2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Good Vibes Only]

When are the 3As going to start training for Europeans, is there any info on that? I assume in a few days after Orthodox Christmas?

Just checked the Euros schedule and there's not even 3 weeks left. :eeking: I thought it was a bit later for some reason.

Whenever the show that Aliona is doing is over is when they will probably start training. I don’t know if she has anymore performances left after the one that she did today. But I wouldn’t worry about when they start training again. A break is good for skaters and a couple of days off isn’t going to hurt their consistency too much. They will come back to practice rested and determined to fight for the gold

 

[McBibus]

Whenever the show that Aliona is doing is over is when they will probably start training. I don’t know if she has anymore performances left after the one that she did today. But I wouldn’t worry about when they start training again. A break is good for skaters and a couple of days off isn’t going to hurt their consistency too much. They will come back to practice rested and determined to fight for the gold

Aliona was on a flight back to Moscow sunday 5 (her words at breakfast)
I don't think there will be more show until the european championship.

note: I avoided saying today/yerstarday because of the different time zone we're in

 

[SkateSkates]

Anna was in a show in Italy today too, so I assume they will be back to training next week.

 

[Edwin]

https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1081992841.html?from=main-news-fs

Frolova is going to YOG instead of Vasilieva.

According to RIA, Vasil'yeva has orthopaedic problems:

MOSCOW, Jan 6 - RIA Novosti, Anatoliy Samokhvalov. Russian figure skater Viktoriya Vasil'yeva will miss the Youth Olympic Games due to joint problems,

The athlete's coach Sergey Davydov told RIA Novosti.
The III Winter Youth Olympic Games 2020 will be held from January 9 to 22 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The representative of the Moscow CSKA will be replaced by another figure skater of the army school Anna Frolova.

In December, 16-year-old Vasilieva missed the Russian Championship in Krasnoyarsk.

“ Not yet, ” Davydov answered over the phone, asking if the health problems of the skater had been resolved, noting that she had problems with her joints. “ But the season is not over for Viktoriya, she will definitely compete in the Russian Cup finals.”
“ At the end of the week, she will begin full-fledged training, ” the trainer added.

The final of the Cup of Russia will take place on February 18-22 in Veliky Novgorod.
-----
From: https://rsport.ria.ru/20200106/1563143910.html

MOSCOW, Jan 6 - RIA Novosti, Anatoliy Samokhvalov. Russian figure skater Anna Frolova has serious potential for success, but it is important for her to put effort into this,

the athlete’s coach Sergey Davydov told RIA Novosti.
Frolova will perform at the III Winter Youth Olympic Games 2020, which will be held from January 9 to 22 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The skater will replace another student of Davydov, Viktoriya Vasil'yeva, who will miss the tournament due to joint problems. Frolova joined the group of Davydov during the current season, switching coaches from Svetlana Panova and Tat'yana Moiseeva. At the December championship of Russia in Krasnoyarsk, the athlete took sixth place.

“ Yes, everything is in order, we are working full out ”, Davydov answered over the phone to the question of whether he had found contact with his new student.
“ In Lausanne, we demand from her to do her job efficiently, to do what she can. And there - how it goes. If there is a medal, then it is good, if not a medal, we will continue to work and learn complex elements. ”

The specialist noted that Frolova came to him on her own initiative. “ She’s capable of a lot, but then we’ll see how she will work. If she tries, then everything will be fine ”, the coach added.
------
From: https://rsport.ria.ru/20200106/1563144264.html

 

[Momtoiceprincess]

https://fs-gossips.com/elena-vaitsekhovskya-if-i-were-evgenias-agent-i-would-sue-edea-company/

Very interesting article re the 3A. Journalist has different opinions on all 3 girls. I get the impression Alexandra is her favourite but she thinks she needs more love. Gathering she doesn't like Alyona & she thinks Anna is the most loved regardless of results

 

[Zagipatra]

New interview by Harutjunjan, in which he complains about the state of (very young) women's figure skating...



“The main danger that is approaching is the tendency for people like Medvedev to appear,” Harutyunyan began a conversation four years ago with this conclusion. “Bach! And she appeared. She was a favorite in the Grand Prix Final. Last year, Radionova was the year before last. "Our star Lipnitskaya. And that scares me, anyway."

- I want to see Kostornaya as an adult, - in December 2019, Harutyunyan did not speak, but prayed. - I do not want to be dared by little thin girls.
“But Kostornaya’s everything is alright with feminine skating.”
- So I want everything to be in order, and not for one or two seasons. I heard these words: "Zagitova had to be finished." How can one say that? She just started to ride beautifully, it's nice to look at her. Which "finish"? As a spectator and as a coach, I don’t want her to finish. I do not know what needs to be done for this. The only thing I know is that you don’t have to bring an 11 or 12 year old girl who jumps two or three quadruples and takes away the beautiful Alina Zagitova. Or can you say that you have already removed? Let not the 11-year-old. Why am I sad? Because Zagitova has a completely different presentation of figure skating.

Suspension of the heart: just do not make Zagitova lie
- Artificially, it’s all the same wrong to limit competition.
- The fact is that the one that sweeps Zagitova will fall under the whisk of another. So we will never see a mature ride. Well, collect mature girls in one pile ...

https://rsport.ria.ru/20200106/1562645924.html

I imagine that interviews like these bother Tutberidze (especially when they mention Lipnitskaya...

 

[kallirroe]

I am a skating fan since 2014 ( begining with Lipnitskaya ). And to be honest, when this thing started with Lipnitsakaya faiding away due to puberty, i thought it was just a misfortune. And when Medvedeva lasted for so long, my thoughts were even stronger. Even so, when medvedeva left Eteri, i couldnt believe that it has something to do with the group. And now, Zagitova, after 2 years in seniors, she stops her career for now. Is this going to happen for 3A again? Again, i hope that no, these girl will withstand the puberty and will be ok!! But will they? I want to see Sasha, Anya and Aliona to be there for years to come!! As i reaad interviews for Rafael, i start to agree with him. It is so sad that quality of skating of Zagitovas will not be again in competitions for some time. Or Tsurskaya. Or Radionova. Women bodies, from physical aspect, seem to have other needs and other power. I tend to believe that it is indeed unfair to put prepuberty girls compete with adult bodie women. And it has nothing to do with body shaming here. It is not only about the height or the kilogramms of a woman that make her woman. The whole thing inside her changes, it is becoming ready for things such as menstruation that needs more energy!!Maybe age limit is something that must be considered during the next Olympic cycle and seriously.

 

[Arbitrary]

https://fs-gossips.com/elena-vaitsekhovskya-if-i-were-evgenias-agent-i-would-sue-edea-company/

Very interesting article re the 3A. Journalist has different opinions on all 3 girls. I get the impression Alexandra is her favourite but she thinks she needs more love. Gathering she doesn't like Alyona & she thinks Anna is the most loved regardless of results

I'd say it was decided long ago, maybe during or right after the JWC 2018 that Alexandra Trusova should be kept as low as possible regardless of her overall.
Sasha may win but being clean is not enough for her.
She's put to run the last one from competition to competions (should it be random?) and her later run allows the Board to drop her PCS and GOE as low as possible to satisfy the desired results.
To actually win she has to relay on others' errors denying the Board to play the games.

PCS+GOE are two great tools to play with.

 

[Zagipatra]

I am a skating fan since 2014 ( begining with Lipnitskaya ). And to be honest, when this thing started with Lipnitsakaya faiding away due to puberty, i thought it was just a misfortune. And when Medvedeva lasted for so long, my thoughts were even stronger. Even so, when medvedeva left Eteri, i couldnt believe that it has something to do with the group. And now, Zagitova, after 2 years in seniors, she stops her career for now. Is this going to happen for 3A again? Again, i hope that no, these girl will withstand the puberty and will be ok!! But will they? I want to see Sasha, Anya and Aliona to be there for years to come!! As i reaad interviews for Rafael, i start to agree with him. It is so sad that quality of skating of Zagitovas will not be again in competitions for some time. Or Tsurskaya. Or Radionova. Women bodies, from physical aspect, seem to have other needs and other power. I tend to believe that it is indeed unfair to put prepuberty girls compete with adult bodie women. And it has nothing to do with body shaming here. It is not only about the height or the kilogramms of a woman that make her woman. The whole thing inside her changes, it is becoming ready for things such as menstruation that needs more energy!!Maybe age limit is something that must be considered during the next Olympic cycle and seriously.

I wholeheartedly agree!! Years of training for a career that spans up to three years (in seniors)...completely insane and irresponsible. Tutberdize is hunting for gold and is willing to go through many young skaters to achieve that... I would love for Alina to train with Rafael and pray that Evgenia's work with Orser will pay off!

 

[macy]

How do you feel when in one tournament one of your students performs well and the other does not?

It's like riding a rollercoaster - up and down. You have time to rejoice and immediately get nervous for the next athlete, you are upset. Honestly, those errors that have not worked out remain in the soul more. Now it’s a shame for Sasha somehow, I can’t say that I directly rejoice for Anya and Alyona. They just did their job. Could have been a little better. That is, I rarely feel joy. I just do my job. In order for me to experience joy, it is necessary that all three of them skate cleanly.

if anyone was still wondering how Eteri was feeling at the Olympics, i think this says it right here. i can't imagine how conflicted she felt.

 

[flanker]

I am a skating fan since 2014 ( begining with Lipnitskaya ). And to be honest, when this thing started with Lipnitsakaya faiding away due to puberty, i thought it was just a misfortune. And when Medvedeva lasted for so long, my thoughts were even stronger. Even so, when medvedeva left Eteri, i couldnt believe that it has something to do with the group. And now, Zagitova, after 2 years in seniors, she stops her career for now. Is this going to happen for 3A again? Again, i hope that no, these girl will withstand the puberty and will be ok!! But will they? I want to see Sasha, Anya and Aliona to be there for years to come!! As i reaad interviews for Rafael, i start to agree with him. It is so sad that quality of skating of Zagitovas will not be again in competitions for some time. Or Tsurskaya. Or Radionova. Women bodies, from physical aspect, seem to have other needs and other power. I tend to believe that it is indeed unfair to put prepuberty girls compete with adult bodie women. And it has nothing to do with body shaming here. It is not only about the height or the kilogramms of a woman that make her woman. The whole thing inside her changes, it is becoming ready for things such as menstruation that needs more energy!!Maybe age limit is something that must be considered during the next Olympic cycle and seriously.

I wholeheartedly agree!! Years of training for a career that spans up to three years (in seniors)...completely insane and irresponsible. Tutberdize is hunting for gold and is willing to go through many young skaters to achieve that... I would love for Alina to train with Rafael.

And the "prepuberty girls" don't train elsewhere as well? Do they start to train only when they are 18 and older? Skaters train since 4-5 in average and they would do so even if Eteri wouldn't exist at all.

And what about let's say asian girls, they are tinnier and smaller in average, isn't it also "unfair" if they compete with "fully developed women" of european type?

The age and all this has nothing to do with whether this or that skater trains with Eteri or Raf. As for Alina herself, there is no probblem with physical healh of with her technique so it's not like trainings don't work for her or "she is left behind" and all this BS. If she has problems with finding the motivation after she won everything, then moving is not some universal cure for it per se. And to be honest, if Raf says sometimes how unfair it is when youg girls are competing with grown women, then he in fact says that Alina's victories are not fair. Not a good way how to start "poaching" to me.

 

[kallirroe]

And the "prepuberty girls" don't train elsewhere as well? Do they start to train only when they are 18 and older? Skaters train since 4-5 in average and they would do so even if Eteri wouldn't exist at all.

And what about let's say asian girls, they are tinnier and smaller in average, isn't it also "unfair" if they compete with "fully developed women" of european type?

The age and all this has nothing to do with whether this or that skater trains with Eteri or Raf. As for Alina herself, there is no probblem with physical healh of with her technique so it's not like trainings don't work for her or "she is left behind" and all this BS. If she has problems with finding the motivation after she won everything, then moving is not some universal cure for it per se. And to be honest, if Raf says sometimes how unfair it is when youg girls are competing with grown women, then he in fact says that Alina's victories are not fair. Not a good way how to start "poaching" to me.

I was not mentioning that Eteri is the devil . Only reason all this discussion is arousing for Russian ladies is because of the fierce competition between them. In America or even in Japan, most girls can continue to compete at ages > 18 years. Karen chen for example, Bradie Tennel, Wakaba Higuchi. As you can see , Japanese women, appear to be more resilitent during puberty and are ok after that. But have the time to do so , because there are not prepuberty girls that threaten them to take their spots and is like telling them: you have no time to take a break or go slower with your own pace. If Satoko Miyahara or Bradie Tennel were Russians, there is high possibility that they would hace finished their careers or , even so, not having the development they have. It is hard being a russian women right now, knowing that probably only GPs and maybe GPF is your only international competitions. And then it comes for funding too... And then , yes, motivation. Would you be motivated if you knew that your body has now smaller limits and you were seeing everyday your fellow competitors to have programmas with base values 20-30 points more than you ? And learn what, one quad, while others already have 3 in their programms? It is easy being out of this and judge but being a russian elite athlete this period and being more than 16 years old, is really really difficult, IMO. That is why i tend to agree with Rafael.

 

[nussnacker]

So, Bestemianova recently gave an interview that Tarasova slapped her across her face once, when everyone was watching? And she referred to that as something completely normal, that’s quite shocking to me.
It was something during the training, when things weren’t working for Bestemianova, and she says Tarasova just went on to slap her...
???
And apparently Tarasova in her book has a part where she described how she used to beat her students in the locker rooms/hallways when they complained that „their legs weren’t working“, and after a beating they magically could go out and skate. And it’s described almost... with pride?
Not sure whether it was out of context or something, or whether Bestemianova tried to explain that later somehow, but that sounds horrible even for Soviet times.

 

[Scott512]

And the "prepuberty girls" don't train elsewhere as well? Do they start to train only when they are 18 and older? Skaters train since 4-5 in average and they would do so even if Eteri wouldn't exist at all.

And what about let's say asian girls, they are tinnier and smaller in average, isn't it also "unfair" if they compete with "fully developed women" of european type?

The age and all this has nothing to do with whether this or that skater trains with Eteri or Raf. As for Alina herself, there is no probblem with physical healh of with her technique so it's not like trainings don't work for her or "she is left behind" and all this BS. If she has problems with finding the motivation after she won everything, then moving is not some universal cure for it per se. And to be honest, if Raf says sometimes how unfair it is when youg girls are competing with grown women, then he in fact says that Alina's victories are not fair. Not a good way how to start "poaching" to me.

Alina would not be happy with posts to raise age limit raised to 18 because it would have eliminated her from the Olympic and World championship gold medals which earned and richly deserved. Now the furor about e Terry is going to kick up again. but now America has their own phenom in 14 year old Alysa Liu who does all kinds of quads and triple axels and is impossibly appealing and charming. it will be too hard for American journalist to talk about raising the age limit to 18 when Liu is doing more dangerous moves at age 13 and 14 in competition than any eteri girl did at those ages. You know we would be hearing from American journalists about what a monster Eteri is and she's ruining figure skater and all this nonsense except they have their own Wonder girl candidate and they can't do it their hands are tied. Lol! And if Alysa who is even smaller than Aliona starts winning big competitions in the next year or two then what can people say then? Her programs may be more dangerous than Sasha's at some point which will make criticizing that type of training even more difficult. And then you have Alysa's coach Lauren absolutely adores Eteri and what she's doing. she would like to do what eatarry is doing she just doesn't have enough skaters at this point to do that.

Junior worlds will be fascinating I wonder how many American journalists will be there. Somehow I bet they won't be dumping on Eteri with what Alysa is doing which is very Sasha and Anna like. Their hands are tied. Will loudmouth journo Christine Brennan be bold enough to tackle this issue when Alysa Liu is the great American hope in ladies figure skating?

 

[Scott512]

I am a skating fan since 2014 ( begining with Lipnitskaya ). And to be honest, when this thing started with Lipnitsakaya faiding away due to puberty, i thought it was just a misfortune. And when Medvedeva lasted for so long, my thoughts were even stronger. Even so, when medvedeva left Eteri, i couldnt believe that it has something to do with the group. And now, Zagitova, after 2 years in seniors, she stops her career for now. Is this going to happen for 3A again? Again, i hope that no, these girl will withstand the puberty and will be ok!! But will they? I want to see Sasha, Anya and Aliona to be there for years to come!! As i reaad interviews for Rafael, i start to agree with him. It is so sad that quality of skating of Zagitovas will not be again in competitions for some time. Or Tsurskaya. Or Radionova. Women bodies, from physical aspect, seem to have other needs and other power. I tend to believe that it is indeed unfair to put prepuberty girls compete with adult bodie women. And it has nothing to do with body shaming here. It is not only about the height or the kilogramms of a woman that make her woman. The whole thing inside her changes, it is becoming ready for things such as menstruation that needs more energy!!Maybe age limit is something that must be considered during the next Olympic cycle and seriously.

You make some pertinent points but we just went over raising the age limit less than two years ago and they did not do it. 4A has largely carried ladies figure skating the last year or so. Zhilina is doing triple axels and quads at 11 years old and will be 17 for the 2026 Winter Olympics if they raise the age limit to 18 she won't qualify which would not be fair to Veronika and all the years of work she's put in.

It is sad that so many of the girls say goodbye by 17 to age 20.

I don't think they will ever institute a weight class like boxing or MMA but that would be interesting. I think more realistic is having a podium for the short program another podium for the long program and then another podium for your overall winners with a scores combined so the skaters crew can't do triple axels or quadruple jumps can still compete in some way and more importantly stay involved in figure skating. If we had something like that skaters like Polina, Pogo and Radianova would have competed longer than they did. Doing something like what I just suggested would keep stanislava and all of the Nastyas around longer so I'm all for it. right now some of their careers are literally hanging by a thread at such young ages. I also thank the ISUneeds to change if your top five or six in the world you should be able to enter any competition world's Olympics Europeans since they're going to have 30 or more people there it would be like Rodger Federer can't play at Wimbledon if he was ranked number eight. That would be ridiculous. International skating Union needs to make some drastic changes but I doubt they will make even moderate changes for competitions sake. And I'm not even talking about raising the age limit they can tweak other things and make figure skating better.

 

[DSQ]

I have no problems with the 4A but do we really think they’ve “carried figure skating”?

Outside Russia I feel Medvedeva is still more well known, then Zagitova.

As for Wimbledon, it sells out before the official participant list is released. The queue for the daily access are bigger when local players attend like Murray. I know what you’re trying to say but Tennis has always been different from Skating and let’s be frank it’s much more competitive than Skating so it doesn’t need to protect smaller countries like the ISU does.

 

[macy]

I have no problems with the 4A but do we really think they’ve “carried figure skating”?

Outside Russia I feel Medvedeva is still more well known, then Zagitova.

yes. Zhenya is still very well known for her success through the olympics. she was undefeated for 2 seasons and is the olympic silver medalist.

but since 2018, Alina has been a big star for obvious reasons and 3A have dominated this season so far. they were being noticed even 2 seasons ago in 2017 starting with Aliona's/Sasha's first junior season and i'd say have had the biggest anticipation and hype of juniors turning senior ever.

 

[Zagipatra]

Alina would not be happy with posts to raise age limit raised to 18 because it would have eliminated her from the Olympic and World championship gold medals which earned and richly deserved. Now the furor about e Terry is going to kick up again. but now America has their own phenom in 14 year old Alysa Liu who does all kinds of quads and triple axels and is impossibly appealing and charming. it will be too hard for American journalist to talk about raising the age limit to 18 when Liu is doing more dangerous moves at age 13 and 14 in competition than any eteri girl did at those ages. You know we would be hearing from American journalists about what a monster Eteri is and she's ruining figure skater and all this nonsense except they have their own Wonder girl candidate and they can't do it their hands are tied. Lol! And if Alysa who is even smaller than Aliona starts winning big competitions in the next year or two then what can people say then? Her programs may be more dangerous than Sasha's at some point which will make criticizing that type of training even more difficult. And then you have Alysa's coach Lauren absolutely adores Eteri and what she's doing. she would like to do what eatarry is doing she just doesn't have enough skaters at this point to do that.

Junior worlds will be fascinating I wonder how many American journalists will be there. Somehow I bet they won't be dumping on Eteri with what Alysa is doing which is very Sasha and Anna like. Their hands are tied. Will loudmouth journo Christine Brennan be bold enough to tackle this issue when Alysa Liu is the great American hope in ladies figure skating?

You will never have exactly the same conditions (body type, age, talent, some have better coaches than others, etc.). But I generally think that figure skating has become waaayyyy too technical. These quads, triple axels etc. give you so many points that every coach will attempt to teach them. I just wonder what's next...Quintuple? Somersault?

I really miss the Kostner way of skating... I enjoy watching Aliona (she's closest to Kostner imo), but am curious how long she's gonna last. And one can't ignore the fact that "women's figure skating" has become "girl's figure skating". Evgenia's dominance 2016-17 was the beginning of this tendency. I just rue the fact that we will probably not have an Olympic Champion who's older than 17 or a double Olympic Champion in a very long time because too many kiddies with quads etc. are coming up, therefore robing us of the chance to see young figure skaters become real legends (through length of career (Yuna, Witt), not how many quads you can jump in one programm).

 

[DSQ]

I edited my post but I see what you mean. Sasha especially was very anticipated.

 

[DenissVFan]

I also thank the ISUneeds to change if your top five or six in the world you should be able to enter any competition world's Olympics Europeans since they're going to have 30 or more people there it would be like Rodger Federer can't play at Wimbledon if he was ranked number eight. That would be ridiculous. International skating Union needs to make some drastic changes but I doubt they will make even moderate changes for competitions sake. And I'm not even talking about raising the age limit they can tweak other things and make figure skating better.

It's common in other Olympic sports. Just ask Kendra Harrison, who broke the world record in 100 metres hurdles not long before the 2016 Olympics but couldn't participate in the Olympics because she wasn't in the top 3 at the US Olympic trials with only 3 spots available.

I think the limit of 3 spots is a good compromise (even though the Russian alternates are skaters I really like and would like to see at ISU championships). The only change I would introduce is a spot for the defending champion (it's a thing in athletics, for example), which wouldn't be tied to a particular country, so this year Sofia could compete.

Instead of increasing the number of spots, Russia and Japan should host more high-level competitions in the second half of the season. RusNats and JpnNats should also be promoted as very prestigious competitions (worldwide streaming of RusNats was a very good way of doing that).