2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[sx98423]

I disagree - Sasha and Alena are both pretty tiny for their ages. A lot of that is genetic, but we also know how fixated Eteri's training methods are on low weight = quick rotation speed.

Alena might be short but she looks pretty mature apart from her height. Sasha does seem naturally skinny but she's built up so much muscle that I wouldn't call her tiny either. I don't think she's depending on low weight to get those quads in since muscle is much denser than fat.

 

[fabienne1996]

Not crazy. REALISTIC! I've already staked my claim on Valieva barring injury/illness. It was sad in 2018 with Med vs. Zag because I knew that was their only shot at Olympic Glory. I chose Zag and am so happy she has the Grand Slam. As for 3A, the only one I see with longevity is Kostornaia. The Olympic team could be Valieva, Usacheva, and Kostornaya.

I would not count out alina or zhenya either, a lot can happen in those 3 season .

 

[colormyworld240]

I would not count out alina or zhenya either, a lot can happen in those 3 season .

Anything can aways happen. But the likelihood I would say is 0. Because figure skating has gotten so popular in Russia, they have tons of ambitious girls all with the same goal. Alina and Evgenia were nowhere close to the current skaters in their technical arsenal (both jumps and spins - the combination), neither now nor back when they were the same age. It only takes 3 to push both off a team. And when you have thousands of your girls who are starting to up their technique younger and therefore have much more time to work on it along with their bodies when they grow, the chances are next to nothing. It's even likely that the 3A will be replaced as the front runners in a year or two, as younger girls will be watching and be inspired by then to up their technical arsenal before they even get to where these are. Not to say that Alina, Evgenia, etc. aren't great skaters who can up their tech as well, but others are doing it quicker and earlier because they have the advantage of knowing what is expected. In any other country, this is not a problem, but when a sport is that popular, it's natural.

 

[colormyworld240]

I disagree - Sasha and Alena are both pretty tiny for their ages. A lot of that is genetic, but we also know how fixated Eteri's training methods are on low weight = quick rotation speed.

They're short. But Sasha is extremely muscular especially for her body type. And Alena has a very broad back and athletic, built much like Osmond. Neither are sticks, which I would classify Anna and Lilbet as. And the difference is that with their body types, Anna and Lilbet would never be able to look like Sasha and Alena, because of the different body types.

 

[colormyworld240]

I am not sure Trusova will make 2022 - she may not survive puberty along with the other 3A ladies. I am hoping I am wrong but these ladies are not built like Liza T - they are sticks and I fear their jumps are based upon throwing themselves in the air and counting on their slight builds to do these jumps. IF that is the case puberty will probably crush them. Look at the hope many people are saying or lack of for Alina and Evgenia in seeing them at the next olympics.

Honestly, I think whether or not a skater survives puberty depends on how much they grow and how much time they have to adjust, not their pre-puberty body types. Unfortunately for the Russian ladies, they have no tine to adjust because there are so many other girls coming up to beat them for a very limited spot in the competition teams. No one goes through puberty and have all their jumps remain the same, regardless of technique or body types - it's physics. If you're really unlucky like Radionova, then it would take ages for you to change your jumps to fit your new body. On the other hand, if you're like Evgenia who grew gradually and less drastically, it will be easier for you to adjust as you don't have to adjust that much. I don't think having a stick build means puberty is more of a problem. Alina wasn't a stick pre-puberty, but she filled out and got taller so she had issues adjusting. Lilbet was a stick pre-puberrty, but didn't seem to have major issues adjusting.

 

[nussnacker]

I think people rarely can make it to 2 Olympics. And not because I don’t believe in them, but because it’s so hard and difficult on all levels, physically and emotionally, when there’s a lot of competition in your country.
The way to Olympics is sometimes harder than Olympics themselves.

 

[silveruskate]

I've always thought Sasha has a good chance of keeping at least some of her quads with a good enough success rate. Her 4T is so high, and 4S was good too. Anna, I am unconvinced but hoping she proves me wrong. I was really surprised that she tried a 4Lz in her free instead of 4T/4S, and from a bit of digging I read that her 4Lz is better than 4T and I haven't heard her mention 4S. Keeping a 4Lz will be very difficult, and if 4T/4S are not viable for her then it's going to be massively difficult.

 

[LiamForeman]

I think Sasha should just concentrate on 4toe and in combo, and 4sal. I still want to see her 3axel to see if she's even close.

 

[Ophelia]

I think people rarely can make it to 2 Olympics. And not because I don’t believe in them, but because it’s so hard and difficult on all levels, physically and emotionally, when there’s a lot of competition in your country.
The way to Olympics is sometimes harder than Olympics themselves.

Many skaters have made it to 2, 3, 4 Olympics and been competitive at each of them. But then again, the Russian field is a different story.

 

[Skater Boy]

Alena might be short but she looks pretty mature apart from her height. Sasha does seem naturally skinny but she's built up so much muscle that I wouldn't call her tiny either. I don't think she's depending on low weight to get those quads in since muscle is much denser than fat.

Hmm but Trusova literally is a pole - she has no curves and I doubt that will stay even with low weight and body fat. She may not become Katarina witt but she isn't doing triple toes or salchows and winning.

 

[Vandevska]

I'm starting to save. (In fact I already did start saving money for 2022 but I have no idea how expensive tickets for the Olympics are so it will probably not be enough but then I can keep going for 2026 haha.)

I bought my tickets for Europeans today and I can't even make a prediction for that.

And here I am trying to make it to the GPF. If EC is any indication, then damn I'll have to splurge quite a bit

 

[Happy Skates]

Hmm but Trusova literally is a pole - she has no curves and I doubt that will stay even with low weight and body fat. She may not become Katarina witt but she isn't doing triple toes or salchows and winning.

Trusova's quad toe is the highest jump of all the junior ladies (might be of all ladies in general too? at least one of them) - if anyone relies more on height and can survive puberty, its Trusova. Being naturally thin/ not curvy isn't exactly going to hurt her.

Either way, I don't see the point in predicting people's downfall. Evgenia's technique looked way wonkier than Trusova at her age, and she looked more like a stick, and yet she still made it to the Olympics and got a silver medal (at the same age/a little older than the 3A will be) and even continued on. The point is, you can't really predict anything and often times these types of predictions are used to delegitimize these girls' success. You really can't "call" non-longevity. It doesn't work like that.

 

[Vandevska]

Trusova's quad toe is the highest jump of all the junior ladies (might be of all ladies in general too? at least one of them) - if anyone relies more on height and can survive puberty, its Trusova. Being naturally thin/ not curvy isn't exactly going to hurt her.

She has tremendous rotation speed, but yeah when it comes to her 4T as last season progressed it was really noticeable that she got more and more height which definitely helped making it more stable.
I wonder why they didn't try the flip instead of the lutz. I wonder if it would be more stable.

 

[Arbitrary]

She has tremendous rotation speed, but yeah when it comes to her 4T as last season progressed it was really noticeable that she got more and more height which definitely helped making it more stable.
I wonder why they didn't try the flip instead of the lutz. I wonder if it would be more stable.

They did once. She landed 4F and moved further.
Shcherbakova followed the trend few weeks later.

If 4Lz stable having 4F in the same program will not help. Same energy required for less points. Having two 4z or two 4F or even 4Lz and 4F is apparently too demanding.
Well, Sasha said more than once quads are not "too" demanding. Rather risky.

4T is less demanding. But also much more cheaper. Yet better to have 4T than another 2T in combo.

 

[Vandevska]

They did once. She landed 4F and moved further.
Shcherbakova followed the trend few weeks later.

If 4Lz stable having 4F in the same program will not help. Same energy required for less points. Having two 4z or two 4F or even 4Lz and 4F is apparently too demanding.
Well, Sasha said more than once quads are not "too" demanding. Rather risky.

4T is less demanding. But also much more cheaper. Yet better to have 4T than another 2T in combo.

I know they've tried it, I remember the videos. I meant it in the sense that if it's more stable than the lutz, it actually brings more points. But as you're saying, maybe the success rate was the same and so they decided to stick with the lutz.

 

[zounger]

I know they've tried it, I remember the videos. I meant it in the sense that if it's more stable than the lutz, it actually brings more points. But as you're saying, maybe the success rate was the same and so they decided to stick with the lutz.

One of the things I found interesting regarding the quads, was a mention by Trusova in an interview, that it's difficult to warm up 3 different quads in 6 minutes. I think that's a big factor to keep in mind. Regardless the separate decision on the stability and which one has better rate.

 

[Arbitrary]

Having more than one quad in FP brings many issues. Two quads should be different (like the latest Trusova's layout with single 4Lz and 4T) or a combo required.
No girl may backlog a quad in combo for now and any quad costs less than a good 3-3 combo.
Backlogging is destined for the most expensive elements among those she can do safely. So, they have to backlog three different 3-3/3-1-3 combos.

As soon as any girl feeling ready to backlog 4-3 combo we could say the new milestone reached.

 

[karina17]

As soon as any girl feeling ready to backlog 4-3 combo we could say the new milestone reached.

Anna was doing that in JWC practice (and one more practice for a previous competition, I think EYOF but I could be wrong - there was an interview after practice when she was asked about her choice to backload her 4Lz). It was her backup for if she fell on the first 4Lz and didn't have time to recover. She just came out of her CCoSp a little earlier, skipped the transitions in and did a 4Lz3T instead of a 3Lz3T. Whether she would actually land a back loaded 4Lz3T in a competition is a different story, but if she had that as a viable backup layout, then I would say that counts as "feeling ready" to backload it, especially because she did land that 4Lz3T x in that practice, with her usual 3Lz3T transitions out of it too.

 

[Tere19]

Not crazy. REALISTIC! I've already staked my claim on Valieva barring injury/illness. It was sad in 2018 with Med vs. Zag because I knew that was their only shot at Olympic Glory. I chose Zag and am so happy she has the Grand Slam. As for 3A, the only one I see with longevity is Kostornaia. The Olympic team could be Valieva, Usacheva, and Kostornaya.

So can we say that of all the russians skaters in the gpf none will be in china in 2022 ?

 

[Vandevska]

One of the things I found interesting regarding the quads, was a mention by Trusova in an interview, that it's difficult to warm up 3 different quads in 6 minutes. I think that's a big factor to keep in mind. Regardless the separate decision on the stability and which one has better rate.

Yes of course! I remember from the JWC practices that they would take a while (not that long though ahahh) to even try them. I was just curious if they ever thought about her doing a flip and the 4T, if it is more stable than the lutz. It's tremendous effort anyway.