2023-24 Russian Grand Prix - Stage 6 - Moscow

[lariko]

So far it seems too good. They even published the rules and entries in advance.

honestly, can't wait.

 

[Minz]

Very sad this is pretty much over. Yes, we have Russian Nationals, Jr. Nationals, and the Russian Novice girls are usually wonderful as well, but I really love the Russian Grand Prix series the way it is set up. Maybe they should make this permanent, even if they rejoin the ISU competitions.

I believe that the Russian Cup Series has always existed. It's just that now, the top Russian skaters who would normally be competing at GP's, compete at the Russian Cups.

 

[lariko]

What impress me is that not only many skaters have the same music but also the same cuts.

They were on sale?

 

[anonymoose_au]

So will Muravieva melt down in the interview? Place your bets. Will she even give one?

Poor Sofia M! I was searching the stream for her and when I first found her it was at the end of her skate and she looked so devastated I thought she must have had the worst skate ever!

But it was really good when I got to watch the whole thing, I mean yeah there were the 2 3A falls, but like not a disaster. Or at least not falls on every element like poor Artur D.

These girls are too hard on themselves I hope she feels better today.

 

[Mathematician]

Poor Sofia M! I was searching the stream for her and when I first found her it was at the end of her skate and she looked so devastated I thought she must have had the worst skate ever!

But it was really good when I got to watch the whole thing, I mean yeah there were the 2 3A falls, but like not a disaster. Or at least not falls on every element like poor Artur D.

These girls are too hard on themselves I hope she feels better today.

Few hours later she was posting all happy with a bunch of people at the medal ceremony. Shes fine just insanely emotional and a bit bipolar it seems. Typical artist stuff.

 

[Mariott]

So far apart... And then a 5 month drought with no skating...

We will be able to see the brightest skaters at individual competitions in their cities, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in shows, as sad as that sounds. But I agree that there are too few competitions for Russian skaters right now, plus half of them are half shows.

 

[Alex Fedorov]

We will be able to see the brightest skaters at individual competitions in their cities, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in shows, as sad as that sounds. But I agree that there are too few competitions for Russian skaters right now, plus half of them are half shows.

In Russia there will be a Spartakiad and a national championship - these are full-fledged big competitions. The Channel One Cup now actually also resembles more of a competition than a show. That is, these are three adult events, not counting the “Russian Challenge” and the jumping tournament, which is unlikely to be interesting this year. There will also be three big events in the "rest of the world" - the Grand Prix Final (very soon), the сontinental Championship and the World Championship. This is also not so much, even taking into account the division into 4CC and Europe.

In Russia, by the way, the junior championship will be very interesting.

 

[Mariott]

In Russia there will be a Spartakiad and a national championship - these are full-fledged big competitions. The Channel One Cup now actually also resembles more of a competition than a show. That is, these are three adult events, not counting the “Russian Challenge” and the jumping tournament, which is unlikely to be interesting this year. There will also be three big events in the "rest of the world" - the Grand Prix Final (very soon), the сontinental Championship and the World Championship. This is also not so much, even taking into account the division into 4CC and Europe.

In Russia, by the way, the junior championship will be very interesting.

The Channel One Cup is first and foremost a commercial tournament with a sporting component. I think the same about the jumping competition. It can hardly be compared to the Euros, as sad as they are, and the World Championships.
I was talking more about the lack of B class tournaments that everyone who competes in the big world has (you may not get there if you don't have the money, but that's another story). Russian skaters don't have such tournaments, and it significantly reduces the number of starts in the season.

 

[Skating91]

I think there will at best only one spot will ever be available for neutral athletes at big events anyway no matter if they finish in the top two, we will see some skaters get slapped with a q for a landing even 10 degrees off while other skaters will have an UR that will be ignored and given high GOE, under such conditions with such inconsistency it's better to create a strong, stable, fair domestic season with consistent judging. Anything outside of the domestic season just needs to be treated as some curiosity, maybe an opportunity to travel to a new place at someone else's expense. It will be like playing tennis where one player has to hit between the singles sidelines, but the other player can hit it between the doubles sideline.

A GP with 9 stages would work well. Hold the 3 extra one's in remote cities at small arenas. Start having them early in the season, maybe make those one's for half points or something like that and at least one appearance mandatory. What's one more performance when they perform hundreds of times in practice.

Or at the very least one more major event for senior skaters while they are at peak shape for the next three months. Could they hold a domestic Russian event in China for instance? If they did it just for girls and pairs it would attract a large crowd, of course drag Shcherbakova along to do an exhibition performance. If there were 9 GP stages then have one in China, or one in Kazakhstan? It would also give the opportunity for anyone outside of Russia to see these skaters live because it too difficult for a tourist to go to Russia now.

I thought the Moscow stage looked great watching on TV with the lighting, effects, presentation of the event. Other events could learn a lot. I watched one event not so long ago and it was frankly an embarrassment to the sport with the camerawork, the stream was fuzzy with horrible resolution even at the maximum, it was held in a shabby arena.

 

[lariko]

Few hours later she was posting all happy with a bunch of people at the medal ceremony. Shes fine just insanely emotional and a bit bipolar it seems. Typical artist stuff.

That's not bipolar, that's healthy coping mechanism with moving on after a dissapointment. Mood disorders are different from a normal range of emotion everyone has.

 

[lariko]

In Russia there will be a Spartakiad and a national championship - these are full-fledged big competitions. The Channel One Cup now actually also resembles more of a competition than a show. That is, these are three adult events, not counting the “Russian Challenge” and the jumping tournament, which is unlikely to be interesting this year. There will also be three big events in the "rest of the world" - the Grand Prix Final (very soon), the сontinental Championship and the World Championship. This is also not so much, even taking into account the division into 4CC and Europe.

In Russia, by the way, the junior championship will be very interesting.

Imo, jumping tournament is always interesting, and so many men now diversifying their jumping content, plus it's not like women stopped jumping ultra c. Since they make the rules as they go, age limit is not a problem and they can always ad more bells and whistles too, with different jumping events. Anyway, it's unique and a blast, imo. I love those far more than the exhibition programs tournament. The sequences are blooming nowadays, so I would love a segment that is dedicated to sequences.

 

[Mathematician]

That's not bipolar, that's healthy coping mechanism with moving on after a dissapointment. Mood disorders are different from a normal range of emotion everyone has.

I didnt say Bipolar Disorder, I just said bipolar, meaning something of 2 distinctly opposite natures (bi-polar, 2-poles).

But yea, I understand the implications of using that word. I think bipolar is just a good term to describe the emotionally volatile artistic disposition.

 

[lariko]

I didnt say Bipolar Disorder, I just said bipolar, meaning something of 2 distinctly opposite natures (bi-polar, 2-poles).

But yea, I understand the implications of using that word. I think bipolar is just a good term to describe the emotionally volatile artistic disposition.

I think it's better to not use medically specific terms to describe emotions. Like, 'emotionally volatile, artistic' is far more accurate and you are not designating actually healthy robust behavior as something to be treated. It's perfectly good to cry/let out emotions when dealing with dissapointment and loss, process it fast and accept it fast, then look at bright side and refocus. Stoic concealment and brewing resentment is far less desirable/more damaging. People are all different, but some social norms we inherited from Victorian age are simply bad for health, not to mention sexist. If you are embarrassed when you see an athlete cry after a loss, I think it's an indication of wrong social conditioning and inability to face emotions.

 

[Mathematician]

I think it's better to not use medically specific terms to describe emotions. Like, 'emotionally volatile, artistic' is far more accurate and you are not designating actually healthy robust behavior as something to be treated. It's perfectly good to cry/let out emotions when dealing with dissapointment and loss, process it fast and accept it fast, then look at bright side and refocus. Stoic concealment and brewing resentment is far less desirable/more damaging. People are all different, but some social norms we inherited from Victorian age are simply bad for health, not to mention sexist. If you are embarrassed when you see an athlete cry after a loss, I think it's an indication of wrong social conditioning and inability to face emotions.

I dont think its embarrassing that she cried, it made me like her more.

And like I said I didnt think bipolar is a medically specific term.

 

[Mariott]

I dont think its embarrassing that she cried, it made me like her more.

And like I said I didnt think bipolar is a medically specific term.

In fact, a bipolar is a medical term, it's just that many psychiatric terms are now used in an altered and simplified sense.

 

[Skating91]

The reaction from Muraviova is understandable how many more chance at gold does she have before the body changes? The pressure is so intense. 9 months of training comes down to 4-5 attempted ultra-c jumps. She failed on all three, gambled on the second one in the free skate and failed couldn't have gone worse for her. I assume she did this out of frustration and against the coach's wishes.

But like I explained above, this is the greatness of Valieva. The pressure with which she has to deal with every day let alone in competition is unimaginable and somehow has to process this as still a 17 year old child. Not that I don't have compassion for Muraviova in this difficult moment.

 

[Mathematician]

The reaction from Muraviova is understandable how many more chance at gold does she have before the body changes? The pressure is so intense. 9 months of training comes down to 4-5 attempted ultra-c jumps. She failed on all three, gambled on the second one in the free skate and failed couldn't have gone worse for her. I assume she did this out of frustration and against the coach's wishes.

But like I explained above, this is the greatness of Valieva. The pressure with which she has to deal with every day let alone in competition is unimaginable and somehow has to process this as still a 17 year old child. Not that I don't have compassion for Muraviova in this difficult moment.

Valieva already had her melt down while Mura took gold. She dropped a 3Lz here too. I've always spoken positively about Valieva's mentality but I dont think this season is the evidence of that. Also Muravieva's body changed long ago. Shes fully grown. She will either have a 3A or not but if she does then she isnt losing it to growth any time soon.

 

[lariko]

Valieva already had her melt down while Mura took gold. She dropped a 3Lz here too. I've always spoken positively about Valieva's mentality but I dont think this season is the evidence of that. Also Muravieva's body changed long ago. Shes fully grown. She will either have a 3A or not but if she does then she isnt losing it to growth any time soon.

She landed a few of them in practice, so it's a matter of stability. Her body shape is unlikely to change for a few years now, so it's a matter of injuries. Plus, she has far, far more to offer in addition to 3A.

 

[lariko]

I assume she did this out of frustration and against the coach's wishes.

Why the heck you assume that? They restored it after injury and now is the time to put it in competition with pretty much nothing on stake. Murav'eva was making the Nationals no matter if she was 1st or 3rd or 5th. It was literally the best competition to use as one where to try 3A in competition environment. There was very few who could outscore Murav'eva there. Athletes doing things 'against' coaches recommendations is just a fairy tale.

 

[thatdarncat]

Spartakiad = GP Final

Thanks, I missed the Ice Dance and Pairs this week, glad I can catch them in another competition, assuming its on the Channel 1 stream.