2023-24 Russian Women's Figure Skating
- Thread starter AlexBreeze
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- Feb 10, 2022
We can still make the second team from those who did not make the first team. Many were left out. These are legal requirements, but I'm sad.
It seems Russia is setting the standard in encouraging taller, heavier, more mature skaters as well. When I say heavier, I say it only relative to what has been unfortunately considered normal in skating. These would be ordinarily considered normal, athletic, healthy women in any other sport.
Okay, Petrosian is tiny but she is simply short stature. Proportionately she is normal especially for a figure skater. Akatieva seems like a normal sized 16 year old figure skater. Kamila is in the national team so tall, very athletic and muscular, a very mature style of skating, breaking all stereotypes. This is the most mature style of skating from a 17 year old skater on the planet (maybe history). She will save the sport even if people hate her for her nationality. Just imagine a 27 year old Valieva with another 10 years of practice under her belt. Maya Khromykh is exceptionally tall in the reserve team. Tuktamysheva is ageless I think she can perform for several years more. Zinina also tall and normal athletic build. There are girls on the periphery who I think can return like Samodelkina who have become so tall.
The world demanded more mature skaters and Russia have delivered. They are even keeping Zhilina in juniors whose jumps are so effortless if she goes clean in any senior event she's winning but they are holding her back. Bravo!
In the reserve team Shcherbakova and Trusova have matured, have dealt with injuries but the federation giving them every opportunity to return (and I'm sure many more opportunities if it doesn't work out for them this season).
There were all these nasty accusations being thrown around about Russian women for a long time (things that delay them growing and other such nonsense), but it seems like they are at the forefront of this new more mature era of skating.
And still they are the clear number one. It's not even close or up for debate. It is Russian women and then daylight to second.
Look what they did with Akatieva basically have her in cotton wool to protect her. They suspect the start of a stress fracture so diagnose it early, attempt to heal the injury. This was the skater that won the most important competition in the world last year and taking no chances with her even if it derails the upcoming season. One particular federation their skaters are riddled with stress fractures every year. I hope they can take a leaf out of the Russian approach to managing athletes.
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- Nov 12, 2011
Unfortunately it doesn't look encouraging, sportsru has 2 articles up today concerning Shcherbakova: she stopped training for medical reasons and that Zagitova is replacing her in the batch of shows she was supposed to do next weekend. Those shows she was supposed to do are usually fairly light in terms of elements, maybe 1-2 jumps and a few spins otherwise its some choreographic foot sequences and some posing. And she just did a set of shows with Averbukh a few weeks ago so I don't think she had some crazy regression of skills. I could understand if given the lack of movement on the ban she decided to retire and not attempt another comeback (remember she had to regain everything once before when she had her leg break the summer she was supposed to turn junior) so she stopped training for a competition level, but to also pull out of shows....
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2021
it does sound like an injury to me sadly, this coupled with the ban continuing for the GPs I wonder if she has any motivation left to actually continue. I want to see her back so much but not at the expense of her health.
Either way there is still months till the season starts if her injury isnt that bad, she can simply just ask to be placed at the last 2 Russian cup stages if she wants to try and comeback still.
I believe more in Khromykh's return than Shcherbakova's. Honestly i don't see why she should come back or would want to come back. She can attempt a career à la Tuktik but she already made it to olys and won. If there still were three spots, i would say that she has a chance to get the third (even with just triples) and go to big international competitions when the ban will be lifted, but there is just one. Even for GP it will be difficult without SB and good WS. So she would likely wait another season.
As the 2021 world champion Shcherbakova would be eligible to receive 2 international GP assignments under the comeback rule once the ban is rescinded, my understanding of that rule is that WS/SB standings do not apply.
This is the definition of audacity
Well, Russia has the two oldest world champions of triple jump era. And they have Tuktik who at 26 is doing layouts like no other 26yo or older is doing. So i'm curious if they can repeat that with other skaters. The new rule is made for that, they said, so let's see.
My bad, i forgot this rule.
Still, one spot for the big competitions. A skater of her caliber doesn't come back only for GPs. If she thinks she can beat Petrosian and Muravieva, good for her. After all, she won all her major titles while facing probably the toughest competition ever.
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Akatieva is a very thin girl.
However if you analyze season by season, at least from my pov, the Russian girls have been growing up in a normal way
Without knowing what is currently going on with her that caused her to have to step away from training and miss some ice shows next week, if she's healthy I think she could certainly get back to at least 1 of her quads (she was after all doing them on a busted knee) and wtih only 1 quad, if her only competition is 2 skaters with only triple axels (she's beaten Tuktamysheva when Shcherbakova only had 1 quad), and inconsistent skaters with no international reputation, someone like Shcherbakova who has a solid record of holding up under pressure - she's got a good case for being sent to competitions if Russia only has 1 spot.
I don't particularly think Shcherbakova herself would have issue with 'lesser competitions' like the GP series if they were international, she was never the highly talked about favorite unlike some others and has been the skater having to reacquire her skills due to injury, so I don't think she's particularly got an ego problem of potentially losing to someone. And I think she would hang around and go to the GP circuit with guaranteed spots if the Fed asked her.
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- May 28, 2023
Precisely and this is only one video of this performance that someone uploaded. There are several other videos uploaded by other people of this same performance, and they also have massive views.
Kamila looks stunning on ice.
It isn't an ego issue, it's a motivation issue. I don't see Shcherbakova sticking around during 6 seasons before having the chance to compete at worlds again, like Tuktamysheva did. Only having GP and challengers as international competitions. How many skaters, no matter the country, who have won worlds and olys, stick around for years when they see that they can't go to big comps anymore? Or just, who even stick around for years after winning that? The only one who did in the last 30 years is Kim Yuna and even her never did a full season after 2010. She went to like 5 competitions in 4 years. She came back after her one year break probably because fed asked her to. Yamaguchi, Baïul, Lipinski, Hughes all retired the same season or the next one despite being young enough to continue. Sotnikova tried to come back but she saw how youngsters like Medvedeva and Radionova were beating her. Zagitova continued but gave up as soon as she saw that she had to bet on luck to get one of the three spots. I won't even talk about the image that they had/have to maintain to keep getting those big business deals.
You're right, I'll concede it's a mix of the two.
It is ironic that what happened to Valieva is maybe what fuels her for the next decade or longer, whereas had she taken out both golds without dispute then maybe she takes a sabbatical, motivation is lacking, less focus on long term health. I don't care about her losing team gold I feel sorry for the team who did nothing wrong (I don't think Kamila did anything wrong either). Even if Kamia did something wrong, I can't blame the team because someone sat on the result to the end of the team event to cause maximum chaos. I almost don't want her getting the gold she earned because people will just hold it against her for the rest of her career to diminish her at every opportunity. It will never end, they will never forgive her although she was a 15 year old that was completely innocent. It's just a medal. I'd take a long career competing at a high level for a decade or more with some gold, than retiring at 18 with all the gold.
From what I've read Shcherbakova has made a lot of money since the Olympics promoting products, shows, she was selling NFTs to China at the peak of the NFT fad. So life would be quite comfortable and difficult to deny yourself normal pleasures after denying yourself for several years to win the biggest tournaments. Of course there is nothing to prove, but it is a shame that Shcherbakova and Trusova are all but retired from competitive skating (just my belief I hope it's wrong).
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- May 28, 2023
My favorite is Kami, but I do think Anna and Sasha are magnificent skaters and it's sad if they really retire saying it's lack of motivation. Russian competitions this season will be the most exciting by very, very far and it'd be great to see them there too.
Who is Taisia Korobitsina? I don't think she was at junior nats and i don't remember if she was at cup stages. Did she win a medal somewhere? I wonder why she is in the junior reserve and Milana Lebedeva isn't.
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- Feb 19, 2021
Im really shocked Milana isnt in the reserves either, Tasiya got injured during the season and had to miss nats but she did well during her cup stages from what I remember. She didnt do too well during the older age novice nats so im shocked she was put in junior reserves but I would have had her in novice reserves or in the main team. She has always been one of the top novices in previous seasons.
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