2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[NAOTMAA]

You could tell Kamila wasn't going to skate well. She looked very nervous in the warm-up and right before the opening pose. It's easy to forget just how young she is sometimes. Hopefully she got the jitters out of her system and she can relax more next time

I actually think the program itself, while nothing special, isn't that bad and actually does fit her style wise. Unfortunately she's just too young and it's beyond her capabilities at this point in her career. If she were older and more experienced it would have been better. It's too much for her now. She needs a more natural progression artistically rather then leaping from one to ten in the blink of an eye

 

[bubblecherry]

Well, that was interesting.

The SP was definitely much better than the FS. I would say the best FS here was Frovola. Her music fit her well, the choreography was nice, I saw many improvements and she’s doing really well.

Kamila’s Bolero is honestly just a terrible program to me. The music is not good and does not fit Kamila. The choreography is not good and she’s not performing it well at all. It’s a bunch of random skating and random movements to some random music. I don’t understand how she could score 148+ with 3 falls, +REP on Lutz, completely missed a 3-3, and that program. I got the best impression I’ve ever gotten from Kamila in the SP. Daniil did a great job choreographing it and playing to her strengths. She skated it so beautifully and I saw so many improvements in her musicality and interpretation. The FS shows all of her weaknesses in musicality, interpretations, choppy steps, and stiff movements. She should definitely be third here. I can understand why she got the highest PCS in the SP (still WAY too big of a gap) based on the program she had and what she showed, but here she should absolutely be behind Daria, Frovola, and perhaps others too.

Battle of the Romeo and Juliets!

Congrats to Sasha! Not a perfect skate, but she got the job done and I love how quickly and how well she’s adjusting to her new coaching change. It seems like her and Plushy are a good team. Yesterday I said that she just needs one or two good competitions to get momentum back on her side and she’s doing it! The destiny is truly in her hands. The judges help her a lot when she lands her jumps. 164 is a ridiculous score for 2 falls and a poor program. I still don’t get this program for her but in some areas I’m definitely seeing improvements regardless of how much I dislike this program. Same as SP, she’s holding out her lines and executing her choreography in a smoother way. Overall just slightly more visually appealing skating from Sasha. Impressed by any visual improvements considering it’s only been a few months.

Daria was so lovely. Once again I’m feeling sad because her program is just so subpar compared to her skating quality. Why does Daria have the same music and theme as Sasha for R&J? If anything, Daria doing R&J should be much more like Aliona’s. She’s not a heavy or dramatic or powerful skater. She’s so light, her movements are beautiful and fluid. She’s musical and her performance quality is improving each time I see her. This is the best she’s ever performed program, but it’s still a poor program. Daria is in a tough position where she is really being held back in PCS in favor of Kamila. I don’t really understand because even though they both have poor programs for the FS, Daria’s strength in skating skills and all of the performance and composition categories really shined over her teammate here. Obviously today she should’ve had higher PCS than both Sasha and Kamila. If they were handed out just a little more fairly, Daria would’ve been second, as she deserves to be (IMO)

Stasya did what she could today but it was definitely less impressive than the SP. Still happy to see her working hard and performing.

 

[yume]

I also noticed a non-Eteri skater with a split second Ina-Bauer today.
Maybe I should post comparisons on twitter showing how that move was "stolen" from Daniil.

I saw this today. Apparently that "broken arms" move was stolen from Team Tut

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGAv-1VpOB7/?igshid=5yzvgo5ost9p

Maybe if someone pay attention to other coaches works, we would see some "copied" moves. Moves seen in many programs.

 

[dunffvanstorn]

Usacheva is like the reincarnation of old Medvedeva. She is almost as good in interpretation skills. Medvedeva is still a better actress though. Best performance of the night. As for Kamila, this FP is just plain terrible. Not a good vehicle to showcase her skills. Maybe tango would be better. Sasha is still the same. Nothing much to see outside of the jumps but congrats on landing the 3A. First time someone landed 3A and quads in the ladies?

I think Daria has better skating skills than Evgenia, though. And Evgenia is my favorite skater ever, that's not a hate comment.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

The problem with Kami's Bolero, for me, is that it doesn't play to her strengths. Not just choreography wise, but music wise too. Because Bolero is so, for lack of a better term, repetitive, it's really hard to make it intriguing. Unlike a lot of programs where it goes like quiet part - loud part - quiet part - loud part, Bolero continuously builds more and more until it reaches a climax. A Bolero program can only be good (for me) if it wonderfully builds to that climax along with the music instead of just randomly adding bits and pieces of choreography that don't go with the music. And to add to that, Kami has a problem with holding out movements, making her program seem even more rushed and messy. And obviously Daniil's choreography is a huge problem too because as I have said, it doesn't relate to the music.

 

[Azikin]

So, the next stages:
3rd: Anna and Liza, maybe Maiia, Anna should have straight way to victory.
4th: We will see Sasha against Aliona there, that will be much more interesting. As we haven't seen much from Aliona yet, I can't guess on her chances. That will be thrilling.
5th: This will be really the crowded one. Aliona, Kamila, I guess Daria again, and Liza. Also this is promising some interesting competition.

What about Evgenia?

 

[flanker]

What about Evgenia?

If I would've been less decent person than I actually am I would call you an optimist.

Seriously, I don't believe in her appearance at the cup stages this season and I think it would be only good for her to let it pass and focus on her recovery.

 

[Lechat]

Kamila still has rooms to improve, don’t forget that it’s her first senior competition and everybody put pressure on that little girl because she’s the one able to do quads among the juniors competing with seniors.

She polished her program, it looks better.

 

[Fluture]

What about Evgenia?

She‘s injured, I doubt she‘ll skate.

 

[karina17]

If I would've been less decent person than I actually am I would call you an optimist.

Please write a book, this is some sick dialogue.

 

[dunffvanstorn]

https://fsrussia.ru/results/2021/2etap/eMC__Scores.pdf

Seeing the protocols, they didn't favor Sasha that much.

Quad lutz with the stepout and hand touching the ice got -4.14 GOE.
- 3Lz3Lo got -2.95 GOE.
- 3Flip Euler 3 Salchow got ! for the Flip.
- Flying Camel Spin level 3.
- Step Sequence level 3.
- FCCoSp level 3 too.
Her PCS was way too generous though. Full of nines. I disagree with that.

Valieva's PCS was also HUGE with 2 falls. She got 4 bonuses, deservedly so according to the competition's rules.

Now, a clean Usacheva having worse PCS than both Trusova and Kamila??? I'm not so sure.

 

[Scott512]

I think she hurt her foot after the 4T fall, I might be wrong. All more motivation for her to come with redemption in her next Cup Stage.

Kamila is a real threat to Anna and her three peat attempt at Russian Nationals. KV is only 14 and should be able to shake this off. Getting to skate in these cup of events and then in Russian Nationals against the three best ladies skaters in the world by a mile and I mean a good old country mile will be invaluable experience for Valleva for next season the Olympic season.

But her free skate is sort of like Sasha and that it's very much a risk and reward free skate. If you nail it you win big if you make mistakes you're vulnerable and that happened to KV today.

 

[zounger]

Trusova skates cleanish and wins end of story.

Keep calm and listen to zounger!

P.s. I haven't' watched the skates Russian cup not my cup of tea.

 

[Jeanie19]

I think Valieva should go back to Exogenesis. Bolero doesn't suit her. Plus I hate Bolero. No matter what she needs a new costume. I love her short program, but I'd like a dress more similar to Evgenia's 911 program.

 

[flanker]

Please write a book, this is some sick dialogue.

Actually I've already done it...

 

[Scott512]

Can like Team Tutberidze please hire another choreographer? Daniil's not horrible, but that's only if he doesn't have like fifty programs to choreograph. Dasha and Kami deserve better!

Don't they have that guy his last name starts with a Z and he was upset when Sasha bolted from TT and EG? He got very emotional about it. Flanker with know his name.

 

[Lechat]

She‘s injured, I doubt she‘ll skate.

it’s a pity, I would like to see her skating. Her sp and free were great. If only she was not injured.

 

[eterialskating]

I take back what I said about Usacheva not matching Medvedeva in interpretation and emotional projection. She is way better than Evgenia at this age. I am watching her skate again. Only 14 and she can emote so well. She really should have had the highest PCS of the night by a margin. She was in no way behind Kamila and absolutely not Trusova.

 

[Lzbee]

Just caught up with the free skate.

Nice to see Konstantinova still landing the jumps at 20 y/o and after her rough season last year. She seems to have issues with stamina and rotation but kudos to her for not giving up. I don't really "get" this program though, the music cut is a bit incoherent imo.

Poor Valieva. I've always said the 3A were lucky to be in the same cohort because even though it meant tougher competition, it also meant there was never all the attention and pressure on a single person at any time. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of the program. I've always seen Valieva as someone with a more abstract and contemporary style whereas Bolero kind of needs a pizzaz and fire that I don't see in her yet. On the plus side, it looks like she's working on her Lutz technique which is causing the falls? Her edge in the slow mos looked much better than before.

I thought Sasha gave a lovely performance today after the second music cut started. She's always had a strong sense of rhythm but she felt the music more today compared to test skates. The first part is just jump setup but I guess the dramatic music fits with quads. The falls were unfortunate but it looks like she working on the pre-rotation? Idk, her technique also looks a bit different from before. It's great to see her happy with her result.

Back-to-back R&J is really painful, especially since it sounds like they used the same music cut. Sasha is lucky to have skated first because Usacheva really is more refined. I also get Medvedeva vibes from her but that's only because they're both very musical, I think they have different strengths in storytelling. On the other hand, I don't like this music cut for Usacheva. It fits Sasha's powerful skating but I think a more classic Juliet would suit Usacheva better.

I really would liked to have seen Usacheva in second after Valieva's meltdown, hers was by far the best performance of the night.

 

[nussnacker]

This program is a huge waste of potential for Kamila. Not her style. Doesn't have good choreography. The first version at Test Skates was much better. I don't know what to say.

If she did a lyrical program, people would say her team doesn’t develop her artistically. If they give her a different style of program, then it’s not her style. There’s always something some won’t like. I guess, you can’t please everyone. She’ll grow to perform it, it’s only her first actual competition.