6) Ambesi & Dolfini are doing another Kiss & Cry podcast right now, and surely they will have LOTS to say about Aliona. :yes:
https://www.spreaker.com/show/kiss-cry-reloaded
Hopefully someone can translate for us...
Actually, speaking about the NHK Trophy, they dedicated almost all the time to the men's competition.
Never mind, you have to know that for Ambesi there is only one God of figure skating and his name is Yuzuru Hanyu (off topic, it's interesting to know that the height of his 3A was measured in 85 cm. :shocked: It was about 70 last year. He REALLY wants to try the 4A)
Kiss & Cry reloaded 6
Kostornaia (the star) ... and the others (my comment
)
[Paone] The qualifying phase of Grand Prix is over and it’s time to make a balance.
What is the first thought that comes to your mind?
[Ambesi] Looking at the best athletes, it was the highest level Grand Prix I can remember, but at the same time there has never been such a big difference between the top athletes and everyone else.
[Dolfini] For me the most important thing is the explosion of the young Russian ladies, who were able to win all the six stages of the Grand Prix.
[Ambesi] It is an absolute record. It had never happened in the senior category (only in the men's field, in the late nineties).
We had already seen the same result last year in the junior category, because the same three athletes won all the stages in which they participated.
Then in the final surprisingly won Kostornaia , who was way behind Trusova in the qualifying competitions.
[Dolfini] This year we have a different scenario.
Trusova is still favored to win the final, but clearly she is also the athlete who risks the most.
Russia dominated in the ladies field with these very young athletes, who were well known.
We were expecting them, knowing that they were amazing and they kept the expectations.
However, it was not to take for granted that they could win all the stages, so we can only say “brave” (molodetz).
[Paone] Do you think this season's ladies Grand Prix was the highest level in history?
[Ambesi] In my opinion there is no doubt.
From a technical point of view, we never seen something like this.
Next year we will see even more.
It is a breaking news that Tuktamysheva has started landing the quadruple toe-loop in training. There are exaggerated comments about this, as if it could completely overturn the hierarchies.
This jump, if perfectly performed in a free program, could increase the score up to six points but probably only four points.
Tuktamysheva remains light years behind Trusova. She remains behind Anna Shcherbakova too.
Her base value would be higher than Kostornaia and Kihira.
Her problem is that both Kostornaia and Kihira are clearly forward in the GOE and in the components.
--------
They talked about Trusova's triple axel and about the fact that this year's Russian national championships will be better than the world championships.
[Ambesi] It would be amazing to see the Russian national championships with Rika Kihira as a special guest.
At that point we would have all (the best of ladies figure skating), but the show will be amazing anyways.
In the domestic competitions they usually inflate GOEs and PCS. This gives an advantage to the athletes who have their strong point in the technical elements, as Trusova.
Those who rely more on GOE and PCS (clearly referring to Aliona) have a handicap (compared to an international competition).
The 3A are the favorites. Right now Trusova and Kostornaia have something more.
[Dolfini - 66:40] But Shcherbakova has already beaten them in the past, it wouldn't be the first time. It happened in the last national championships.
[Ambesi] We also don't know what a clean Zagitova is worth.
I'm curious to see a clean Zagitova in an international competition, to understand if the skaters with a 2 + 7 layout still have a hope.
Zagitova has already shown that she can get 230 points with the classic 2 + 7.
[Dolfini] Some ask if Trusova needs the triple Axel. For me she need it in the short.
Trusova with the triple Axel in the short would have an unattainable technical advantage.
[Ambesi] A triple Axel UR in the short program is enough for her.
Right now, in the short program she is 10 points behind the best Kostornaia. It's so much, -10 points.
Anyway, in the free she can overturn the result.
[Paone] They ask us which skater, in all categories, has the best triple Axel.
[Ambesi] (He starts saying why he doesn't like Liu's 3A). The NHK judges spoke in favor of Kostornaia.
[Dolfini] It is a well-founded evaluation. Kostornaia has a beautiful triple Axel.
They are very different (the triple Axels of Kostornaia and Kihira), but technically I like that of Kostornaia better.
Even that of You Young is quite impressive for the speed of entry, when she perform it at best.
[Ambesi] Do you remember when we saw the first triple Axel of Kostornaia?
We were in a studio in Cologno Monzese (a town near Milano).
At some point they send us this video and we saw Kostornaia, starting with a backward inside rocker, then executing a forward inside counter, a change of edge, the triple Axel.
We slapped ourselves (a figure of speech that means: we didn’t believe what we saw).
We had never seen such a thing, except with Mao Asada in the 2006 post-Olympic season.
All the others who performed the triple Axel could do such a thing only in a dream.
It will happen that, following the example or Kostornaia, others will try to do more complex entry in the triple Axel. Tuktamysheva already tried it in this season.
[Dolfini] Tuktamysheva's Axel is good but she has a very simple entrance and it is inferior to Kostornaia's, which is wonderful.
[Ambesi] If we talk about the size of the jumps, the best is still Ito Midori, who jumped like a man.
But
Kostornaia is the one who is changing the history of the ladies triple Axel.
Mao Asada fans will say that she had already done before a triple Axel with such a complicated entry.
But Mao was no longer able to maintain it, because growing up she found it increasingly difficult to complete the rotations and had to simplify the entry.
The quality of Kihira is not in question and I think that the challenge between Kihira and Kostornaia in Sapporo was one of the highlights of this season.
[Dolfini] Not just of this season.
[Ambesi - 77:00] We had never seen such a quality, and they had two very similar programs.
[Dolfini] Both over 150 points.
[Ambesi] Right now Kihira is missing the Lutz, so she's behind. It's unlikely she can beat Kostornaia, except for errors.
madmax?
