2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[ruga]

Now, if miniature unicorns do exist ....

They in fact do! Not unicorns but like dog sized horsies. However, I don't think Aliona would appreciate something she can't ride though

 

[[email protected]]

Here's what I think will happen at nationals:

If Sasha is clean, she wins. If she falls once, Alena can win if she is 100% clean with excellent execution on everything. Both are possible, both are difficult, and neither have been done before.

If Anna is clean, she will get the third spot. If Anna makes a small mistake, like a fall in step sequence in SP, she will still beat a squeaky clean Alina/Evgenia. Anna will not get edge calls at nationals, but even if she does so will Evgenia and Alina, so it's even in that department.

If Anna falls on a quad, or both, I think it'll be more interesting. Then whoever is clean out of Alina/Evgenia will go. But Alina can probably afford small mistakes because she has a more difficult BV in comparison.

But it is clear whoever makes a major error in SP; a fall or a pop, will probably be out. And it's interesting because they've all done this. Alina and Evgenia this season on the GP, and the 3A last season.

Alina never had edge calls. NHK confirmed that the ones that she received at IdF was a mistake/misunderstanding - no conspiracy theories on IdF judging! Zhenya is a different case. Her BV is lower than Alina's. Alina has 3 lutzes and 3 flips. Zhenya has the same number of flips but only one lutz. Then she has 2 loops (BV 9.8) vs. 2 lutzes (BV 11.8). The edge that she gets now is a further hit. She got in Moscow only 4 points for the lutz that looked quite good from the stands. Alina just received 8.6 points for her lutz. These 6 points difference between them would be quite difficult to cover.

 

[Thrashergurl]

I might be in the minority, but I think either Medvedeva or Zagitova can beat Anna. Will be interesting

 

[Edwin]

I might be in the minority, but I think either Medvedeva or Zagitova can beat Anna. Will be interesting

They can, but will they? I wouldn't be surprised if Anna still has a trick up her sleeve. Alina might know about what Anna is training but has not yet competed, but she won't spill the beans on her rink mate.
6 weeks is a probably enough time to strengthen and reinforce the programs of every skater now GP is finished and any weak elements have been pointed out.

Anna's mindset of a young champion out to prove herself is one of her benefits this first senior season of hers.

 

[Mishaminion]

I might be in the minority, but I think either Medvedeva or Zagitova can beat Anna. Will be interesting

It is not impossible, especially if Anna makes mistakes. She has been quite consistent with her 4Lz though, so far. I have a feeling Anna will be looking to add a different quad, to stay competitive with Sasha especially.

 

[Thrashergurl]

I still think Anna is the weakest of all the Russian ladies. Many will disagree, but I see her as the weakest of them

 

[Happy Skates]

I might be in the minority, but I think either Medvedeva or Zagitova can beat Anna. Will be interesting

I think if Anna goes clean with two quads and no unders then she'll make the team, but if she has one or two mistakes then she'll be vulnerable to a clean Zagitova or Zhenya. Even if she podiums at GPF, I think RusFed will be looking for any excuse to send one of their established champions to Worlds. So to make it, she'll have to be on her game at RusNats. But yes, RusNats will be beyond interesting.

 

[[email protected]]

But what is there to envious and jealous about?

We had some weird judging this season. Like 5 edge calls for Anna, e call on lutz for Alina, Level 2 StSq for Sasha, etc. When they are so much better than the rest it does not matter. When others will start to catch up...well,I hope it won't happen any time soon.

 

[Mishaminion]

I still think Anna is the weakest of all the Russian ladies. Many will disagree, but I see her as the weakest of them

Well yeah many would, because she won Senior Nationals and now has 2 GP golds, 2 consistent (so far) quads and a 160 FS score.

She is ahead of Alina and Zhenya on those factors alone.

But, ice is slippery. Nationals will be a game of nerves as much as anything else

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

I still think Anna is the weakest of all the Russian ladies. Many will disagree, but I see her as the weakest of them

Of ALL of them? Or of all of the Main Seniors? Because there are a lot of Russian ladies. Besides “weakest” is an objective term. With 2 4Lzs and that level of musicality, Anya is definitely not the weakest.

 

[colormyworld240]

I love that people complain about Alina's 73 PCS for a jump-focused program even with the expressiveness in the step sequence. Where as no one said anything about Evgenia's 74 PCS for a entirely jump-focused program last week. If that's not biased, idk what is. Tbh they probably both have scores that are a bit high but they have the reputation, and their compatriots weren't completely clean, either.

 

[Edwin]

I still think Anna is the weakest of all the Russian ladies. Many will disagree, but I see her as the weakest of them

Russian Nationals will show us. Anna is the defending champion, though a repeat is unlikely, medalling is certainly possible.

On paper, her proven TES and expected PCS might not match those of Zagitova or Medvyedeva with their 'reputation bonuses', but Anna has shown she is a fighter.

First GPF, as a sort of touchstone to see how the Awesome And Amazing Aces stack up against each other, then at Nationals we can factor Medvyedeva and Tuktamysheva in. The other skaters play no role in this powerplay.

It depends a bit on wether FFKKR wants to uphold 'internal traditions' or just let the proven results decide the World Championships team. The superiority displayed by Tutberidze's Terrific Trio cannot be overlooked, ignored or bent politically in favour of lesser skaters. I doubt Russian Olympic Committee or the Ministery of Youth and Sports will allow any politicking, let alone the press and voice of the people, given all the media attention. Female figure skating is a headline sports nowadays and still free from corruption, match fixing and the like.

 

[Artemisa]

I still think Anna is the weakest of all the Russian ladies. Many will disagree, but I see her as the weakest of them

I agree with you .. if RF would substitute one of the 3A for Aliona or Zhenya in euros or World ... will be Anna ... she doesn't have the number of quads of sasha and her quad won't beat Kostornaia 3A in both program ...

Well... maybe RF can put 3 different skaters on euros and the other 3 in worlds ... everyone happy ...

 

[Fluture]

I love that people complain about Alina's 73 PCS for a jump-focused program even with the expressiveness in the step sequence. Where as no one said anything about Evgenia's 74 PCS for a entirely jump-focused program last week. If that's not biased, idk what is. Tbh they probably both have scores that are a bit high but they have the reputation, and their compatriots weren't completely clean, either.

See, that‘s what I don‘t see. Her SP in Canada, certainly overscored in PCS. Even her FS at SCI I might be inclined to call more “jump-focused“. But Rostelecom? Imo, that‘s the best and most relaxed she‘s skated those two programs all season. She showed a range of facial expressions in the FS, even while some of the difficult combos were still coming up (e.g. during the choreo sequence) Maybe because the interpretation isn‘t as... “obvious“ as during her Eteri programs people don‘t notice it? But for Rostelecom, I do not agree at all that her program was jump-focused. They certainly both have been overscored in the past, especially for failed skates where their PCS were still high, but to answer to every Alina criticism with a “but what about Evgenia?!?!“ comment of ones own (or vice versa) sounds like just as much bias to me. I personally try to be as objective as possible but I’m only human and I have my favorites. I have no problem admitting that I sometimes won’t manage and will probably unconsciously be more lenient towards my favorites. But this time I just cannot agree with your statement because what I saw on the ice was just completely different.

 

[Mishaminion]

I love that people complain about Alina's 73 PCS for a jump-focused program even with the expressiveness in the step sequence. Where as no one said anything about Evgenia's 74 PCS for a entirely jump-focused program last week. If that's not biased, idk what is. Tbh they probably both have scores that are a bit high but they have the reputation, and their compatriots weren't completely clean, either.

Not everything is Alina vs Zhenya

Different competitions too.

I do think Zhenya had an excellent expressive and beautiful performance at Rostelecom, way better than SC.
In her FS there she skated with a murder face on the whole way through.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Of ALL of them? Or of all of the Main Seniors? Because there are a lot of Russian ladies. Besides “weakest” is an objective term. With 2 4Lzs and that level of musicality, Anya is definitely not the weakest.

Obviously the weakest skaters are those two nobodies from that lumbering old dinosaur Mishin's camp. Don't know why they'll bother showing up.

 

[nussnacker]

Obviously the weakest skaters are those two nobodies from that lumbering old dinosaur Mishin's camp. Don't know why they'll bother showing up.

I don't think Sofia's the weakest, but I don't think she had a shot for medal this time anyways. I think she got underscored, but I don't think it would've affected the podium.
I'd also say I disagree with Liza's scoring, but I think she just got unlucky with her assignments + got underscored to favor other skaters + got judges a reason to underscore her even more by making mistakes. I think for Liza, it actually affected both podiums at her events + her GPF ticket, and that's more upsetting to me personally.
Sofia did say she thinks those marks are unfair and Mishin does not understand that scoring.
I wonder what will they do next.

 

[Nord Stream 2]

I still think Anna is the weakest of all the Russian ladies. Many will disagree, but I see her as the weakest of them

Anna's 4Lz = 14.79 points
The most expensive combo in the world for ladies is Anna's 4Lz+3T= 18, 66 points.
2 place is Sasha"s 4T+1Eu+3S in X (bonus) = 18.17 points.

All the other jumps and Anna's combos also cost a lot.

 

[Mishaminion]

Obviously the weakest skaters are those two nobodies from that lumbering old dinosaur Mishin's camp. Don't know why they'll bother showing up.

Sofia is still Miss Consistent but she has none of her spark from last season and her jumps are low, barely around and she's clearly struggling with puberty. This season for her is about gritting her teeth and getting through it.

Liza has her own issues, I think Team Mishin did not prepare her for the onslaught of new seniors with quads and triple Axels. She added a 3A but her FS layout threw away valuable points and I will never understand why.

Her Skating skills and other PCS areas had not improved either, essentially have not changed since her Worlds win in 2015, when the opposition was nowhere near this fierce.
Her SP and it's changing music and jump layout was a big "what are you doing?!!!"

The only time I felt Liza got it right was going back to her FS from last season, yet she still retained her current jump layout.
She also made some costly jump errors in her GPs..her CoC SP was very very costly, without that I have no doubt she would have had silver. And be in the GPF.

I'm also of the opinion that two bronzes should probably outweigh one silver and one 4th place, Liza and Mariah Bell medalled at both their events not just one, I feel that counts for something

 

[Nord Stream 2]

Obviously the weakest skaters are those two nobodies from that lumbering old dinosaur Mishin's camp. Don't know why they'll bother showing up.

Mishin was supposed to be indignant last year before the World Cup.

Now ISU realized that in Russia the Federation was laughing at him.

Too many Russians upstairs - Liza and Sonya must move aside.