2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[SkateSkates]

Now that Aliona has a 3A, everyone is like “World Team Alina/Sasha/Aliona!!!!1!1!” What about Anna, who just scored 150 and won her senior debut too? She can score even higher. Chill out people, the season has barely started [emoji23]

I don’t think anyone’s counting Anna out! Plus, she can do the jumps in her LP at Lombardia with higher quality so 150 is definitely not her scoring ceiling. At least I’m not counting Anna out. To me it’s clear that the 4As scoring potential are all well ahead of the rest. No one can be counted out, and we don’t know what other tricks are up Team Tutberidze’s sleeves.

 

[Happy Skates]

Now that Aliona has a 3A, everyone is like “World Team Alina/Sasha/Aliona!!!!1!1!” What about Anna, who just scored 150 and won her senior debut too? She can score even higher. Chill out people, the season has barely started [emoji23]

I mean, I made a whole post about how any of them could make it, but I don't think people have forgotten about Anna in general. They're all looking super strong though.

 

[nussnacker]

On one hand, props to Finnish people who were smart enough to charge for viewing it live no one else from other challengers had enough business sense for it
Now Liza and Alyona 3A performances will give them some profits

 

[Mishaminion]

But for her own sake, I hope she is considering withdrawing from her GP. Isn't Sakhanovich next in line due to SB? She is seemingly still motivated so if she does well in her first GP maybe she should get a second (I'm pretty sure Sima's GP is before Sotskova's). What's the point to go to a GP and get 49 in the SP? And worse in the LP? Go out with some dignity, Maria. You made the Olympics. You are forever an Olympian. Take a bow. This show is over say goodbye. Be proud of your accomplishments.

She earned that GP spot, why should she give it up just because she's struggling? She obviously loves skating and wants to continue, for her own enjoyment. I'm sure she knows she has next to no chance of making podiums and Euros or World teams anymore, but that doesn't mean she should stop doing what she loves.

 

[colormyworld240]

I mean: NO..... NO..... and NO..... Sorry LenaFan I agree with you lots, just not on this one..

What do you mean no? There's nothing to say no to, it's not a yes or no question. Maria earned her GP spot, no one selected her to be on the team like the feds do for euros/worlds. She earned it based on the criteria, it wasn't a choice, it was a number, and she had it.

The show is not over and I'm sure she is proud of her accomplishments. One of those accomplishment was earning a GP spot ahead of Sima. It's not a question, it's a statement; a fact.

 

[Amei]

Alena is now officially the 4th skater in the run for the third team spot: Scherbakova, Tuktamysheva, Medvedeva, and now Kostornaya. With 3 stable triple axels I would say that her chances are the highest of them all. So far it looks like 4A are playing the game with 3 seats only. Well, 2 of them: Alexandra and Alina have a very good security cushion. Will it be in the end between Anna and Alena? Can Liza beef up her tech content? What will Zhenya do?

Rusnats are getting more and more interesting.

Trusova I agree with, Zagitova I would only say she's got a security cushion if Shcherbakova, Tuktamysheva, and Kostornaia aren't nailing their difficult jumps. Zagitova's got lower tech score base value, and Shcherbakova/Kostornaia are likely by Nationals to be getting close to her in PCS scores.

 

[Vlad Karigov]

I'm more concerned with another question. Who will make the first 5T? Akatieva, Valieva or Trusova? Or together at Tutberidze's Show in Krasnodar next summer?

That question will be answered by Zhilina, but doing a 5A...

 

[ec00834]

I'm more concerned with another question. Who will make the first 5T? Akatieva, Valieva or Trusova? Or together at Tutberidze's Show in Krasnodar next summer?

Valieva for sure. She has so much extra height on her 4T.

 

[Jontor]

What do you mean no? There's nothing to say no to, it's not a yes or no question. Maria earned her GP spot, no one selected her to be on the team like the feds do for euros/worlds. She earned it based on the criteria, it wasn't a choice, it was a number, and she had it.

The show is not over and I'm sure she is proud of her accomplishments. One of those accomplishment was earring a GP spot of Sima. It's not a question, it's a statement; a fact.

I am with Liam on this one. It was indeed a choice, by RusFed. And they made the wrong choice imo. This is what they had in last year's SB list. Top 24 qualifies, there are 4 ladies, 4 GP spots availaible. Additionally, Sotskova who was only 43rd also qualifies through WS list. RusFed needed to make cuts.

18. Sakhanovich 202.62 - Got one spot instead of two.
20. Tarusina 198.76 - Got nothing. Kept in Juniors.
21. Gubanova 198.65 - Got nothing.
23. Konstantinova 197.57 - Got 2 spots due to being Top 24 in the WS list.
---------------------------
43. Sotskova 179.72 - Got 1 spot due to being Top 24 in the WS list.

Now, the WS list is using the last three years result. It is designed so that if a skater takes a sabbatical or is injured one year, they would not completely fall out of the ranks. This is good, and works well for all Federations - except for Russian Ladies where the depth is insanely high. Instead, this system keeps old merits high in the rankings, and new merits are blocked out.

Sotskova didn't take a sabbatical last year, she wasn't injured. In fact, she competed a lot but the results were mediocre with Russian standards. Maria's latest "good" results were at the Olympics and Worlds 18 months ago where she scored 198 and 196 poínts respectively. So Maria didn't earn anything last season, she got 1 GP spot due to 18 months old results. Maria also explained the bad results from last season with focusing more on University.

So now she got one spot at GP France + a free ticket to RusNats where others need to qualify. I suspect Maria will struggle to make the top 10 in France and she will probably fight for the last places at Nationals.

On the other hand:
Sakhanovich - If she medals at SC she doesn't have the chance to follow that up to Q for GPF.
Tarusina - Injury stopped her this season, and she resigned. But who knows how her motivation had been given a GP spot, maybe she would have reconsidered and continued skating.
Gubanova - Would certainly have been a podium threat at GP France if she was given the chance.

Maybe Maria is innocent in all this, but RusFed certainly are not.

 

[Alex65]

That question will be answered by Zhilina, but doing a 5A...

Valieva for sure. She has so much extra height on her 4T.

Zilina 5T. I'm sure she will try. Her 3T is just gigantic.

 

[Vilord]

I’m sorry, but I simply do not think this is true. Can you give some examples to support your statistic of 90%?

For example, this past week Julian Yee was chosen to replace Mikhail Kolyada at Skate Canada, rather than another Russian skater.
Or are you referring only to the ladies?

I was speaking only of ladies. For the last two seasons skaters from Japan, Russia and Korea (and I think to some extent also US and Canada) has allways been replaced by someone from their own contry due to replacements mainly being filled due to the SB list (that is in the rules somewhere) and the feds that have maximized their spots (or at least close to) tend to have skaters placed at the top of that list. This as well as obvious behind the curtains politiking ensures replacements if a russian withdraws is most likely to be russian. I think for men Russia doesnt have as many strong men as they do ladies so there may not be any viable russian substitutes at the top of the SB list.

Edit. It appears that in men 2 russian men resigned ther spots this season Kloyada SC and NHK and Dimitriev NHK two of them where filled by russian (both of the NHK spots) giving two russans with only one spot previously (Shulepov and Ignatov, both Ive never heard of) a second one. The third spot was given to a non russian and too be honest I cant think of another russian man who would have deserved that spot insted.

 

[Azikin]

Now that Aliona has a 3A, everyone is like “World Team Alina/Sasha/Aliona!!!!1!1!” What about Anna, who just scored 150 and won her senior debut too? She can score even higher. Chill out people, the season has barely started [emoji23]

People are probably forgetting who the current Russian senior champion is..

 

[Jontor]

I was speaking only of ladies. For the last two seasons skaters from Japan, Russia and Korea (and I think to some extent also US and Canada) has allways been replaced by someone from their own contry due to replacements mainly being filled due to the SB list (that is in the rules somewhere) and the feds that have maximized their spots (or at least close to) tend to have skaters placed at the top of that list. This as well as obvious behind the curtains politiking ensures replacements if a russian withdraws is most likely to be russian. I think for men Russia doesnt have as many strong men as they do ladies so there may not be any viable russian substitutes at the top of the SB list.

Edit. It appears that in men 2 russian men resigned ther spots this season Kloyada SC and NHK and Dimitriev NHK two of them where filled by russian (both of the NHK spots) giving two russans with only one spot previously (Shulepov and Ignatov, both Ive never heard of) a second one. The third spot was given to a non russian and too be honest I cant think of another russian man who would have deserved that spot insted.

There is a replacement list consisting of the SB list with those with not 2 GP assignments. This replacement list gets updated with Challenger events from this season, that's why Ignatov replaced Kolyada as he didn't have a SB last year.
For ladies that list is topped by Sakhanovich 202.62 followed by Young You 200.89 (from Lombardia this year). However, as I understand it the hosting federation can choose anyone of the top 10 names in that list, so there is no guarantee that Sakhanovich will be chosen in the case of a Russian withdrawing. But why not choose the first name on the list??

 

[IndiaP12]

I don’t think anyone’s counting Anna out! Plus, she can do the jumps in her LP at Lombardia with higher quality so 150 is definitely not her scoring ceiling. At least I’m not counting Anna out. To me it’s clear that the 4As scoring potential are all well ahead of the rest. No one can be counted out, and we don’t know what other tricks are up Team Tutberidze’s sleeves.

Yeah, forgive me, I get overprotective of Anya [emoji23] it’s going to be an unpredictable season for sure

 

[IndiaP12]

People are probably forgetting who the current Russian senior champion is..

Yes, and she almost did it at JWC. But the next comp fell on both [emoji20] I hope she is able to get more consistent this season. She just needs more confidence [emoji1377] when she skates her best it will be big. And she may pull a Sasha with her 4S and Aliona with her 3A and pull out a 4F [emoji38]

 

[Mishaminion]

I am with Liam on this one. It was indeed a choice, by RusFed. And they made the wrong choice imo. This is what they had in last year's SB list. Top 24 qualifies, there are 4 ladies, 4 GP spots availaible. Additionally, Sotskova who was only 43rd also qualifies through WS list. RusFed needed to make cuts.

18. Sakhanovich 202.62 - Got one spot instead of two.
20. Tarusina 198.76 - Got nothing. Kept in Juniors.
21. Gubanova 198.65 - Got nothing.
23. Konstantinova 197.57 - Got 2 spots due to being Top 24 in the WS list.
---------------------------
43. Sotskova 179.72 - Got 1 spot due to being Top 24 in the WS list.

Now, the WS list is using the last three years result. It is designed so that if a skater takes a sabbatical or is injured one year, they would not completely fall out of the ranks. This is good, and works well for all Federations - except for Russian Ladies where the depth is insanely high. Instead, this system keeps old merits high in the rankings, and new merits are blocked out.

Sotskova didn't take a sabbatical last year, she wasn't injured. In fact, she competed a lot but the results were mediocre with Russian standards. Maria's latest "good" results were at the Olympics and Worlds 18 months ago where she scored 198 and 196 poínts respectively. So Maria didn't earn anything last season, she got 1 GP spot due to 18 months old results. Maria also explained the bad results from last season with focusing more on University.

So now she got one spot at GP France + a free ticket to RusNats where others need to qualify. I suspect Maria will struggle to make the top 10 in France and she will probably fight for the last places at Nationals.

On the other hand:
Sakhanovich - If she medals at SC she doesn't have the chance to follow that up to Q for GPF.
Tarusina - Injury stopped her this season, and she resigned. But who knows how her motivation had been given a GP spot, maybe she would have reconsidered and continued skating.
Gubanova - Would certainly have been a podium threat at GP France if she was given the chance.

Maybe Maria is innocent in all this, but RusFed certainly are not.

They're both "innocent" as you put it, as if this is some sort of conspiracy.

One more time, Maria earned her GP spot by the rules and because her achievements are still relevant by those same rules.
You go on about other skaters as if it is Maria's fault she has her GP and they don't and that it isn't fair, but do you think it would have been fair for RusFed to not give her the spot she earned?
Look at it the other way around, had any of the skaters you say deserve it over her been in the same situation as Maria, they would have that spot too.

 

[Nogagolova]

Elizabet TURSYNBAEVA skip the Grand Prix at 2019-2020 http://www.isuresults.com/events/cat03109450.htm

 

[Jontor]

They're both "innocent" as you put it, as if this is some sort of conspiracy.

One more time, Maria earned her GP spot by the rules and because her achievements are still relevant by those same rules.
You go on about other skaters as if it is Maria's fault she has her GP and they don't and that it isn't fair, but do you think it would have been fair for RusFed to not give her the spot she earned?
Look at it the other way around, had any of the skaters you say deserve it over her been in the same situation as Maria, they would have that spot too.

But that's my point. The others earned their GP spots too but didn't get them. Why did RusFed choose Maria over them? It was very clear last season that Maria was the lowest scoring of all the candidates for GP spots, and there has not been any indication or sign that Maria would score better this season. I am OK with Maria competeting at this Denis Ten Memorial and other lower competitions. But sending her to important competitions like Challengers, GP and RusNats when there are a dozen of others with better potential waiting in the wings, that is just unfair imo. The only thing I see is lost opportunities for the others who also earned their GP spots but didn't get any. Bad decision by RusFed imo.

 

[VenusHalley]

Elizabet TURSYNBAEVA skip the Grand Prix at 2019-2020 http://www.isuresults.com/events/cat03109450.htm

Not surpring.

Hopefully she can recover by 4CC and worlds.

 

[Aliceendupnowhere]

But I expected her to compete with 4A