Valieva is recovering from a surgery 10 days before; she barely got to practice and her weight exploded from what we saw in training just recently... and STILL she showed world class precision at a test skate. And no her long program objectively isn't a miss. You can dislike it personally, but she has no reason to do another lyrical balletic program when she already proved nobody touches her in that aspect (although yes, she is my favourite in those moments, too). She can do contemporary and show off her versatility - I would too.
Dont disagree about Adeliia, but if she dropped 255 at grand prix last season who are we to judge? Seems nit-picky.
Mura is repetitive? Come on. She was the most artistic skater there (ok, maybe barring Adeliia's FS). In what way is her SP anything like her previous SPs? Her SP choreo was unique and interesting in comparison to literally anyone ever. Her long program is lyrical as usual, but its her style. Would you rather she did some overused tango or exhibitionistic michael jackson performance? You didnt seem to like Valieva's zealous contemporary program so I wonder what exactly you expect from Mura. And her jumps were goregeous especially for a test skate.
Agree about Kseniia.
Agree about Maiia, though I feel guilty about disliking her skating. And yes I love Frolova a lot as well. Wish she was there for it.
Akateva - I find it funny how people are hating on her just because her dress was too pretty for them.
Nika and Nastya were both great and completely competitive. Either could potentially be top 3 assuming a successful season.
I dont understand why you say you were underwhelmed. Mura, Valieva and Petrosian would all be strong world #1 contenders if not favourites internationally. Otherwise Nastya had awesome programs, Nika showed off her technique (her FS was actually interesting, SP not so much, but oh well), Kseniia was super enjoyable artistically. If you dont like Akateva thats fine (I liked her personally), but thats 1 skater which shouldnt be enough to disappoint when the rest were all fine... and we didnt even get to see her FS!! Nobody was at all bad although Tuktik and Maiia were conventionally boring (in my opinion). Im not even sure what you expected for it to have been not underwhelming for you. Did you want them all to skate at Olympic level at test skates? Please elaborate more about your dissatisfaction.
Not to mention, we didn't even get to see Frolova or Gushchina.
does anyone have a link to a different site with the videos? (specifically, the ones from ice age kids)
I think she would easily win among the non-Russians even without quads.
