What happened to this episode? I was looking forward to seeing this SOOO MUCH, but it seems like it hasn't been released yet?
Well, speaking of drama, I just hope this doesn't affect our terrific trio, and I hope it doesn't impact how they're scored at Nationals.

Before all this happened, I would've said that Aliona would've probably been able to make the Euro/Worlds team even if she had a bad competition and finished 4th, but now I am not so sure...
In my opinion, her situation is quite different from Liza's last year because she's the GPF *WINNER*, not just a medalist, AND she holds the SP and overall world record scores. But with all this extra drama, who knows what could happen?
Let's just hope that Aliona isn't bothered by all this external drama and is able to skate her best! :agree:
Personally, I think it will actually be harder for her to win Nationals than it was for her to win GPF. First, she's probably still tired from having NHK/GPF in quick succession (she only had a 2-week break while Anna/Sasha had 3 or 4 weeks before GPF), and Nationals is coming up soon too. Second, internationally she benefits from having higher GOE and PCS than Anna/Sasha, but at Russian Nationals I expect them all to get very-high GOEs and PCS, and something like a +4 on a quad is worth more points than a +4 on a 3A. That being said, if Aliona skates clean (and if the drama doesn't affect the scoring), I wouldn't be surprised if she got some ridiculous scores, especially in terms of PCS. At Junior Nationals in February, one judge gave her three 10s for the SP, and she got around 36 and 75 in PCS there. Thus, at the upcoming Nationals, I wouldn't be surprised if she got a lot of 10s in her PCS if she skates clean. So maybe 38-39 in the SP and 76-78 in the FS. If she also gets only 4s/5s in GOE, I could see her getting scores like 90 and 170 in the SP and FS. :yes:

But that still might not be enough if Anna or Sasha go clean. And also, like I said, Aliona may be feeling fatigued, and we know she has that issue with her tibia. So I'm mostly hoping she can have performances that she is happy with and not over-exert or injure herself.





