2022-23 Russian Pair Figure Skating

[AlexBreeze]

Is she born in the first or second half of 2008?

Must be in the second half but in an interview after their last competition, they sounded like they were going to continue together.

 

[hanca]

RusFed has already said that they are planning on raising the age for Seniors in parallel with the ISU, i.e. up to 15 next season and 16 the season after that. While they might be flexible about the "first half-second half of the year" issue, they won't be flexible with full years. There's no sense in changing the rules otherwise. So if they follow through, Anastasia isn't going to be Senior-eligible even nationally for two more seasons.

With the depth of Russian pairs, there is honestly no need to fund pairs with extreme age differences, and allow them to compete on a national level. They're able to compete at smaller competitions, which are not qualifiers for Nats/selection events for the National team, and if that's not enough for them, then they need to find a different partner.

Of those who qualified for (Jr) Nationals this season, it would only affect Chernyshova/Antonyshev (now Khmelkova/Antonyshev) and potentially Moskaleva/Lozhkin (Is she born in the first or second half of 2008?) next season. Everyone else either has another season of Junior eligibility, the women are old enough for Seniors nationally anyways or they split at some point during the season.

If the federation was so strict with the age rule, Cheremnykh would not have been able to compete at seniors at the last nationals. She is born in September 2008, so when the season started (in July 2022) she wasn’t 14 yet. She is even a year younger than Akatieva. You are worrying about things that are non-issues. What will be the issue is the inability to compete internationally (when Russians are allowed). That will hurt them much more.

 

[hanca]

Must be in the second half but in an interview after their last competition, they sounded like they were going to continue together.

Moskaleva is born on 22.12.2008.

Nevertheless, if a skater born in September 2008 (Cheremnykh) was allowed to skate at senior nationals this year, I can’t see why suddenly next year a skater born in December 2008 would be too young.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

If the federation was so strict with the age rule, Cheremnykh would not have been able to compete at seniors at the last nationals. She is born in September 2008, so when the season started (in July 2022) she wasn’t 14 yet. She is even a year younger than Akatieva. You are worrying about things that are non-issues. What will be the issue is the inability to compete internationally (when Russians are allowed). That will hurt them much more.

To be very honest, I do not understand this reply. I was literally the one who brought up Cheremnykh and how RusFed isn't particularly strict about the "born in the first half, born in the second half"-issue, and that Khmelkova/Antonyshev are banking on RusFed's continual lax application of their own rules.

Everything I answered to your comments was about your assumption that Anytonyshev didn't want to skate with Chernyshova anymore and that Russia would not be changing it's age-rules for Seniors, so there was no reason for him to change a partner unless he was planning to compete internationally, which would have made Khmelova an illogical choice. I literally just tried to explain to you why continuing to skate with Chernyshova was not a realistic option even in national competitions (as RusFed has allowed skaters born after July in the same year to compete in seniors, but not skaters born before July the year after - At least not recently.), but skating with Khmelkova was, and why international eligibility was not likely to be a particularly important factor in choosing a partner for him. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[hanca]

To be very honest, I do not understand this reply. I was literally the one who brought up Cheremnykh and how RusFed isn't particularly strict about the "born in the first half, born in the second half"-issue, and that Khmelkova/Antonyshev are banking on RusFed's continual lax application of their own rules.

Everything I answered to your comments was about your assumption that Anytonyshev didn't want to skate with Chernyshova anymore and that Russia would not be changing it's age-rules for Seniors, so there was no reason for him to change a partner unless he was planning to compete internationally, which would have made Khmelova an illogical choice. I literally just tried to explain to you why continuing to skate with Chernyshova was not a realistic option even in national competitions (as RusFed has allowed skaters born after July in the same year to compete in seniors, but not skaters born before July the year after - At least not recently.), but skating with Khmelkova was, and why international eligibility was not likely to be a particularly important factor in choosing a partner for him. Nothing more, nothing less.

I don’t think this is about first half/second half of the year. In the past Russian federation operated based on the calendar year whereas ISU is using skating seasons (1st July to 30 June). Then the Russian federation changed to applying the age according to the actual age during the competition itself, so if someone wasn’t old enough in the skating season but had birthdays just week before the nationals, they would be considered old enough to skate. At some stage they also moved to ISU skating year… Add to it all the exceptions they do (if they like the skater or pair) and also the politicking (who is the coach and what is the coach’s standing with the federation) and suddenly it can be very, very flexible.

Yes, I agree that I speculated that Antonyshev may split up from Chernyshova because of the big age difference. It was a speculation, and then it was in Russian media that they split up because of the age difference. Clearly, considering that he swapped for a girl who is nearly a year older than Chernyshova but is still within the same ISU skating year as Chernyshova, the age was just an excuse. God knows what was the real reason.

The only thing me and you don’t agree with each other is whether the age difference will be an issue at domestic competitions. You seem to think that it will be a problem at competitions both at home and internationally whereas I believe at home it will be fine but internationally it will be a big issue. At home, the federation can let them compete at the senior nationals if they qualify. (Though to qualify may be very optimistic because senior pairs are getting crowded. But they will have a chance to qualify- senior Russian cup/Russian GP)

 

[AlexBreeze]

Sport-Express claims that Boikova/Kozlovski have changed their coaching team from Moskvina's to Tutberidze's.

Edit: Boikova confirms it in her social media.

 

[elektra blue]

it's their turn now to have a wall of coaches

 

[LadyB]

Best of luck to them. I always thought that B/K and M/G in the same coaching team - something's gotta give.

 

[Kittosuni]

Best of luck to them. I always thought that B/K and M/G in the same coaching team - something's gotta give.

I don't think a lot people are shock by this decision.

Last year we were joking that if you look at Boikova's eyes it looks like she is a lost puppy. She seems lost and super tense and like begging for a very long hug from the coaching staff. All year round B/K's body language feels like they are exhausted and frustrated for always trailing M/G but they haven't been consistent themselves so IDK.

I don't know if they will get the medal result they want but I think moving to a different coaching group is a good decision for them for the sake of their mental especially emotional well being. Best of luck to them.

 

[chuckm]

If Boikova is "lost and supertense" and "begging for a very long hug from the coaching staff", she has for sure moved to the wrong group. Valieva and Trusova were ignored when they needed hugs the most--what they got was cold stares and rebukes.

 

[Artemisa]

At the end of last year you would expect a change of coaches...but this year they won and seemed to handle the internal competition better...they had a great LP ... So I think something happened ( or one last drop) to make a drastic change .. perhaps they feel that they are being left behind... or M/G have upgrade her content and they can't keep up .. who knows
In the end ... Eteri got a young pair with lot of desire to win something that she knows how to take advantage of very well

 

[Pairluv]

I don't think they were lost. They just flat out didn't like losing more than 50% of the time to a training partner. Who would? They had to hold their frustrations in while training because Moskvina wouldn't tolerate otherwise. According to Trankov's IG, they had originally been rumored to switch to Mozer, but made the decision to go with Tutberidze's group. All the pair coaches are on vacation and won't even meet with them until June. Sometimes you need to change it up.

 

[chuckm]

Eteri has no experience with pairs skating---she can't wave a wand and automatically make them better than their main rivals. There are times when they will still have to face M/G head to head in competition---if they keep losing to M/G, they'll get no sympathy from Eteri's team.

 

[yume]

Best of luck to them. I always thought that B/K and M/G in the same coaching team - something's gotta give.

And now they are in the same team than T/M. Or do T/M plan to retire after this season?

 

[LadyB]

And now they are in the same team than T/M. Or do T/M plan to retire after this season?

I think there's a different dynamic. T/M are the 'veterans' and although they remain big competitors should they continue (which I hope), I could imagine that at the same time they might be seen as mentors, while M/G are of the same age and more personal rivals, as both pairs fighting to become the undisputed future number one. Russian pair skating will remain very exciting indeed.

 

[lariko]

I think Tran'kov and Perm' cooperation could be a major draw for B/K. They are young and innovative, and Moskvina is semi-retired, so it makes sense to me that they would move.

 

[AlexBreeze]

I think Tran'kov and Perm' cooperation could be a major draw for B/K. They are young and innovative, and Moskvina is semi-retired, so it makes sense to me that they would move.

It was Minchuk who has been coaching B/K since they switched from singles.

I doubt that Trankov will train anyone other than T/M.

 

[hanca]

Eteri has no experience with pairs skating---she can't wave a wand and automatically make them better than their main rivals. There are times when they will still have to face M/G head to head in competition---if they keep losing to M/G, they'll get no sympathy from Eteri's team.

Tutberidze’s school has enough money to hire pair coaches. Besides, in the past season there were several coaches working with Tarasova/Morozov at Tutberidze’s school - Trankov, Sliusarenko and someone else, I can’t recall, was it Tikhonov? So it is not as if a pair training in her school was completely without support. Tarasova/Morozov managed to beat both Mishina/Galliamov and Boikova/Kozlovski at the Olympics. It didn’t happen just by accident. A lot of work went into T/M. So it can’t be said that Tutberidze has no experience with pairs.

 

[JimR]

If Boikova is "lost and supertense" and "begging for a very long hug from the coaching staff", she has for sure moved to the wrong group. Valieva and Trusova were ignored when they needed hugs the most--what they got was cold stares and rebukes.

That's just untrue.

There were no cold stares at Kamila. Eteri just asked calmly why Kamila didn't fight to the end, which Kamila didn't. Kamila was crying because of the terrible situation she had been placed in (first the provocation and second the inexplicable delays placing her in such a hopeless situation), not because Eteri asked her calmy why didn't fight.

Trusova didn't want to talk to Eteri and even Dudakov couldn't calm her down. Trusova was reacting hysterically because she felt she had been robbed having landed five quads to Shcherbakova's two. She wanted to blame everyone but herself at that moment.



Anyway, to get back to pairs, looking at Kostornaia and Kunitsa, I think they are going to struggle. Kunitsa isn't big and strong enough he's really straining lifting Kostornaia (who is tiny). I think they will give it a shot next season, they might sneak a bronze at a GP stage. But I think Alyona will have to break up with her marten if she wants to further her pairs career, which I think she will do if her past decisions have been anything to go by.

 

[AlexBreeze]

Some recent rumours about B/K's possible pair elements coach seem confirmed. All Filipp Tarasov's pairs including Mukhortova/Evgeniev also switch to Team Tutberidze.