2018-19 Russian Ladies' figure skating

[skatenewbie]

There is no way. Look at her parents. There is no way she will be any taller than 165-166. She is already 16. During last season she was somewhere around 156-159, and seemed like added about 3cm during the summer. So she is at the most 162-163 now - look at her pictures with Nathan and Marin.

yep she stil 160~162 cm at most? she's still slightly shorter than Mirai who is 164 cm.

 

[Ophelia]

The arrangement of Zagitovas SP is schizophrenic. So discordant and messy.

It's one of the worser SPs I've seen in a while. Beats even Radianovas godawful Titanic. You could find someone on Soundcloud who could do a better cut.

 

[leoleo]

I have a hard time believing Eteri was planning to make Zhenya skate to POTO after giving her unconventional music pieces to skate to since her junior days! I can accept that some people might see a bit of Zhenya in Alina's new program but i do not believe this program was made for zhenya! it makes no sense to me. I just cannot see Zhenya skating to this

 

[crazydreamer]

Wow she had a major growth spurt. Looking very mature all the sudden.

 

[LucyH]

The arrangement of Zagitovas SP is schizophrenic. So discordant and messy.

It's one of the worser SPs I've seen in a while. Beats even Radianovas godawful Titanic.

You could find someone on Soundcloud who could do a better cut.

My thoughts exactly... it is messy! Comparing this to Satoko's SP - there's really no comparison!

 

[Ophelia]

^I know. I didn't think it was possible to grow that drastically in a mere 6 months.

 

[Lenny318]

Agreed- I have watched her program a dozen times by now and it is growing on me. It was the same way with Black Swan, except this time I think she really is more refined and has better posture, etc. My absolute favorite parts of the program are her charlotte spiral into 2A and the 3F at the climax (Music of the night). The music box moment and the Ina Bauer are very nice touches as well. One thing I have to give her team credit for is they know how to choreograph her jumps to the music so they have that extra WOW factor.

Should a good program really require a dozen re-watches to like/tolerate it? I guess I'll have to like it cause there's no reason to change something that's going to get high marks no matter what so long as she goes relatively clean but after 2 watches I still cannot fathom why a short program needs to cover so many different songs/pieces of music and utilize sound effects to emphasize how jarring some of these transitions are. It doesn't even tell a very good story imho. Her team should be doing better, I'm in no way insulting Alina herself she looks good, more mature, and she's trying alright.

ETA: I definitely had to watch Mirai's Great Gatsby program a lot to like it but eventually it was her happiness when she skated it well at Nationals and Worlds that won me over, not the choreography/music cuts themselves.

 

[leoleo]

Should a good program really require a dozen re-watches to like/tolerate it? I guess I'll have to like it cause there's no reason to change something that's going to get high marks no matter what so long as she goes relatively clean but after 2 watches I still cannot fathom why a short program needs to cover so many different songs/pieces of music and utilize sound effects to emphasize how jarring some of these transitions are. It doesn't even tell a very good story imho. Her team should be doing better, I'm in no way insulting Alina herself she looks good, more mature, and she's trying alright.

ETA: I definitely had to watch Mirai's Great Gatsby program a lot to like it but eventually it was her happiness when she skated it well at Nationals and Worlds that won me over, not the choreography/music cuts themselves.

There's nothing wrong with not liking the program! most people on my twitter feed literally hated it. I personally find that it had potential but needs to be polished. Idk if i'm gonna get used to the music cuts tho i did not like her black swan at first but ended up liking it later in the season. We'll see what the judges think of the program, hopefully she achieves the results she wants with this.

 

[atsumiri]

My thoughts exactly... it is messy! Comparing this to Satoko's SP - there's really no comparison!

there's really no comparison. I almost fell asleep while watching Satoko's SP... too boring and standard.... \

 

[alvina9894]

My thoughts exactly... it is messy! Comparing this to Satoko's SP - there's really no comparison!

Satoko's SP was decent, but lacked the highlights and wow factor she had in her previous programmes. The costume and hair were amazing though. I hope she keeps the ponytail in competition, she looks adorable with it.

Alina's SP was the opposite. It seems like Gleichengauz tries to throw in all highlights of PotO into two minutes. Schizophrenic is a very precise description to this SP. I hope RusFed disapproves of this SP in the test skate or make him change the music cut or better, polish and develop Black Swan even further...

 

[zounger]

I hope RusFed disapproves of this SP in the test skate or make him change the music cut or better, polish and develop Black Swan even further...

I'm sure TAT will.

 

[leoleo]

Alina's SP was the opposite. It seems like Gleichengauz tries to throw in all highlights of PotO into two minutes. Schizophrenic is a very precise description to this SP. I hope RusFed disapproves of this SP in the test skate or make him change the music cut or better, polish and develop Black Swan even further...

free skates are in november, isn't that way too late to start all over again with a brand new SP?

 

[Xzander]

I love Alina and I really liked Black Swan. But the new SP... Disaster, especially those music cuts. She doesn't need those vocals, I feel that instrumental music suits her better. I hope that they will a) do a new SP b) go back to Black Swan.

 

[synteis]

I have to say, I watched this because it popped up on my youtube feed but I really enjoyed it. I felt like the arrangement of the elements was hard and interesting. I enjoyed the step sequences more than I did last year, I feel like the tempo of the music has encouraged her (as well as her coaches I'm sure) to take some more time with the elements. The music cuts are what they are, they didn't take me out of the program. You can see that her growth has affected her jumps but her rippon is still gorgeous and so are her spins.

I think this program does a great job of highlighting some of my favourite qualities about her. Her spins are given a chance to shine but also paired with difficult elements and transitions. Her rippon is the highlight of the piece in its composition I'd say. I also got the music box feel others described.

I also like the packaging direction that they've gone with, it really accentuates her height which helps make her step sequences look more beautiful too.

Of course it still needs work but I'm excited to see this develop. It does feel avant-guard and experimental and I hope it continues to have that vibe throughout the season.

Also, I'm pleased with the POTO recording they went with though I agree about the special effect noises.

 

[atsumiri]

I hope RusFed disapproves of this SP in the test skate or make him change the music cut or better, polish and develop Black Swan even further...

no way.
I'm sure that RusTed already saw it a few times at least. As Alina mentioned before... RusFed like to visit their practices a lot. Especially in Novogorsk.

RusFed even checked some junior pairs team this summer and told them what to change in the new programs so the programs would better fit in the new rules.

 

[madison]

Test skates are at the beginning of September, but probably RusFed already approved this program. (they approved the Candyman in the Olympic year, so what do you expect)
The positive thing that I see is that the program is interesting because of this disonnant and crazy manner is built.

 

[flanker]

Love how mature Alina looks and her womanly styling without the tutu, but c'mon, the program so far is bad. Let's be honest. I'll give it a chance to improve. But the "emotion" of it gives me major Evgenia vibes as well.

I will be honest too. I absolutely do not believe anyone who says he likes/is fan of Alina but the ONLY TIME I can read this guy's comment of Alina is when he criticizes anything related to her ("I love, but..." comments). And that's with some comments on POTO in crystal form. C'mon

 

[madison]

there's really no comparison. I almost fell asleep while watching Satoko's SP... too boring and standard.... \

I really enjoyed Sotoko's program, it takes you to the story, you forget for 3 minutes where you are, your thoughts. this is because the program is coeherent and in harmony.
The most I liked Marin's program, it's the best in my opinion from what I've seen at this show, it's catchy, sassy, playful with the public. Marin needs a little bit more fire and it will be an exquisite program.

 

[atsumiri]

anything related to her ("I love, but..." comments).

heh... sounds very familiar.

 

[[email protected]]

I watched a little bit of 5th element last night. What a strange freak show of a movie in a completely entertaining way Now I’m eagerly awaiting to see what Sasha will give us.

One of my all time favorite movies with hillarious dialogues:

- Just saw a picture of yours.
- How do I look?
- Like sh*t.
- Must be an old picture.