2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating

[Greengemmonster]

It's just amazing watching Kamila improve. I remember first watching her at JGP. She was gorgeous but a little scared looking.

Now she's really selling her programs and with a lot of sass in Bolero as well.

This is a pipe dream but I would love for her to have a season where she's got a program that involves a version of her ballet costume (the one she wore to a competition when she was a little tot) with the full ballet headpiece etc. That would be magical

The tot version program is probably one of my most memorable moments of her. Moreso than the Girl on a Ball program.

 

[Amei]

What do people think the odds are of Kostornaia changing her programs? I think she's likely out of time, but her long program especially is such a bad vehicle for her. She doesn't seem to connect with the music, and the lightness and verve and joy she had that made her so captivating seem completely gone. It's such a shame that they didn't give her a more compelling program for the Olympic season.

Well Medvedeva changed her FS to Anna Karenina after her Challenger event in the Olympic season.

 

[soccerjc77]

I'm really impress by Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, her FS program is really well built for her.
I think that she has a shot at the olympic team if she manage to stay consistency like this.
Because honestly, I was not in the crowd but she certainly is moving the crowd with this program and it's a big ++++++ for her to be able to bring the audience so cheerful during her skating. I love her and if she manage to skate clean like that everytime, I wish her a shot at the olympic well deserve for her.

 

[sinus]

I fail to understand why Aliona’s team kept the same FS music she had under Plushenko and changed her SP music to the downer Beth Hart piece.

1. Vivaldi's Four Seasons piece was planned by Eteri for Aliona's Olympic year long time ago, long before Pluschenko trip.
2. Aliona wanted a blues program. Diana Davis had sent her this song, and Aliona liked it very much. It was her choice.

 

[sinus]

Bolero is such a beatiful and powerful piece of music. I think people constantly repeating how much they hate it have serious mind problems.

Some people mentioned Kostner's Bolero here. In my opinion Kostner's program looks archaic, slow, empty, amateurish and extremely weak in comparison with Valieva's mind blowing FS program.

 

[Amei]

Bolero is such a beatiful and powerful piece of music. I think people constantly repeating how much they hate it have serious mind problems.

Well politely everyone is entitled to their own opinions, especially with music.

Some people mentioned Kostner's Bolero here. In my opinion Kostner's program looks archaic, slow, empty, amateurish and extremely weak in comparison with Valieva's mind blowing FS program.

I was never a huge fan of Kostner's Bolero and I feel sometimes too often if a program is done by a decorated skater or it wins a title that it somehow means the program is fantastic.

The biggest issue with Valieva's Bolero is that the music is not forgiving to mistakes, if she gets off time it will look bad.

 

[Magill]

I don't think that the problem is the programs. Team Tut are not known for their programs, they are known for their technical and difficult skating.

I can't stand Bolero, and I think the choreo is bad, but Valieva tries to sell it the best she can and it works. A world record score proves that.

Kostornaia's on the other hand, yes she has a bad program as well, but I think she looks uninspired, tentative, and it seems to me she lacks motivation. She's not even trying. That's the problem IMO, not the program.

I don't really think it is about motivation. I think it is about faith. She is the one who loves to win. And I am afraid she's afraid she is too far behind with the tech to win, and if she does not win, she does not care much. She was on fire when skating after Kamila's not so good skate when she knew she could outscore her. And was completely out of her usual self when skating after Kamila's WR skate she knew she could not match. I think that is her real problem now.
As for stamina, I wonder why it comes up now. Actually I would think the coaches work on a skater's stamina before the competition to have them properly prepared, and not afterwards after their skate proves unsuccessful. After all, they should have been able to asses the skaters's training needs beforehand and prepare them properly. You cannot say there was not enough time for stamina issues. I don't buy it, sorry. Other things - possibly, but not stamina, out if all things. Unless her COVID was much more devastatng than anyone is ready to admit.

 

[jenaj]

Bolero is such a beatiful and powerful piece of music. I think people constantly repeating how much they hate it have serious mind problems.

Some people mentioned Kostner's Bolero here. In my opinion Kostner's program looks archaic, slow, empty, amateurish and extremely weak in comparison with Valieva's mind blowing FS program.

Kostner's Bolero was inspired by the Bejart ballet. It was the height of the Lori Nichol-Carolina Kostner collaboration. Sorry, but as talented as Valieva is, at 15, she can't sell Bolero like a mature Kostner could.

 

[sinus]

Kostner's Bolero was inspired by the Bejart ballet. It was the height of the Lori Nichol-Carolina Kostner collaboration. Sorry, but as talented as Valieva is, at 15, she can't sell Bolero like a mature Kostner could.

LMAO. Kostner's Bolero is not inspired by anything, it has just a couple of movements from the Bejart ballet. Kamila's Bolero is really inspired by Bejar and Plisetskaya.

 

[jenaj]

LMAO. Kostner's Bolero is not inspired by anything, it has just a couple of movements from the Bejart ballet. Kamila's Bolero is really inspired by Bejar and Plisetskaya.

Believe what you will, but you are wrong.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Kostner's Bolero was inspired by the Bejart ballet. It was the height of the Lori Nichol-Carolina Kostner collaboration. Sorry, but as talented as Valieva is, at 15, she can't sell Bolero like a mature Kostner could.

Kostner skated great in Sochi, but that program had lengthy periods with little going on except skating from jump to jump. Kamila's is a bit busy for my taste, but I think she's skating it better this season and is more expressive in her face.

 

[sinus]

Believe what you will, but you are wrong.

No. I am right, you are wrong.

 

[florin]

Kostner's Bolero was inspired by the Bejart ballet. It was the height of the Lori Nichol-Carolina Kostner collaboration. Sorry, but as talented as Valieva is, at 15, she can't sell Bolero like a mature Kostner could.

In order for someone to sell you something, you have to want to buy it

The pleasure of figure skating is a fragile thing - it is enough for you not to want to receive it and you will not receive it. This is not an ice cream that you will like regardless of your will

Personally, Kamila little bit hypnotizes me with her FP when it's clean . It's music, it's inhuman power of the quads, it's inhuman stretching and the most important thing is that all this is put together wisely by the screenwriters who are behind the scenes Personally, everything is sold to me. But I want to buy, and my consciousness is freed from the prejudice of ageism.

 

[Greengemmonster]

I thought it was just me who thought that Kostner's Bolero was awful. It was so slow! OMG it was slow!!!! After a bunch of people trashed Kamila's version I went to look up Kostner's and I was like "WTF!" Her jumping was not great either. The version I watched had these teeny tiny jumps!

I probably just don't like the old style of skating where they meander around for a thousand years, with arms in various positions and then do a jump.

 

[florin]

I probably just don't like the old style of skating where they meander around for a thousand years, with arms in various positions and then do a jump.

Same to me

I really like your wording "where they meander around for a thousand years, with arms in various positions"

Yes, I would advise a lot of fans of the "good old skating" to open YouTube videos at least 10 years ago - interesting discoveries will often be made

 

[elbkup]

1. Vivaldi's Four Seasons piece was planned by Eteri for Aliona's Olympic year long time ago, long before Pluschenko trip.
2. Aliona wanted a blues program. Diana Davis had sent her this song, and Aliona liked it very much. It was her choice.

That explains it…. But imv they don’t really suit her

 

[Autumn Leaves]

Aliona herself said she couldn’t perform the FS in Finlandia, she was off, couldn’t feel it. Let’s wait for another competition to see how the program should look when she actually performs. The music is beautiful, Aliona is beautiful, hope it works in the end!

Regarding Liza’s FS, I hated it in the beginning, now I love it, because it is so Liza. Only she can get away with something like that and make it actually work. Especially the end with the club music!

 

[alexocfp]

I thought it was just me who thought that Kostner's Bolero was awful. It was so slow! OMG it was slow!!!! After a bunch of people trashed Kamila's version I went to look up Kostner's and I was like "WTF!" Her jumping was not great either. The version I watched had these teeny tiny jumps!

I probably just don't like the old style of skating where they meander around for a thousand years, with arms in various positions and then do a jump.

All this talk about the 2 made me go and watch the Sochi Bolero as well.
It does feel like slow motion.

Skaters of the past did not have the athleticism of the skaters today. So they needed to focus on choreography to distract the audience.

Kamila could do Koster’s Bolero using 25% of her skills. Kamila can stand still for 2 minutes and still finish it in time.

 

[alexocfp]

Same to me

I really like your wording "where they meander around for a thousand years, with arms in various positions"

Yes, I would advise a lot of fans of the "good old skating" to open YouTube videos at least 10 years ago - interesting discoveries will often be made

It’s a different sport from a decade ago. Heck, it’s a different sport from 4 years ago.

These girls today are thoroughbred athletes. They are in a different stratosphere technically. There is no comparison. We are going to look at the programs today in 4 years and they will look dated too, as the next generation is going to out do what we see today. That’s how sports evolve, new blood doing the impossible. Give it a decade or 2 and 5T’s won’t be out of the question. Nor a 4A.

And even the fans of “good old skating“ don’t argue this point, and rely on the argument that back then there was more “artistry.”

Which is debatable, because if the skaters of the past possessed 3A and 4T, they would have done them in lieu of “artistry” too.

 

[florin]

And even the fans of “good old skating“ don’t argue this point, and rely on the argument that back then there was more “artistry.”

That! I disagree with this. For me, artistry on ice depends on technique. As mathematicians say - "this condition is not sufficient, but it is necessary".

What level of presentation can we talk about if (for example) Gubanova breaks off her presentation and begins this long-long, focused-focused entry into lutz? (and than she makes it super-ugly - suddenly pounding her foot on the ice like a hammer). That's it - the magic is over.

If you jump well, you can make beautiful entrances and - which especially affects the presentation - beautiful exits from jumps that are now part of the choreography of top skaters.