2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating

[chasingneverland]

Question about funding/national team: if I understand correctly that there is a pretty limited number spots on the senior national team (6?) and this season to keep their funding Alina and Evgenia were still on it and it passed cause there were not too many actually active senior ladies to take up those spots. But next year it will be Alena, Sasha, Anna, Liza, Kamila, Darya, Maya for sure. So what happens to Alina and Evgenia?

They list them as alternates so they can keep their funding? Do they actually keep it as alternates o is it reduced? And if they lose the funding, how big of a deal is that actually for those two that have pretty decent incomes from media, sponsors and shows?

That is the question haha.

There are 6 spots unless they use a spot from another discipline - but then that means that discipline will have 5 instead. And they have a billion athlete who qualify (or would normally).

They also have 3 alternate spots. They can still compete for Russia internationally. And they still do get funding but as I understand it's less.

Evgenia if she wants a spot will probably be alternate if she wants it. I don't think Alina will stay (or really come back to training) although if she wants to the Fed will give her alternate most likely - it's an Olympic year and she's the reigning OGM. However, I don't think she will.

Evgenia and Alina don't need the funding. They arguably didn't earlier either really. They were kept on the team mainly because of their resume - the Fed kinda made Alina in particular stay on the team. Evgenia actually wanted to keep skating.

 

[Amei]

So has Evgenia been dropped by Nike judging by her new sponsor with another sportswear called Ozon? And she no longer has Nike in her bio with her other sponsors.

I would think if she's openly wearing/advertising for a different athletic brand that Nike and her are no longer working together, they wouldn't take too kindly to her wearing another brand unless its like the official National team outfit. Which makes sense for Nike, they have Shcherbakova as a spokesperson, is figure skating that big to support having 2 female skating athletes?

 

[chasingneverland]

For me keeping the rules as they are is already good news. Russia can get all GPF, there are multiple challengers to send different skaters there. And with the quota of 3 the Olympics podium sweep is more than feasible. After that team B can be sent to the worlds to compete for the second sweep. I just hope that ISU don't devise "improvements" in the rules.

The argument of other countries' being able to create the miracle off-season is weak. They could not do it pre coronavirus - why would they be able to do it now? The only "rays of hope" were Alysa and Rika. But Alysa is very different after the puberty. With her the focus has shifted to "better artistry". Alas, these are the words when jumps are no longer there. And with Rika I said already more than once that the age of superstars like Michelle, Yuna, Mao, Caro, etc. is gone. Those superstars would fail now vs. the new Russian crops. You can call them "products", "robots", "conveyor", "sonograms", whatever. All these terms are just the mask for jealosy, unhappinness, desperation. There is a system now with 5+ top level skaters in Russia. All of them are human beings with their life stories, illnesses, injuries, dramas, etc. The point is that out of them 3 will compete at a given championship and they will be those who are most ready at a given point of time. It's a machine as they named it during TV1 cup. Having just 1 "superstar" who is not better than any of those skaters you won't be able to compete with The Machine.

Come on. Who will jump quads next season? Rika? Well, many hoped that she is "The one", the hope dies last as they say. Rika had her best chance in Saitama in 2019. The gap between her and the top Russians is just getting wider. Who else? Looks like no one.

And that makes me nervous. The status quo is way too obvious for some people to take actions against it changing the rules. That's why I want everything to stay the way it is now. От добра добра не ищут - do not mess with success...

LOL Sonograms??

Well Alysa was able to beat Daria and Maiia. Yes she's dealing with puberty but it hasn't been an easy year for the Russians either. Kaori was able to beat Liza. She could also beat Daria and probably Maiia as well. Yes you can argue the Russian ladies are more consistent but they were able to practice and skate all season. All other countries couldn't do that. Rika wasn't even able to practice for awhile. And yes she as injured but so was Sasha at Rostelecom and we saw how that went. And none of Anna, Sasha, or Liza had perfect skates at World's.
And Rika's quad is right now as stable as Maiia's is. It's as stable as Liza T's is. I

 

[chasingneverland]

I would think if she's openly wearing/advertising for a different athletic brand that Nike and her are no longer working together, they wouldn't take too kindly to her wearing another brand unless its like the official National team outfit. Which makes sense for Nike, they have Shcherbakova as a spokesperson, is figure skating that big to support having 2 female skating athletes?

Apparently Ozon isn't an athletic brand? But also we don't know at what point her contract with Nike terminated.

Also they definitely had both Evgenia and Anna before. Anna's been signed for at least a little over a year and Evgenia was still with them at the time.

 

[[email protected]]

LOL Sonograms??

Well Alysa was able to beat Daria and Maiia. Yes she's dealing with puberty but it hasn't been an easy year for the Russians either. Kaori was able to beat Liza. She could also beat Daria and probably Maiia as well. Yes you can argue the Russian ladies are more consistent but they were able to practice and skate all season. All other countries couldn't do that. Rika wasn't even able to practice for awhile. And yes she as injured but so was Sasha at Rostelecom and we saw how that went. And none of Anna, Sasha, or Liza had perfect skates at World's.
And Rika's quad is right now as stable as Maiia's is. It's as stable as Liza T's is. I

That's not me - that's Ashley Wagner.

You cannot be serious if you use Alysa as an argument. Take her best skate in 2020-21 season and compare it with the best skate of Daria and Maia. It is group 2-3 vs. Group 6.

It took Eteri 10 years to build The Machine. My point is that having on board Kamila-Anna-Sasha-Alyona-Darya-Maia with Liza who claims to practice 4Lz as a stimulant she can pick 3 best ready when that matters. Then you have Rika with her personal story and...well no one. Other girls are just not competitive with the ones mentioned. Kaori could be if she added an ultra-C element next season. Will she? Otherwise, sorry - no chances. And Liza is not a good example. She has to raise the ante substantially to get in the team next year. Hence, beating a non-perfect Liza by a couple of points means nothing if we speak next season.

 

[Thrashergurl]

I still wouldn’t underestimate the other competitors. Who expected Alena to lose her 3axel? Anything for can happen in skating. Injuries. Coaching changes. Puberty. Illnesses. Lack of motivation. The girls are human, not robots. I agree that right now the Russians look unbeatable, just as the Americans once were- with their young baby ballerina skaters that Maria Butryskaya threw shade at several times. It’s interesting how it all goes In cycles. Other federations are paying attention and rebuilding. I think it’s just a matter of time before another Michelle or Yuna comes along- many thought it was going to be Zhenya, until she got injured and eventually defeated by a young Zagitova, and so it goes on.

 

[LiamForeman]

Did Eteri suggest ice dance for Maiia recently? That seems so odd, because skating skills is her weakness. If she said that to, say, Daria Usacheva, I can understand that since she is a wonderful SKATER. And especially in Russia with so many strong ice dance teams, someone like Maiia it would take years if ever to get up to competitive ice dance ability. But anyway, I'm glad to see Maiia so positive and hungry. She could totally transform over the summer. I'm hoping so.

 

[Scott512]

We don't actually know if Plushy didn't take her or if she decided to go back. I actually think the second happened. The rumours are Liza B's family was upset at AoP even releasing a video showing her there and asked for it to be removed.

I'm not actually sad. Sergei clearly cares about her. That's important especially as she's still so young.

In the end I too think she's where she needs to be.

We had to bed if they were some confusion with PA they goes now it looks like Liza B was rejected at 2 rinks.

 

[Minz]

I still wouldn’t underestimate the other competitors. Who expected Alena to lose her 3axel? Anything for can happen in skating. Injuries. Coaching changes. Puberty. Illnesses. Lack of motivation. The girls are human, not robots. I agree that right now the Russians look unbeatable, just as the Americans once were- with their young baby ballerina skaters that Maria Butryskaya threw shade at several times. It’s interesting how it all goes In cycles. Other federations are paying attention and rebuilding. I think it’s just a matter of time before another Michelle or Yuna comes along- many thought it was going to be Zhenya, until she got injured and eventually defeated by a young Zagitova, and so it goes on.

Who expected a global pandemic? And yet here we are...

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.

 

[starlight97]

I still wouldn’t underestimate the other competitors. Who expected Alena to lose her 3axel? Anything for can happen in skating. Injuries. Coaching changes. Puberty. Illnesses. Lack of motivation. The girls are human, not robots.

I'd argue that many people actually anticipated that the three girls from that season would struggle either this or at the latest in the Olympic season.
Me personally, I expected especially Alena to struggle, simply cause she is the oldest. Although not as much as she did in the end, since nobody could have seen Covid coming.
When the trio was winning their GPs in the 19/20 season, the two clowns from The Skating Lesson were already predicting that the actual girls to watch for the Olympics would end up being Kamila's group. That turned out to be completely correct, at the very least regarding Kamila.

But I agree that an ACL tear, a broken leg, the flue 2 weeks before the Olympics etc, that's things that can happen and are unpredictable. But for that to happen to all 6 of the Russian contenders, very unlikely.

 

[flanker]

Anything can happen to anyone, injuries, illness, loss of consistency and many other possibilities. Also positive ones, like gaining/regaining a quad/3A.

it's just that people shouldn't act as if the current advantage of the russian ladies was caused just or mostly by corona and that the bad things happened only to the others but not the Russians. First, the margin was there before already, second, they had their difficulties too. Liza and Anna (and other skaters) were ill and lost many training time for instance., there was also a lockdown and the training reductions in Russia. If you read Maiia's interview properly, you realize that how it was difficult to get back into the competitive form after the lockdown.

 

[chasingneverland]

That's not me - that's Ashley Wagner.

You cannot be serious if you use Alysa as an argument. Take her best skate in 2020-21 season and compare it with the best skate of Daria and Maia. It is group 2-3 vs. Group 6.

It took Eteri 10 years to build The Machine. My point is that having on board Kamila-Anna-Sasha-Alyona-Darya-Maia with Liza who claims to practice 4Lz as a stimulant she can pick 3 best ready when that matters. Then you have Rika with her personal story and...well no one. Other girls are just not competitive with the ones mentioned. Kaori could be if she added an ultra-C element next season. Will she? Otherwise, sorry - no chances. And Liza is not a good example. She has to raise the ante substantially to get in the team next year. Hence, beating a non-perfect Liza by a couple of points means nothing if we speak next season.

Does she even know what a sonagram is??

Once again Daria and Maiia competed 6 times this year and got better each time. Alysa competed twice and wasn't even able to practice for one month.

You're missing the point.

 

[chasingneverland]

Anything can happen to anyone, injuries, illness, loss of consistency and many other possibilities. Also positive ones, like gaining/regaining a quad/3A.

it's just that people shouldn't act as if the current advantage of the russian ladies was caused just or mostly by corona and that the bad things happened only to the others but not the Russians. First, the margin was there before already, second, they had their difficulties too. Liza and Anna (and other skaters) were ill and lost many training time for instance., there was also a lockdown and the training reductions in Russia. If you read Maiia's interview properly, you realize that how it was difficult to get back into the competitive form after the lockdown.

Yes but that's the point.

The Russians as a whole looked more ready at World's (not just in ladies) because they practiced and were in competition shape all season. That's a level of consistency that wasn't afforded to the rest of the World. Some of whom couldn't even get to their coaches.

I realize they had difficulties. But not for as long. As for getting sick, yes, they did. And guess what? All of them were less good because of it. But their lockdown wasn't near as long.

Some skaters had two weeks of training TOTAL for Worlds.

 

[chasingneverland]

I still wouldn’t underestimate the other competitors. Who expected Alena to lose her 3axel? Anything for can happen in skating. Injuries. Coaching changes. Puberty. Illnesses. Lack of motivation. The girls are human, not robots. I agree that right now the Russians look unbeatable, just as the Americans once were- with their young baby ballerina skaters that Maria Butryskaya threw shade at several times. It’s interesting how it all goes In cycles. Other federations are paying attention and rebuilding. I think it’s just a matter of time before another Michelle or Yuna comes along- many thought it was going to be Zhenya, until she got injured and eventually defeated by a young Zagitova, and so it goes on.

Actually a lot of people thought Anna was peaking for World's last year and would overtake Alena at World's.

And a lot of people expected last year that Kamila at least would overtake the 3A especially Anna. A lot of people actually expected all of Anna, Sasha, and Alena to be in decline by now.

 

[chasingneverland]

Did Eteri suggest ice dance for Maiia recently? That seems so odd, because skating skills is her weakness.

Eteri actually seems to suggest anyone who struggles with jumps should do ice dance...

 

[flanker]

Yes but that's the point.

The Russians as a whole looked more ready at World's (not just in ladies) because they practiced and were in competition shape all season. That's a level of consistency that wasn't afforded to the rest of the World. Some of whom couldn't even get to their coaches.

I realize they had difficulties. But not for as long. As for getting sick, yes, they did. And guess what? All of them were less good because of it. But their lockdown wasn't near as long.

Some skaters had two weeks of training TOTAL for Worlds.

I suppose it was also covid what made Alina and Evgenia before her to win the olympics and worlds, what made Sasha, Anna and Aliona to dominate during the 19/20 season and so on. Those who were closest to the Russians and had some chances for medals definitely didn't have just two weeks in total for worlds. This is not the state that exists just because of covid. For instance Rika never ever defeated anybody of the Anna/Sasha/Aliona trio in juniors or seniors. Blaming everything on covid has no reason.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

Eteri actually seems to suggest anyone who struggles with jumps should do ice dance...

Or occasionally pairs, if they meet certain prerequisites (small, ok with the easier triple jumps and slightly daredevil). IIRC she was the one who suggested Daria Pavliuchenko try pairs. I guess it's a kinder alternative to telling them to quit, if it's clear they want to keep competing. Although of course there's no guarantee they have what it takes to succeed in those disciplines...

Interestingly now with Tarasova/Morozov on board, the only discipline she never coached is ice dance. Maybe she doesn't find it on the whole particularly interesting? Besides keeping an eye out for Diana's career, of course.
Thinking back, Eteri herself didn't exactly choose dance but was kind of forced into it by growth/injury.

 

[chasingneverland]

I suppose it was also covid what made Alina and Evgenia before her to win the olympics and worlds, what made Sasha, Anna and Aliona to dominate during the 19/20 season and so on. Those who were closest to the Russians and had some chances for medals definitely didn't have just two weeks in total for worlds. This is not the state that exists just because of covid. For instance Rika never ever defeated anybody of the Anna/Sasha/Aliona trio in juniors or seniors. Blaming everything on covid has no reason.

No but they're the top skaters. (Also it's not like Evgenia made it to the Olympic season unscathed either and Alina certainly struggled at World's that year as well.)

I'm responding to people who are saying that skaters 5+ are ALSO going to dominate and it's not going to be contested. I'm NOT and have NEVER referred to Anna, Sasha, Aliona, and Kamila. (In fact I went out of my way to exempt them - I specifically said none of those three have EVER been beaten by nonRussian skaters internationally.)

However, just as Anna, Sasha, and Aliona weren't at their peak this year due to injuries and illnesses I also am extending that to Rika as well. As she has proven herself capable - maybe not of beating them - but she remains a threat to skaters 5+ and if all are at full strength and healthy is not to be discounted. (But once again I NEVER mentioned Anna, Sasha, Aliona, and Kamila in anything I said.)

 

[chasingneverland]

Or occasionally pairs, if they meet certain prerequisites (small, ok with the easier triple jumps and slightly daredevil). IIRC she was the one who suggested Daria Pavliuchenko try pairs. I guess it's a kinder alternative to telling them to quit, if it's clear they want to keep competing. Although of course there's no guarantee they have what it takes to succeed in those disciplines...

Interestingly now with Tarasova/Morozov on board, the only discipline she never coached is ice dance. Maybe she doesn't find it on the whole particularly interesting? Besides keeping an eye out for Diana's career, of course.
Thinking back, Eteri herself didn't exactly choose dance but was kind of forced into it by growth/injury.

Yeah she was. Eteri also told Diana to switch to ice dance too (she initially coached her) because she was worried - apparently Diana used to have really hard falls as a singles skater.

I think she views both ice dance and pairs as well if you don't have the jumps but want to keep skating...which isn't really fair to those disciplines but I can see where she's coming from..

 

[Arbitrary]

Yeah she was. Eteri also told Diana to switch to ice dance too (she initially coached her) because she was worried - apparently Diana used to have really hard falls as a singles skater.

I think she views both ice dance and pairs as well if you don't have the jumps but want to keep skating...which isn't really fair to those disciplines but I can see where she's coming from..

EG recommended Diane to switch to dances when doctors recommended not to fail, especially head first.