2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[colormyworld240]

I don't get this age debate, it's not about age. Alena/Anna/Sasha are just technically superior, period. Not because they're younger. Compare them to Alina/Evgenia/Elena/Yulia when they were 15/16. The result would still be the same. This is not just a trend in Russian ladies. Rika is a better technician now than Satoko was at 17.

It's not like the older girls could've done what the 3A are doing now, but lost it because they've aged. The base ability is just not comparable. Plus, Liza is the oldest top Russian lady right now, and she has 3As and just landed her first quad at 22. Where as Alina and Evgenia who are both younger have not been able to yet.

If you raise the age limit, the same thing will happen. Evgenia/Alina would not be able to compete in seniors until 18, they'd have a few seasons of dominance (like they already had) and then when the younger girls turn 18, it will be their turn.

The age argument only makes sense if as you age, you lost your 3As and quads and then lose to the youngsters who can do them because they're younger. But that's not the case, they just never had them at all.

 

[MRani]

Yes, they are mature for their years and humble.

Yet they do have sass, Sasha taking cameras off annoying journalists who wave them in her face hehe!
I like a bit of sass but I find Diva-like behaviour uncouth and immature.

I also really enjoy Alyona’s impish and mischievous personality, so at odds with the cool beauty she is on the ice

 

[nussnacker]

The main bloodbath isn’t really gpf for these girls, the main fight is rusnats, that’s going to be insaaane.
worlds-level competition in its own...

 

[Autumn Leaves]

The main bloodbath isn’t really gpf for these girls, the main fight is rusnats, that’s going to be insaaane.
worlds-level competition in its own...

Exactly my thoughts. Sasha was right to go for the 3A even if it costs her the gold here. She needs to try it in competition before Russian Nationals. For all 4 of them, the GPF is like a rehearsal for the main event

 

[Mishaminion]

I also really enjoy Alyona’s impish and mischievous personality, so at odds with the cool beauty she is on the ice

I actually really love her FS for that reason, it shows off her sassier side. Despite the fact I hate Twilight...although the movies had awesome music!

 

[Nord Stream 2]

Yes but it's sad that this is how the sport is going in to that direction, that in woman's skating we will mostly only see 15 to 16y year olds and most skaters that are older than that are basically almost forced to retire. And that's what I do not like at all, it is woman's figure skating and for me woman arentonlh 15 or 16 year olds.

You just need to go through the new time of earthly civilization, because sometimes the next stretch of the path to the stars of millions of kilometers begins with a kick
under the ass.
The Big Game of Women went according to the new rules. By the rules of Eteri. Whoever doesn’t like it - go play lotto. It doesn’t matter if you are 10 years old or 99.

 

[[email protected]]

Alina - this performance deserved 80+, definitely, esp. when considered relatively some other scores.

I would argue that her performance was no worse than that during the last WC. She had 1 point more in pcs then. I would argue that here she was lowballed by 0.4 in transitions which are breathtaking. 0.6 is the price to pay for not being the leader any more. As for TES I think it's OK. Her layback spin was not as amazing as it can be. Yes, I would think of 80.00 as a fair score vs. others. But it would not make any difference going into the free program.

The key point is that TP have finally come to their senses and don't attack Alina with false edge calls and apparently Liza with URs and edges.

I am very glad that Liza was judged normally this time. Well, the GPF is going now and what happens next is of little concern to ISU: 3 only rule. But with the current 221 international score Liza will surely feel more confident during the Nationals vs. Zhenya. But even if she places higher than Medvedeva there are still 4 GPF skaters. What a bloodbath full of nerves we are going to expect in Krasnoyarsk...

I have finally convinced my wife and she is coming for the free program. I will be there for the short program as well.

 

[Imagine]

Exactly my thoughts. Sasha was right to go for the 3A even if it costs her the gold here. She needs to try it in competition before Russian Nationals. For all 4 of them, the GPF is like a rehearsal for the main event

GPF is basically an Eteri training camp. The Eteri banner during Alena's SP had me dying. I wonder if she would ever take international students? What could she do with talents like Rika, or Bradie...like what Tarasova did for Shizuka and Sasha (Cohen)...

 

[mrrice]

I absolutely love Alena Kostornaia. She blew me away in France and she was even better today. It was back in 1999 that I saw Maria Butyrskaya win her World Title in Finland and she gave me goosebumps. I have that same feeling with Alena.

 

[Mishaminion]

Very poetic.

I quite like this technical advance in ladies and see no reason why it shouldn't be welcomed.

It started with Midori Ito, Tonya Harding (and to a lesser degree Surya Bonaly) then kind of stagnated.
Midori Ito landed a Triple Axel at the 1992 Olympics (she planned two in the FS, one in combination) and Kristi Yamaguchi a 3Lz-3T.
At the 2014 Olympics no top skater had more technical difficulty than that 22 years earlier.

 

[MRani]

I actually really love her FS for that reason, it shows off her sassier side. Despite the fact I hate Twilight...although the movies had awesome music!

True! I enjoy her FS for the same reason, even though overall I don’t think it’s a great program in and of itself. Alyona’s personality and skating elevate it to another level.

 

[flanker]

We will see if they will or not when they are 17 and 18, mabye not Sasha, but when the new juniors will be better then them, ? Will do what they are doing now? Or the bodies say enough? Who knows what can and will happen in those years to come, we certainly can not predict the future. Or I would already be a millionaire [emoji6][emoji23]

But you are already predicting.

 

[fabienne1996]

But you are already predicting.

Well at the moment they are rumours and I hope they are not true, but it is already happening if alina is thinking of retiring, she is only 17 . Alyona also said she would be doing to max 20 or 21,which is more than going out of the sport under the age of 20 but still she could and all of them could potentially if they are healthy be skating well into their 20th

 

[Mishaminion]

Well at the moment they are rumours and I hope they are not true, but it is already happening if alina is thinking of retiring, she is only 17 . Alyona also said she would be doing to max 20 or 21,which is more than going out of the sport under the age of 20 but still she could and all of them could potentially if they are healthy be skating well into their 20th

It isn't about age with Alina, it's motivation. She has already won everything and other skaters in that position often feel the same, even if they are still competitive.
Kristi Yamaguchi retired in 1992 after winning Worlds twice and Olympics once, she was hardly past it in age or technical ability and probably could have gone on to win in 1993 and even Olympics again in 1994.

Maybe some skaters want to take advantage of their youth and maybe do something else when they are older; it is their career and their choice at the end of the day.
Some want a long career, like Zhenya, who felt she needed to make a change in order to aim for that.
Some want to enjoy it while they can and move on to new things.

 

[katymay]

Well at the moment they are rumours and I hope they are not true, but it is already happening if alina is thinking of retiring, she is only 17 . Alyona also said she would be doing to max 20 or 21,which is more than going out of the sport under the age of 20 but still she could and all of them could potentially if they are healthy be skating well into their 20th

Alina seems to be in high demand for shows and commercials, I think she will be fine if she decides to step aside from the day to day grind and cash in. It also doesn't hurt that she is drop dead gorgeous, I think the paid opportunities are going to be plentiful.

 

[nussnacker]

Well at the moment they are rumours and I hope they are not true, but it is already happening if alina is thinking of retiring, she is only 17 . Alyona also said she would be doing to max 20 or 21,which is more than going out of the sport under the age of 20 but still she could and all of them could potentially if they are healthy be skating well into their 20th

Aliona might reconsider, she's too young, it's not like she set herself a deadline, and also perhaps she wants to live a life without skating in her 20s, it's her life, up to her to decide.
I don't know why people assume every single skater wants to compete for 8-10+ years as a senior. Some might prefer not to compete for that long, take a different path, they're humans, they have other interests and personals goals too.
1 Oly cycle is enough to wear an athlete out tremendously, competing 2 full Oly cycles is quite crazy, not everyone is capable of it or even wants to do it.
I'm pretty sure after winning her first Olympic gold medal Yuna was already tired of competing, and she was only 19. She took 2-3 years off straight, only going back for worlds 13 and olympics 14. And I can imagine it being hard, not everyone wants to compete for that long.
While Carolina, Savchenko, Voronov or Leonova might like it, they're the exception, not the rule, not everyone has a similar desire to compete, some other will prefer taking a new path.

 

[Mishaminion]

Alina seems to be in high demand for shows and commercials, I think she will be fine if she decides to step aside from the day to day grind and cash in. It also doesn't hurt that she is drop dead gorgeous, I think the paid opportunities are going to be plentiful.

That is a huge lure for skaters who have achieved so much in the sport already.

Show skating and other opportunities pay well without the struggle of intense training schedules and competitive pressure.

 

[flanker]

Well at the moment they are rumours and I hope they are not true, but it is already happening if alina is thinking of retiring, she is only 17 . Alyona also said she would be doing to max 20 or 21,which is more than going out of the sport under the age of 20 but still she could and all of them could potentially if they are healthy be skating well into their 20th

As for Alina, still rumors we know nothing closer about. She can be just ill or whatever.Not to mention how many people are still sending her to retirement everywhere. And maybe it's just her way how to gain motivatin, as I've stated several times, Alina is obviously the best when she is taken as an outsider, she has proven this numerous times. And Alina is not the only active skater 17+ in Russia, there are others who obviously don't consider retiring. Yet Alina truly is the one who won everything and mabe defending her titles is not so motivating, though I think she is still considering the next olympics as her goal, that's why she doesn't aspire to challenge her teammates now, because for that goal it is not necessary to win this season. Alina also said that learning a new element is hard for her during the season, so what she is really planning and if she wants to improve her technical arsenal we will probably see during the next offseason. Today she showed strong jumps and if Liza was able to land 4S, I don't know why Alina woudn't be able to do as well, if she would really want.
Aliona was talking about that 20-21 age in relation to her plans about becoming a neurosurgeon, but she dismissed those plans recently. On the other hand, winning some major competitions before 20 and than retiring is giving you a plenty of time for studies, further development etc., so even if someone would plan this, it's not that bad idea.

 

[Mishaminion]

We love to watch our favourites and hope we will continue to do so for a long time
But we don't own them, they have their own lives and ideas about what they want to do with their futures beyond skating.
I would miss them, but respect their choices and wish them only happiness whatever they choose to do

 

[colormyworld240]

Well at the moment they are rumours and I hope they are not true, but it is already happening if alina is thinking of retiring, she is only 17 . Alyona also said she would be doing to max 20 or 21,which is more than going out of the sport under the age of 20 but still she could and all of them could potentially if they are healthy be skating well into their 20th

With Alina, it's difficult to say why she'd want to retire. I don't think it's because she's not winning everything anymore. Or else she would have retired when she was 13/14. She was losing to EVERYONE back then, she didn't even qualify for a junior GP spot her first year of eligibility. She was 9th at junior nats when Sasha was 1st at the same age. But she continued probably because she knew she had more in her, and she didn't have any accomplishments yet. It's a different story now, because she really has won everything there is to win, she has done everything she could (jumps, spins, artistry, having input into her music and programs, etc.). The only thing she really hasn't done is a 3A or quad. If she were to retire, it'd probably be because she wants to move onto different things in her life. I'm not saying that she does indeed want to retire, just possible reasons if she were to.

With Alena, if she wants to skate to 20/21, there's nothing wrong with that. That is already well into her senior career. Plus Alena has said in the past that she sees a life for herself after figure skating - that she'd want to study in university and maybe go to med school (and 20/21 is already a very late start to university especially if you're planning on doing that much school). Being a good skater and having longevity doesn't mean you have to skate forever. At 21, she'd already have 6/7 senior seasons, which is a lot more than most ladies.