2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating

[spicymacaron]

Oh I am not writing her off. But landing the 3A 90% and UR on the quad sounds like exactly the same level she was at two seasons ago. And Valieva/Usacheva beat her then anyway with lesser tech content.

I wish Alysa all the best. But the competition this year has never been tougher...

She's also beaten Daria before at JGPF. I don't think Alysa will beat Valieva, but I still think you're underestimating her. Liza, Wakaba, Usacheva are all beatable for her on a good day. Also I think the 3A attempts was 90% completely clean, not just landing it. That's an insanely good hit rate. And maybe not for Daria, but Valieva herself is not always consistent. Kamila is definitely still beatable, Anna and Sasha have both proved that. There a lot of "if she skates clean, no one will be able to win" for tons of people. A lot of skaters often don't skate clean. Sasha would be #1 if she could hit her jumps all the time. Consistency is a huge factor and no one knows what could happen in a single competition.

 

[Minz]

Stressful indeed!!

The season starts mid August and then we have competitions every weekend until GPF.

Then there's the nerve wrecking nationals, then Europeans/4CC and then...the OLYMPICS...and Worlds.

7 months of stress...

I imagine I’ll be up in the middle of the night trying to watch skating and do schoolwork at the same time quite a lot…

 

[Jontor]

She's also beaten Daria before at JGPF. I don't think Alysa will beat Valieva, but I still think you're underestimating her. Liza, Wakaba, Usacheva are all beatable for her on a good day. Also I think the 3A attempts was 90% completely clean, not just landing it. That's an insanely good hit rate. And maybe not for Daria, but Valieva herself is not always consistent. Kamila is definitely still beatable, Anna and Sasha have both proved that. There a lot of "if she skates clean, no one will be able to win" for tons of people. A lot of skaters often don't skate clean. Sasha would be #1 if she could hit her jumps all the time. Consistency is a huge factor and no one knows what could happen in a single competition.

Fair enough. I guess my somewhat pessimistic prediction for Alysa might be because I haven't seen her since two seasons ago. And that makes me a bit sceptic of where she is now.

And yes, consistency is what matters...who will have it? That is the big question...

 

[Jontor]

I imagine I’ll be up in the middle of the night trying to watch skating and do schoolwork at the same time quite a lot…

Me too!! (well, not the schoolwork part...I'm too old for that )

I wish that ALL important competitions should be in Europe so I can watch them daytime...

The Asian competitions are the most difficult. They are always at like 3 or 4 in the morning/middle of the night... The Olympics will be challenging for me.

 

[Amei]

She's also beaten Daria before at JGPF. I don't think Alysa will beat Valieva, but I still think you're underestimating her. Liza, Wakaba, Usacheva are all beatable for her on a good day. Also I think the 3A attempts was 90% completely clean, not just landing it. That's an insanely good hit rate. And maybe not for Daria, but Valieva herself is not always consistent. Kamila is definitely still beatable, Anna and Sasha have both proved that. There a lot of "if she skates clean, no one will be able to win" for tons of people. A lot of skaters often don't skate clean. Sasha would be #1 if she could hit her jumps all the time. Consistency is a huge factor and no one knows what could happen in a single competition.

That's not exactly something I would hang my hat on for her - she beat Usacheva by a little over 4 points, Usacheva did not have a triple axel or a quad, Alysa did 1 triple axel in the SP, 2 triple axels in the FS (1 in combination) and 2 quad lutzs (1 in combination); I mentioned this in the 'who can beat the Russian ladies' thread - theoretically Alysa has the technical arsenal to compete with/win against the Russians, especially if she's US #1 & getting the politicking, but when she was a junior she had an issue of being sloppy on those quads/triple axels, she was able to still win/medal because there were very few girls doing those elements - next year she's going to be at competitions with multiple skaters with quads and/or triple axels. Unless they have falls I don't think she stands a chance if her quads/triple axels are of the same quality we saw in her Junior season.

 

[Minz]

I wouldn't count Alysa out. In October 2020, she was dead last at the Las Vegas Invitational, which was a random NBC FS only team event.

Everyone counted her out.

But then in January at US Nationals she came back, and made significant improvments, including a clear improvement in her skating skills.

A few months later, she is landing better 3A's then she's ever had.

She's 15 and has lot of pressure on her. Barely a year prior the US media was hyping her up as "the one for Beijing", and I remember that Johnny Weir literally said after 2020 US nationals "she is our answer to the Russian quad queens".

Technically, she is the best of the US ladies from what we've seen. Based on that she's the US 's best hope for an Olympic medal.

 

[Minz]

Also, why on earth are we talking about Alysa Liu in the Russian Women's Thread?


I feel like this conversation would be better suited for the US Women's thread or a GP prediction thread...

 

[Jontor]

I wouldn't count Alysa out. In October 2020, she was dead last at the Las Vegas Invitational, which was a random NBC FS only team event.

Everyone counted her out.

But then in January at US Nationals she came back, and made significant improvments, including a clear improvement in her skating skills.

A few months later, she is landing better 3A's then she's ever had.

She's 15 and has lot of pressure on her. Barely a year prior the US media was hyping her up as "the one for Beijing", and I remember that Johnny Weir literally said after 2020 US nationals "she is our answer to the Russian quad queens".

Technically, she is the best of the US ladies from what we've seen. Based on that she's the US 's best hope for an Olympic medal.

That's not exactly something I would hang my hat on for her - she beat Usacheva by a little over 4 points, Usacheva did not have a triple axel or a quad, Alysa did 1 triple axel in the SP, 2 triple axels in the FS (1 in combination) and 2 quad lutzs (1 in combination); I mentioned this in the 'who can beat the Russian ladies' thread - theoretically Alysa has the technical arsenal to compete with/win against the Russians, especially if she's US #1 & getting the politicking, but when she was a junior she had an issue of being sloppy on those quads/triple axels, she was able to still win/medal because there were very few girls doing those elements - next year she's going to be at competitions with multiple skaters with quads and/or triple axels. Unless they have falls I don't think she stands a chance if her quads/triple axels are of the same quality we saw in her Junior season.

I agree with both these comments.

As @Minz says quoting Johnny, this is the answer to the Russian quad queens. And it's needed. The Russian (and Japanese) women need competition!

But as @Amei says. We need to see more from Alysa than what we've seen so far. Her level from two seasons ago will probably not cut it.

And yes, we shouldn't discuss Alysa here...although it's bound to happen when we discuss the competition the Russian women have. So in a way, it's a good sign for Alysa that she is even mentioned here...

 

[Amei]

Also, why on earth are we talking about Alysa Liu in the Russian Women's Thread?


I feel like this conversation would be better suited for the US Women's thread or a GP prediction thread...

Would it be the RLT if we didn't go a little off topic? Its inevitable that there's some side conversations when we start talking about comparing skaters and chances of winning

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Alysa's PCS could change quite a bit if USA decides they want to push her as their number 1. (We saw how powerful the USFed can be..)

The USFSA has done a good job getting Nathan great PCS scores, but it's probably important to remember that he is the best jumper and executing those well is tied to both marks. Alysa will have to be competitive with the top Russian women to get her PCS scores approaching theirs, but it's looking like she might get some of her more difficult jumps back.

 

[AlysaLiuStan]

I think you're all forgetting that If Alysa was allowed to do a solo triple axel in Short Program she would've beaten Valieva for gold at the grand prix final AND Daria for silver at junior worlds. Thank you that is all.

And now she will be allowed as a senior.

 

[chasingneverland]

I think you're all forgetting that If Alysa was allowed to do a solo triple axel in Short Program she would've beaten Valieva for gold at the grand prix final AND Daria for silver at junior worlds. Thank you that is all.

And now she will be allowed as a senior.

I mean Kamila was injured at the JPGF and didn't do her 4Ts. Alysa didn't lose to Kamila at the JGPF because of her technical content. She had something like 17 points advantage in BV. She lost because of her execution.

The same argument applies for Daria and Alysa at Junior Worlds. Alysa under-rotated her 3T in the SP as well as under-rotated her 3A and fell on an under-rotated 4Lz in the FS.

So that's not actually a given that if Alysa was allowed to do a solo 3A in the SP she would have won. She DID have a 15+ BV advantage over them.

And don't forget Kamila has a 3A now that they'll BOTH be able to do in the SP now.

 

[chasingneverland]

The USFSA has done a good job getting Nathan great PCS scores, but it's probably important to remember that he is the best jumper and executing those well is tied to both marks. Alysa will have to be competitive with the top Russian women to get her PCS scores approaching theirs, but it's looking like she might get some of her more difficult jumps back.

I wasn't talking about Nathan, who IS technically incredibly gifted and in essentially a league of his own (depending on Hanyu). He also has the reputation.

I was referring to Karen and Bradie.

 

[chasingneverland]

Also, why on earth are we talking about Alysa Liu in the Russian Women's Thread?


I feel like this conversation would be better suited for the US Women's thread or a GP prediction thread...

Because she's being directly compared and used as a measuring rod FOR Russian skaters.

 

[flanker]

Would it be the RLT if we didn't go a little off topic? Its inevitable that there's some side conversations when we start talking about comparing skaters and chances of winning

Remember it's RWT now

Maybe next season the name of the thread can be "Russian Women's Figure Skating And All the Related And Unrelated Stuff"

 

[karina17]

Remember it's RWT now

Maybe next season the name of the thread can be "Russian Women's Figure Skating And All the Related And Unrelated Stuff"

2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating, and Russian Men's Figure Skating, Actually Just Men's Figure Skating Now, Alysa Liu, Rika Kihira, COVID Vaccinations, Politically Charged Opinions on News (Selections from the Globe), Etymology of the word "Woman", History/Geography of Every Russian Cup Location, the 2018 Olympics Rehashed, Maybe the 1818 Olympics Rehashed, Occasional Bullying, Possible Death

 

[Minz]

Remember it's RWT now

Maybe next season the name of the thread can be "Russian Women's Figure Skating And All the Related And Unrelated Stuff"

A thread of any and all drama: the stuff you needed to know, and everything you didn’t need or want to know but you are going to find out anyway because that’s what we do here and it’s not changing anytime soon.

 

[Novalis]

2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating, and Russian Men's Figure Skating, Actually Just Men's Figure Skating Now, Alysa Liu, Rika Kihira, COVID Vaccinations, Politically Charged Opinions on News (Selections from the Globe), Etymology of the word "Woman", History/Geography of Every Russian Cup Location, the 2018 Olympics Rehashed, Maybe the 1818 Olympics Rehashed, Occasional Bullying, Possible Death

I want to talk about those Pentagon UFO-files. Do you people think they will have an influence on the olympic team selection?

 

[flanker]

A thread of any and all drama: the stuff you needed to know, and everything you didn’t need or want to know but you are going to find out anyway because that’s what we do here and it’s not changing anytime soon.

And, in Woody Allen's style, "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Everything But Were Afraid to Ask".

I want to talk about those Pentagon UFO-files. Do you people think they will have an influence on the olympic team selection?

During the Sochi Olympics team competition the announcer said about the russian team "They are on another planet". Do you think he knew more than we know?

 

[chasingneverland]

So cute! (Also Anna back on the ice!)