2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[flanker]

As for "Kameshek", remember that health is still a personal bussiness, no matter whether the person is an athlete or not. So the only person who can publish some info about Kanysheva's health condition is Aliona herself or maybe her parents. I think they just don't wish her health to be discussed publicly, so therefore there is no info.

 

[icybear]

Weird how Trusova highest component was composition and her lowest was transitions. Shouldnt her transistions be her highest?

 

[zounger]

Weird how Trusova highest component was composition and her lowest was transitions. Shouldnt her transistions be her highest?

I found it reasonable. She has 4 quad jumps which don't have many transitions in and out due to their difficulty. On the CO mark, if you break down the bullets, you can find a lot of moments in her program that hit those bullets.

 

[karina17]

Weird how Trusova highest component was composition and her lowest was transitions. Shouldnt her transistions be her highest?

I don't have an answer for that, but it got me thinking about whether judges really separate the categories or not, so I went to look up the other top Russian girls' PCS marks to see what their highest and lowest categories are. (No. I do not want to do my homework right now.)

Sasha (Rostelecom, 2 Falls):

(1) Composition (8.54)
(2) Performance (8.39)
(3) Interpretation (8.36)
(4) Skating Skills (8.29)
(5) Transitions (8.25)

Difference between highest and lowest category: 0.29

Zhenya (Rostelecom, 0 Falls):

(1) Performance (9.39)
(2) Interpretation (9.36)
(3) Composition (9.32)
(4) Skating Skills (9.18)
(5) Transitions (9.04)

Difference between highest and lowest category: 0.35

Anna (Skate America, 0 Falls):

(1) Performance (8.86)
(2) Composition (8.61)
(3) Interpretation (8.46)
(4) Transitions (8.29)
(5) Skating Skills (8.25)

Difference between highest and lowest category: 0.61

Alina (IdF, 1 Kind-Of Fall):

(1) Interpretation (9.29)
(2) Composition (9.21)
(3) Skating Skills (9.07)
(4) Transitions (9.04)
(5) Performance (9.00)

Difference between highest and lowest category: 0.29

Alyona (IdF, 0 Falls):

(1) Performance (9.07)
(2) Composition (8.89)
(2) Interpretation (8.89)
(4) Skating Skills (8.86)
(5) Transitions (8.71)

Difference between highest and lowest category: 0.36

I don't know what this shows. It wasn't meant to prove anything, I just thought it was kind of interesting. I honestly wasn't expecting there to be too much of a difference in how the categories were ranked in each skater, but there was! So that's cool. There are some rankings that make a lot of sense to me and some that do not, but I'm no expert.

 

[Nord Stream 2]

Lots of things that weren't "wrong" before are "wrong" now. I can provide a list if needs be.

Can we just be constructive in our criticism of all skaters on any day no matter if it is their birthday or not? Maybe find something nice to say about a skater rather than tearing them apart?

Anyway, good luck to Alina and Alena at NHK this week. May both ladies fly high and free. Alina doesn't have to win to get in the GPF right? She can get in with a silver? Does Alena need at least a silver to get in or can she get in if the scores a bronze?

In Japan, Alena will arrange even 5th place.

Alina must be at least 4 places.
If one of the three Samodurova / Lim / Andrews wins, she will need 211.4 points.
If none of these three, 187.55 is enough for Alina.

 

[Scott512]

Remember that Billie Eilish Ex drama was at ... Alina’s birthday.
And was even worse than that.

I remember that atrocity on Alina's 17th birthday. I just hope she was unfazed by this and it didn't ruin her birthday. Fortunately Evgenia will have no such nonsense or controversies on her 20th birthday today. Zhenya deserves a wonderful birthday. But to me because she's so mature Evgenia has been 20 for a long time.

 

[Draculus]

Eteri never simplified Evgenia's content in the Olympic season. In fact, the layout that Evgenia performed at the Olympic season had a BV that was the highest in her international career.

This is not correct. Her Nepela Trophy 2017 has 62.36 BV (but she had Lze) and 6 jumping paths in 2nd half. At Olympic she had 62.33 and 5.

 

[zounger]

This is not correct. Her Nepela Trophy 2017 has 62.36 BV (but she had Lze) and 6 jumping paths in 2nd half. At Olympic she had 62.33 and 5.

colormyworld240 It looks you were wrong for 0.03 points. I wouldn't used you as the time controller in France, sorry.

 

[Draculus]

colormyworld240 It looks you were wrong for 0.03 points. I wouldn't used you as the time controller in France, sorry.

Just be careful with superlatives.

 

[Alex65]

I don't have an answer for that, but it got me thinking about whether judges really separate the categories or not, so I went to look up the other top Russian girls' PCS marks to see what their highest and lowest categories are. (No. I do not want to do my homework right now.)

Sasha (Rostelecom, 2 Falls):

(1) Composition (8.54)
(2) Performance (8.39)
(3) Interpretation (8.36)
(4) Skating Skills (8.29)
(5) Transitions (8.25)

Difference between highest and lowest category: 0.29

Zhenya (Rostelecom, 0 Falls):

(1) Performance (9.39)
(2) Interpretation (9.36)
(3) Composition (9.32)
(4) Skating Skills (9.18)
(5) Transitions (9.04)

Difference between highest and lowest category: 0.35

Anna (Skate America, 0 Falls):

(1) Performance (8.86)
(2) Composition (8.61)
(3) Interpretation (8.46)
(4) Transitions (8.29)
(5) Skating Skills (8.25)

Difference between highest and lowest category: 0.61

Alina (IdF, 1 Kind-Of Fall):

(1) Interpretation (9.29)
(2) Composition (9.21)
(3) Skating Skills (9.07)
(4) Transitions (9.04)
(5) Performance (9.00)

Difference between highest and lowest category: 0.29

Alyona (IdF, 0 Falls):

(1) Performance (9.07)
(2) Composition (8.89)
(2) Interpretation (8.89)
(4) Skating Skills (8.86)
(5) Transitions (8.71)

Difference between highest and lowest category: 0.36

I don't know what this shows. It wasn't meant to prove anything, I just thought it was kind of interesting. I honestly wasn't expecting there to be too much of a difference in how the categories were ranked in each skater, but there was! So that's cool. There are some rankings that make a lot of sense to me and some that do not, but I'm no expert.

You worked hard to put it all together. Thanks! However, for me, these figures do not interact with what I saw at these girls, and that I can recall their performances. This is the same 6-0 system, only divided into hundredths to make it more confusing.

 

[Mishaminion]

Since people here thought that the scandal at Alina's birthday was fine, and the people who complain now didn't complain back then, we conclude that it is not a wrong.
It was not wrong back then, so it is not wrong now

No I meant that it was wrong to focus on scandal on her birthday and equally wrong for Zhenya's too

 

[Scott512]

Stasya on her struggles:

https://mobile.twitter.com/goldenskate/status/1195722959140392961

I‘m sad for her. She‘s such a great young lady and I loved watching her skate at the Aurora Games. She looked free and relaxed and beautiful. I’m having my fingers crossed for her and hope she manages to bounce back, even if it will be hard.

It‘s interesting that she says she‘s going through puberty and that people are often disbelieving about this because she‘s already 20. (19?) It just shows that puberty isn‘t “done“ at a certain age, that just because you‘re over 17 doesn‘t mean you can‘t change physically and that everyone is different and so are people‘s bodies and minds. I hope she can come back stronger once this difficult period is over for her. Every athlete goes through that, some sooner, some later. It‘s not a tragedy (I‘ve always hated how female puberty, or puberty in general has been treated as the “downfall“ of skaters) but it changes the body and the technique and mentality should be changed accordingly too. Trying desperately to hang on to old technique is not going to work. I think Brian has said some things about this in an interview. That competing as an adult is differently and once you start changing physically as well as mentally you can‘t (and shouldn’t!) go back but rather adapt to that. I guess Stasya is in the middle of that right now.

I watched her jumps in practice at Rostelecom and she‘s often slow to snap into the rotational position. Maybe dropping the rippon would be a good idea for now? They‘re nice to look at but only when the jump as a whole works out. Anyway, wishing her good luck.

All true. Your most pertinent point was about how when these ladies become adults go for girls to women they often lose the mental toughness they had when they were 15 and 16 and 17 years old. This had happened to Stasya and many others. Zhenya too. Puberty did not hurt her at all but growing into an adult she somehow lost that mental invincibility she had from like age 15 to 18. we have to remember they are only human after sll.

 

[Happy Skates]

I wonder if Alena Kanysheva might get added to Junior Nationals via coaches' council, the way Anna Shcherbakova was in 2018 when she was injured in the first half of the season. Alena is a JGPF medalist and was strong at test skates, so she'd certainly deserve it!

I think if RusFed has half a brain they will do this. She definitely deserves to go, and I think they'll let her. Her fan page said in the comments of their latest post that she would be competing at COR stage 5 this week, and they commented this after COR stage 4 so fairly recently. I don't know where they got this information from (the start list for this comp wasn't up the last time I checked) or if its accurate, but if she competes there and does well, maybe RusFed will send her to Youth Olys and let her into Junior Nats.

 

[Jontor]

I think if RusFed has half a brain they will do this. She definitely deserves to go, and I think they'll let her. Her fan page said in the comments of their latest post that she would be competing at COR stage 5 this week, and they commented this after COR stage 4 so fairly recently. I don't know where they got this information from (the start list for this comp wasn't up the last time I checked) or if its accurate, but if she competes there and does well, maybe RusFed will send her to Youth Olys and let her into Junior Nats.

Agreed. It would be wrong not to give her a bye to Russian Juniors. I don't know about Youth Olympics though, it is before Russian Juniors and I suspect they have already made a decision who to send.

 

[Fluture]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kK1qTJ_1evQ

Zhenya interview on pressure, quads and other stuff. I found it very interesting - especially her answers on the quads stuff and motivation for competition. And what she said about Anna and Sasha and how she‘s still motivated by them even though not training in the same group. I think this is a good and healthy way of looking at things.

Agreed. It would be wrong not to give her a bye to Russian Juniors. I don't know about Youth Olympics though, it is before Russian Juniors and I suspect they have already made a decision who to send.

I agree about Junior Nationals! She deserves to be there. I wouldn’t send her to Youth Olympics, though, unless the fed has seen that she‘s 100% ready to bring it in competition. Who else are the contenders for YOG? Sinitsyna and Vasilieva, right? And Tarakanova, I suppose but the first two are more likely.

 

[Baron Vladimir]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kK1qTJ_1evQ

Zhenya interview on pressure, quads and other stuff. I found it very interesting - especially her answers on the quads stuff and motivation for competition. And what she said about Anna and Sasha and how she‘s still motivated by them even though not training in the same group. I think this is a good and healthy way of looking at things.

I'm glad she feels that's the best music for her to skate to. And i'm sure she is the most emotionally invested in Memoires of a Geisha. However, i much prefer design of some others programmes, as her Olympic free done by Averbukh, which they abolished in favour of Anna Karenina (!?), i thought that was a masterpiece, as her short (also done by Averbukh i think) inspired by Eteri's daughter Diana Davis... one of the best programmes i've ever seen btw. But i must say these ones are still good, i would just prefer more original/unconvencional themes for here to skate to because she is able to project/create a mood quite easily while she's skating and she can skate to any themes i think..

 

[nussnacker]

I think if RusFed has half a brain they will do this. She definitely deserves to go, and I think they'll let her. Her fan page said in the comments of their latest post that she would be competing at COR stage 5 this week, and they commented this after COR stage 4 so fairly recently. I don't know where they got this information from (the start list for this comp wasn't up the last time I checked) or if its accurate, but if she competes there and does well, maybe RusFed will send her to Youth Olys and let her into Junior Nats.

We're about to learn whether they have brains or not!
I think rusfed has been pretty smart in general, I mean they are better at their job than most other federations.
I would really want Aliona to be able to go senior next season, along with Ksenia and hopefully Nastia.

 

[Baron Vladimir]

We're about to learn whether they have brains or not!
I think rusfed has been pretty smart in general, I mean they are better at their job than most other federations.

They're just lucky to have a larger pool of good skaters to choose from, so whatever choice they made it will end as a 'fine' one (in terms of results)

 

[Mathman]

Weird how Trusova highest component was composition and her lowest was transitions. Shouldnt her transistions be her highest?

I don't have an answer for that, but it got me thinking about whether judges really separate the categories or not, so I went to look up the other top Russian girls' PCS marks to see what their highest and lowest categories are. ...

I don't know what this shows.

What it illustrates is that the rule of thumb for ISU judges is that the TR will be about .4 to .5 lower for all skaters, and the others will be about the same.

Here is the formula for predicting the total PCS from SS alone.

PCS = 5xSS -.4

Sasha: Formula = 41.95. Actual (unfactored) 41.85
Zhenya: Formula 46.30 Actual 46.29
Anna: Formula 41.75 Actual 42.48
Alina: Formula 45.85 Actual 45.61
Alyona: Formula 44.80 Actual 44.42

I think the reason that TR is almost always the lowest no matter what the skaters actually do, is that TR is the easiest to quantitfy. She did 2 chases and a Mohawk. This gives the judges more confidence that they know what they are doing, so they are not afraid to give lower scores.

What it reslly shows is that the division of the Program Component Score into 5 categories generally produces no effect on the outcome. You would get the same result if the judges just gave out one "second mark" based on the overall impact of the program.

 

[thatbeatingheart]

Stasya on her struggles:

https://mobile.twitter.com/goldenskate/status/1195722959140392961

I‘m sad for her. She‘s such a great young lady and I loved watching her skate at the Aurora Games. She looked free and relaxed and beautiful. I’m having my fingers crossed for her and hope she manages to bounce back, even if it will be hard.

It‘s interesting that she says she‘s going through puberty and that people are often disbelieving about this because she‘s already 20. (19?) It just shows that puberty isn‘t “done“ at a certain age, that just because you‘re over 17 doesn‘t mean you can‘t change physically and that everyone is different and so are people‘s bodies and minds. I hope she can come back stronger once this difficult period is over for her. Every athlete goes through that, some sooner, some later. It‘s not a tragedy (I‘ve always hated how female puberty, or puberty in general has been treated as the “downfall“ of skaters) but it changes the body and the technique and mentality should be changed accordingly too. Trying desperately to hang on to old technique is not going to work. I think Brian has said some things about this in an interview. That competing as an adult is differently and once you start changing physically as well as mentally you can‘t (and shouldn’t!) go back but rather adapt to that. I guess Stasya is in the middle of that right now.

I watched her jumps in practice at Rostelecom and she‘s often slow to snap into the rotational position. Maybe dropping the rippon would be a good idea for now? They‘re nice to look at but only when the jump as a whole works out. Anyway, wishing her good luck.

I've only watched the FS today and after Stasyas performance I was wondering what could cause basically all her elements to detoriate so much. The only things I could think of are injury and puberty and I'm glad to hear it's not the former. Though the latter sucks too, while the majority of the physical changes are completed by the age of 18 for most people, it can still take until 20 for them to be completely done and even longer for athletes because working out a lot can delay the puberty. At least that's what I learnt in school. So I believe her. Hope she'll be back on track soon because she's lovely to watch when she's on.