MEN:
3 Russian, 2 French, 2 Czech and 1 Spanish skater…they all have skills to win a medal here…but medals are 3 only…and they are 8…
European men look to loose a contact with Asian and Canadian skaters…There was one European skater at Grand Prix Final only. But I am sure they all want to prove that European men can still show great skating qualities and rival with the rest of the world.
Maxim Kovtun
Skater who loves to talk and people loves to talk about him. Big support from Tarasova caused that last year after Russian Nationals many Russian skaters made a protest agains Kovtun cheering for Menshov (who finished in front of Kovtun at Nationals) who should be send at Euros. Finally Tarasova and Federation send Kovtun everywhere and the result is the only one man allowed at the Olympics. This year Kovtun is doing everything to let people forget that not very fair-play story. He is the only one who has 5 quads planned… but he didn’t land all of them at one competition yet. After not confident showing at senior Grand Prix which still had a two silver colours for Maxim, he qualified for Final and finished fifth.
Interesting interview with Vaitsekhovskaya:
http://www.sport-express.ru/olympic14/figureskating/reviews/39485/
and English translation - http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/sho...I-will-be-thrilled-to-do-the-team-comp-in-Soc
…Kovtun looks to be hungry to show how good is he, also tells about being in Morozov group and being fired from the group…
Javier Fernandez
After last year‘s superb results Javi showed much more nervosity than what would be expected from Euros Champion and World Bronze medalist. Obviously becoming European Champion brings much more responsibility than Javi could probably imagine, he needs to learn how to deal with it. With not good skating he finished fifth and third at Grand Prix and didn’t qualify for the Final. We all know that he can jump quads (and many people believe that he will), but he needs to know it and mainly believe in it as well.
Tomas Verner
After disasters at last European and World Championships with plenty of single jumps, he started this season without Grand Prix (thanks to his last year poor results), but he won B-competitions – Nepela Memorial and Cup of Nice. His last competition was Four Nationals where he won over Michal Brezina. What is alarming a little bit – he even didn’t attempt quad both in short and free skate there.
Michal Brezina
Another skater who is looking for good concentration. Whole season struggling and fighting with quad attempts (and good message, he already landed few beautiful quads). Fourth and fifth place at Grand Prix looks not that bad. Overall he will defend his last year bronze medal – a motivation which worth fighting for it even more.
Brian Joubert
He didn’t get a permission to compete at Grand Prix. At French Nationals he won a free skate but overall he lost to Amodio (who is struggling with jumps all season and didn’t land triple axel in free skate at Nationals).
http://absoluteskating.com/index.php?cat=interviews&id=2014brianjoubert
…in interview Brian says that Morozov called him in December and offered a help, Brian accepted. Brian himself is confused about Morozov reasons for helping him (and probably he is not the only one). But the fact is that Joubert is big fighter who always skates on 150 percent and never gives up. Maybe we will be suprised with his skating.
Sergei Voronov
After being fired from Morozov‘s group, he found himself besides Eteri Tutberidze (Lipnitskaya’s coach). This season he won Golden Spin and Ice Stars B-competitions, finished second at Finlandia Trophy. Grand Prix result was a disappointment (even with clean skate in short program), Voronov finished ninth. This season Sergei is more confident, his quads seems to be more solide and as a jumper he is one of the best.
Interview with Vaitsekhovskaya:
http://www.sport-express.ru/olympic14/figureskating/reviews/39475/
with translation - http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/sho...ew-with-Voronov-I-was-desperate-at-the-summer
…some interesting notes: “ I think that a sportsman who wants to reach a high goals must learn to listen to uncomfortable or annoying things. Yes, top level sport is heartless but without it (without critisism) you will never get a result.“
… whether is it harder to skate agains more and more young skaters: “What to complain to? It is life. If you decided to do this sport, you had to deal with the fact that every year there would be more skaters younger than you. You need to break yourself (deal with it) and adjust to it. And not to try to adjust the situation to your taste.“
Konstantin Menshov
His second travel at European Championships, he finished seventh in 2011. Konstantin finished eight at NHK, and fourth in Moscow Grand Prix (be could be third in my opinion, but Javi is European Champion, so judges didn’t allow such result). He is another great jumper…and another skater without confidence. And yes, Russian Federation doesn’t support him as well.
3 Russian, 2 French, 2 Czech and 1 Spanish skater…they all have skills to win a medal here…but medals are 3 only…and they are 8…
European men look to loose a contact with Asian and Canadian skaters…There was one European skater at Grand Prix Final only. But I am sure they all want to prove that European men can still show great skating qualities and rival with the rest of the world.
Maxim Kovtun
Skater who loves to talk and people loves to talk about him. Big support from Tarasova caused that last year after Russian Nationals many Russian skaters made a protest agains Kovtun cheering for Menshov (who finished in front of Kovtun at Nationals) who should be send at Euros. Finally Tarasova and Federation send Kovtun everywhere and the result is the only one man allowed at the Olympics. This year Kovtun is doing everything to let people forget that not very fair-play story. He is the only one who has 5 quads planned… but he didn’t land all of them at one competition yet. After not confident showing at senior Grand Prix which still had a two silver colours for Maxim, he qualified for Final and finished fifth.
Interesting interview with Vaitsekhovskaya:
http://www.sport-express.ru/olympic14/figureskating/reviews/39485/
and English translation - http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/sho...I-will-be-thrilled-to-do-the-team-comp-in-Soc
…Kovtun looks to be hungry to show how good is he, also tells about being in Morozov group and being fired from the group…
Javier Fernandez
After last year‘s superb results Javi showed much more nervosity than what would be expected from Euros Champion and World Bronze medalist. Obviously becoming European Champion brings much more responsibility than Javi could probably imagine, he needs to learn how to deal with it. With not good skating he finished fifth and third at Grand Prix and didn’t qualify for the Final. We all know that he can jump quads (and many people believe that he will), but he needs to know it and mainly believe in it as well.
Tomas Verner
After disasters at last European and World Championships with plenty of single jumps, he started this season without Grand Prix (thanks to his last year poor results), but he won B-competitions – Nepela Memorial and Cup of Nice. His last competition was Four Nationals where he won over Michal Brezina. What is alarming a little bit – he even didn’t attempt quad both in short and free skate there.
Michal Brezina
Another skater who is looking for good concentration. Whole season struggling and fighting with quad attempts (and good message, he already landed few beautiful quads). Fourth and fifth place at Grand Prix looks not that bad. Overall he will defend his last year bronze medal – a motivation which worth fighting for it even more.
Brian Joubert
He didn’t get a permission to compete at Grand Prix. At French Nationals he won a free skate but overall he lost to Amodio (who is struggling with jumps all season and didn’t land triple axel in free skate at Nationals).
http://absoluteskating.com/index.php?cat=interviews&id=2014brianjoubert
…in interview Brian says that Morozov called him in December and offered a help, Brian accepted. Brian himself is confused about Morozov reasons for helping him (and probably he is not the only one). But the fact is that Joubert is big fighter who always skates on 150 percent and never gives up. Maybe we will be suprised with his skating.
Sergei Voronov
After being fired from Morozov‘s group, he found himself besides Eteri Tutberidze (Lipnitskaya’s coach). This season he won Golden Spin and Ice Stars B-competitions, finished second at Finlandia Trophy. Grand Prix result was a disappointment (even with clean skate in short program), Voronov finished ninth. This season Sergei is more confident, his quads seems to be more solide and as a jumper he is one of the best.
Interview with Vaitsekhovskaya:
http://www.sport-express.ru/olympic14/figureskating/reviews/39475/
with translation - http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/sho...ew-with-Voronov-I-was-desperate-at-the-summer
…some interesting notes: “ I think that a sportsman who wants to reach a high goals must learn to listen to uncomfortable or annoying things. Yes, top level sport is heartless but without it (without critisism) you will never get a result.“
… whether is it harder to skate agains more and more young skaters: “What to complain to? It is life. If you decided to do this sport, you had to deal with the fact that every year there would be more skaters younger than you. You need to break yourself (deal with it) and adjust to it. And not to try to adjust the situation to your taste.“
Konstantin Menshov
His second travel at European Championships, he finished seventh in 2011. Konstantin finished eight at NHK, and fourth in Moscow Grand Prix (be could be third in my opinion, but Javi is European Champion, so judges didn’t allow such result). He is another great jumper…and another skater without confidence. And yes, Russian Federation doesn’t support him as well.