2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating

[SnowWhite]

Weird translations probably. Aliona Kostornaia spells her name as ‘Aliona‘ but the ISU spells it ‘Alena’.

She used to spell it Alena on her social media though, when she was first competing internationally.

 

[Minz]

What other Russian ladies are in this competition?

Sasha was the only one. The only Russians at this event were Sasha and Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin in Ice Dance.

 

[MCsAngel2]

I never thought I would see the day where sasha would score under 220 points.

She scored under 220 at Worlds!

 

[nipman]

Well, not the end of the world for Trusova, and her team has a clear vision of how bad her scores can be. They need to recalculate and limit the risks if they want her to be an Olympian. A 5–quad program is too much for her.

 

[colormyworld240]

Akatieva is a wonder. She has all the good qualities of Anna/Sasha/Alena from jumps to artistry to mentality. And her posture is something else. The only thing that was missing today was performance, you could see she was very focused on tech. But there's are many other skates where she performed well in the past, so I think that'll improve as the season goes on, and her natural musicality comes through even when she's not immersed in the character. Kind of like she forgot to perform the character but didn't forget the music.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Jumps aside, I felt disappointed watching Trusova's LP. She has this fiery, sultry choreography and doesn't try to sell it at all. I could really get into this program if she performed it with more passion.

 

[colormyworld240]

With Sasha I do wonder if it's nerves or if she's just inconsistent. She doesn't look nervous, but of course some people just don't look like they're nervous even when they are. After she falls, she doesn't look like she's worried as she goes into the next quad. She looks just as determined as she is when she lands 3 quads successfully and goes into the fourth, like there's no pressure and she's just jumping because she wants to and each new attempt in a program is like a new day.

It's hard to tell because with most skaters you can see their nerves before they step onto the ice or when they get up from a fall they almost look scared to go into the next jump but I don't get that with Sasha. And I wonder if reducing the number of quads will even help - it doesn't look like she lets one jump affect the others mentally, and physically she doesn't even look more tired after a 5 quad program than a 3 quad one.

 

[colormyworld240]

Because then Russia Cup Final and skate off at Europeans will matter!

Maybe Eteri will make her juniors plan accordingly, to finish no higher than 4th at senior nats. 2018 was different, because there were only three relevant Eteri skaters, one of whom didn't even participate, but we still saw Kostornaia oust Tsurskaya. It can happen! A very nerve-filled nationals, this time around, where the only thing practically guaranteed is Anna's winning performance, lol.

In 2018, Alena did beat Polina, but she didn't beat Maria. Evgenia was already guaranteed a spot, and no one behind Alena went to the Olympics

There's no way the senior national podium will include a junior this year, unless one skater is guaranteed an Olympic spot without skating at nationals, then bronze place could possibly be a junior.

RusFed will push the 3 Olympians (as they should logistically) with huge scores over everyone else to maintain their status as the best ladies entering the Olympics. They want push the narrative that the 3 are the undisputed best, not "barely made it because was beaten by a junior at nationals and had to fight for a spot last minute before the Olympics". The fed is aiming for a podium sweep.

 

[Scott512]

She scored under 220 at Worlds!

But EG wasnt her coach. While this is not exactly alarming it's not the start to the season we expected for sasha.

Oh well Sasha can only go up from here and I'm sure she will.

 

[Scott512]

Sasha was the only one. The only Russians at this event were Sasha and Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin in Ice Dance.

Why don't they have 3 Russian ladies at every one of these Grand Prix events? Arent they allowed 3?

 

[chasingneverland]

Why don't they have 3 Russian ladies at every one of these Grand Prix events? Arent they allowed 3?

It's not a Grand Prix event.

Sasha went for visa reasons and to practice her program in front of international judges before the grand prix and other competitions.

 

[chasingneverland]

Has RusFed changed the selection rules again? Last season only those who were 14 by 1 July were allowed to participate in Nationals.

July 1 is an international deadline. For RusNats it's only 14 by RusNats.

 

[Skuratov]

The enchantment lasted less than a week. Sasha returned to her usual form. Now you can't blame Plushenko. This is just the beginning, Trusova is going to deteriorate further as the season progresses.
I'm sure Sasha won't make the Olympic team.

 

[Amei]

Jumps aside, I felt disappointed watching Trusova's LP. She has this fiery, sultry choreography and doesn't try to sell it at all. I could really get into this program if she performed it with more passion.

I don't think she did much better last week at test skates, she's going for 5 quads typically with Trusova that has equalled very little interpretation of the actual choreography. I think its going to be a matter of if the jumps work the program will look amazing even though she pays little attention to the music, if she doesn't hit the jumps then the program is going to be lackluster. Hopefully if the plan is going to be going for 5 quads all season that she gets more comfortable with the load and can do the interpretation a little more

The enchantment lasted less than a week. Sasha returned to her usual form. Now you can't blame Plushenko. This is just the beginning, Trusova is going to deteriorate further as the season progresses.
I'm sure Sasha won't make the Olympic team.

The only vague thing I saw people "blaming on Plushenko" last year in terms of her having these messy skates was that Plushenko was letting her do what she wanted whereas Eteri previously was being more controlling on the layout she did and the number of quads.

Do I think this competition is necessarily a death blow to her Olympic chances, no, after all at this point no one else has competed and its very early in the season, but its not going to help her at all. If this is a theme this season for her, I think it means that just because she has a triple axel in the short and a 5 quad layout in the FS doesn't automatically put her on the team for the Olympics

 

[Skatesocs]

There's no way the senior national podium will include a junior this year, unless one skater is guaranteed an Olympic spot without skating at nationals, then bronze place could possibly be a junior.

RusFed will push the 3 Olympians (as they should logistically) with huge scores over everyone else to maintain their status as the best ladies entering the Olympics. They want push the narrative that the 3 are the undisputed best, not "barely made it because was beaten by a junior at nationals and had to fight for a spot last minute before the Olympics". The fed is aiming for a podium sweep.

I wouldn't say it's so very easy. Eteri can maybe program Akatieva's layout to have no quads or 3As, but it's not so easy to say RusFed will push its 3 Olympians with the highest scores at Nationals.

The decision of whom they want to send will very much depend on the skating during the season, yes. So now suppose Kamila Valieva skates very well throughout the season, whereas Trusova doesn't. Then at Russian Nationals (the biggest event until that point), Valieva chokes and finishes fourth, and Trusova finishes first or second after landing all her 5 quads. This decision is no longer easy for them, so there's no sense in simply pushing whoever they'd thought their 3 Olympians were before Nationals with the highest scores at Nationals. They have to plan for this scenario, and need to have a skate off.

So yeah, I'm hoping for even more chaos than that, where Eteri makes sure Akatieva does quads and 3As for herself and finishes 3rd

 

[Jontor]

Oh no! So sad to hear about Trusova. It seems to be a curse at this point. She is in desperate need of a wizard that can give her a cleansing potion.

 

[Kittosuni]

Trusova at test skate hitting her quads: OMG she is peaking too soon!!

Trusova 1 week later: OMG she is doomed!! No olympics!! (5 months before the olympics)



I think people need to calm down. Russian nationals will be the ultimate decider

 

[Skatesocs]

BTW, I'm very happy that Trusova has worked so much on her glide and speed, and the SP shows she's worked on her body movement as well. (Someone needs to make her stop doing a 4+1Eu+3S ASAP)

 

[Azikin]

Yes she does have time, but this has been a theme with Trusova as a senior, practices look fine, but in competitions something happens and she struggles

That's why test skates don't matter at all. I get it people got excited but it really was hardly more than just a public training, so I wouldn't example make any assumptions about Olympic chances based on that.

 

[nussnacker]

So yeah, I'm hoping for even more chaos than that, where Eteri makes sure Akatieva does quads and 3As for herself and finishes 3rd

I really doubt Eteri would ever water down Akatieva’s content just so older girls could be more confident. It’s not what she does… if she did something like that, I bet the trust between them would be gone and Akatieva would probably feel very mistreated. Her system’s principle, it seems, is that she allows each skater to do the maximum content they are capable of skating clean, and that the judges decide the rest. Like each RusNats or competition where she had more than 1 girl, she doesn’t know which of her girls are gonna place where, and she can’t fully predict the outcome.