Stolbova & Klimov hope for strong return

gsk8 · Jan 3, 2016

When Russia’s Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov had a rough start into the season finishing fourth at Skate America with sub-par performances, quite a few people wrote them off—especially given they had a few post-Olympic season ups and downs as well.

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In Barcelona, five out of the seven teams went for the quad throws and three landed at least one successfully. This has not escaped Stolbova and Klimov’s attention, although they didn’t need a quad to win this time.

“Our victory proves that you can compete (against) quadruple elements with quality skating and strong jumps,” Klimov pointed out. “However, we think that figure skating is moving forward and we’ll nevertheless have to learn these (quad) throws and maybe some other highly difficult elements.”

Do they need a quad throw? Are there SBS jumps and quality of skating strong enough going into Worlds?

Layback11 · Jan 3, 2016

gsk8 said:
When Russia’s Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov had a rough start into the season finishing fourth at Skate America with sub-par performances, quite a few people wrote them off—especially given they had a few post-Olympic season ups and downs as well.

More

Do they need a quad throw? Are there SBS jumps and quality of skating strong enough going into Worlds?

I think they are. They have an SBS 3-3 :eek:

, which nobody else in the world is doing, and their skating skills are great (in person, their speed and power are unusually impressive). Plus, they have fine pair elements and pretty good throws. If they skate clean, they could win worlds without a quad, easily, unless V/T are back in 2014 form.

skylark · Jan 3, 2016

gsk8 said:
Do they need a quad throw? Are there SBS jumps and quality of skating strong enough going into Worlds?

I think their 3T-3T-2T and 3S, combined with skating quality AND the emotional power of their performances make them strong enough, absolutely. And I'm very happy whenever anyone affirms, verbally and action-wise, that quads aren't the whole story of figure skating.

It seems now that their biggest competition for Worlds Gold are Tatiana and Maxim.

However, that's only from a standpoint of judging by the past few months. If Duhamel/Radford and Sui/Han land their quad throws and other elements beautifully, they're equally strong bets for World gold.

One thing really exciting is that each of these pairs is radically different from all the others. I'm an Alexa/Chris uber, so that's one more reason I'm uber excited for the pairs events ahead !:hap57:

moriel · Jan 3, 2016

Layback11 said:
I think they are. They have an SBS 3-3 , which nobody else in the world is doing, and their skating skills are great (in person, their speed and power are unusually impressive). Plus, they have fine pair elements and pretty good throws. If they skate clean, they could win worlds without a quad, easily, unless V/T are back in 2014 form.

I agree, if they are clean with current layout, only clean V/T can beat them. It is not worth to mess up the timing by trying to learn quads right before worlds.
Now long term, getting a quad is a good idea.

Shani · Jan 3, 2016

They did however withdraw and take a break last season to take the time to train a quad they did not get.

lavoix · Jan 4, 2016

Shani said:
They did however withdraw and take a break last season to take the time to train a quad they did not get.

Whenever I see quads I really do fear for what will happen. As sad as it sounds, watching Kavaguti do her quads makes me think that it's an injury waiting to happen.

Snow63 · Jan 4, 2016

Shani said:
They did however withdraw and take a break last season to take the time to train a quad they did not get.

moriel said:
I agree, if they are clean with current layout, only clean V/T can beat them. It is not worth to mess up the timing by trying to learn quads right before worlds.
Now long term, getting a quad is a good idea.

They already have quad. They wanted to add it at Euros. But Moser said they have an argument inside their group if they should include it now or not. Ksenia wants to include it, and it seems like Fedor is against it. I don't know what Moser thinks. Check their latest interviews in their Fan Fest thread.

And anyway, if we will not see it this season, than I'm absolutely 100% sure we will see it next season. Besides, with their new elements, the difference in BV is close to non-existent. Of course, if Duhamel/Radford will not add second quad throw.

And on topic: Volosozhar/Trankov will win the Worlds.

moriel · Jan 4, 2016

Snow63 said:
They already have quad. They wanted to add it at Euros. But Moser said they have an argument inside their group if they should include it now or not. Ksenia wants to include it, and it seems like Fedor is against it. I don't know what Moser thinks. Check their latest interviews in their Fan Fest thread.

And anyway, if we will not see it this season, than I'm absolutely 100% sure we will see it next season. Besides, with their new elements, the difference in BV is close to non-existent. Of course, if Duhamel/Radford will not add second quad throw.

And on topic: Volosozhar/Trankov will win the Worlds.

well, imho, S/K have been getting very good PCs this season, so if they go clean against a not cleav V/T (V/T´s free seems a bit not so perfect still), they could win.

QuadThrow · Jan 4, 2016

Ksenia said they are not only thinking about the Quad but also about other big elements. What can it be?

IMO opinion they should cancel the Quad. They got high GOE and high PCS. Why they should take the big risk of a 4STh? The have already got 6 points with their 3STH. A 4STh has never brought really more than 9 points in history.

I am so excitited about Euros 2016. Three big Russian pairs and one German team being ready for the surprise. I am so proud of Savchenko/Massot and how they become world class in 2 month with much rooms for improvements. In addition I hope for a good competition for Marchei/Hotarek, James/Cipres and Vartmann/Blommaert. Great standard for European Championships.

Giselle · Jan 4, 2016

I think all of these teams have a shot at the world title this year : V/T, S/K, D/R, S,H, K/S (maybe S/M too we'll have to see how they skate at Euros).
Whoever skates the cleanest will win IMO. V/T probably have 1 mistake cushion.

Back to Ksenia and Fedor's quad. I hope that they'll put it in their LP when they are really ready (not like Yu/Jin or Peng/Zhang :hopelessness: ).
I do think that they need to train the quad because, as Fedor said after the GPF, what will they do if another top team gets 3T+3T as well?

moriel · Jan 4, 2016

Giselle said:
I think all of these teams have a shot at the world title this year : V/T, S/K, D/R, S,H, K/S (maybe S/M too we'll have to see how they skate at Euros).
Whoever skates the cleanest will win IMO. V/T probably have 1 mistake cushion.

Back to Ksenia and Fedor's quad. I hope that they'll put it in their LP when they are really ready (not like Yu/Jin or Peng/Zhang :hopelessness: ).
I do think that they need to train the quad because, as Fedor said after the GPF, what will they do if another top team gets 3T+3T as well?

Yup, agree... Just don´t think they really need need it for this year. They only should include it when its smooth and consistent, else it will be more a point loss there (a clean triple with high goe vs fall / two footed quad).

Snow63 · Jan 4, 2016

QuadThrow said:
Ksenia said they are not only thinking about the Quad but also about other big elements. What can it be?

AFAIK, they also execute difficult entry in their twist on practices, which will allow them to up one level for it and add 0.4 points to base value in both SP and FP. Don't know about other elements, but I've heard they tried more difficult sbs jumps. Never was confirmed by anyone important, though.

Snow63 · Jan 4, 2016

Stolbova/Klimov will try quad throw at Euro

Moser: 'Fedor feels alright, caught a little cold, but overall everything's okay. Training sessions were resumed at 4th of January. We pay special attention to a quad throw, which we plan to try to execute at European Championships.'

Source: http://rsport.ru/figure_skating/20160104/888137321.html

:yahoo:

lavoix · Jan 10, 2016

Things got even more real than before!

Sackie · Jan 10, 2016

I feel sorry for Duhamel/Redford. It really looks like even though they are the reigning World Champs they are the underdogs this year. I can see them finishing as low as 5th or even 6th at worlds. They got to the top on their big tricks - now the others are catching up.

Giselle · Jan 10, 2016

Sackie said:
I feel sorry for Duhamel/Redford. It really looks like even though they are the reigning World Champs they are the underdogs this year. I can see them finishing as low as 5th or even 6th at worlds. They got to the top on their big tricks - now the others are catching up.

I feel that everyone is writing off Duhamel/Radford way too quickly based on 1 competition. I doubt they'll finish lower than 3rd at Worlds.
They still have the BV advantage, they got 72.74 for their messy SP at the GPF and it kept them very much in the mix despite "bombing".

cathlen · Jan 10, 2016

Giselle said:
I feel that everyone is writing off Duhamel/Radford way too quickly based on 1 competition. I doubt they'll finish lower than 3rd at Worlds.
They still have the BV advantage, they got 72.74 for their messy SP at the GPF and it kept them very much in the mix despite "bombing".

It's beacuse a competition this season looks more tough. Apart from Ksenia & Fedor: Volosozhar/Trankov are back, there's Savchenko/Massot which we don't know much about yet, Sui/Han probably with throw quad, Kavaguti/Smirnov with two throw quads... But I wouldn't write them off yet, too. They're current WC and you never know, they could be 5th place but also 1st.. especially if judges will be as generous as they were at GPF.

coldblueeyes · Jan 10, 2016

I think I'm more interested in seeing how S/K are going to fare against V/T in the PCS department at Euros. And how S/M are going to enter in the mix, they do have impressive skating and BV, but I think they still lack a lot on choreography and they telegraph their elements still, but you never know how the judges are going to value them...

Skater Boy · Jan 11, 2016

I am not sure which way the judges are leaning with S/K versus anyone else. For a while I thought Sui and Han were heir apparents and yes, D and R seemed to be unceremoniously dumped - note the pcs are going backward which suggests the judges are making room for the top two Russian teams and the Chinese (top two in particular). I see those 4 ahead right or wrong generally speaking over D and R on pcs. I also think Savchenko andMassot are also being ju dged very leniently so far. So I can see Duhamel as low as sixth. There are only three medals - I really would like to see Kavaguti and Smirnov win a medal - they seem to be found no longer in favour compared to the others though. Much can be said about D and R pushing for example S/K but in the long run I am not s ure the sport has ben served well by the high technical skills of D and R in pairs or Hanyu in men's. ARe injuries far behind or maybe not - already with both top Russian teams fighting injuries and some injury signs from one of the Chinese teams.

moriel · Jan 11, 2016

I actually see V/T as first unless they bomb - they are the judges darlings and V/T after all, considering how they were scored so far, nobody will pass them.
Then everything else is a mistery, because S/H, K/S, S/K and D/R are roughly on the same level and its up to who makes less mistakes.
S/M are a mystery, because while they have room for improvement, judges seem to like them too...

Stolbova & Klimov hope for strong return

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moriel

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lavoix

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Giselle

moriel

Snow63

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Snow63

Pray one day we'll open our eyes.

lavoix

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Giselle

cathlen

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coldblueeyes

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