2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating | Page 105 | Golden Skate

2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating

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Ugh no - Alena sp music. Mindless screeching rock or whatever song. It will do absolutely nothing to help her win the pcs battle against Kamila. Maybe in a non olympic season you can experiment with songs like that but not in an olympic season where it would be best to choose music you have been associated with high pcs. Her lovely program would be 10x better than this song. Its just disapponting seeing all that beautiful skating and a reestablished 3a gone to waste with that god awful ear screen background noise.
Kamila - definitely just Storm with another set of music. I was interested to find out she was skating to Max Richter but then seeing the program, its so obvious hardly any new choregraphy was inserted.
And poor Maia has to have a recycled sp.
Anna - I'll wait til the proper performance. Music/choregraphy doesnt sound much distinguishable from her previous sp except for the heavy amount of egyptain hand dance inserted. Literally the only way I coAuld tell it was a new program
Daria - probably the luckiest of the bunch in music choice. "Never enough" isnt even that good choice but yeah compared to the what Danill G gave the others.
Apparently Aliona picked her own music and she always does well when she's engaged and connected to her music. I think that's worth something.

Maiia asked to keep both her SP and LP and they let her keep her short.

Both of those decisions were the skaters OWN choices.
 
I overslept! I missed half the ladies! :palmf:
 
So far Maiia and Ksenia were the best program-wise. But Isabeau really is the pinnacle for SPs this season. There's potential for all of them at least.

But Aliona, she likes this music, however even for blues this is so scratchy and screamy. It drowns her out. Let's bring out Adiós Nonino or make Lovely into a SP.
 
I'm confident that Kamila with a fall on a rotated 3A will definitely score more than clean 3A Sasha and Liza. Everything else is such a points getter across the board.
 
The level of artistry that early into the season is amazing. Just go back to earlier test skates, and you will notice.

I was sceptical, but now I do think that both Anna and Sasha's SPs have great potentials for "Olympic programs". I find the choreography fine and their commitment is mind-blowing. Anna has a huge improvement into interpretation for only a couple of months. She seems really determined for the Olympic spot. I hope she doesnt start crumbling under the pressure of being the leader that has been chased (very closely).
Same goes for Sasha - I absolutely love the artistry that she showed today. Also, red looks fantastic on her!

Kamila - showed the best tech today, the 3A looked effortless. You can see that she is still so young, and that the pressure hasnt catched her yet. I kind of agree with the others that the choreography though is really just a repeat of last season. It is a little bit underwhelming, especially when she is already repeating the FP.
 
Some random thoughts. Ksenia's SP really stood out to me, she has always been a wonderful performer, very connected to the music, and she didn't disappoint me today. Her dress is also really beautiful.

Kamila and Anna's programs are very similar to last year's SPs. In Kamila's case, it didn't bother me too much, because it seemed to me the choreography was quite connected to the music, but in some parts of Anna's skate I thought it would have been the same if there was another music playing. Obviously, both of them were great as usual (minus Anna's lutz-loop mistake).

About Alena's program, I don't know what to say at the moment. I don't really like the music, but I read she chose it, so it's good she's connected to it. It's also good she went for the 3A even if she was having problems with it, such a shame it wasn't clean, but the only way to get there is trying. At the moment, I don't think she's in her best shape, but it was a difficult year for her, so that's understandable.

I'm not totally sold out on Sasha's SP either. I don't think this style really suits her, but it's good she's trying new things every year and that she's trying to work on her musicality and performance. Again, such a shame for the 3A. It's incredible to think she's having so many problems with it, considering the number of quads she can jump. Well, I hope it's going to work in the future, but, same as with Alena, the only way to get it right is trying.
 
My thoughts...

Love the blues/rock and roll style on Aliona. The 2nd half of the music was a bit intense, maybe something like shine on you crazy diamond would have been a better choice. Really happy she went for the 3A despite not doing any in warmup, great attempt. Really happy with the start she's had.

I like the Spanish style on Trusova, she doesn't need to be graceful and pretty and can skate with her usual intensity and power. But she has really improved the fluidity and movement in her upper body and it's gonna be really nice by the end of the season. Not worried about the 3A since it was overrotated.

I like Lizas program and dress. Ive always liked the passion she skates with but there's always been something missing for me that holds me back from really enjoying her skating. I think it's the lack of extension. Not sure why she didn't do a triple triple, but she's looking solid. We will see if her consistency can get her to the Olympic team.

Kamila is kamila. Just stunning...the speed, extension, grace, fluidity. I cant believe she skates like this at 15...just unreal. Never seen anything like it. She skated with patience and detail today too, something that was blatantly missing a couple years ago. Gorgeous triple axel, the flow out of it was amazing. If she keeps skating like that she will score over 90 with this program.

Really glad Maiia kept her short. She looks so comfortable with it now and very confident in everything. She seems like she's coming into her own and discovering who she is as a skater. She definitely has the opportunity to make a case for the team this year, she's really grown.

I like Dashas music choice on her, really fits her style. She can skate really big with it. Graceful and confident. Curious to know if she's got a quad or 3A cooking, she's going to need it.

Kseniia looks in much better shape. Love her attention to detail. Hope she has a solid season after last year. But that dress has gotta go, it eats her alive.

Really like annas short, it's different for her. Lots of potential for this program but too bad about the combo, hope that was just a fluke. Everything else was solid.

Not much to say about Samodurova and Nugumanova. unfortunately they aren't going anywhere. No idea why they picked that music for Sofia and she's having rotation issues with her triples. I like Lizas program but it's not any better than last year, and jump problems. Frolova should have moved up...no she wasn't going to make any teams but she looked a lot better at test skates than them. Not much of a reason to stay another year as a junior at 16 when she can skate as a senior with other girls who aren't even looking as good as her right now. No offense to either of them at all, just looking at it subjectively.
 
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Anna’s SP music reminds me - in mood and tempo - of Perfume which was to me a better program but this current piece is SO Anna and lovely as always..

Trusova’s packaging - the hair, red dress - is a bit heavy-handed but better than anything she has been given before. I love the music.. have often wanted to see it performed on ice and it was smashing on her.

Aliona was nervous, as she always is during test skates… she is making great progress with the 3A.. nowhere to go but up and her interpretation of this Beth Hart torch song was superb .. even at this early stage she owns it. Love the music cuts, yearning, strong.

Despite it’s resemblance to Storm, Kamila’s SP is exquisite; there is something so automatic and disconnected about her skating it is disconcerting to me but admirable too. She is likely headed to Olympics but I somehow want more. Would like to see her in a shorter dress for the SP and the FP costume she has been using looks too heavy for her..
 
My thoughts...

Love the blues/rock and roll style on Aliona. The 2nd half of the music was a bit intense, maybe something like shine on you crazy diamond would have been a better choice. Really happy she went for the 3A despite not doing any in warmup, great attempt. Really happy with the start she's had.

Samodurova was worrying. Seems she's having a lot of trouble with rotation on her triples...not sure if she's really going to be competitive this season. Honestly I wonder why Frolova didn't move up to seniors this season when there's skaters like Sofia and Liza with no 3As or quads. She would have been likely more competitive.

I like the Spanish style on Trusova, she doesn't need to be graceful and pretty and can skate with her usual intensity and power. But she has really improved the fluidity and movement in her upper body and it's gonna be really nice by the end of the season. Not worried about the 3A since it was overrotated.

I like Lizas program and dress. Ive always been liked the passion she skates with but there's always been something missing for me that holds me back from really enjoying her skating. I think it's the lack of extension. Not sure why she didn't do a triple triple, but she's looking solid. We will see if her consistency can get her to the Olympic team.

Kamila is kamila. Just stunning...the speed, extension, grace, fluidity. I cant believe she skates like this at 15...just unreal. Never seen anything like it. She skated with patience and detail today too, something that was blatantly missing a couple years ago. Gorgeous triple axel, the flow out of it was gorgeous. If she keeps skating like that she will score over 90 with this program.

Really glad Maiia kept her short. She looks so comfortable with it now and very confident in everything. She seems like she's coming into her own and discovering who she is as a skater. She definitely has the opportunity to make a case for the team this year, she's really grown.

I like Dashas music choice on her, really fits her style. She can skate really big with it. Graceful and confident. Curious to know if she's got a quad or 3A cooking, she's going to need it.

Kseniia looks in much better shape. Love her attention to detail. Hope she has a solid season after last year. But that dress has gotta go, it eats her alive.

Really like annas short, it's different for her. Lots of potential for this program but too bad about the combo, hope that was just a fluke. Everything else was solid.

Not much to say about Samodurova and Nugumanova. unfortunately they aren't going anywhere. No idea why they picked that music for Sofia and she's having rotation issues with her triples. I like Lizas program but it's not any better than last year, and jump problems. Frolova should have moved up...no she wasn't going to make any teams but she looked a lot better at test skates than them. Not much of a reason to stay another year as a junior at 16 when she can skate as a senior with other girls who aren't even looking as good as her right now. No offense to either of them at all, just looking at it subjectively.
Aliona said that she’s not happy with her performance today, today’s performance was her 50%, she’ll keep working on it. She said she had clean 3A attempts and that it’s 90% certain she’ll go for 1 3A in the free tomorrow. She’ll aim for 3*3A though.
She also added she can’t always make herself jump 3A. Sometimes, if the entrance isn’t good enough, she feels like she might get injured. But she’s not afraid of attempting it.

Daria also mentioned that she started to get a 3A, but then got a small injury and didn’t jump any 3As for 2 weeks prior to test skates. She’ll get back to it once she’s in Moscow.
 
Samodurova was worrying. Seems she's having a lot of trouble with rotation on her triples...not sure if she's really going to be competitive this season. Honestly I wonder why Frolova didn't move up to seniors this season when there's skaters like Sofia and Liza with no 3As or quads. She would have been likely more competitive.

Not much to say about Samodurova and Nugumanova. unfortunately they aren't going anywhere. No idea why they picked that music for Sofia and she's having rotation issues with her triples. I like Lizas program but it's not any better than last year, and jump problems. Frolova should have moved up...no she wasn't going to make any teams but she looked a lot better at test skates than them. Not much of a reason to stay another year as a junior at 16 when she can skate as a senior with other girls who aren't even looking as good as her right now. No offense to either of them at all, just looking at it subjectively.
It comes down to how spots are allocated for the national team and GP.

Liza N placed 6th at nationals last year so she met the requirements for the national team (she's on the reserve team). So, she was at senior test skates.

Sofia S still has a high enough world ranking (due to her Euros win) that she was guaranteed a spot on the GP if she was submitted. So, she was at test skates.

Anna F placed eleventh at nationals last year, so while she looks better now...There were already too many girls who met the qualifications for the national team, of which Anna F barely did (Russian Cup.) I mean Aliona is a reserve for the team. So, unfortunately, she was left off. :(
 
For me, artistically Anna is in completely different league than the other girls.

Alyona has elegance and sass, Kamila flexibility and baletic skills, but Anna has it all plus incredible intricate and refined delicacy in performing.
You don't watch Anna while listening to music thinking "oh, she hit accents nicely", instead the music literally flows over her body and out of her fingertips towards you. :love:
 
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Maia: I really wish her step sequence was more unique and sassy in choreography, it's just very generic movements.
For me, it is hard to avoid comparison with Aliona since both use Beth Hart songs but the resemblance ends there. Both performances are suited to the song they interpret: Maia soft, tender with longing angst in the lyrics .. she interprets this well .. Aliona song is passionate, sultry, almost demanding and she performs it perfectly!
 
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