2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[brakes]

I am just going to say that to me Alyona Kostornaya is the best ladies skater ever after Yuna Kim and I will be outraged If she is left out from the Olympic team because of skaters like Valieva, Shcherbakova and Usachyova (Hahaha) who cannot compare to her AT ALL.
Two of these Hahaha skaters were completely overscored today. Poor Sasha who is really improving these days.

Kostornaya is skating slow and two-footed most of the time, look below the knees and you'll see how much faster are those three you mentioned. She's beautiful from waist up, with elegant arms and perfect package, very good flow, but her speed, edges and turns are average.

Play her video, watch her feet only, then watch Shcherbakova, Valieva and Usacheva the same way, come back and tell me I'm wrong.

 

[silveruskate]

Kamila's technical scores for spins were absolutely fine since they truly are incredible. Step sequence, her SS are great but I don't think the step sequence itself was so good....but that wouldn't be so much less points-wise either.

The jumps were so overscored though, even for a national competition. Her 3Lz-3T was no way better than Sasha's. Daria's 3F-3T with the crazy transition was less than Kamila's 3F.....but the absolutely most obvious signal that they were backing her compared to any other skater was that her 2A was really sketchy and much worse than Daria's, but still Daria couldn't get more GOE than her.

This really isn't even Eteri bonus now, they have just decided to push her above any other skater including Eteri's OWN skaters.

 

[flanker]

Fed's faith in Sasha's abitlity to deliver when it matter could have been restored only with a cleanly landed 3A.

Fed gives gifts to Eteri's skaters because since many years they are the ones who deliver. Even when Zagitova became inconsistent they still pushed her because they knew it was probably their best chance for worlds gold. And they dropped her as soon as they got skaters with better chances.

If Sasha skate cleanly tomorrow with 3 quads, fed can be generous with her again.

The thing is some people were cheering for that last season. They shouldn't be surprised it turned against them now.

 

[Fluture]

Play her video, watch her feet only, then watch Shcherbakova

You‘re not seriously saying Shcherbakova has better speed and skating skills than Kostornaia? I mean, I know you are but what even... Anna has many strengths but skating skills and bladework aren‘t among them. Whereas Aliona has always been known for her excellent quality in those areas...

 

[flanker]

I bet it would be better to stay off the RLT till the 2nd stage will be over and probably some more days after...

 

[blue_ice]

Valieva is magnificent. Her SP today was a piece of art.

 

[yume]

The thing is some people were cheering for that last season. They shouldn't be surprised it turned against them now.

Politics exist and are bad when they don't favor your fave (or favor a coach/skater that you dislike). Politics don't exist when your fave gets high scores, he/she deserves them.

 

[NAOTMAA]

Valieva can be Senior and junior national champion this season.
I guess that Sotnikova already achieved that. With Tuktik she was in the wave who started the revolution of Russian ladies skating.

Well Sotnikova did win the Olympics so .....

And wasn't she a favorite of TAT too

 

[Skatesocs]

I bet it would be better to stay off the RLT till the 2nd stage will be over and probably some more days after...

Or ever, as it sometimes feels.

Yo, @Jontor, agree with the scores or not?

 

[Jontor]

Better question, why have they suddenly decided to heavily back a junior who until the end of last season was barely skating clean in competition, doesn’t have any of the difficult elements, and is perpetually an afterthought over her more accomplished teammate, instead of an established senior who is far above the field in technical ability, has improved leaps and bounds in all other aspects of her skating, and is practically unbeatable when clean. Seriously who is the more promising candidate for Olympic medals here? I don’t understand why they feel the need to torpedo their most promising athletes to promote a current junior who was barely in any Olympic conversation until about 6 months ago

No one is denying Sasha's technical ability, she is amazing. But unfortunately, you don't win competitions with ability. You have to be clean. And it is even more important on difficult elements. It was a great attempt today by Sasha to do a 3A, but she lost over 4 points for her hand down and stepout. So in the end it scored only about 1 more point than if she had done a perfect 2A.
This is how unforgiving the +5/-5 system is. Before two seasons ago Sasha would have won everything with technical content only, the difference now is that she has to deliver that technical content to win. Is that unfair?

 

[nussnacker]

Kostornaya is skating slow and two-footed most of the time, look below the knees and you'll see how much faster are those three you mentioned. She's beautiful from waist up, with elegant arms and perfect package, very good flow, but her speed, edges and turns are very average.

Play her video, watch her feet only and tell me I'm wrong.

You’re wrong. Aliona is very fast, and her edges are very deep too. She’s so masterful, I don’t get the outrage about 89 points. I would’ve given that to her internationally too. Everything she does is a +5 for me.

 

[Shayuki]

Haah, Valieva's just so good. And this SP was much better than even what she did last season. When's the last time I saw something like this...

By the way, I wish coaches would wear the mask properly if they're going to wear one. Not covering the nose makes the mask do absolutely nothing...

 

[Baron Vladimir]

I really don't understand the outcry here. Problem with todays Sasha's performance is clear to me - she wanted to include 3A in her programme, which because wasn't performed clean gave her just one point more than what double axel would gave her. She also messed up her flip edge and her combo spin. So, basically only one jumping element is performed on the highest level. And by being messy she lost some points in components too. Comparing to that, and im talking from my impression from watching them in a real time, Kamila and Daria programme looked pristine and clean, with great spins. If Sasha was working on her other elements instead of a 3A and skated them clean and on a higher level, she would with a 2A score over 80 points too

 

[Lzbee]

I like all the Russian ladies, but Sasha is definitely my fav, she just has that it factor to me. And not just for the jumps, like the whole package. I could watch her programs all day and not get bored, which I know is contrary to most. So personally, I find her artistic and smooth, I think her PCS are quite good. I think you can't make a direct comparison with her skating as with Kamila, Daria, and Anya because they have a very different style than Sasha, and it seems most people prefer their style over Sasha's, including the judges. I'm happy the 3A and coaching team are working out for her, but I just wish more people would see her how I do, as I think she is lovely and deserves a bit better.
Side note, I was surprised to see such hate on her dress, I thought she looked like a little garden fairy princess. I liked it, but one of my favorite colors is also green, so maybe that's why.

...

Like you, I've always loved Sasha's powerful style, it's different and stands out from the sea of ice princesses that the skating world seems to prefer. She's doing well with the change in style but it's frustrating that she is forced to conform to try and get higher scores. Likewise, I've seen people say that Alena's new SP is terrible and "not classy enough" and that it will/should affect her PCS. Don't get me wrong, I love me some elegance but it's a pet peeve that other styles are just not as accepted in figure skating...

Anyway, I'm very sad for Sasha after seeing the scores. To put into perspective, Alena also "only" got 77 on her first outing with the 3A in the SP so that is comparable but the huge 10 point gap from Valieva with no 3A feels like a vote of no confidence from Rus Fed.

Team Tut really are incredibly good at packaging. Valieva's dress has a slightly awkward cut but it fits her style perfectly, she has the look of a champion. I wasn't a fan of her last season but she is very good and will be front runner in the lead up to Olympics, Rus Fed will make sure of it regardless.

Usacheva was my favourite of the juniors last year so it's great to see her get over her nerves and deliver a beautiful program. Again, I have to praise Eteri's packaging here, I think they managed to convey the image of Daria they wanted very well.

The two juniors skated very well today but I must say I'm not sure how I feel about the scoring because it feels like the seniors, who have only been senior for a year, are already being pushed out before they've even started to regress because the next new shiny star is coming.

 

[yume]

Well Sotnikova did win the Olympics so .....

And wasn't she a favorite of TAT too

Is Valieva a fave of TAT?

 

[Jontor]

Or ever, as it sometimes feels.

Yo, @Jontor, agree with the scores or not?

Yo, Skatesocs. Agreed! It looks like we came to the same conclusion but with slightly different numbers. That is, of course, if you were scoring a hypothetical clean Sasha.

 

[lesnar001]

No one is denying Sasha's technical ability, she is amazing. But unfortunately, you don't win competitions with ability. You have to be clean. And it is even more important on difficult elements. It was a great attempt today by Sasha to do a 3A, but she lost over 4 points for her hand down and stepout. So in the end it scored only about 1 more point than if she had done a perfect 2A.
This is how unforgiving the +5/-5 system is. Before two seasons ago Sasha would have won everything with technical content only, the difference now is that she has to deliver that technical content to win. Is that unfair?

Maybe even scored about the same as a perfect 2A?
She also sacrificed transitions in the entry to the 3A, which would not have been the case with a 2A.

 

[icybear]

PCS wise should have been 1 Kamila, 2 Daria, 3 Stanislava 3 Alexandra

 

[nussnacker]

I find it kind of interesting that Stasya was scored very generously as a junior and her first senior year, especially on all domestic competitions, she was also pushed for GPs and challengers more, than some other more deserving skaters (my personal opinion), but last year it changed it looks like. Tbh, I was never a big fan of her skating and never understood what made her score so well. Her crossovers really bug me for some reason, so does her posture and her arms.

 

[blue_ice]

Plushenko molding Sasha into an ice princess, which she is not. Giving her lyrical music, which is not her style. Trusova is a Russian rocket, tornado, ACTION. NOT A PRINCESS. Tutberidze realized that and was not trying to make a princess out of Shasha. I hope Plushenko will stop trying to make Sasha what she is not.
Her SP was just odd today, awkward, not Sasha.