I‘m personally astounded that Liza‘s sudden meteoric rise in PCS isn't met with the incredulity it, imo, deserves. For me she is and always has been the antithesis of a "PCS skater". I think I‘ve made it clear that I‘m not a fan of Kamila‘s at all and I couldn‘t care less about her programs - but she‘s objectively a much better skater than Liza. Let‘s look at each PCS factor individually alright?
Skating skills: Kamila has much better speed, ice coverage and depth of edges. Like, it‘s not even a competition between them at this point. If I had to give a concrete number, I‘d rate Kamila‘s somewhere around 8.50 - 8.75, while Liza‘s are at least a full point below hers. Liza has laboured crossovers which makes her rather slow. She also doesn‘t have good ice coverage, not a lot of one foot or multidirectional skating and the edges during her step sequence are shallow without a lot of flow. Kamila‘s crossovers aren‘t the best either (which is why I wouldn‘t rate her SS at a 9 personally) but she‘s still miles better at gaining, maintaining and utilizing speed than Liza and has better movement quality and edge control.
Transitions: I mean… do we really have to write a whole essay about this one? The entry into Liza‘s 3A should be enough of a proof - it‘s stalled and cautious and slow and her programs have been historically empty in terms of transitions (a common feature for many Mishin skaters, I must say). She’s improved a bit over the last few years but she’s nowhere even close to most top skaters, let alone those from Eteri’s camp. Kamila, meanwhile, is a traditional Sambo70 skater, with all that entails, including tons of transitions. Now, personally, I do not believe quantity equals quality — Kamila‘s transitions could and should be held longer and accentuated better for maximum effect — but, well, quantity is still better than nothing.
Now, performance, composition and interpretation are all less "technical" and thus much more open to interpretation, so I‘ll lump them together here. I think it‘s fair to say that Liza is a effective performer with a strategically well chosen FS - she gets the crowd to rally behind her. Whether or not that style might appeal to everyone is a personal choice. But she‘s certainly doing well with it. Interpretation, however, is a rather different matter and frankly, I think neither Kamila nor Liza are the cream of the crop there, especially not in the FS. Kamila‘s executing the choreo she‘s been given but I don‘t feel like she fully commands Bolero yet (granted, it‘s a very difficult piece and the choreo doesn‘t help). She certainly commands the technical elements but beyond that… not so much. As for Liza… I personally don‘t see her interpreting the music with her body in any way, beyond a dozen vague hand gestures/movements. But that‘s surface level, "performance" if you will, not interpretation. And while Bolero certainly isn‘t a choreographic masterpiece, I don‘t think anyone can tell me with a straight face that Liza‘s FS of all programs, is.
So yeah. I think it’s ridiculous to claim that Liza is a better PCS skater than Kamila just because… why, exactly? She‘s older? She‘s objectively (and seriously) lagging on the more technical side of PCS and about even (if your’re generous) on the rest.
Frankly speaking, Liza‘s been just as overscored as the rest of them this season. I know she‘s been the underdog for years and the victim of unfair practices within RusFed but this doesn‘t neglect that her position has changed substantially this year. She‘s now a serious candidate for the Russian Olympic team and earning all the bonuses that come along with that.
