2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating

[karina17]

It was not a look of being upset it was a look of “how dare Anna” and then once she realized the camera was there it was immediately “oh $&@!”. Do you not expect your competitors to also perform? I’m not looking for reason to crap on her, lmao. I just genuinely do not get the hype.

A look of "How dare Anna"??

You're reaching. This is coming from an Anna diehard. You are reaching so far that even Kamila and Anna themselves would be jealous of your flexibility.

It's perfectly fine if you don't get the hype. I don't "connect" to her that much either. Personally, she's only started growing on me recently. But you're just making things up about her personality now and not only do you sound like you're bullying a kid, you also just sound outright ridiculous.

Anna is my favourite (along with Sasha), and yet I think it's fully reasonable that Kamila might've expected to win RusNats after her own skate there. Anna had JUST returned from an illness and was so sick that even their coaches were asking her to withdraw. I would assume Kamila was aware of this, and that she saw Anna flopping in official practice, which she was. All week. Most of the FS fandom was writing her off at that point. So Kamila might've jumped the gun, dared to hope for a win, got surprised by Anna's clutch gene along with the rest of the Internet, and I don't think she'll do it again, will she? She wasn't trying to be malicious or rude, she looked like she genuinely got caught off guard and that's very reasonable given the circumstances.

 

[Mauvedreamer]

This thread is depressing!! I don't understand why people have to put down one skater at the expense of another. All these Russian women are incredible athletes. I have no problem with people having their favourites but some of this is just so horrible to read and disrespectful to all these superb athletes who literally put in hours of training and dedication that is needed to compete at the highest level. Congratulations kamila, Lisa and Aliona 3 completely different styles of skating but how wonderful is that.

 

[sclloyd]

Yes, you shouldn't watch the Olympics if you feel this way. OR, you can try and enjoy the sport more objectively...it's more fun!

My objective opinion of the sport is that neither of those girls have memorable programs that would make me sit down to watch them more than once when they aren’t competing against girls I find engaging

This thread is depressing!! I don't understand why people have to put down one skater at the expense of another. All these Russian women are incredible athletes. I have no problem with people having their favourites but some of this is just so horrible to read and disrespectful to all these superb athletes who literally put in hours of training and dedication that is needed to compete at the highest level. Congratulations kamila, Lisa and Aliona 3 completely different styles of skating but how wonderful is that.

now imagine being the girl who puts in the hours and hours of training-- their entire life and blood-- and is subject to unfair judging at the whim of 40 year olds who should know better than to punish children for their own fantasies. either it is a sport or a popularity contest, and right now the judges are telling us its the latter.

 

[Fluture]

It was not a look of being upset it was a look of “how dare Anna” and then once she realized the camera was there it was immediately “oh $&@!”. Do you not expect your competitors to also perform? I’m not looking for reason to crap on her, lmao. I just genuinely do not get the hype.

Okay, so I‘m not a Kamila fan by any means but this is the biggest reach I‘ve ever seen. What‘s with the overanalysing of facial expressions of these literal children? It was a high pressure event and they stuck a camera in Kamila‘s face right when it became clear that she had been outperformed and would lose the Gold. She had, god forbid, the audacity to look upset before pulling herself together and applauding for Anna. How anyone can read anything malicious into that is beyond me.

 

[sclloyd]

A look of "How dare Anna"??

You're reaching. This is coming from an Anna diehard. You are reaching so far that even Kamila and Anna themselves would be jealous of your flexibility.

It's perfectly fine if you don't get the hype. I don't "connect" to her that much either. Personally, she's only started growing on me recently. But you're just making things up about her personality now and not only do you sound like you're bullying a kid, you also just sound outright ridiculous.

Anna is my favourite (along with Sasha), and yet I think it's fully reasonable that Kamila might've expected to win RusNats after her own skate there. Anna had JUST returned from an illness and was so sick that even their coaches were asking her to withdraw. I would assume Kamila was aware of this, and that she saw Anna flopping in official practice, which she was. All week. Most of the FS fandom was writing her off at that point. So Kamila might've jumped the gun, dared to hope for a win, got surprised by Anna's clutch gene along with the rest of the Internet, and I don't think she'll do it again, will she? She wasn't trying to be malicious or rude, she looked like she genuinely got caught off guard and that's very reasonable given the circumstances.

disappointment has been shown in more gracious ways before… I just don’t like her personality, she never comes across as endearing. she never comes across as grateful. she expects her spot and is upset when she’s fairly bested for it. that’s not bullying a child to call it out. bullying a child is if I go to her Instagram and talk about how much I hate her and what an awful skater! neither are true. but you get the point.

 

[Thrashergurl]

yes, because she was chosen. Thats how it works. Her skating is still juniorish

Ummmm. I didn’t imply that at all.

 

[lurkerghost1]

yes, because she was chosen. Thats how it works. Her skating is still juniorish

Her skating is more complete and full than Tuktamysheva, Trusova, and Shcherbakova. In Alena's current condition Valieva is ahead of her too. Ironically the other two new seniors - Usacheva and Khromykh - are the ones matching Valieva with the combination of speed, skating skills, elegance, and power that people refer to as "senior skating." Tuktamysheva and Shcherbakova have their own unique style and voice on the ice which is another part of "senior skating" but Kamila has her signature and iconic moments on ice too with her flexibility and leg strength just like the great skaters in history.

We need a...

Season's Best List update - after 14 out of 28 competitions (we're halfway!)

1. Kamila Valieva - Rus - 265.08 GP Skate Canada (another new World record!!)
2. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva - Rus - 233.30 CS Finlandia Trophy
3. Sofia Akatieva (J) - Rus - 233.08 JGP Krasnoyarsk (junior world record)
4. Alexandra Trusova - Rus - 232.37 GP Skate America
6. Alëna Kostornaia - Rus - 218.83 CS Finlandia Trophy
7. Daria Usacheva - Rus - 217.31 GP Skate America
9. Veronika Zhilina (J) - Rus - 216.92 JGP Kosice
12. Sofia Muravieva - Rus - 211.81 JGP Linz
13. Adelia Petrosian - Rus - 210.57 JGP Ljubljana
16. Anastasia Zinina - Rus - 206.20 JGP Krasnoyarsk
17. Kseniia Sinitsyna - Rus - 205.76 GP Skate America
18. Sofia Samodelkina - Rus - 205.67 JGP Ljubljana
26. Elizaveta Kulikova (J) - Rus - 196.83 JGP Krasnoyarsk
27. Elizaveta Berestovskaya (J) - Rus - 196.07 JGP Krasnoyarsk
32. Maria Zakharova (J) - Rus - 190.33 JGP Kosice

Top 24 are guaranteed a spot at next year's senior GPs, except for (J).
The whole top 24 is already over 200 points, so it's look tougher than ever this season.

Still Shcherbakova, Khromykh and other big guns to go.

Sinitsyna should be in bold too. Wow it's amazing to see the Russian ladies dominate. If Samodelkina gets it together and makes the junior worlds team they could have possibly 12 skaters above 210 points aka 12 skaters who would have won World Silver 2018. Amazing.

Like I hate it. I don’t get why I hate it or why I can’t seem to connect with Kamila but like, if this is the Olympic team I’m not even going to bother watching the whole thing, tbh. The programs bother me, and of all the Russians these two rub me the wrong way most. Can’t get over Kamila just expecting to win RusNats last year, Bolero is a train wreck, Liza is over scored, and I just don’t relate to either of their personalities or how they come across on ice. I just want a 3A Olympic podium. Shred me, but those are my thoughts. And YES. Kamila was chosen. Anna has beautiful spins and Sasha has beautiful jumps and Aliona at the very least HAD beautiful components and none of them have been awarded for any of those talents the way Kamila is. It’s disappointing.

I will shred you. The fans who wanted/believed in a 3A Olympic podium were blind to the future just like the fans who thought that Medvedeva and Zagitova would have any shot of sticking around once the 3A arrived. For Valieva-Usacheva-Khromykh the same is true. They only have a couple years themselves before Akatieva, Zhilina, and company. That's the way the system works right now. But if you don't like Kamila don't worry, she will be no exception, she will struggle with motivation and growth just like Zagitova did after winning when facing off against a girl hungry for titles like Akatieva. Only someone like Tuktamysheva who has the luxury of being the top dog at her training camp can stick around.

Why should Kamila not expect to win Rusnats last year? She's an athlete, she has an athlete's mindset.
Why should she not be chosen? This is not special. Tuktamysheva was "chosen" in 14-15. Medvedeva in 15-16 and 16-17. Zagitova in 17-18 and 18-19. Kihira threatened in 2018 through pure BV advantage but she took herself out of contention with inconsistency. Kostornaia seized the opportunity in 19-20 when Trusova showed nerves. Anna was clearly the chosen one in 20-21, scoring better at Rusnats 2021 with 2 quads then at Rusnats 2020 with 3 quads.

Valieva continues the cycle. In fact I'd say she's more deserving of being "chosen" because she has it all: like you said Anna has spins and Sasha has quads and Aliona had components and they were ALL rewarded as new seniors for them. here is the narrative I just described in chart form. Notice the PCS boost they all get in their chosen season including Kihira in 18-19.

 

[Minz]

Okay, so I‘m not a Kamila fan by any means but this is the biggest reach I‘ve ever seen. What‘s with the overanalysing of facial expressions of these literal children? It was a high pressure event and they stuck a camera in Kamila‘s face right when it became clear that she had been outperformed and would lose the Gold. She had, god forbid, the audacity to look upset before pulling herself together and applauding for Anna. How anyone can read anything malicious into that is beyond me.

Also, someone pointed this out at the time - It could have been slightly delayed footage and Kamila actually applauded right after Anna finished.

 

[Lzbee]

Kamila's sweet and funny in interviews, I like her as a person even if her skating doesn't give me "the feels". I also wish we could've had one more year of 3A glory but there's no denying that Kamila is ahead of everyone at the moment.

With everyone around her constantly crowning her OGM, I'm sure it's hard not to get caught up in it for one so young. It's not so wrong for her to feel upset at being beaten.

 

[bookofcharms]

now imagine being the girl who puts in the hours and hours of training-- their entire life and blood-- and is subject to unfair judging at the whim of 40 year olds who should know better than to punish children for their own fantasies. either it is a sport or a popularity contest, and right now the judges are telling us its the latter.

This has been going on for years and years. It's why so many girls get churned through the sport and end up exiting with psychological damage and eating disorders. But by the time that happens, there's a new batch of 'it' girls and no one cares.

 

[flanker]

One thing is to question skaters scores and performances, the completely other one is to question their characters.

Just for bringing this to another way:

 

[lurkerghost1]

This thread is depressing!! I don't understand why people have to put down one skater at the expense of another. All these Russian women are incredible athletes. I have no problem with people having their favourites but some of this is just so horrible to read and disrespectful to all these superb athletes who literally put in hours of training and dedication that is needed to compete at the highest level. Congratulations kamila, Lisa and Aliona 3 completely different styles of skating but how wonderful is that.

thank you. sometimes i am too negative but yes how amazing to see a GP podium sweep with 6 programs showing off all their hard work and motivation. All the Russian women put in the work this season and none of them embarrass themselves

 

[Jontor]

My objective opinion of the sport is that neither of those girls have memorable programs that would make me sit down to watch them more than once when they aren’t competing against girls I find engaging

now imagine being the girl who puts in the hours and hours of training-- their entire life and blood-- and is subject to unfair judging at the whim of 40 year olds who should know better than to punish children for their own fantasies. either it is a sport or a popularity contest, and right now the judges are telling us its the latter.

I see no objectivity whatsoever in what you just said.

 

[Thrashergurl]

I don’t think there’s any denying that Kamila is the #1 Russian lady skater right now and favorite for Olympic gold. I also don’t think it’s fair to think she’s a poor sport or bad person for showing feelings of disappointment in loss. These girls all work hard towards one common goal. There’s going to be disappointment. She’s human.
I also feel a little bad for those die hard fans of particular skaters that didn’t prepare themselves for the inevitable. We see this happen every year. We saw Alina overtake Zhenya and the 3A take over Alina. Enter Kamila. It’s sport.

 

[sclloyd]

Her skating is more complete and full than Tuktamysheva, Trusova, and Shcherbakova. In Alena's current condition Valieva is ahead of her too. Ironically the other two new seniors - Usacheva and Khromykh - are the ones matching Valieva with the combination of speed, skating skills, elegance, and power that people refer to as "senior skating." Tuktamysheva and Shcherbakova have their own unique style and voice on the ice which is another part of "senior skating" but Kamila has her signature and iconic moments on ice too with her flexibility and leg strength just like the great skaters in history.

Sinitsyna should be in bold too. Wow it's amazing to see the Russian ladies dominate. If Samodelkina gets it together and makes the junior worlds team they could have possibly 12 skaters above 210 points aka 12 skaters who would have won World Silver 2018. Amazing.

I will shred you. The fans who wanted/believed in a 3A Olympic podium were blind to the future just like the fans who thought that Medvedeva and Zagitova would have any shot of sticking around once the 3A arrived. For Valieva-Usacheva-Khromykh the same is true. They only have a couple years themselves before Akatieva, Zhilina, and company. That's the way the system works right now. But if you don't like Kamila don't worry, she will be no exception, she will struggle with motivation and growth just like Zagitova did after winning when facing off against a girl hungry for titles like Akatieva. Only someone like Tuktamysheva who has the luxury of being the top dog at her training camp can stick around.

Why should Kamila not expect to win Rusnats last year? She's an athlete, she has an athlete's mindset.
Why should she not be chosen? This is not special. Tuktamysheva was "chosen" in 14-15. Medvedeva in 15-16 and 16-17. Zagitova in 17-18 and 18-19. Kihira threatened in 2018 through pure BV advantage but she took herself out of contention with inconsistency. Kostornaia seized the opportunity in 19-20 when Trusova showed nerves. Anna was clearly the chosen one in 20-21, scoring better at Rusnats 2021 with 2 quads then at Rusnats 2020 with 3 quads.

Valieva continues the cycle. In fact I'd say she's more deserving of being "chosen" because she has it all: like you said Anna has spins and Sasha has quads and Aliona had components and they were ALL rewarded as new seniors for them. here is the narrative I just described in chart form. Notice the PCS boost they all get in their chosen season including Kihira in 18-19.

Nah, I quite like Maia and Daria, they have much more on-ice presence. If the 3A were replaced by one of them I’d be less peeved because we see them struggle and grow and have to work for their reputation. I just don’t like the haughty attitude and I don’t like people pretending Bolero is a masterpiece Kamila is good, but people are allowed to dislike her, lmao.

 

[sclloyd]

I don’t think there’s any denying that Kamila is the #1 Russian lady skater right now and favorite for Olympic gold. I also don’t think it’s fair to think she’s a poor sport or bad person for showing feelings of disappointment in loss. These girls all work hard towards one common goal. There’s going to be disappointment. She’s human.
I also feel a little bad for those die hard fans of particular skaters that didn’t prepare themselves for the inevitable. We see this happen every year. We saw Alina overtake Zhenya and the 3A take over Alina. Enter Kamila. It’s sport.

It’s not showing disappointment, it’s the way it’s expressed. I figured the 3A would be replaced, ofc. That I don’t care about. Giving Kami the world because ??? when every other Russian lady has had to fight tooth and nail to get what she gets for the same achievements makes the sport sort of a joke.

 

[Jontor]

Sinitsyna should be in bold too. Wow it's amazing to see the Russian ladies dominate. If Samodelkina gets it together and makes the junior worlds team they could have possibly 12 skaters above 210 points aka 12 skaters who would have won World Silver 2018. Amazing.

Fixed it. Thank you!

 

[icybear]

Oh good thing she has a dress underneath, not a bra this time.

 

[Jontor]

It’s not showing disappointment, it’s the way it’s expressed. I figured the 3A would be replaced, ofc. That I don’t care about. Giving Kami the world because ??? when every other Russian lady has had to fight tooth and nail to get what she gets for the same achievements makes the sport sort of a joke.

But that IS the sport. The other Russian Women don't have the same achievements.

 

[lurkerghost1]

Nah, I quite like Maia and Daria, they have much more on-ice presence. If the 3A were replaced by one of them I’d be less peeved because we see them struggle and grow and have to work for their reputation. I just don’t like the haughty attitude and I don’t like people pretending Bolero is a masterpiece Kamila is good, but people are allowed to dislike her, lmao.

Oh trust me Bolero is no masterpiece. The Olympic programs in almost every discipline are pretty disappointing this season and unfortunately that includes Kamila. Her best program remains Girl on a Ball imo. However that doesn't change the fact that as a skater she is revolutionary. If Midori Ito and Trusova were like Kurt Browning and Tim Goebel in pushing the technical content, then Kamila is like the Patrick Chan, the first one to combine superior tech with superior artistry. And we have seen Kamila grow and struggle too, she has had just as many meltdown skates as Daria and almost as many as Maia. In fact Trusova and Kostornaia were basically the only ones who never struggled in juniors, it's ironic how much they have in seniors.

It’s not showing disappointment, it’s the way it’s expressed. I figured the 3A would be replaced, ofc. That I don’t care about. Giving Kami the world because ??? when every other Russian lady has had to fight tooth and nail to get what she gets for the same achievements makes the sport sort of a joke.

"Every other Russian lady has had to fight tooth and nail to get what she gets" Medvedeva's 78 PCS at the Olympics, Zagitova's 75 PCS at the Olympics (in her debut season), Alena's 73 PCS at Europeans in her debut season say otherwise. The ones who have fought tooth and nail for their scores: Tuktamysheva of course, and perhaps Gubanova. In the last ten years, Mao Asada was the only one who had to fight the judges for every tenth of a point, more than any other lady in Russia, Japan, or anywhere else. I cannot think of any other skater who got the benefit of the doubt as rarely as Mao.