2016-17 State of Russian Ladies skating

[carpex]

2017 Russian Nationals commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVug8Qazmyk


Unofficial Puremagic's list of ladies participants just to grab your imagination.

1) Evgenia Medvedeva
2) Elena Radionova
3) Anna Pogorilaya
4) Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
5) Maria Sotskova
6) Yulia Lipnitskaya
7) Alena Leonova
8) Serafima Sakhanovich
9) Maria Artemieva
10) Adelina Sotnikova
11) Anastasiia Gubanova
12) Polina Tsurskaya
13) Alina Zagitova
14) Natalia Ogoreltseva
15) Stanislava Konstantinova
16) free spot (probably Alisa Fedichkina)
17) free spot (probably Alisa Lozko)
18) free spot (probably Elizaveta Nugumanova)

 

[NicolettaL]

That's going to be hell of a bloodbath

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

1) Evgenia Medvedeva
2) Elena Radionova
3) Anna Pogorilaya
4) Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
5) Maria Sotskova
6) Yulia Lipnitskaya
7) Alena Leonova
8) Serafima Sakhanovich
9) Maria Artemieva
10) Adelina Sotnikova
11) Anastasiia Gubanova
12) Polina Tsurskaya
13) Alina Zagitova
14) Natalia Ogoreltseva
15) Stanislava Konstantinova
16) free spot (probably Alisa Fedichkina)
17) free spot (probably Alisa Lozko)
18) free spot (probably Elizaveta Nugumanova)

1) WGM
2) WBM
3) WBM
4) WGM
5) Jr. WSM
6) WSM/OGM
7) WSM
8) Jr. WSM x2
10) OGM
12) Has won 6/6 Jr. Int'l events she competed in

It's insane how deep this field is. I doubt Adelina will end up participating, though.

 

[lavoix]

Does anyone know where I can find some commentary free videos on youtube of the 2016 world championships for Medvedeva and Radionova?

 

[[email protected]]

I am pondering if I should go to the Nationals this year. Last time it was quite convenient with several events on Saturday. Now to see FS men and dances I have to take 1 day vacation and fly overnight to Chelyabinsk. Saturday they have just FP pairs and ladies. Of course, the latter is the main event of the whole competition. Well, if I am going to make up my mind the live report will be due.

 

[wanpe]

I am pondering if I should go to the Nationals this year.

Hope you can make it to this year's nationals too. Always good to read your live reports samkrut :luv17:

 

[Weathergal]

Does anyone know where I can find some commentary free videos on youtube of the 2016 world championships for Medvedeva and Radionova?

Hi I found this one for Medvedeva: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-HgJi0puaIQ

 

[Watermelondrea]

Posted this on Yulia's fan forum, which probably is not the right place. I apologize.

Since yesterday, I noticed, I have been avoiding any coverage of the ladies FS. I rewatched the dances, the men, read and analyzed various all performances, all except the ladies. I noticed this Yulia's drama have started hitting the bystanders: Elena, Anna, Courtney, even Zhenya. I simply avoid everything with ladies!
So now I say to myself: one person's drama cannot affect other competitors. That's it! If Yulia cannot handle stress then don't bother your fans and quit! The sport is not for her! I am tired of this "poor Yulia" nonsense. She's is an adult, it's her problem. If a skater cannot pull one five minutes performance in three years then quit! Do something else in your life.

Tennis players play many hours brutal matches every other day. Soccer players fight like gladiators twice a week. Skiers run on the verge of death on almost vertical ice slopes every day. Pro-dancers learn new exhausting choreos in matter of days and perform every day. But if someone now cannot pull single five minutes once per three years then maybe don't bother. Go away. There are other ladies: more determined, mentally stronger.

Figure skating is a VASTLY different sport. Different muscles are required to be strengthened and conditioned to stay balanced at every second. Soccer? A team sport, lot of pressure is off and half the time eyes are not on you, if you're a defender then a lot of times you're in the back standing there waiting for the opposing team to make a move. Pro-dancers? Are on dry ground and while it is difficult to learn, doesn't necessarily have the big elements of skating where the pressure is on for a few seconds and then off for the next. So it isn't simply "5 minutes every 3 years." It's years of dedication and hard work that CAN boil down to 5 minutes, but the mental aspect of skating is so different. Ice is slippery, and when literally all eyes are on you and you only in the arena it's difficult to perform.

 

[Watermelondrea]

So are we all with the Evgenia and Anna train for top 2 in Russia?

 

[Watermelondrea]

I actually like the tanos on Evgenia's jumps, but when literally every other Tutberidze skater does it it's very... Labored and frankly, ugly. Anyone else agree?

 

[Imagine]

^Look. I really do like Evgenia despite her contrived programs. I will root for her to claim all the records/titles, and defend her artistry from the jealousy of the haters. But...her tanos are, frankly, just as ugly. I do not mind that she uses them to strategically place herself on a different level from the rest of the competiton, but her tanos just seem forced (like how you describe the tanos of Eteri's students in general). It's like she's using the arm to drag(?) herself up into the air. The way the arm is bent and not extended is a bit jarring too. I think an example of a pleasing use of tanos is Mao...very balletic and graceful, although she does not use them often or on triples. As an athletic feat, I do appreciate Evginia's consistency with the tanos on the triples. She really is on her own level right now.

 

[winky97]

I actually like the tanos on Evgenia's jumps, but when literally every other Tutberidze skater does it it's very... Labored and frankly, ugly. Anyone else agree?

No, sorry, but I I freakin hate her tanos. I hated them when she was a junior too. They are ugly and I have reached the point where I want some type of limitation placed on how many a skater could do in a program. The worst thing in the world would be other skaters start running around abusing this jump like Evgenia does to get the extra points.

 

[puremagic]

I am pondering if I should go to the Nationals this year. Last time it was quite convenient with several events on Saturday. Now to see FS men and dances I have to take 1 day vacation and fly overnight to Chelyabinsk. Saturday they have just FP pairs and ladies. Of course, the latter is the main event of the whole competition. Well, if I am going to make up my mind the live report will be due.

It's just little things.

After Junior Russian Nationals in Chelybinsk, where were many kind volunteers, full arena and HD Stream from there - I really love this place. Especially if compare it with bad organization in Ekaterinburg. All things were better in Chelyabinsk. And that was just for juniors. I no doubt that it will be wonderful competition instead that shame which was in Ekaterinburg. Especially lumber room where a press conference was held.

 

[andromache]

Evgenia's tanos are less aesthetically appealing than the tanos of skaters who do them less frequently (like Mao), but I don't find them ugly. They're just...there. And they're there so often that they've stopped being impressive of different. I do wonder how much the tano is part of her technique and if her jumps would be affected by stopping the tano.

 

[Pracygr]

After watching somebody's skating performance, tanos are literally the last thing I think about. The fixation on such an insignificant aspect is honestly puzzling to me. There's can be so many intricate details to a good skate, so to care so strongly about whether skater puts one of his arms down or up when tightening up in air... It's like being unable to eat a dish because the number of peas on your plate is odd and not even.

 

[Pracygr]

Does anyone know where I can find some commentary free videos on youtube of the 2016 world championships for Medvedeva and Radionova?

Lots of commentary free videos on this channel.

Evgenia at Worlds: SP FP

I don't think this channel has Elena at Worlds, but there is GP final:SP FP

 

[gravy]

Evgenia's tanos are less aesthetically appealing than the tanos of skaters who do them less frequently (like Mao), but I don't find them ugly. They're just...there. And they're there so often that they've stopped being impressive of different. I do wonder how much the tano is part of her technique and if her jumps would be affected by stopping the tano.

If she did a real tano with full extension (a la Jason Brown, Boitano himself, or even Mao that you mentioned), I suspect she would be less consistent. Evgenia's tano arm has a bent elbow which decreases her moment of inertia and makes those jumps easier to rotate (pure physics, not opinion). She gets a GOE bullet point for throwing her arm up, but it doesn't mean anything since she's not actually shifting her center of mass when she tanos (which is the whole point of that difficulty feature).

 

[Tolstoj]

If she did a real tano with full extension (a la Jason Brown, Boitano himself, or even Mao that you mentioned), I suspect she would be less consistent. Evgenia's tano arm has a bent elbow which decreases her moment of inertia and makes those jumps easier to rotate (pure physics, not opinion). She gets a GOE bullet point for throwing her arm up, but it doesn't mean anything since she's not actually shifting her center of mass when she tanos (which is the whole point of that difficulty feature).

I don't think that's the point otherwise why she is still the only female to do the tano jumps in that way?

In my opinion she doesn't fully extend the arm because they wanted to avoid the odd discussions by western media "she copied Boitano! disgusting! judges don't reward this blablabla" (even though someone manages to say it anyway) but instead: "these are my jumps with the arms and it's more a variation of the tano/rippon because the position of the arms is different".

As we saw in the Rippon lutz thread, other skaters before Brian Boitano and before Adam Rippon did jumps with one or two arms above the head, sometimes not fully extended.

 

[andromache]

In my opinion she doesn't fully extend the arm because they wanted to avoid the odd discussions by western media "she copied Boitano! disgusting! judges don't reward this blablabla" (even though someone manages to say it anyway) but instead: "these are my jumps with the arms and it's more a variation of the tano/rippon because the position of the arms is different".

I've literally never seen this comment about Evgenia or any other skater before. I don't even think the Evgenia haters can come up with something so ridiculous, right?

She is still the only female to do her tanos that way because that is how she was taught to do the jumps, period. Typically, skaters learn the standard way of doing a jump. Then doing the arm variation is just that - a VARIATION, a change from how they were taught to do best do the jump. That variation/ shift from their norm = added difficulty = more GOE rewarded.

ETA: I also think that neither Evgenia nor Eteri would make decisions based on what the western media could criticize. Why would they? Figure skating is way more popular in Russia and Japan, and what the western media has to say has to nothing to do with Evgenia's success. Plus, Western commentators and sportswriters have only been complimentary of Evgenia, to my knowledge.

 

[Tolstoj]

I've literally never seen this comment about Evgenia or any other skater before. I don't even think the Evgenia haters can come up with something so ridiculous, right?

She is still the only female to do her tanos that way because that is how she was taught to do the jumps, period. Typically, skaters learn the standard way of doing a jump. Then doing the arm variation is just that - a VARIATION, a change from how they were taught to do best do the jump. That variation/ shift from their norm = added difficulty = more GOE rewarded.

I've purposely over exagerated some of those opinions, but that's the way some of them think (actually there were close posts to this here in this forum from last season), i remember this even in some commentaries (CBC again?), obviously not in that negative way, but they have hinted it.

The second statement is not true: before the season 2014-15 she used to do most of the jumps without the arm variation. The story that she does the tano because she learnt those jumps in that way is an URBAN MYTH, in fact there are some videos of her practice sessions from this summer where she was landing 3f-3lo or 3ltz-3lo, 3lo-3lo all these combos without the arm.

2013-2014 RN SP: not a single tano was given today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvKG-vfX6Is