2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Alex65]

Sasha fell on 2 crucial jumps and popped another quad, all in all, while Alena was just about flawless. It’s not so much that Alena was rewarded. She simply got the score that she deserved and was expected from her.

Had Sasha performed her best, she likely would’ve scored over 265 - the score we all would have expected from her.

Figure skating will never reward artistry more than tech because artistry is subjective. There is no possible way to objectively measure artistry. Figure skating would not be a sport then and would be an art.

Sasha knows that PCS is limited and depends on the views of strangers, and the TES limit is completely in her own hands. To be honest, I would also choose the second path.

 

[Mawwerg]

“The coward beat the wife and the cockroach because she jumped a sheepskin coat in the Communist Party.“

a quadruple sheepskin coat

 

[Alex65]

I always come across “wife“ for Zhenya in articles and am confused for a moment.

Now.. imagine trying to translate a Russian article with all of these mentioned:

“The coward beat the wife and the cockroach because she jumped a sheepskin coat in the Communist Party.“

Love it.

You forgot to mention that all this happens in the Czech Republic.

 

[Fluture]

You forgot to mention that all this happens in the Czech Republic.

Right!

 

[Edwin]

a quadruple sheepskin coat

This gets usually misinterpreted as 'sheep skin coat in the fourth'.

 

[VenusHalley]

What?? I didn‘t know that one yet

Well, since it has the abbreviation KP...

 

[lariko]

L

Sasha fell on 2 crucial jumps and popped another quad, all in all, while Alena was just about flawless. It’s not so much that Alena was rewarded. She simply got the score that she deserved and was expected from her.

Had Sasha performed her best, she likely would’ve scored over 265 - the score we all would have expected from her.

Figure skating will never reward artistry more than tech because artistry is subjective. There is no possible way to objectively measure artistry. Figure skating would not be a sport then and would be an art.

The judges do award PCS > TES for some skaters in some cases.

 

[SkatingFan9]

The judges do award PCS > TES for some skaters in some cases.

The highest possible PCS score will never come close to the highest possible TES score, though (and rightfully so, for reasons already mentioned).

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

At this point of the season, is there anything that can happen at Russian Nationals to prevent the GPF medalists from being the Euros/Worlds team? A Zagitova/Medvedeva/Liza win (as unlikely as that is)? Alena/Anna/Sasha finishing 4th or lower, or withdrawing due to illness?

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Alina is not a machine, she has the right to fail sometimes. It’s not like she popped her programs all the time and yeah it must be difficult for her to have motivation after winning everything. She keeps skating for her and her fans.

I'd like to see her change coaches, mostly because I think it is affecting her morale and confidence to be training alongside the very talented trio. I don't think any coach could get her to a level to compete for gold at Russian Nationals or beyond, but there is a joy that is lacking now that wasn't missing before. Last season she was lackluster for much of the year due to pressure from being the OGMist, but she pulled it together in time for Worlds. This season feels different because there's nothing she can do, besides learning a quad, to remain near the top.

 

[halulupu]

It is not true. Pitch perfect Alina is over 150 in free skate (which she was two times of four skates this season, BTW) and she needed 153.5 or so for the bronze. So, pitch perfect Alina would medal.

She doesn't get the olympic champion pcs anymore. So no, only 4th

 

[Fluture]

https://www.instagram.com/p/B53W3Q1p_AI/?igshid=825t56avhz2h

Another nice picture from the banquet.

 

[Fluture]

She doesn't get the olympic champion pcs anymore. So no, only 4th

Her highest FS score this season is 151 with an UR. She would have needed 153 to beat Trusova for Bronze at the GPF. Her PCS in her FS were as high as Rika‘s who only fell on a quad attempt. Whatever it is, it‘s working just fine for her PCS.

 

[colormyworld240]

Alina was the skater that captivated me and got me to be a fan of figure skating. I don’t care that she had an off performance. I suspect it’s mental, that sometimes the pressure gets to her especially after an early mistake.

What concerns me is that she said she was skating this year for fun and to me she does not look like she is having fun. I want her to enjoy skating if that is her goal without concern about mistakes or negative performances.

She didn't look like she was having fun because she had a bad performance. Of course she's not going to be smiling and having fun after she has 2 falls and know she URed multiple jumps. She said this year she wants to enjoy her skating, and wants the audience to enjoy it. Obviously she's not going to enjoy it with mistakes, and knows the audience won't. No one goes "yay I had a bad program"...

The whole "Alina said she wants to enjoy skating but why isn't she enjoying skating when she makes to many mistakes" makes no sense to me.

On her clean performances, she did look happy. Think about it this way: if you like your job you're happy to be at work. But when you screw up at work, it's stressful and sometimes devastating. You still love your job, but you it's not like you're having the best time when you're making mistakes.

 

[colormyworld240]

Oh please, you're comparing apples to oranges. Chen, Daleman, and Lim never "exploded". They've never been superstars and swept the top medals in their debut season.

Yes you can have a couple of bad competitions, but the trend with Eteri skaters is once they start losing, they continue that long-term and their decline always coincides with another skater (or group of skaters) ascent from the same camp. Y'all are focused on cherry picking competitions while the truth lies in the overall trend.

Yeah I agree people truly are not able to learn. I heard the same excuses when Lipniskaia and Medvedeva were struggling and look how that turned out.

Of course this is the case. The very definition of losing means somebody else beat you. So yes, when a skater loses, another skater beats them. This is not a new phenomenon, and certainly not exclusive to Eteri skaters, Russian skaters, or even female skaters. Alina has also lost to Rika in the past, and non-Eteri non-Russian. And also once by Kaetlyn, Wakaba, and Satoko. Shocker, how did that happen? Maybe there's some conspiracy that Eteri trained those skaters too.

 

[halulupu]

Her highest FS score this season is 151 with an UR. She would have needed 153 to beat Trusova for Bronze at the GPF. Her PCS in her FS were as high as Rika‘s who only fell on a quad attempt. Whatever it is, it‘s working just fine for her PCS.

Well her pcs dropped remarkably. Last year when she bombed at europeans she still got well above 70, now only 68. must be hard to take for her. She really doesn't deserve this. But its happening unfortunately

 

[Happy Skates]

Czech Republic = Nationals. Google translator always translates Nationals as Czech Republic

I should've known it was a translation thing. Anyways, I wonder if she'll try to go for the 3A there, or if she'll try to go squeaky clean and sneak into a spot on the Senior National Team. I bet she could if she goes clean and one of the big 6 messes up substantially. Not that I want anyone to mess up of course, but it would be cool to see Ksenia do well amongst seniors. Its probably the first nationals in a while where a junior isn't favored to end up on the podium. In fact, other than Sinistyna and Frolova and the senior-eligible juniors (Tarakanova and Vasilieva), what other juniors are even competing?

 

[Autumn Leaves]

Oh, this "skating for fun" gets so misinterpreted... What she meant is that she is not that focused on the medals this year. Probably because she has them all and because the 3As are there with their higher technical content. Her focus is the performance and the joy for the audience and for her. Of course, when she makes mistakes she is not happy, because she is still the fighter with the perfectionist mentality. The only difference is that she decided to focus on the interpretation and performance this season, not on upgrading the tech. Yes, she may decide to quit. Few Olympic champions stay too long, especially when there are younger and technically stronger competitors. But she may decide to work on her tech next season and learn the 4F or the 3A, for example. She has the strength, the youth, and the team to do it, if she finds the motivation. Let's give her a break.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

I should've known it was a translation thing. Anyways, I wonder if she'll try to go for the 3A there, or if she'll try to go squeaky clean and sneak into a spot on the Senior National Team. I bet she could if she goes clean and one of the big 6 messes up substantially. Not that I want anyone to mess up of course, but it would be cool to see Ksenia do well amongst seniors. Its probably the first nationals in a while where a junior isn't favored to end up on the podium. In fact, other than Sinistyna and Frolova and the senior-eligible juniors (Tarakanova and Vasilieva), what other juniors are even competing?

Just them. Tsibinova competed as a junior at Golden Spin but as a senior in all her other events, and she'd be the only other "junior."

 

[elysium]

as much as i admire Sasha for what she's doing and what she's accomplished, i do wonder why she is risking injury so early in her senior career when her ultimate goal is still over 2 years away. it's admirable she wants to see how far she can go with the jumps, but i also think it is a bit reckless to keep pushing the quads now and not later when she hopes to win in 2022. if she wants to win now, she can do it in another way that doesn't risk injury- improving PCS to match Anna/Aliona (which she should be doing anyway) and still having a layout with 2-3 quads. i am in no way doubting her physical strength, the girl is a BEAST, but she still has lots of puberty left, and we don't know how kind it will be to her. we also don't know the strain the quads are putting on her body, and how long it can withstand them. no one can deny she has the highest risk of serious injury out of any Russian lady right now. i hope she isn't doing too much too soon because i'd hate to see her not at her best when it matters, but i hope for the best.

The reason she is pushing now and not later is simply because she probably won't be able to have such fast progress in a couple years. So it's either be able to jump all the quads at least once now or never. I think we all have to agree that a jump talent like Sasha only appears once several decades, last time it happened was as far back as Midori Ito. At the moment, Sasha's mental state seems to be just compete with herself, which is fantastic. If her team is wise enough to help her stay healthy, it won't be a stretch that she can keep one quad or two post puberty. Then she can definitely compete with the upcoming juniors, and PCS will surely come with age as well.