2015 Russian Nationals Free Dance

[bramweld]

How would you characterize NHK 2013, worlds 2013, worlds 2014, Russian Nats 2011, cup of Russia 2010, worlds 2011, NHK 2011, etc etc

While I think gmyers may be stretching the truth a bit. The trend with respect to worlds in particular is striking. Almost every single year Nikita made some costly mistake in the short to make the FD more stressful a skate, not to mention the ridiculous mistakes made in FD's. Get me clearly, I am not saying however that Lena did not have her bobbles.

However their inconsistency should really lead most to let go of I/K and embrace these two new teams. I/K for example, had every opportunity to win gold in Japan it was all there for them and in true Nikita fashion he messed up. It is irrelevant that his focus had shifted, the best ice dancer in the world should know how to take care of business. Was there any other team in the top 10 that completely ruined their twizzles, much less the favourites for gold? No matter what happened between himself and Lena, no one could have taken that tile of WC from him. That should have been on his mind.

 

[MK's Winter]

While I think gmyers may be stretching the truth a bit. The trend with respect to worlds in particular is striking. Almost every single year Nikita made some costly mistake in the short to make the FD more stressful a skate, not to mention the ridiculous mistakes made in FD's. Get me clearly, I am not saying however that Lena did not have her bobbles. However their inconsistency should really lead most to let go of I/K and embrace these two new teams. I/K for example, had every opportunity to win gold in Japan it was all there for them and in true Nikita fashion he messed up. It is irrelevant that his focus had shifted, the best ice dancer in the world should know how to take care of business. Was there any other team in the top 10 that completely ruined their twizzles, much less the favourites for gold? No matter what happened between himself and Lena, no one could have taken that tile of WC from him. That should have been on his mind.

Very well stated. I hope now people can begin to let go of and I/K reunion. I think it was cemented here that each skater prefers their new team.

 

[elif]

All the talk about gmyers remind me skyfly. It is not a good year for him/her, is it? Wagner and Tuktamisheva taking GPF medals while her top dance team losing S/B and M/K. Being tall, fat, old and everything.

Back to FD: I liked Stepanova/Bukin most. Yes they are stiff, not much flow or speed but twizzles, spin, first lift all impressive. Program have strong start and their interpretation is good. All other teams were very dramatic or too showy, sometimes over the top face expressions. I feel like S/B the one who tries to highlight music with body movements. If only they work on their skating skills.

 

[Skater Boy]

The season is over and the team is finished. They break up soon.

I am not sure Zueva is the right coach or chose the right programs for this team. But they have only been together for like seven months; I think they deserve a bit more time. Now the real question is Can B and S come back. What shape are they in and who is Russia no. 1 and how do they stack up against the Americans, Canadians and French and just how good are the Italians in comparison. Unless there was a miracle I think the greats natonal inflation of marks has to be Italy. As someone suggested the Ialian no. 2 team would appear to be a world medal contender with thou gh scores but in fact would probably be very lucky to make top ten - three Americans, Italy no. 1,three Canadians,two Russians not to mention the Germans and the British team

 

[Totentanz]

I think S/K performed relatively better than expected in the free dance. I don't see a reason for them to break up, especially considering how close they are, but maybe coaching change will happen. It's their first season together, and they failed in it, maybe they will work hard with their coach and get into team next season. It must be really disappointing for Nikita, after all the glorious days he had with his previous team.

I really love Elena and Ruslan!! They have managed a lot in their first season together, after all the drama I think they deserve this happiness. But they have things to work on, too. I want them to be world medalist next season, and world champions the following one. Their short dance is the one I like the most this season. I wonder what they can achieve at Euros and Worlds. Hoping there will be more improvements until Worlds and maybe they can win a surprise bronze

Congratulations to other medalists M/K and S/B as well!! Nice competition overall.

 

[snowflakebeautiful]

I was glad to see S/K skate their FD better than they have all season. Personally, there are elements in that program and in their skating that I like and see potential in. They obviously have things to work on; and I hope that they find a good technical specialist to help them with their weaker areas.
IMO, it's still early days and I don't see a reason that they should break up. Their goals were obviously too high, but it was no worse a first season than many a new team has had. I think that people are forgetting that a lot can change/happen from one season to the next that is not expected.

I/Z did very well; and I am very excited for them! That's a wonderful accomplishment for them! I expected them to place first here; and am glad that they were able to do so! May they do well the rest of this season and in the future!

I'm not typically a huge S/B or M/K fan, but I thought that both teams showcased their FDs very well today; and I very much-so enjoyed them!
S/B still need to work on their ss, but I appreciate their lifts and much-talked-about twizzles. I think that their program seems less like music and choreo cut and pasted together and more like an interpretation of the music. I hope that we're able to see them and M/K again at some point this season.

 

[evangeline]

While I think gmyers may be stretching the truth a bit. The trend with respect to worlds in particular is striking. Almost every single year Nikita made some costly mistake in the short to make the FD more stressful a skate, not to mention the ridiculous mistakes made in FD's. Get me clearly, I am not saying however that Lena did not have her bobbles.

However their inconsistency should really lead most to let go of I/K and embrace these two new teams. I/K for example, had every opportunity to win gold in Japan it was all there for them and in true Nikita fashion he messed up. It is irrelevant that his focus had shifted, the best ice dancer in the world should know how to take care of business. Was there any other team in the top 10 that completely ruined their twizzles, much less the favourites for gold? No matter what happened between himself and Lena, no one could have taken that tile of WC from him. That should have been on his mind.

I agree with you. I/K skated superbly at the Sochi Olympics and won their biggest medals there, but I don't think gmyers' characterization of I/K as a "constant disaster" is entirely inaccurate, given that I/K have under-performed and bombed at many, many events, particularly whenever they were at Worlds. The fact that I/K have never won a single senior event except for the Crystal Skate of Romania really says it all.

And before anyone can accuse me of being an I/K hater, I was devastated when I heard I/K broke up this summer and spent months hoping that they'd get back together. But given their talent level, it's clear as day that I/K were a perpetually under-performing team aside from one strong competition (Olympics).

 

[elif]

I -for myself- thankful to Ilinykh, because of her comeback from split. Can you imagine russian title between Monko and Stepanova. I'm sure they are hard workers, maybe in future they will be good but for now they don't have quality, needs to add a lot of flow, speed, needs to fix posture and show personality.

I/Z free dance total waste of Ilinykh. I hope next year we will see them with good free dance. They should work with specialist like Najorro. Look at Ilinykh and Zhiganshin's movements, posture, sharpness between SD and FD. Clearly Najorro worked this.

 

[sisinka]

Some interview after FD:

http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=88488
…Lena Ilinykh 26th of December

“Today we are satisfied with our performance – we coped with tideness, with the weight of responsibility. For me Russian Championship was always an untouchable top, I never won it. Because of it there was an enormous wish to win it finally. And when we got such chance after SD, we wanted to make maximum in free dance not to blame ourselves later. To show judges and specialists what we trained. I started to cry at the end of program, but more it was from tideness. Because an enormous tideness has accumulated. But it is our work – to go and show everything you can, your maximum in any conditions. We are glad that we coped with it. “

http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=88489
…Ruslan Zhiganshin 26th of December

“In 2014 Russian Championhips - it is final start, today we did the last free dance (this year). Because of it we gave it everything. We are very satisfied. There was not very big mistake in last lift. A tideness has accumulated, but I think that we coped with it. Thanks to our coaches for self-sacrifice which they gave to us. And an enormous thanks to all specialists who worked with us.“

http://rsport.ru/figure_skating/20141226/796760992.html
...Ksenia Monko & Kirill Khaliavin 26th of December

Ksenia: “We won medal at Russian Championships for the first time in our career – I don’t have words. It is necessary to say that we like to be in a role of leaders. Certainly first half of the season was very succesfull – we got into European Championships and we are very satisfied with it. “

Kirill: “Finally now it will be more interesting to work and compete – there is a stimulus to get on the place of leading couples. It is interesting when you feel that a fight with yourself and with rivals get you somewhere. It is not interesting to arrive at competition and skate for yourselve only and recieve some nice words from somebody and not too much nice words. We were feeling this partly at our last Russian Championships.“

http://www.team-russia2014.ru/article/19156.html
…Alexandra Stepanova 26th of December

“Now we feel some sort of despoliation/devastation (in terms of feeling empty inside). It all happened and finished so quickly. We didn’t think about placements at all, we didn’t expected to get into top three. It didn’t stress us. Coaches learn us to skate for our pleasure. They say – we know what you can do. We worked a lot, the number of our starts turned into quality. Our whole team – coaches, choreographers – they put a collosal forces into us. We made changements after every start and if we remember our free dance at Test Skate at the beginning of the season – it is not similar to this one (free dance) we have now. It is like finding a diamond – and start to make a real brilliant. That is how we worked. It is jewelery work of our coaches.“

http://www.team-russia2014.ru/article/19157.html
…Ivan Bukin 26th of December

“I will not hide – of course we wanted to stay on the second place. Maybe there was a pressure, but I can’t say that it was the main thing. After today’s skate we can really say that inside we are ready to compete at European Championhips. Certainly a key moment was performance at Cup of Russia. After this start we finally understood on what we need to work. And then we were polishing elements at every practise. “

http://rsport.ru/figure_skating/20141226/796766652.html
...Nikita Katsalapov 26th of December

“It is Russian Championships, there are different things to happen always. But with such skate we showed at Grand Prix…fair enough Cup of Russia, it was our first start in season. And we skated cleanly there, although we were clamped (tied). And bad performance in Japan put a strong negative imprint before Russian Championships. There is nothing to be speak about. But we are glad that all was good today. After depressive mood – good impression stayed. “

“It was our mistake (question for not getting into National Team). We will learn from those mistakes not to allow it never again. We know what we can, that we skate well at practises. We didn’t have enough competition experience to get at European and World Championships.“

“In Ice Dance all are standing in queue. All were striking through how they can to get into basic (National) Team and get at the Olympics. We have to do this with Vika but in faster terms. But without forcing anyway – it is necessary to work and work.“

 

[sisinka]

http://allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=88492
…Marina Zueva 26th of December

“I liked that today I saw an accurate execution of all elements. I exactly saw it. Kids did a big step forward. It is needed to make a study of points, look what points and for what they gave, what Levels they identified. If Levels are lower than expected – I will communicate with judges and specialists what we miss to get more high Levels. In free dance they put them on fourth place. Here we go. I hope that we will go at big competitions this season. But it will not depend on me, but on leadership (Federation).“

http://rsport.ru/figure_skating/20141227/796778785.html
…Marina Zueva 27th of December

“Twizzles were identified like Level 3, not 4, but it looked to me that they executed them well. It means that judges found some imperfection. Circular Step Sequence – Level 1. Level 1 Step Sequence is executed by the couple which saying mildly do not necessarily know how to skate. Victoria and Nikita – they are both participants of Olympic Games. There was not any mistakes seen by eyes. Diagonal Step Sequence was Level 2 – there could be a mistake, of course. But I didn’t see mistakes. “

“I liked a lot that Nikita cleanly and confidently performed lift in crouching position, which he never had in repertoire. They got Level 4 for lifts – well done, we worked a lot on this.“

 

[mikiandorocks]

http://allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=88492
…Marina Zueva 27th of December

“Twizzles were identified like Level 3, not 4, but it looked to me that they executed them well. It means that judges found some imperfection. Circular Step Sequence – Level 1. Level 1 Step Sequence is executed by the couple which saying mildly do not necessarily know how to skate. Victoria and Nikita – they are both participants of Olympic Games. There was not any mistakes seen by eyes. Diagonal Step Sequence was Level 2 – there could be a mistake, of course. But I didn’t see mistakes. “

I hope she isn't implying that Sinitsina & Katsalapov were robbed

 

[Meoima]

I am the most baffled by Zueva...

 

[starlight97]

I am the most baffled by Zueva...

I'm Not. At. All surprised by our dear Zueva
I kinda expected her to actually say it out loud
"They were flawless, were robbed of a medal because *insert irrational reason here* and they should be given the third Euro spot!"
I think she kept it pretty moderate this time! Let her talk.
Just hope that S/K use the time until next season to work on their skating and I hope that Victoria will shine more.

 

[Meoima]

I'm Not. At. All surprised by our dear Zueva
I kinda expected her to actually say it out loud
"They were flawless, were robbed of a medal because *insert irrational reason here* and they should be given the third Euro spot!"
I think she kept it pretty moderate this time! Let her talk.
Just hope that S/K use the time until next season to work on their skating and I hope that Victoria will shine more.

Apparently everything looks good to Zueva and she thinks the judges were exceptional harsh on Vika and Nikita.
No, seriously I have no interest in this team. I haven't even watched them. It's just the way Zueva deals with this is :shocked:

 

[uhh]

…Marina Zueva 27th of December

“I liked a lot that Nikita cleanly and confidently performed lift in crouching position, which he never had in repertoire. They got Level 4 for lifts – well done, we worked a lot on this.“

??? He's done a lift in the lunge position every year for the last 3 seasons, and if she's actually referring to the spreadeagle, he did that in 2010-11. I should give up trying to make sense of what she's saying...

 

[LisaM]

Are there any protocols? (I'm blind I think.)

 

[dorispulaski]

People have posted photos of protocols, but none on the regular results list so far...if ever

 

[sisinka]

??? He's done a lift in the lunge position every year for the last 3 seasons, and if she's actually referring to the spreadeagle, he did that in 2010-11. I should give up trying to make sense of what she's saying...

She was talking about crouching position, not lunge. I found pictures of lifting partner's position and lifted partner's position here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_skating_lifts#For_the_lifted_partner

Yes, Nikita was executing crouching position in 2010/11 season.

 

[Snow63]

http://allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=88492
…Marina Zueva 26th of December

“I liked that today I saw an accurate execution of all elements. I exactly saw it. Kids did a big step forward. It is needed to make a study of points, look what points and for what they gave, what Levels they identified. If Levels are lower than expected – I will communicate with judges and specialists what we miss to get more high Levels. In free dance they put them on fourth place. Here we go. I hope that we will go at big competitions this season. But it will not depend on me, but on leadership (Federation).“

http://rsport.ru/figure_skating/20141227/796778785.html
…Marina Zueva 27th of December

“Twizzles were identified like Level 3, not 4, but it looked to me that they executed them well. It means that judges found some imperfection. Circular Step Sequence – Level 1. Level 1 Step Sequence is executed by the couple which saying mildly do not necessarily know how to skate. Victoria and Nikita – they are both participants of Olympic Games. There was not any mistakes seen by eyes. Diagonal Step Sequence was Level 2 – there could be a mistake, of course. But I didn’t see mistakes. “

“I liked a lot that Nikita cleanly and confidently performed lift in crouching position, which he never had in repertoire. They got Level 4 for lifts – well done, we worked a lot on this.“

And people were accusing me for twisting Zueva's words after CoR There's no need to twist them, really. They are controversial without any twisting.

Okay. I will sum up what Zueva thinks:
- twizzles were very good executed and should be level 4;
- all lifts were rock-solid, spread-eagle lift Nikita did was especially good, he never done anything like this before this season;
- there were no visible mistakes in step seqs, so they should have higher levels for them;
- they can't recieve level 1 for step seqs, because Nikita and Vika have skated at the Olympics, and only teams who don't know how to skate should be getting level 1 for their step seqs.

And finally, she still have hope S/K will go to Euros

 

[sisinka]

Are there any protocols? (I'm blind I think.)

I found Protocols after SD only - https://fotki.yandex.ru/users/mihsersh/album/457106/.