2018-19 Russian Ladies' figure skating

[BillNeal]

For all the debate about the caliber of the European Championships weeks ago, the ladies field looks quite desolate this year and GPF definitely had much stronger entries despite not having championship status. Even 4CC is looking less snoozy.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

For all the debate about the caliber of the European Championships weeks ago, the ladies field looks quite desolate this year and GPF definitely had much stronger entries despite not having championship status. Even 4CC is looking less snoozy.

Well... obviously. GPF has a higher status than Euros and 4CC because literally the top skaters of the season compete against each other. Obviously Euros and 4CC which separates by continents (thus seperating the biggest two nations, Japan and Russia) won’t be as competitive. But honestly Euros has a pretty good lineup: Alina, Sofia, Stanislava, Alexia and Viveca. They have the Olympic Champion! And World Record Holder for FS! There’s going to be heavy competition between Sofia and Stasya, and it will be exciting to see which Russian gets to be on the Worlds Team!

 

[neud]

no Loena WD

 

[PiggytailProdigy]

Anastasia Tarakanova might become olympic champion, afterall, you never know who will rise to the occasion.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Anastasia Tarakanova might become olympic champion, afterall, you never know who will rise to the occasion.

From your keyboard to God’s ears

 

[Lunalovesskating]

Well... obviously. GPF has a higher status than Euros and 4CC because literally the top skaters of the season compete against each other. Obviously Euros and 4CC which separates by continents (thus seperating the biggest two nations, Japan and Russia) won’t be as competitive. But honestly Euros has a pretty good lineup: Alina, Sofia, Stanislava, Loena, Alexia and Viveca. They have the Olympic Champion! And World Record Holder for FS! There’s going to be heavy competition between Sofia and Stasya and Loena, and it will be exciting to see which Russian gets to be on the Worlds Team!

Loena withdrew

 

[malya]

No Liza, Loena, Caro... the competition lost half of the medal contenders...

My dark horse for Europeans is still Viveca, she won 3rd place vs Stasya at Finlandia Trophy this season with a great FS

 

[Fluture]

Anastasia Tarakanova might become olympic champion, afterall, you never know who will rise to the occasion.

Yeah, who knows? Nastya seems to be in good hands and while the 3A are all the rage at the moment, she‘s doing very well too and a lot could happen in a few years. Who thought Alina would win OGM four years ago? That‘s such a long time in figure skating, anything could happen. 3A could continue to stay on top, the “old generation“ like Alina, Zhenya or even someone like Polina Tsurskaya could fight their way up through radical changes in their skating, the youngsters from Tutberidze who will conveniently be the perfect age of 15 at the next Olympics could win it all or someone else entirely, like Nastya who has many aspects to her skating that are at least as good as the power trio if not better.

Your little Piggytail Prodigy has many things to offer that I personally greatly enjoy. Her speed is unmatched, she literally does one crossover and is at at the other side of the rink. Her skating skills are some of the best out there too. I don‘t know any junior right now and not a lot of seniors who have such a clean, pristine technique as her. Her lutz is the best in the junior ranks and no one can fight me on that.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrVMl54oP2b/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=6bmruek1dmnp

Transitions in and out, beautiful rippon, toe pick and perfect outside edge and not a lot of pre-rotation either. Her other jumps are very good and clean too, she has no edge problems. I could watch her jump all day. I know she wants to train a quad and is already doing it and probably feels like she needs it to stand out under the current juniors but for me that’s a shame. I would prefer watching her jumps all the time to any quad. She could hold the extension of her landing leg a bit longer in some of her jumps, however, that’s the only issue I have with them. Her spin positions are unique, she is fast and centered and flexible as well.

One thing she could work on more is the expression in her face. She is a very passionate skater and fairly musical too, which she shows when she moves her body to the accents. However, she’s been clearly working on this and while it’s far from perfect, she’s making an effort and that’s good. She‘s actually the perfect example that you do not have to be the princess-y type of skater to be musical, that you can be athletic, dramatic and powerful and yet feel the music and move according to it.

Her SP this year is also a bit much and to my mind a bit too soon for her to portray such a mature image. She’s doing her best but the struggle is obvious. Her FS works fine, she interprets it very well and it has a unique touch to it that I appreciate.

Overall, though, I think she‘s the complete package and while I‘ll not go as far and say: “she‘ll be Olympic Champion!“ for me it‘s obvious that she can be very successful. She might not be the most popular junior yet and overshadowed by her quad jumping peers at the moment but who knows what will happen in the future? I think she will make her mark and if it means staying in juniors a year longer.

 

[moriel]

Mishin's interview: https://www.kompravda.eu/daily/26927.4/3977187/

Q: Has Liza Tuktamysheva recovered?
A: From daily life point of view, she has recovered. She started to jump complicated jump. In a couple of days, I will tell about 3A.

Q: Liza will not make it to Euros, what other competitions she will have this season?
A: She is in the Universiade team, but it is unknown if she needs to go to Krasnoyarsk before the World Championships.

Q: Then, the team made based on the results of Russian Championship can be changed?
A: Federation said that at least one, and maybe tw of the participants of European Championship will be replaced by reserves.


Note: reserves do not specify gender, so it could both mean that they plan to replace both Stasya and Sonya, or that there may be a replacement in pairs (Z/E) or men.

 

[Fluture]

No Liza, Loena, Caro... the competition lost half of the medal contenders...

My dark horse for Europeans is still Viveca, she won 3rd place vs Stasya at Finlandia Trophy this season with a great FS

I‘ll be honest, it will be a pretty predictable competition. Viveca is pretty good but there‘s no way I‘ll see her medal unless someone of the Russians bomb completely.

The only battle will be between Stasya and Sofia for second and while I will watch it and hope for many clean skates and root for everyone, we‘ve had more interesting competitions than this one. Loena could have spiced it up a bit but unfortunately she‘s out now. Wishing her a speedy recovery, though.

 

[Lunalovesskating]

Mishin's interview: https://www.kompravda.eu/daily/26927.4/3977187/

Q: Has Liza Tuktamysheva recovered?
A: From daily life point of view, she has recovered. She started to jump complicated jump. In a couple of days, I will tell about 3A.

Q: Liza will not make it to Euros, what other competitions she will have this season?
A: She is in the Universiade team, but it is unknown if she needs to go to Krasnoyarsk before the World Championships.

Q: Then, the team made based on the results of Russian Championship can be changed?
A: Federation said that at least one, and maybe tw of the participants of European Championship will be replaced by reserves.


Note: reserves do not specify gender, so it could both mean that they plan to replace both Stasya and Sonya, or that there may be a replacement in pairs (Z/E) or men.

I think he is talking about ladies. Maybe that is why Stasia got the Universiade spot, because they do not plan on sending her to Worlds interesting.

 

[moriel]

I think he is talking about ladies. Maybe that is why Stasia got the Universiade spot, because they do not plan on sending her to Worlds �� interesting.

Sounds pretty sketchy if they plan replacing 2 ladies, because honestly, there is no reason to prop Med above girls who outskated her at nationals, or girls who outskated her during the season.
If she goes to Worlds while Sonia, Stasya, Liza and ALina are healthy, i will be majorly upset, and scream lots of profanities about rusfed, about Zhenya visiting politicians, TAT and all that stuff.

 

[Fluture]

Sounds pretty sketchy if they plan replacing 2 ladies, because honestly, there is no reason to prop Med above girls who outskated her at nationals, or girls who outskated her during the season.
If she goes to Worlds while Sonia, Stasya, Liza and ALina are healthy, i will be majorly upset, and scream lots of profanities about rusfed, about Zhenya visiting politicians, TAT and all that stuff.

Calm down, it will depend on Euros. Alina and Liza are locks regardless for the team because both medaled at GPF and Alina is more than likely to take home the gold at Euros. So, it will be Stasya, Sofia or Evgenia for the last spot. Who knows what they‘re planning on doing. It will depend on how the first two perform at Euros and Zhenya will likely get a chance to prove she‘s ready. Maybe Universiade or Russian Cup Final.

I still don‘t understand why they don‘t just send Liza to the Russian Cup Final to show she’s ready. If she is, she doesn’t have to do Universiade and can rather concentrate properly on Worlds. Then choose the one who did better at Euros and got Silver and give her the third spot. Zhenya and the Euros girl who‘s left off the Worlds team get sent to Universiade. Everyone would be happy and it would be a fair decision too.

I seriously want Zhenya at the Universiade and not at Worlds but oh well... it would solve many problems but it might be too simple and logical of a solution for RusFed...

 

[Tolstoj]

Anastasia Tarakanova might become olympic champion, afterall, you never know who will rise to the occasion.

Will she get a senior GP spot next season? That would be a start.

I love her, jumps-wise she has a very solid technique, with lots of height, no issues with the lutz/flip edges, and she is also developing a character, she is one of the few skaters in Russia who cares about the performance instead of just doing your job, and she is in good hands at Plushenko's academy.

 

[Fluture]

Will she get a senior GP spot next season? That would be a start.

I love her, jumps-wise she has a very solid technique, with lots of height, no issues with the lutz/flip edges, and she is also developing a character, she is one of the few skaters in Russia who cares about the performance instead of just doing your job, and she is in good hands at Plushenko's academy.

Can‘t she just stay in juniors another year and finally get the Junior Worlds spot? The new Eteri trio is good but unless they pull of a quad, I don‘t see any area where they‘re better than Nastya. Alena Kanysheva is very good as well and has great technique but I think Nastya can easily compete with her. For me it would be a shame if she had to move up to seniors without ever going to Junior Worlds...

 

[Tolstoj]

Can‘t she just stay in juniors another year and finally get the Junior Worlds spot? The new Eteri trio is good but unless they pull of a quad, I don‘t see any area where they‘re better than Nastya. Alena Kanysheva is very good as well and has great technique but I think Nastya can easily compete with her. For me it would be a shame if she had to move up to seniors without ever going to Junior Worlds...

I think you should send her to JW this year and then move to seniors. (Kanysheva can always go next year)

You look at her and she is skating like a senior skater (arguagbly more than Trusova), but in juniors she will never get the proper components she deserves.

I'm worried if she stays in juniors she could finish like Polina Shelepen, forced to stay in juniors until 17-18 and at that point she was nowhere as good as she could have been.

 

[vesperalvioletta]

Will she get a senior GP spot next season? That would be a start.

I love her, jumps-wise she has a very solid technique, with lots of height, no issues with the lutz/flip edges, and she is also developing a character, she is one of the few skaters in Russia who cares about the performance instead of just doing your job, and she is in good hands at Plushenko's academy.

She's 27th on the season's best list, and 13th of the Russian girls on that list. It's possible I think (someone more knowledgeable, correct me if I'm wrong), but there's also politicking for Buyanova's girls who are behind her.

I think she's better off staying in juniors and fighting for Junior Worlds and JGPF medals another year.

 

[Fluture]

I think you should send her to JW this year and then move to seniors. (Kanysheva can always go next year)

You look at her and she is skating like a senior skater (arguagbly more than Trusova), but in juniors she will never get the proper components she deserves.

I'm worried if she stays in juniors she could finish like Polina Shelepen, forced to stay in juniors until 17-18 and at that point she was nowhere as good as she could have been.

But who should she replace of the 3A trio?

Anna won Senior Nationals, no way they‘ll leave her off the team. Alena is JGPF champion and unless she bombs completely, she should be in too. Sasha is reigning JW champion, they will send her to defend her title. And besides, she has the quads.

There‘s no question that she‘s skating more as a senior than Trusova, and nothing to argue here, I think. But Sasha has quads and she doesn‘t and she‘s not even with Eteri anymore... she was underscored last year already but even more so this year.

I don‘t know what the best solution would be. To my mind it would be her having another year in juniors, finally being the leader of the team and going to JW. Maybe it wouldn’t be good either, I don‘t know. But I don‘t know whether she can even get a GP spot next year, whereas she should easily get two in Juniors. I hope she makes the best decision for herself because I‘m personally at a loss here and can only say what I could imagine to be a good solution.

 

[Tolstoj]

She's 27th on the season's best list, and 13th of the Russian girls on that list. It's possible I think (someone more knowledgeable, correct me if I'm wrong), but there's also politicking for Buyanova's girls who are behind her.

I think she's better off staying in juniors and fighting for Junior Worlds and JGPF medals another year.

I know but see that's where the nonsense comes in.

RusFed would hurt themselves if they send Tsurskaya, Sotskova and Panenkova next season. No offense to them but this season they bombed every single competition, while from the reserves you have skaters like Tarakanova, ready to make a splash in seniors. You can have one bad season yes but now it's time to give the spots to more deserving skaters.

One thing Nationals always proves is that scores tend to be more inflated for those who compete in seniors and achieve something there. Who stays in juniors will always be lowballed, and if they make mistakes it's easy to get screwed.

I'm seriously worried if Tarakanova stays another year in juniors, she will never have a chance in seniors or by the time she does, she won't be the skater she is now, or she won't get the proper scores because it's too late.

The other concern i have is that Buyanova will quickly forget about Sotskova and Tsurskaya but she will take Tarusina (she's already listed as her second coach) from Davydov next season and Gubanova and those two will get the two GP spots in seniors.

I also think as a future proof move it makes sense for RusFed to start promoting other coaching teams, because right now it's very much always relying on Eteri with no backup plans, despite Russia has very strong skaters who deserve more recognition internationally.

 

[anna gabriela]

Will she get a senior GP spot next season?

Unfortunately I don’t see Nastya getting a senior GP spot next season, she’s just too far down on the SB list to be guaranteed one and it’s clear from how underscored she was at nationals that she’s not a favourite of the fed. I agree with everyone who says she should stay another year in juniors, it definitely seems to be the best option for her because with 3A gone she will be pretty much the top junior lady and can seriously compete for JGPF and JW gold. I think if she won either of those she would be in a much stronger position to then make her senior debut the following year as it would build both her confidence and her reputation.

And for everyone who thinks staying in juniors another year would be bad because she’d be too old or something like that, just consider that she would make her senior debut at age 16, the same age Alena will be on her debut and the same age Sonya was on her debut this season.