2018-19 Russian Ladies' figure skating

[Spirals for Miles]

Destroy her reputation? No, sending Sasha, Alena, and Anna only shows that her students keep getting better. First Evgenia had 2 3-3s, then Alina had 3Lz-3Lo, then Sasha started doing quads, now all of them have ultra-c elements. It just shows how good of a coach she is.

 

[The Queen Of Quads]

I am totally serious. But I can`t imagine eteri letting destroy the repution of her top senior by her own pupils. so maybe she will only send kostornia because she is the oldest and everything will be fine for alina because she will get the olympic PCS and GOE push.

Impossible. Eteri wants to defeat Evgenia..... with Trusova. Eteri is not a selfish to not give a chance to her the most powerful student (Sasha). Also she choreographed Alina's "Don Quixote" - a program , which defeated Med at Olympics. Equal chances for everybody.

 

[atsumiri]

I can`t imagine eteri letting destroy the repution of her top senior by her own pupils. so maybe she will only send kostornia because she is the oldest and everything will be fine for alina because she will get the olympic PCS and GOE push.

I hope that's not what you mean.
I hope you don't think it's a normal thing to do. Because that is so not normal and not ethical.
Just wrong.

 

[The Queen Of Quads]

I hope that's not what you mean.
I hope you don't think it's a normal thing to do. Because that is so not normal and not ethical.
Just wrong.

Nobody is safe from Tiny Boss. Not two time World Champion, not even Olympic Champion . Rapunzel will kill so many Bills, that even Tarantino himself will close his eyes .

 

[Fluture]

no. She can beat them even without 3A 3lz3lo. She should have won the last RN already. But it was Oly season. so...
Next season all of them could go as seniors international so nobody is going to "hold them back".

I hope that's not what you mean.
I hope you don't think it's a normal thing to do. Because that is so not normal and not ethical.
Just wrong.

The thing is I don‘t think Trusova, Kostornaya, Shcherbakova or any other junior should be competing with seniors at nationals at this point at all. Hate me for it but I‘ve never been a fan of this ”internationally you’re a junior but at nationals you can compete in seniors“. I want seniors with seniors and juniors with juniors. I get that Medvedeva was doing it and Sotnikova and Zagitova and skaters before and after them have and will and I can’t deny that I was very happy for Kostornaya to have this chance last season but fact is... I just don‘t like it. Next season when they‘re officially old enough then fine, let them go to senior nationals where they belong and rock there. Their time will come anyway. You can‘t hide Sasha in a closet and hope puberty will hit her, that‘s not working with her. At this point I feel like with her determination she‘ll simply outjump it.

(That was a joke, for the records. I‘m one of those who‘s most worried for Sasha‘s and Anna‘s hips doing these quads so don‘t tell me I‘m not taking their health seriously.)

 

[atsumiri]

The thing is I don‘t think Trusova, Kostornaya, Shcherbakova or any other junior should be competing with seniors at nationals at this point at all. Hate me for it but I‘ve never been a fan of this ”internationally you’re a junior but at nationals you can compete in seniors“. I want seniors with seniors and juniors with juniors. I get that Medvedeva was doing it and Sotnikova and Zagitova and skaters before and after them have and will and I can’t deny that I was very happy for Kostornaya to have this chance last season but fact is... I just don‘t like it. Next season when they‘re officially old enough then fine, let them go to senior nationals where they belong and rock there.

totally disagree. Because it's not about what you want.
It's about an experience that is necessary for juniors. The experience of how to compete against the top skaters. Experience of how to compete when an audience full. Because next season they're going to face it when they will turn seniors.
And don't forget about the funding. Based on the results of RN the funding is allocated. TOP-6 from RN is going to be members of the National team for the next season. Do you want to take that away from them? A fair chance to compete for the right to be a part of the National team? A fair chance to compete for the funding? A fair chance to get an experience they will inevitably need next season? really?

 

[halulupu]

I hope that's not what you mean.
I hope you don't think it's a normal thing to do. Because that is so not normal and not ethical.
Just wrong.

its what I mean. I am not saying its ethical or normal. But we all now figure skating is a lot about politics and reputation, which is definitely not always fair.

 

[halulupu]

Destroy her reputation? No, sending Sasha, Alena, and Anna only shows that her students keep getting better. First Evgenia had 2 3-3s, then Alina had 3Lz-3Lo, then Sasha started doing quads, now all of them have ultra-c elements. It just shows how good of a coach she is.

well, everyone who saw the test skate videos knows that already. And I am dead sure that all the US, Canadians, Japanese, Russian, and all other coaches around the world saw trusovas multiple quads and the insane effortless combos in the last half

 

[sweetice]

Shcherbakova will definitely keep her JGP spot. She had an amazing SP and a quad lutz

Shcherbakova's new programs are really both awesome. Anyway, she need to skate them clean enough, because Tarusina is a worthy opponent. I think is a good choice to pack a skater with a lot of potential with one, right now, more reliable.

Just don't decide who will win before the event.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

well, everyone who saw the test skate videos knows that already. And I am dead sure that all the US, Canadians, Japanese, Russian, and all other coaches around the world saw trusovas multiple quads and the insane effortless combos in the last half

They've never been up against each other before, the power trio versus Medvedeva and Zagitova. This competition gives them experience in what they surely experience the next year.
Side note: some people are so incredibly dismissive of the quads that I wouldn't be surprised if some people hadn't even seen or cared

 

[Fluture]

totally disagree. Because it's not about what you want.
It's about an experience that is necessary for juniors. The experience of how to compete against the top skaters. Experience of how to compete when an audience full. Because next season they're going to face it when they will turn seniors.
And don't forget about the funding. Based on the results of RN the funding is allocated. TOP-6 from RN is going to be members of the National team for the next season. Do you want to take that away from them? A fair chance to compete for the right to be a part of the National team? A fair chance to compete for the funding? A fair chance to get an experience they will inevitably need next season? really?

I get what you're saying but you could... calm down a little. I know it's not about what I want, obviously it's not, or podiums would probably look a whole lot different if a simple fan like I am was allowed to make the decisions. And I love all of these juniors, they are talented, beautiful and outstanding. I wish them all the best and I do not want to take anything away from them. But I still think they should be competing in juniors until they turn senior. Yes, they gain experience, yes it's also about fundings but there are junior Nationals for a reason. But your arguments are making sense so I'd be inclined to just let juniors who are able to turn seniors in the next season participate in senior nationals. This way they can gain the experience, make their statements for the National Team next season and compete for funding. But what use is there in a junior skater like Kostornaya last season to participate in senior Nationals if she cannot even be on the senior national team the season afterwards? Just for the records, I absolutely thought she should have been second if not won this thing outright because she is that talented but to me it just doesn't make sense. It's like keeping Konstantinova in juniors when she clearly doesn't belong there. Last season, however much she looked like a senior, Alena didn't belong there (because the rules say it. Whether we agree or not is a different thing). This season, though, I'd agree. They're turning senior next season, they need to prove themselves and especially get a feeling of competing against who are likely their biggest competiton besides each other: Medvedeva and Zagitova.

And also: If you let the younger ones compete with the older ones when there's nothing for them to gain from it other than experience (no funding because they're not able to turn seniors anyway), you effectively steal a spot of the others who ONLY have senior nationals to prove themselves. So, I'd say it goes either way.

 

[Sugar Coated]

So Alena came in top 3 at nationals last year but may not get two spots for JGP? What use is it to allow them to participate at nationals? It should at least be 14 years old as of July 1st so that they are all seniors for the following season.

 

[lesnar001]

They've never been up against each other before, the power trio versus Medvedeva and Zagitova. This competition gives them experience in what they surely experience the next year.
Side note: some people are so incredibly dismissive of the quads that I wouldn't be surprised if some people hadn't even seen or cared

Maybe some of the other coaches will be taking a "wait and see" attitude until Miss Trusova arrives in Seniors.

If she continues her arc of improvement and adds even more difficulty this season - how does one even wrap their head around it.

And she isn't just practicing quads --- she is actually performing them - both at Jr Worlds and now at these test skates.

This COULD be technical uncharted territory that the Senior Ladies haven't seen since Midori Ito competed.

....wait and see

 

[[email protected]]

They've never been up against each other before, the power trio versus Medvedeva and Zagitova. This competition gives them experience in what they surely experience the next year.
Side note: some people are so incredibly dismissive of the quads that I wouldn't be surprised if some people hadn't even seen or cared

It's just a defensive reaction. Because no matter what their favorites do they won't stand a slightest chance against the coming crops of the Russian skaters. I expect retirements this and the next season.

 

[Shayuki]

I am totally serious. But I can`t imagine eteri letting destroy the repution of her top senior by her own pupils. so maybe she will only send kostornia because she is the oldest and everything will be fine for alina because she will get the olympic PCS and GOE push.

Alina isn't as high on Eteri's depth chart as you think... She definitely wouldn't protect her from Trusova. In fact, Trusova getting a national championship title before her senior debut season would be quite good for her reputation entering seniors.


BTW, I liked Kostornaya's SP(comments about axe chopping music would be total nonsense). Sasha, Anna and her all have great SPs IMO. Honestly, that's more than I can say about almost any other choreographer.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

It's just a defensive reaction. Because no matter what their favorites do they won't stand a slightest chance against the coming crops of the Russian skaters. I expect retirements this and the next season.

I do too
And a lot of GP skipping that turns into full-season skipping

 

[Fluture]

It's just a defensive reaction. Because no matter what their favorites do they won't stand a slightest chance against the coming crops of the Russian skaters. I expect retirements this and the next season.

It's the season after the Olympics. Many decide to retire then regardless of some Russian juniors, no matter how good they are. I doubt most care about the coming crops of Russians. It has been like this for a while. Sure, it's getting more extreme every year but there can still be only three Russians at every major championship. And in the GP series, they usually don't send their top talents against each other so places 2 and 3 are still open for anyone who uses the chance. All in all, I think they respect the talent of the Russians but I doubt they'd care that much about them or fear them so much that they'd outright retire and they shouldn't. If they retire it's because they decided to do so anyway, not because of Trusova's quads.

But anyway, with it being the season after the Olympics, yes, I expect a lot of retirements, too.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

I guess it depends on their motivations. If they're motivated by results, might as well retire. If they're motivated internally and by competing, they could very well stay around. But the power trio will definitely be big threats to podiums everywhere

 

[BillNeal]

Geez, if skaters would retire because of other skaters' potential planned technical layouts 1-2 years down the road, then we would have almost no one competing in FS. We certainly wouldn't want our favourite sport to have no competitors would we ? On the men's side, did an onslaught of skaters announce their retirements because Nathan Chen was planning potentially six quads? No, some of them upped their difficulty in response. Others maintained their technical content and focused to do what they can to the best of their ability. And yes, I do agree with Spirals that there are different motivations for competition. Some people may never make it onto the World Team, some Russian ladies for example, but they still skate to reach their own goals. It's not always about winning.

 

[Tolstoj]

I can finally watch all programs from the test skates, but i found only these available here

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDsMG2V6EJBX81wUn5S5Emw

Does anyone know if there is some other channel with other videos?

Anyway first impressions: i'm so confused. First of all, how Chistakova was there and not Anastasia Kostyuk or Liza Nugumanova? Then i'm not going to judge the jumps cause it's still early in the season, you can clearly see most of the skaters running out of gas at the end of their programs.

Alena Kostornaya -> based on the rumors i was expecting two horrible programs and instead they weren't that bad, SP looks nice based on what i saw, FP maybe too many cuts but it's R&J (safe pick), this time with the VOs similar to Radionova's Titanic because why not?

Anastasia Tarakanova -> Dear Plushenko, i hope you know that being a girl skating for Russia nowadays means that you have to have world champion-level of programs, otherwise you're not competitive. Based on that, how can Imagine Dragons ever be a good choice for a free program? The SP is nice.

Alena Kanysheva -> can't find the SP. The FS is fine, nothing spectacular but at least it's not tacky, she looks in good shape already.

Anna Shcherbakova -> my favourite. (skater and programs) the only thing maybe fix the steps sequence, slow down the music cause i don't know if she can keep up.

Alexandra Trusova -> the SP is perfect, it suits her style. The FP maybe not my cup of tea but the quads are very impressive indeed.