Can Plushenko close the gap on Kovtun? | Golden Skate

Can Plushenko close the gap on Kovtun?

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Hah, not being entirely tongue-in-cheek here. There's one spot for the men, and Kovtun has shown a strong GP season and win at Nationals, making him the frontrunner. Would a win at Euros seal his spot? And if Plushenko wants to compete in Sochi what does he need to do?
 

Frenchie

I'm gonna customize the CRAP out of this title!
Medalist
Joined
May 4, 2013
Go to Europeans
Bump into Kovtun during practice or warm-up really hard
Say Kovtun did it on purpose so he couldn't beat him
Get his friends within the Russian Federation to expell Kovtun from the Russian Figure Skating Federation for life (Kovtun might even lose his Russian citizenship in the process?)
Get the ticket to Sochi

Alternatively, he could train hard, skate clean and hope for the best. But that seems too far-fetched to me. :unsure:
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
It's so odd for him to just concede like that when he beat Kovtun in the SP and had a good skate at Volvo. It's not like him to just be so dismissive... his attitude should be "I'm not just going to beat Kovtun at Euros and win my spot, I'm going to win Euros and show I can contend for an individual medal." This just seems like he's shying away from the individual competition for an easy medal and letting Kovtun deal with the harder event.
 

spread beagle

Rinkside
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Nov 20, 2013
And if Plushenko wants to compete in Sochi what does he need to do?

He need go to Europeans, there he need to skate SP from National and LP from Volvo Cup. Simple solution :biggrin:

It's so odd for him to just concede like that when he beat Kovtun in the SP and had a good skate at Volvo. It's not like him to just be so dismissive... his attitude should be "I'm not just going to beat Kovtun at Euros and win my spot, I'm going to win Euros and show I can contend for an individual medal."

I agree. He say he was overconfident and with good shape. Why not Europeans then?
 

CarneAsada

Medalist
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
At this point Pluschenko is basically being held together by string, screws, and artificial tissue, yet he is still landing quads. I think he can do it (close the gap) if he replaces a few body parts. That would greatly increase his projected shelf life (skating life?). I could see him competing in Pyeongchang and in the 2022 Olympics (perhaps even at his 2002 level) if the surgeries go well. Kovtun is still young and already one can see he is not up to young Pluschenko's standard; there's nothing he could do to catch bionic Plushy.
 

Jammers

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Nov 4, 2010
Country
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Basically Plushenko wanted to skate as little as possible but make it to Sochi. He knows he can't skate again in a couple weeks at Europeans or he knows he can't beat the kid.
 

pitterpatter

On the Ice
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Oct 25, 2012
if kovtun has a meltdown at euros (not impossible), I wouldn't be surprised if the Russian fed ends up sending plushenko to the olys instead. plushenko understands his body the best, if he knows he can't perform well at euros, his best bet might just be to wait at home and hope that kovtun bombs.
 

Jedi

On the Ice
Joined
May 4, 2010
I think Plushy is discouraged; he knows his body needs really more time to heal. He is not in shape or really trained enough to compete at a super high level - that being said his skate wasn't horrible I do wonder how he will score pc wise though - he is not nearly as fast and the jumps are tilted but he is not horrible as I thought he might be. His spins need to be faster too but he is getting the change of positions for the levels. But popping jumps and doing the Oda is costly.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
if kovtun has a meltdown at euros (not impossible), I wouldn't be surprised if the Russian fed ends up sending plushenko to the olys instead. plushenko understands his body the best, if he knows he can't perform well at euros, his best bet might just be to wait at home and hope that kovtun bombs.

That would be really unfair because there's no telling that Plu wouldn't have bombed either especially with his most recent LP.

You would think Plu would use Euros as an opportunity to show that he has much more in him than his Nationals LP. Certainly the international judges will be skeptical of him after his LP.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Being totally theoretical about it one wouldn't need to do the individual event after doing team. But in plushenkos case he's at the point where he'd be "roasted" in team and individual anyway.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
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Sep 14, 2008
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France
The SP in the team event is more important than the LP. Plushenko deservedly won that segment at Nationals and has the verrrry long track record of delivering. He's really a better choice than Kovtun.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
The SP in the team event is more important than the LP. Plushenko deservedly won that segment at Nationals and has the verrrry long track record of delivering. He's really a better choice than Kovtun.

It's not about his track record. It's about what he can deliver now, and right now Kovtun is a better choice.

Winning an SP isn't enough. And he cannot withdraw after the SP and even if he were able to it would be unsportsmanlike to bend the rules. I mean, Russia only has one men's spot but then they get 2 men's medalists in the team event? Or do each of them get half a medal? :laugh:
 

Frenchie

I'm gonna customize the CRAP out of this title!
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May 4, 2013
He's really a better choice than Kovtun.

If the Russian Federation plan on adhering to the rules (ie no fake injury), they need to pick the best man for the job.
The job is to be able to deliver 4 programmes within 8 days: Team Men's SP on Feb 6th to Men's Single LP on Feb 14th.
If they had wanted to use Plushy in the team event only, or even in the team event's SP only, they'd have needed 2 men qualified.

With the situation being what it is, unless some underhand deal is made to allow them to still do exactly that, they can't think Plushy is their best bet.
 

Near

On the Ice
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Dec 25, 2013
Country
Canada
It's not about his track record. It's about what he can deliver now, and right now Kovtun is a better choice.

Winning an SP isn't enough. And he cannot withdraw after the SP and even if he were able to it would be unsportsmanlike to bend the rules. I mean, Russia only has one men's spot but then they get 2 men's medalists in the team event? :laugh:

His point is that doing well in the SP is more important than doing well in the LP in the team event and, well, he's right: in the SP you can score between 1 and 10 points while in the LP you can score between 6 and 10 points.

There is a case for selecting Plushenko over Kovtun if you buy into the following two points: Plushenko is likely to do better in the SP than Kovtun and neither Plushenko or Kovtun is likely to win an individual medal.

I don't personally believe Plushenko should be selected over Kovtun but I see the argument if you assume Plushenko has the better short program.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
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Jan 25, 2013
If they had wanted to use Plushy in the team event only, or even in the team event's SP only, they'd have needed 2 men qualified.

Exactly. And didn't Plushenko previously say he would only compete in Sochi if he felt he could do both the team and individual?

I guess that was before Kovtun surpassed him as Russia's #1 man.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
The SP in the team event is more important than the LP. Plushenko deservedly won that segment at Nationals and has the verrrry long track record of delivering. He's really a better choice than Kovtun.

Also, the LP is more important as Russia will make the top 5 teams anyways. Not sure how the weighting of the final placement is though. Does the SP score contribute equally to the final placement?
 
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