2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[jvpiter]

Watched the ladies’ final with my family at dinner and we all loved it and kept cheering for all the girls.

I was so happy for the 3A and it was such a privilege to watch their FS [emoji175]

Alina was heartbreaking. She’s a fighter and a fabulous skater who has won everything there is to win. I hope she doesn’t let this affect her too much and find the motivation and strength to rise above this bad moment.

 

[kalee]

Of the three competitions where the 3A girls competed against each other and all three were on the podium, they have now taken every possible place on podiums against each other. They each have one gold, one silver and one bronze.

Rusnats 2018: Anna, Sasha, Alena.
Junior Rusnats 2018: Sasha, Alena, Anna.
GPF 2019: Alena, Anna, Sasha.

They really are just taking turns, huh. "Mum says it's my turn on the gold!" "No, mine!" "No, you were gold last time!"

Not to forget JGPF 2018 -- minus Anna on the podium, but Aliona really has good karma with GPF as this is her 2nd time winning it if you include JGPF last year.

 

[starla16]

I still admire Trusova the most, she is gutsy and does risks
this will pay off later...

 

[fabienne1996]

I still admire Trusova the most, she is gutsy and does risks
this will pay off later...

It may or it may not pay of. But we do not know that yet

 

[mrrice]

Yawn. The Holy grail is the individual OGM. No one cares about team OGM except Patrick Chan and fans of skaters who can't win the individual OGM.

Zagitova has the full suite of medals, and she is one of the very very few skaters who can boast that. No need for her to feel any doom or gloom.

Is she injured? I just looked at her score and I'm shocked. She was great in France 2 weeks ago.

 

[ec00834]

ok so maybe Anna isnt that weak for now
maybe Zagitova can go to junior worlds ? shes still 17

I love how you added the "for now"

 

[Jontor]

For the Grand Slam you really need to add Russian Nationals, that is like Worlds X 2. And Anna has the edge there, for now...:agree:

 

[SkatingFan9]

Yes it's too much she can win with three quad she doesn't need five. Let's put it this way it's not a good move for Sasha. If it's true she can't do a 4;quad program cleanly so why do five? her parents and coaches need to get her to pull back a little bit so early in her senior career.

Sasha can do a 4-5 quad program cleanly, and her recent inability to do so has nothing to do with any stamina issues. Her 4S is a bit inconsistent at the moment and that has nothing to do with stamina. She can be a bit hesitant with that jump. Yes, she fell on the 4T at the end in today’s FS, but that’s an aberration. Sasha would never try all those quads if she wasn’t capable of performing them clean.

 

[starla16]

I love how you added the "for now"

she has hammer toe picks, the rotation could be kept when she gets older if she doesnt get big boobs and hips
she might be skinny like her mother so there is still hope. then the center of gravity wont change much for her, look at Samarins take off.

 

[Jontor]

Looking at the protocols...so Anna wins the free skate. Looking at her scores there is much room in there. If she had landed that 4F (which she overrotated!) and not had that UR on the second 4Lz she would have scored at least 10-12 more points.

Conclusion - Anna could have won.

Yes I know, "what if" doesn't count...

 

[SkatingFan9]

Honestly Sasha is the cutest little thing. She didn't do as good as she could've (though three landed quads and first to land 4F is already AMAZING), but she's still happy and smiley. She won't let "what could've been" destroy her happiness. She could've won this, but she looks overjoyed with her bronze too. That's good sportsmanship.

Making history is equally important to Sasha as winning, so she accomplished half of what she intended to. She will forever be in the history books as the first woman to attempt and also land the quad flip in competition.

She also has nothing to be dejected about, nor would she be. How many skaters can make 3 costly mistakes (SP and FS included) and still medal?

She lost at minimum 20 points in total from the popped 4S and underrotated fall on the 4T (including potential GOE on clean jumps). And a few more points on PCS as well.

A clean FS would’ve given her the gold even with the 14 point deficit after the SP. So, she always controls her own destiny.

 

[Mishaminion]

So proud of our girls!!!

Heartbroken for Alina but also super proud of her, the SP was her best this season and very competitive. Such a shame she had a rough FS, she could have medalled if clean still.
So it isn't all bad news, she is still a wonderful skater.

Sasha made history, first lady to land a quad flip and although Anna fell it was a good attempt.

Alyona was serene and full of confidence and quality. Could a quad be next for her?

 

[Seruleane]

I find it rich for anyone to be surprised what's happening with Zagitova. People have been calling this since she won the Olympics, and now the bunch of you are acting like surprised Pikachus.

I don't think Zagitova needs to feel down on herself at all. She has won ALL the medals, including the OGM, and at most one, if not none, of the new trio will be able to match her in that.

I think the main sentiment expressed has been sadness and disappointment, not necessarily surprise. Even as an uber fan, I would have been surprised if she could podium here. Despite her strong performance at test skates, the season actually unfolded as I suspected it would. Of course, as fans you hope for the best, even if it is unlikely to happen. Yes, it’s true she has no need to feel down on herself with all her prior achievements. But Alina chose to continue competing, and when you’re competing, esp with the prior victories, the losses can feel even worse and make you lose confidence in yourself. Like Eteri said, with each competition you start over and have to prove yourself again. Alina did not choose the “easy way out” after the Olympics, and I respect her for that. Let’s see what she does next.

 

[NaVi]

I'd really appreciate it if someone translated what Tat and Averbukh were saying during at least the performances of the 3 medalists... and any interesting comments they made elsewhere.

 

[Mishaminion]

Sasha can do a 4-5 quad program cleanly, and her recent inability to do so has nothing to do with any stamina issues. Her 4S is a bit inconsistent at the moment and that has nothing to do with stamina. She can be a bit hesitant with that jump. Yes, she fell on the 4T at the end in today’s FS, but that’s an aberration. Sasha would never try all those quads if she wasn’t capable of performing them clean.

It is harder to do it in competition but she can do it and I think she will succeed eventually, she's not going to give up until she does I bet!

 

[Jontor]

*UPDATED* Russian Ladies in the SB list after GP Finals and Golden Spin - 25 (of 30) events

1 (2) - Alena Kostornaia, RUS 247.59 - GP Final (world record)
2 (1) - Alexandra Trusova, RUS 241.02 - GP Skate Canada (former world record)
3 (4) - Anna Shcherbakova, RUS 240.92 - GP Final
4 (3) - Rika Kihira, JPN 231.84 - GP NHK Trophy
5 (5) - Evgenia Medvedeva, RUS 225.76 - GP Rostelecom Cup
6 (6) - Kamila Valieva (J), RUS 221.95 - JGP Chelyabinsk
7 (11) - Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, RUS 221.15 - CS Golden Spin of Zagreb
8 (7) - Alina Zagitova, RUS 217.99 - GP NHK Trophy
9 (8) - Young You, KOR 217.49 - GP Skate Canada
10 (9) - Bradie Tennell, USA 216.14 - GP Skate America
11 (10) - Ksenia Sinitsyna, RUS 215.58 - JGP Egna/Neumarkt
12 (12) - Mariah Bell, USA 212.89 - GP Internationaux de France
13 (13) - Satoko Miyahara, JPN 211.18 - GP Cup of China
14 (14) - Alysa Liu (J), USA 208.10 - JGP Lake Placid
15 (15) - Haein Lee, KOR 203.40 - JGP Croatia Cup
16 (16) - Kaori Sakamoto, JPN 202.47 - GP Skate America
17 (17) - Ekaterina Kurakova, POL 201.47 - CS Warsaw Cup
18 (20) - Daria Usacheva (J), RUS 200.37 - JGP Final
19 (18) - Viktoria Vasilieva, RUS 198.79 - JGP Chelyabinsk
20 (19) - Eunsoo Lim, KOR 197.63 - CS Asian Open Trophy
21 (21) - Anastasia Tarakanova, RUS 194.74 - JGP Baltic Cup
22 (22) - Rino Matsuike, JPN 193.03 - JGP Riga Cup
23 (52) - Viktoria Safonova, BLR 192.49 - CS Golden Spin of Zagreb
24 (23) - Yuhana Yokoi, JPN 191.90 - CS Finlandia Trophy
-----------------------------------------------------------
26 (25) - Maiia Khromykh (J), RUS 190.73 - JGP Riga Cup
29 (28) - Sofia Samodurova, RUS 187.16 - CS Ice Star Minsk
33 (32) - Elizaveta Nugumanova, RUS 186.02 - CS Warsaw Cup
36 (34) - Anna Frolova (J), RUS 181.96 - JGP Croatia Cup
44 (42) - Serafima Sakhanovich, RUS 178.27 - CS Warsaw Cup
68 (68) - Stanislava Konstantinova, RUS 162.25 - CS Nepela Memorial
82 (81) - Maria Sotskova, RUS 155.25 - CS Nepela Memorial


The 3A is now firmly in the top. Tuktamysheva climbs a few steps. New entry Safonova (ex-Russian) in the SB24.

Now only the Championships are left, next event will be Youth Olympics in the middle of January.
I think it is very unlikely that anyone will get into the SB24 list at this point.
Maybe Ryabova, or any of the injured Lindfors, Mihara, Hendrickx, Tursynbaeva if they come back to the championships.
But I think it will be very hard to crack this SB24 now.

Top 24 in the SB list, except juniors (J), are guaranteed at least one spot at the senior GP next year
Last year, to be in the Top 24 in the Seasons Best List you had to score 196.34.

 

[Mishaminion]

Interesting list.

Both Zhenya and Liza above Alina. For now anyway.

 

[Jontor]

Interesting list.

Both Zhenya and Liza above Alina. For now anyway.

And it will probably stay that way. Only the Championships are left and it's not likely that Zagi, Tukt and Medv will get another chance to increase their SB score. But I guess we will have to wait for RusNats first to see what happens...

 

[katymay]

I still admire Trusova the most, she is gutsy and does risks
this will pay off later...

Trusova has gotten so tall...wow. I don't know where she will be long term, but gutsy she is, and fearless she is. And she changed ladies figure skating forever.
I'm so glad all three got a medal-together again, and they seemed to be having so much fun. All three were fabulous. This year has been a pressure cooker for all three, so nice that they can relax a bit and enjoy.

 

[kmw227]

Finally caught up!

I am SO proud of Alena! It couldn't have been easy performing after both Sasha and Anna and knowing exactly what both of them did score-wise. But she kept it together and was just perfect. I just love her free program too. It's a little cheesy but she loves it so much and performs it so well that I don't even care! I am so happy for her, she completely deserved this.

Anna did an amazing job as well! The flip wasn't quite there today, but it was a great attempt and I'm sure she'll get it next time. Honestly, it's so obvious that she loves that free program, she just lights up after that costume change! It's really adorable. She just radiates joy and that makes me enjoy watching her!

As for Sasha, the flip was there for her! Another first for her and what an achievement! The jumps weren't all there today but still a performance to be proud of.

I'm heartbroken for Alina. Her short program was so beautiful and I really thought her free skate would be just as great. Her jumps looked so labored and her feet just weren't under her today. It was a really hard watch. I really hope she comes back strong for Nationals and gives two performances to be proud of.

It's crazy to think that there's only two weeks until Nationals. Can't wait for the bloodbath of the year!