Well, it is obvious that the deal worked out for him, he will go to the Olympics and he has a partner who is very disciplined and who does not like dramas.
Pavel is very talented and many people can say that Alla is not as talented as Elena, and even so Pavel has not thought to leave Alla for Elena, that says a lot about how Elena is seen by other skaters, most of the time talent is not enough.
It's funny how people can never see how frustrating it is to be working in an unbalanced partnership. It's the reason why certain Universities have an advanced program so that kids can work with persons of similar capabilities. All through her career EI has been put in a corner waiting for the other partner to step up to her level. All of them, Bukin, Nikita, Ruslan, Anton etc. The reason why she isn't a world champion right now is Nikita's fumbles on the twizzles in 2014. I think if she had a partner like Scott Moir we wouldn't be having this sort of conversation. When Nikita Katsalapov began skating with her he couldn't twizzle, couldn't lift her, his edges were dirty to the point that Tanith Belbin laughed about it at NHK 2010. If you look at video of I/K in 2008, it was pathetic, if you were her mother you would have tried your darndest to find another partner for her. The issue was there wasn't anybody else. I think when Lena began working with Ruslan she thought that Carmen was only the beginning. But when the next season came Ruslan couldn't match her in Frida and everything just went downhill from there onwards. It must have been so mind numbingly frustrating to maintain a certain level of motivation. Honestly this isn't on EI ONLY, the problem was also shared with the coaches that were very taxed to manage the situation. Russia needs to address the situation of inadequate male ice dancers. There seems to be inherent gender related issues with working with a gifted female ice dancer but no issues with it being the other way around. So if she's going to skate with anyone good, what's she to do, downplay her abilities, not express her opinions, massage his ego liberally, and just go with the flow?
Lena is no longer a 16-year-old kid, but a 23-year-old adult. I think she's aware that these are her most productive years ahead of her. If many persons have decided that Katsalapov, given all his character flaws, can get to work for four seasons with a merely adequate partner, but she cannot have the opportunity to actually work with a good partner, that's just a double standard, plain and simple.
But honestly, where is Pavel going to really go with Alla? Especially considering the talents of the juniors coming up. In four years Arina and Maxim could be wiping them off the ice. So if Pavel and EI could make an impression for Russia why not? (And I am not saying that they should). I think it was rumoured that Kiril and Lena had a tryout but it didn't work out. So what I'm saying is if persons are making decisions based on personal differences that could be negotiated to find reasonable compromises for both partners, then Russian ice dance isn't going to go anywhere. Because when I contemplate the I/K of eight years ago, I haven't seen any team yet with any of their potential. Not one.
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