Korea and and America don't have that problem in this discipline. Or any discipline for that matter. It's the same top Japanese girls year after the year. Lucky them. Anna Sasha and Aliyona aren't as lucky. Only the best athletes should compete for the top prize but that's not how figure skating is set up. The isu clearly does not agree with me.

3A will be better by November.

Maia is on the move.. She's the right age to spring up very much like AZ was doing 4 years ago.

 

[Artemisa]

Maiia - I think she would do so well with a light program like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Kh09aRyms
(Now everyone will say this is boring )

I can imagine she skating to that and loving it

 

[Artemisa]

It's very fortunate for Maia that Anna had such a weak performance there - you'd imagine that her scoring wouldn't have been nearly as strong had Anna skated flawlessly, whereas Anna's reputation probably won't suffer all that much from it. It'll be interesting to see how Usacheva's handled and how her scoring develops in relation to Trusova's, especially if Trusova has a very strong performance and is in absolutely no danger of losing to her. The danger then is that Usacheva's scoring won't be a priority because it "wouldn't look wrong" to score her so low in relation to a struggling more established skater(like Anna was).

You can say the same about Maiia .. if both had skate clean ... if Maiia hadn't a invalid jump 3Lz and landed perfectly the first quad ... she probably had winning the same

 

[PavelSky]

Not necessarily, Dasha could still beat Sasha's US Classic score without ultra-Cs if she skates clean.

I would not analyze the US classic, Sasha had only 3 days to prepare (after test skates) + acclimatization problems.
Also, the results were not included in the ISU statistics due to the small number of participants.

 

[sclloyd]

I just think it’s so silly that PCS is based at all on reputation or expectation of technical elements. Kamila’s WR score was not just unexpected it was outrageous. I adore Maia but I don’t understand this scoring in comparison to a developed and artistic skater like Anna. It’s not just inconsistent across competitions, it’s inconsistent within them. That’s something the ISU should sort out but I have my doubts. I imagine that even though Anna skated better than Maia they are probably keen to leverage quads and *feminism* for some work capital and marketing at the Olympic Games and are therefore harshly punishing those who don’t complete them in competition by downgrading the other unrelated scores elements.

 

[Jontor]

Kostornaia's odds at medalling at Skate Canada has now increased as Kihira has WD.

 

[flanker]

I just think it’s so silly that PCS is based at all on reputation or expectation of technical elements. Kamila’s WR score was not just unexpected it was outrageous. I adore Maia but I don’t understand this scoring in comparison to a developed and artistic skater like Anna. It’s not just inconsistent across competitions, it’s inconsistent within them. That’s something the ISU should sort out but I have my doubts. I imagine that even though Anna skated better than Maia they are probably keen to leverage quads and *feminism* for some work capital and marketing at the Olympic Games and are therefore harshly punishing those who don’t complete them in competition by downgrading the other unrelated scores elements.

It's the thing that the senior starting level of the PCS is still increasing. Two years ago Anna's first international senior event was Lombardia, where she received 86.15 TES and 64.32 PCS in free program. Yesterday Maiia received 81.45 TES and 70.64 PCS, the standards are still shifting. Though I guess that the scoring at the last two events, Finlandia and Budapest Trophy, are both two extremes from two sides, I presume the scoring will be somewhere in between during the season.

 

[flanker]

Kostornaia's odds at medalling at Skate Canada has now increased as Kihira has WD.

And Bradie Tennell WD from Skate America, which increases the chances of Daria Usacheva.

(Not that I would like to think this way, whom to remove to increase the chances of someone else. Everyone should be prepared to compete with anyone else on this level of course.)