2020 Rostelecom Cup: Ladies SP

[gsk8]

Kostornaia in command at Rostelecom Cup | Golden Skate

Alena Kostornaia of Russia dominated the Ladies event in the Short Program at the 2020 Rostelecom Cup in Moscow on Friday.

www.goldenskate.com

A few surprises here, right? What are your thoughts and observations?

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

No big surprises IMO. Sasha hasn't landed the 3A yet so it was likely to be a high risk element, and Alena skated another clean, safe SP. The only thing that surprised me was how well Liza did on everything except the jumps. If Alena doesn't get the 3A back, Liza has a small but legitimate shot to get a Worlds spot.

 

[Tolstoj]

Alyona Kostornaya was already a step forward from last competition, it's only going to get better once she restores the 3a.

I think Liza Tuktamysheva here really had a shot to lead with a clean program, the 3a was stunning, the rest not as great. I do see some big improvements on her spins, the program is good.

Trusova was surprising the attempt on the 3a, cause she landed one in the warmup beautifully. The rest of the program was good, perhaps a little slow on the biellmann. The program is nice but she skated it better at previous competitions. She has a very ambitious free so she can still recover points.

As for the others i was happy to see Gulyakova and Nugumanova doing well here, hope they can skate clean in the free.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Trusova was surprising the attempt on the 3a, cause she landed one in the warmup beautifully.

What I admire about her is that she never holds back. You could tell with the slight delay at take-off her body knew the jump was off but she went for it anyway. She has the fearlessness of a champion.

 

[lzxnl]

Kostornaia's 3Lz edge looks pretty inside to me. I'm also not sure about the rotation of the three toe jumps.

 

[skylark]

Alena Kostornaya was really present in her choreography today. That's what I enjoyed the most about today's competition. The only previous time I'd seen her skate this season (at the test skates), it seemed to me that everything was there, her moves, her little touches, but something was missing -- it was Alena. Today, I could see her exquisite timing of her moves to the music, her character, her charisma and sparkle. Very enjoyable. She still has things to work on. I'm really looking forward to her FS.

Spartacus is my favorite program of Elizaveta T's, ever. It's as though she's finally gotten the idea that the program and the music are as important as beautiful technique. Her triple axel was so beautiful that it seemed like perfection.

I enjoy Trusova, and I think she's really thrived with Plushenko. If she performs her FS tomorrow as she has in the past, she should easily make up the difference. But that's the question. So many quads are risky. I admire that she never holds back, but I think she'd actually do better with fewer quads in her FS. But that's clearly what she wants to do more than anything, so who can argue with that!

 

[anonymoose_au]

What I admire about her is that she never holds back. You could tell with the slight delay at take-off her body knew the jump was off but she went for it anyway. She has the fearlessness of a champion.

Yes! It's interesting how she and Aliona have opposite approaches, Aliona not wanting to put the 3A until she's confident that she's more likely to land it then not, while Sasha goes for it. Although Sasha seems to be able to land the 3As in practice and even during the warm-ups while Aliona doesn't seem to have it back yet, which also plays into it I guess!

I actually woke up to watch this and was glad I did because there were some really great skates. Liza N is such a beautiful skater, she's just so light on her feet, like she's floating over the ice, a real ballerina!

Liza T's 3A was epic! I thought it was a double she did it so easily! The rest of the jumps though, dang! However, I thought her interpretation was just fab. I have my fingers crossed for her.

Also with regards to Sasha T, I'm super impressed by how she concentrated on delivering the program even after the 3A mistake. She loves to jump of course, but she seems to be branching out performance wise and good for her.

As always I enjoyed Sofia Sam! Who choreo'ed her program? I like it a lot, it's sort of hypnotic I wish she could conquer the URs though!

Finally Aliona, I love her step sequence with the crown bit She seems to be getting more into the program so that's good. I wonder how she'll go in the FS?

Bit sad for Rina Ryabova, she did so well last year and I love her program, I have my fingers crossed for her in the FS!

I enjoy pretty much all the ladies actually! I'm also hoping Eva-Lotta has a great skate, the crowd got behind her during her SP which was cool

Good luck to all the ladies for the Free!

 

[readernick]

I think Liza Tuktamysheva here really had a shot to lead with a clean program, the 3a was stunning, the rest not as great. I do see some big improvements on her spins, the program is good.

Yes, I was very impressed by her. I would definitely have had her in the lead with a clean flip and.a 3-3. The non jump elements were much improved!

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Yes! It's interesting how she and Aliona have opposite approaches, Aliona not wanting to put the 3A until she's confident that she's more likely to land it then not, while Sasha goes for it. Although Sasha seems to be able to land the 3As in practice and even during the warm-ups while Aliona doesn't seem to have it back yet, which also plays into I guess!

I liked watching the warm-up to see how confident Liza and Sasha were with the 3A. Sasha landed only one of the three cleanly that I saw, whereas Liza did three perfect ones. I guess Sasha feels like can afford to take the risk because she can make up for a shaky SP with quads in the long, whereas Alena might not have won the SP with a failed 3A.

 

[Skater Boy]

Interesting. I didn't think any of the skaters were super sharp but it is hard with Covid and few well no "real" international competitions. I admire Trusova going for it. She missed the axel but might be good timing that she is still trying and coming close to big jumps even with all her growth. Liza looks good but she needs to do something about her pcs. Aliona was the class of the field but h er jumps are iffy. So right now team Team Rika K. I am wondering though about Anna S, Evgenia who is injured, Valieva, - I thought Russia had more depth than this.

 

[McBibus]

Woman of the day for the SP: Liza Nugumanova.

It could have been the other Liza if clean. I really liked her more than ever yesterday.

Aliona is growing, but still far from her best form. Forget the 3A for now, her superb quality in the elements is not there yet.
Anyway, even when not letting it go completely and despite the critics , She's something unique to see.
She exudes charisma and emotions.
She's an artist at heart.
I'm not talking of tempo, musicality, elegance or other things that can translate in skating scores: I'm talking about the innate ability to communicate without or beyond words while performing.

What's with Sasha and her 3A? It was not even a real try: if was a shy try ended up in something between a 2A and a 3A.
Her body can do it. Can her mind?
This tendency really start to worry me.
I hoped last year could be the exception of non delivering, but she couls overcome this empass.
Please do not prove me wrong supergirl.

Samodurova seems to have dealt with her growth and found some of her confidence, but her scores are not rising. What can she do to return to her top?

 

[readernick]

Woman of the day for the SP: Liza Nugumanova.

It could have been the other Liza if clean. I really liked her more than ever yesterday.

What's with Sasha and her 3A? It was not even a real try: if was a shy try ended up in something between a 2A and a 3A.
Her body can do it. Can her mind?
This tendency really start to worry me.
I hoped last year could be the exception of non delivering, but she couls overcome this empass.
Please do not prove me wrong supergirl.

Agree with you about the two Liza's. Liza N. is such a beautiful skater. (definitely my favorite of the night) Liza T. is really improving!

I think it is amazing that Trusova even went for the 3A. Her timing and take off were completely wrong. 95% of skaters should have popped, but she forced herself to rotate against her body's will. That is why she's a superhero. Anyway, it is normal to struggle with new difficulty elements. She will get it eventually!