2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Edwin]

" The skaters don't deserve all this bile and insults. " Olympic Silver medalist Sergey Shakhrai appeals to the figure skating fans.

" ... , do not forget that 14-16-year-old children are competing, who have already have an insane load. They work on themselves so much, ... , treat themselves as professionally as possible. They discipline, deprive themselves of children's pleasures, have strict diets and only train, day and night. And all this in order to perform as best as possible in the competition. Look at Kamila Valiyeva or Anna Shcherbakova. The girls make one mistake and are already crying with frustration. Such is their attitude to business.

And they are branded: " Why didn't Valiyeva perform this jump? She could have jumped. " She could, but it didn't work. Better support her so that next time she skates the program perfectly. "

«Фигуристы не заслужили столько желчи и оскорблений». Заявление призера Олимпиады

Серебряный призер Олимпийских игр Сергей Шахрай обратился к болельщикам фигурного катания.

www.sport-express.ru

 

[anonymoose_au]

Slutskaya and Butyrskaya can't be beaten, but there seem to be a little battle going on between Medvedeva and Tuktamysheva for 3rd place!

Wow those are some amazing figures!

Out of interest though can Slutskaya and Butyrskaya not be beaten because the new generations rise so quickly and the previous one can't keep up or are the a lot fewer competitions now? (Or does it have to do with only doing 2 GP stages now? I know skaters used to do 3, but 1 didn't count towards making the GPF).

 

[Edwin]

Small feature on then 10 year old Dar'ya Sadkova, from Yoshkar-Ola.
This feature is for her to receive a grant, so she can advance in the sport.

She is 12 now, and currently listed under Khrustalniy and has been competing in the Junior Russian Cup.

Has she been awarded this grant and is her dream a bit closer to becoming reality?

A similar feature was also done by Alina Goncharova, who was then able to start training in Moscow.

 

[lopsilceci]

There were clips from Junior Worlds, Japan Open AND her both programmes for this season from the last Russian Cup (SP and FS) as well as her recent 4Lo. Not all were from her times with TT. None of the coaches were named, really, neither from the old, nor from the new team. Just for the record and to keep it straight
Anyway, just a nice interview targeting the general public outside of Russia, whose members, in general, do not care the slightest for all the recent drama, provided they ever even heard of it

In her channel there are videos about the Eteri vs Plush drama and even about Tonya and stories like that, so I wouldn't say that her audience is unaware of the drama.

 

[anonymoose_au]

In her channel there are videos about the Eteri vs Plush drama and even about Tonya and stories like that, so I wouldn't say that her audience is unaware of the drama.

Yeah but asking Sasha about it would be pretty tacky. To be honest it's not even really about her - if Masha (the interviewer) had Plushy or Eteri on her show it'd be fair enough, but what could she ask Sasha about it? "How does it feel to be taking this more maturely then the adults involved?"

 

[Jontor]

Wow those are some amazing figures!

Out of interest though can Slutskaya and Butyrskaya not be beaten because the new generations rise so quickly and the previous one can't keep up or are the a lot fewer competitions now? (Or does it have to do with only doing 2 GP stages now? I know skaters used to do 3, but 1 didn't count towards making the GPF).

Good question!

Slutskaya and Butyrskaya (and Olga Markova) never had the chance to compete at JGPs as it started in 1997, so there are lots of medals they could have added there. And also, the senior GPs started in 1996, so there is also potential medals for at least Butyrskaya and Markova that they never got. And there were loads of 15 year olds also back then, so the competition in Russia wasn't easier.

On the other hand, Butyrskaya and Slutskaya had 10 year careers, that is very difficult nowadays when the tech is so much more demanding. Back in those days they didn't do triples+triples combinations, and there was no 3As and quads.

Nevertheless, Butyrskaya, who was the first Russian lady to win the Worlds in 1999 had a pretty impressive program with 7 good triples +4 double jumps, which is somewhat comparable to today's standards if you don't count 3As and quads.

Butyrskaya's 1999 Worlds winning long program:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyp2xnlzx8w&t=216s

 

[Magill]

In her channel there are videos about the Eteri vs Plush drama and even about Tonya and stories like that, so I wouldn't say that her audience is unaware of the drama.

If you mean Tonya Harding, then that story is way better known in the West than any Eteri vs Plush incidents, and for many reasons, as it was much more serious, had extensive coverage on general news pages (not just sport pages) and a proper movie was made on it not so long ago, to name just a few. Sorry, but the interest of general public outside of Russia in the two stories cannot be even compared.

 

[Greengemmonster]

Ooh wow!!!! Go Zhenya!!!!!

May she heal and add some more medals to that collection!!!

 

[Lunalovesskating]

Wow those are some amazing figures!

Out of interest though can Slutskaya and Butyrskaya not be beaten because the new generations rise so quickly and the previous one can't keep up or are the a lot fewer competitions now? (Or does it have to do with only doing 2 GP stages now? I know skaters used to do 3, but 1 didn't count towards making the GPF).

Irina competed for 14 seasons, 12 as senior, 2 as junior (3 JWCs) so her high number of medals is given She had a long and successful career. I think Irina only went to three GPs per season in two seasons, so it does not make a big difference if you subtract the 3rd GP.
Maria had 10 senior seasons and 3 junior seasons (although I think she never went to Junior Worlds)
In comparison Evgenia collected these medals in 5 senior and 2 junior seasons (this season will be her 6th senior season).
Elizaveta collected hers in 9 senior seasons and entered her 10th senior season this year and had 2 junior seasons.

 

[Jontor]

Irina competed for 14 seasons, 12 as senior, 2 as junior (3 JWCs) so her high number of medals is given She had a long and successful career. I think Irina only went to three GPs per season in two seasons, so it does not make a big difference if you subtract the 3rd GP.
Maria had 10 senior seasons and 3 junior seasons (although I think she never went to Junior Worlds)
In comparison Evgenia collected these medals in 5 senior and 2 junior seasons (this season will be her 6th senior season).
Elizaveta collected hers in 9 senior seasons and entered her 10th senior season this year and had 2 junior seasons.

It's interesting though if you compare Medvedeva and Tuktamysheva. Zhenya has 8 junior medals over Liza's 4. Liza only really had one junior season. So if we compare the senior years, Liza would lead over Zhenya 21-20.

And don't forget, Irina and Maria never had the chance to go to the JGPs

 

[Scott512]

Ok. But, I was speaking in terms of overall competition. At Europeans, only the top 4 are capable of scoring over 200. At 4CC, the top 10 have realistic chances of doing that at any competition. So, to me 4CC is a more deep competition, Europeans is just a repeat of Russian nationals.

Interesting take.

 

[Thrashergurl]

Looking at the medal count makes me appreciate Medvedeva even more. Her career had been much shorter than Irina, Maria and Liza. Her medal count is impressive.

 

[Jeanie19]

Looking at the medal count makes me appreciate Medvedeva even more. Her career had been much shorter than Irina, Maria and Liza. Her medal count is impressive.

And Evgenia has 13 straight gold medals, only Sonja Heine had more.

 

[NaVi]

It's interesting though if you compare Medvedeva and Tuktamysheva. Zhenya has 8 junior medals over Liza's 4. Liza only really had one junior season. So if we compare the senior years, Liza would lead over Zhenya 21-20.

And don't forget, Irina and Maria never had the chance to go to the JGPs

Medvedeva was the first skater of the bunch that had to wait another year to skate as a senior.

A little OT trivia I stumbled upon while randomly searching through the archives yesterday.

Sarah Hughes was the last skater to skate at Senior Worlds at age 13 in 1999.
Elena Radionova was the last skater to skate at the Senior Grand Prix at age 14.

 

[Lunalovesskating]

It's interesting though if you compare Medvedeva and Tuktamysheva. Zhenya has 8 junior medals over Liza's 4. Liza only really had one junior season. So if we compare the senior years, Liza would lead over Zhenya 21-20.

And don't forget, Irina and Maria never had the chance to go to the JGPs

You can't really make that comparison due to different age rules back then. Skaters were allowed to compete as seniors on the GP as soon as they were 14y.o. back then (rule was changed to 15 years after 2014). So Liza spend her second junior season as a senior on the GP, as she was 14 and then decided to withdraw from her second Junior Worlds, which she qualified for, because she wanted to focus on her 3A (Yulia, Polina S. and Adelina went instead, they decided to do both junior and senior comps).
So if you really want to make a comparison you would have to subtract Liza's medals from her 1st senior/2nd junior season and add them to her junior medals to make it even for their senior medals count, since Liza was allowed to compete at the senior GP at a younger age.

 

[lopsilceci]

Yeah but asking Sasha about it would be pretty tacky. To be honest it's not even really about her - if Masha (the interviewer) had Plushy or Eteri on her show it'd be fair enough, but what could she ask Sasha about it? "How does it feel to be taking this more maturely then the adults involved?"

Oh no, I didn't mean that Masha should have asked her about the drama.
Sasha was her usual shy, giggly self and she handled it well, I just thought it was a boring interview from the interviewer's side. I had heard about her YT channel before but never watched her videos, so I watched this one out of curiosity to see what Masha was like as an interviewer and because of my interest in Sasha but, in the end, I was a bit disappointed that her questions were so repetitive and generic. I probably wouldn't watch her other videos. My highlight would be Sasha trying to speak spanish.

 

[ali0125]

So no Sinitsyna (What's up with her? I'm getting worried.)

I'm more worried too. Her instagram post a while ago - that weight loss reminded me of Mai last year .

 

[flanker]

I've already overcame the shock so I'll share with you what caused it. I intended to rewatch US Skate ladies free programs in full from the archive of the Czech TV, but just the start crushed me. During the first warm-up the moderators (again Langer accompanied with Kamberská, technical specialist, for instance she was a member of the tech panel at 2019 Worlds and 2020 Europeans) tried to talk about figure skating in broader context and of course soon mentioned Alina. I've learned, among other things, that she is hosting Ice Age, fine. With whom? With Plushenko!!!

There were other cases of complete mess of the information they gave (like "Alina messed programs at the last Worlds"!!! ), I've just put this one here to illustrate the "quality" level of the commenting of figure skating here and let you know what the local fan of figure skating has to face sometimes. Yesterday it crossed the the level I was able to withstand, so I've filled a complaint about the work with facts and their presenting, though I have only a little hope it will change something.

The other thing, less funny, is that Kamberská is tragically biased person and every time she's in the technical panel at the big competition I'm worrying about the impact of her bias on the work of the panel.

 

[Vandevska]

I've already overcame the shock so I'll share with you what caused it. I intended to rewatch US Skate ladies free programs in full from the archive of the Czech TV, but just the start crushed me. During the first warm-up the moderators (again Langer accompanied with Kamberská, technical specialist, for instance she was aprt of the tech panel at 2019 Worlds and 2020 Europeans) tried to talk about figure skating in broader context and of course soon mentioned Alina. I've learned, among other things, that she is hosting Ice Age, fine. With whom? With Plushenko!!!

There were other cases of complete mess of the infvormation they gave (like "Alina messed programs at the last Worlds"!!! ), I've just put this one here to illustrate the "quality" level of the commenting of figure skating here and let you know what the local fan of figure skating has to face sometimes. Yesterday it crossed the the level I was able to withstand, so I've filled a complaint about the work with facts and their presenting, though I have only a little hope it will change something.

The other thing, less funny, is that Kamberská is tragically biased person and every time she's in the technical panel at the big competition I'm worrying about the impact of her bias on the work of the panel.

Last Europeans were shown here on the 1tv in Macedonia and all of my colleagues were like "Hey you know there will be a stream bla bla" as if I didn't know hahaha. So, I decided to give it a go and see how it is. There we are, essentially the first warm up of the stronger skaters, Katya Ryabova is in the group and is there with Volkov, they show Volkov and the commentator says "There is Ekaterina Ryabova with her coach Pluschenko" (I assume she just read it from a piece of paper) and I swear I lost it.

I was like, maybe you don't recognize Volkov, but to not know that that guy is not Pluschenko is a crime given how famous he is! Needless to say, I ditched it for the Youtube stream....

 

[flanker]

Last Europeans were shown here on the 1tv in Macedonia and all of my colleagues were like "Hey you know there will be a stream bla bla" as if I didn't know hahaha. So, I decided to give it a go and see how it is. There we are, essentially the first warm up of the stronger skaters, Katya Ryabova is in the group and is there with Volkov, they show Volkov and the commentator says "There is Ekaterina Ryabova with her coach Pluschenko" (I assume she just read it from a piece of paper) and I swear I lost it.

I was like, maybe you don't recognize Volkov, but to not know that that guy is not Pluschenko is a crime given how famous he is! Needless to say, I ditched it for the Youtube stream....

Hey, Langer also several times called Gleichenhaus Dudakov (though he at least recognizes Plushenko and Volkov).