Alena Kostornaia | Page 211 | Golden Skate

Alena Kostornaia

i can imagine she was really thrown off by her music just starting unexpectedly, when she was supposed to be announced. that really can throw off the entire performance. she had to improvise to get towards the center of the ice very quickly to do her first spin where it should be.

i would not think too much into her mistakes, i think a lot of it can be contributed to the starting mishap. we forget these girls are still human and not robots, they are not going to be perfect and solid every time we see them. Aliona knows this is not a competition, just a show, and in the end it doesn't matter. she knows when it counts and will make it count- this is our reigning GPF and Euro champion, after all :)
 
Yes, I hope I am just overreacting and the other factors (bad lighting, music starting early) had something to do with her struggles. However, I can’t deny that she is changing physically before our eyes and looked to be in pain not just after the fall, but also in the Ina Bauer and at the end when she took her bow.

It’s not just the added height, but also the redistribution of weight that can throw her jumps off axis as she adjusts. Plus, annoying teenage things like hormone swings causing water weight to be randomly held on a certain day/week that is completely out of anyone’s control. (I hope this isn’t going too far/being disrespectful, but it’s a reality for everyone)
 
Agreed. She was taken by surprise when the music started, improvised the beginning of her skate, and was also dealing with the spotlight, the shadows outside it, and the moving patterns on the ice. Of the performances I've watched so far, only Anna and Maiia landed all their jumps successfully, so I think it's fair to say that skating under show conditions is a challenge even for these excellently prepared girls, before they are rattled by their music starting unexpectedly.

Besides, it's only a show, and nobody's perfect. I sometimes feel we* do the top skaters a disservice by holding them to unrealistically high standards, where one fall, let alone one less than perfect skate, can lead to people wringing their hands and forecasting doom and gloom. Skaters like Aliona are perfectionists themselves; as a fan, I would rather be more laid-back so that I can still enjoy a performance that the skater might consider flawed. (To be the Horse Person, perhaps my attitude is more philosophical because when you compete with a horse, no matter how good your training and preparation, you can't control how the horse feels on the day of the competition, and it happens to all of us, from the lowly riders like me to the best in the sport, so you get used to not expecting perfection and seeing even the best have bad days.)

*Generalising here, not saying that it has happened over this show performance.
 
A couple of thoughts on Alena's recent performance....first, it appears that she is bigger and stronger and maybe carrying a little extra weight. SS might be correct about hormones and water retention. I'm not too concerned about the body changes because she is athletic enough to compensate but it might take a little time to adjust her rhythm. Remember that athletically she seemed to learn the 3a pretty quick last summer. No easy feat. Of greater concern is how badly she missed the one jump. She appeared ok afterwards and I don't think she injured herself (knock on wood) but it's the kind of thing that has the potential to harm confidence.

Figure skating must be one of the most difficult and challenging athletic pursuits. It's literally a sport on a razor's edge performed in a pressure cooker. I am truly amazed at these wonderful athletes and hope Alena the very best in worlds!!!
 
SXTN said:
I don't think so because Worlds is in Canada with smaller rinks. She is probably preparing for that most of the training time and is moving her jumps away from the corners or getting adjusted to shorter entrances.
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Smaller rinks? Lol this isn't a world championship hockey game this is World Championship figure skating and The rinks they skate on all years should be the same damn size ice surface.
 
I won’t worry too much about her ex performance. She always struggles during the practice, especially at the beginning, and delivers beautifully in competitions. I think she just need a proper warm-up.
 
Hammer24 said:
A couple of thoughts on Alena's recent performance....first, it appears that she is bigger and stronger and maybe carrying a little extra weight. SS might be correct about hormones and water retention. I'm not too concerned about the body changes because she is athletic enough to compensate but it might take a little time to adjust her rhythm. Remember that athletically she seemed to learn the 3a pretty quick last summer. No easy feat. Of greater concern is how badly she missed the one jump. She appeared ok afterwards and I don't think she injured herself (knock on wood) but it's the kind of thing that has the potential to harm confidence.

Figure skating must be one of the most difficult and challenging athletic pursuits. It's literally a sport on a razor's edge performed in a pressure cooker. I am truly amazed at these wonderful athletes and hope Alena the very best in worlds!!!
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I sort of wondered whether the dress was too small, which made her look more filled out. At one point though she was standing near Sasha and Anna and it does appear she has grown-quite a lot. (Maybe 3 inches or so?). At the jumping finale she looked to be her same speedy powerful self.
 
Good Vibes Only said:
I feel like there are too many factors that might have contributed to Aliona not skating clean. First off, not being introduced can really throw off a skater. Second, that lighting was kind of crazy and over the top in my opinion. While I am sure that it looked cool live, I could definitely see it being a challenge to skate with those lights. Third, it does seem like Aliona is growing, but this is nothing that Team Tutberidze can’t handle. Between the four coaches there, I am sure that Aliona will get the proper help adjusting to her new height. Fourth, it did kind of seem like she was holding her side after ending pose so I wonder if she did bruise her hip or something. No matter which of these scenarios is true, I just want Aliona to try her best at worlds. We all know that she skates well under pressure, so hopefully that will be the case at worlds :pray:
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Yeah also other people mentioned it but her Flip is already massive and I don’t think she gets more speed in a program than in adios nonino so I can imagine being thrown off by the opening and then, after not having practiced the program super intensely for a long long while forgetting that she needs to control her speed and entrance so she doesn’t sail across the ice like she did. Also, Aliona seems to be a patterned jump skater, not unlike Tennell. She takes the same entrance for her jumps all season, and this seems to give her consistency. I don’t think she would still be super comfortable with an old jumping layout she hasn’t practiced.

And considering her training a quad is confirmed, that all of her jumps had a little bit of a loose leg wrap which we’ve really only see in her doubles this season, and that it seemed she delayed the rotation of the flip, I also wouldn’t be totally surprised if she’s still trying to manage the rotation between a quad and a triple. Especially with all the speed she had going into it. It looked a lot like Sasha’s 2A at Europeans (or was it RusNats?) where it seemed she realized halfway through she was not supposed to be doing a 3A.

Anyways, I’m not super concerned. Like already pointed out, only Anna and Maia skated clean, and Aliona always has a solid mind when she’s performing competitively. Bruises after falls happen, and managing growing is something every skater has to deal with. It isn’t as if she has faulty technique where long term sustainability of jumps is in question, really she just needs to practice and adapt to the height/weight. Anyways, working on quads might help this. When I ran in high school for soccer tryouts, I would always run further practicing than we were expected to. If I was used to 3 or 4 miles, then the 2 would be easier. Regardless of strategy, the coaching staff is clearly not incompetent, so pending bad news from them directly, I wouldn’t expect anything out of the norm.
 
has anyone heard anything regarding a back injury from training a 4S that is supposedly similar to Tursynbaeva's? i just heard this on TSL so obviously i'm taking it with a grain of salt, but i haven't seen any discussion of it anywhere at all.
 
I don‘t listen to TSL anymore so I haven‘t heard about this either but the way she had trouble bending down and her facial expressions of pain going into her Ina Bauer worried me at the show. She’s never looked that way before, even after taking painful falls. I have been fearing she might be injured, that‘s why I was so worried that day. I didn‘t want to bring rumors or my speculations here though, so, I didn‘t say anything. I just hope she will be fine. Please. :pray:

As for Tursynbaeva: well, she has been out for a very long time. If the injury indeed came from pushing the 4S too hard too soon one should hope they learned and did better with Aliona... we‘ll see. For now we can only hope.
 
Fluture said:
I don‘t listen to TSL anymore so I haven‘t heard about this either but the way she had trouble bending down and her facial expressions of pain going into her Ina Bauer worried me at the show. She’s never looked that way before, even after taking painful falls. I have been fearing she might be injured, that‘s why I was so worried that day. I didn‘t want to bring rumors or my speculations here though, so, I didn‘t say anything. I just hope she will be fine. Please. :pray:

As for Tursynbaeva: well, she has been out for a very long time. If the injury indeed came from pushing the 4S too hard too soon one should hope they learned and did better with Aliona... we‘ll see. For now we can only hope.
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that was exactly what TSL mentioned about having trouble bending and such. i agree about learning the 4S and lilbet- i hope she stopped training it at the onset and it is nowhere near as severe. i would rather her keep training 3As and do what she can with what she has and stay consistent, even if that means not winning all the time. she will have a longer and healthier career that way, and who knows...Sasha and Anna may begin having issues with their quads one day.
 
macy said:
that was exactly what TSL mentioned about having trouble bending and such. i agree about learning the 4S and lilbet- i hope she stopped training it at the onset and it is nowhere near as severe. i would rather her keep training 3As and do what she can with what she has and stay consistent, even if that means not winning all the time. she will have a longer and healthier career that way, and who knows...Sasha and Anna may begin having issues with their quads one day.
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Okay, now, that’s not too reassuring that TSL had the same thoughts I did.. :slink: :laugh:

To be honest the 4S in general confuses me. Did Eteri skaters ever actively push to learn new elements during the season (besides Sasha’s battle with the 3A)? That sounds very risky, given the amount of competitions they have to participate in. And then there‘s also the fact that it‘s Aliona‘s senior debut with a lot of pressure, new challenges and more international competitions than ever before. It’s the period of growing up as well, puberty, having to adjust the technique etc.

Also, she‘s been jumping the 3A for not even a season! Yes, it‘s been remarkably consistent so far but other skaters take at least a year to perfect an element. I don‘t see how training a 4S now could be beneficial. That‘s why I hope they keep it to the off-season and focus on staying or becoming healthy.

Also, yes, she’s not going to win everything with only her 3As, for sure but at the end of this season she will have lost a maximum of two times. That‘s not too much considering that, at the beginning of the season, we were worried for her chances of ever coming close to Sasha and Anna without an ultra-c element. Now she has the SP and total records and has won GPF and Euros. For sure, Anya and Sasha have made mistakes there but it‘s not easy being as consistent as Aliona was either, especially since she basically debuted the 3A in competition this year! So, really, I don‘t know why there would be any reason to push her already stressed out body and mind beyond its limit to learn the 4S before the off-season. She‘s been doing fine so far.

For now I just hope she’ll be healthy, no matter what. :pray:
 
Fluture said:
Okay, now, that’s not too reassuring that TSL had the same thoughts I did.. :slink: :laugh:

To be honest the 4S in general confuses me. Did Eteri skaters ever actively push to learn new elements during the season (besides Sasha’s battle with the 3A)? That sounds very risky, given the amount of competitions they have to participate in. And then there‘s also the fact that it‘s Aliona‘s senior debut with a lot of pressure, new challenges and more international competitions than ever before. It’s the period of growing up as well, puberty, having to adjust the technique etc.

Also, she‘s been jumping the 3A for not even a season! Yes, it‘s been remarkably consistent so far but other skaters take at least a year to perfect an element. I don‘t see how training a 4S now could be beneficial. That‘s why I hope they keep it to the off-season and focus on staying or becoming healthy.

Also, yes, she’s not going to win everything with only her 3As, for sure but at the end of this season she will have lost a maximum of two times. That‘s not too much considering that, at the beginning of the season, we were worried for her chances of ever coming close to Sasha and Anna without an ultra-c element. Now she has the SP and total records and has won GPF and Euros. For sure, Anya and Sasha have made mistakes there but it‘s not easy being as consistent as Aliona was either, especially since she basically debuted the 3A in competition this year! So, really, I don‘t know why there would be any reason to push her already stressed out body and mind beyond its limit to learn the 4S before the off-season. She‘s been doing fine so far.

For now I just hope she’ll be healthy, no matter what. :pray:
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i know she hinted at maybe trying a 4S at by the end of the season in an interview at Euros (i think) as trying to get a leg up on Anna and Sasha in the FS, which i can totally understand why she would want to. but honestly if she just keeps her current arsenal and continues to perfect her 3A and grow as an artist it may all level out in the end if others lose their quads.

i just hope she didn't overdo it and she's not seriously injured, and will feel ok to compete at worlds. how unfortunate would it be for her to have to miss two world championships in a row.
 
I am also worried about her health, but I do wonder where they got this information from. I was suspecting a back injury ever since nationals where she had it taped in both programs, but she didn’t have it taped at Euros so I wasn’t sure the state of recovery. I had put it out of my mind until the show last week, but after her performance I was concerned again. Hopefully she is able to manage the situation, whatever it may be, and will be able to compete at worlds without jeopardizing her future health. It’s hard, she knows her career will be short and has said so in interviews this season. She probably also understands this may be her best chance for a world title. I would hate to have her do irreparable damage to her health in pursuit of worlds and not be able to recover. This is all just speculation for now, of course, as nothing is confirmed.

If she is managing the pain with lighter training loads, this would explain the sudden onset of puberty that usually takes place during their break over the summer. This is likely only making the situation worse as she has to deal with a changing body while being restricted in her training time. Trying to think positive thoughts for Aliona, and her season can be considered a success no matter how worlds pans out. I just hope she can see this, but knowing her perfectionist personality I’m sure she wants to cap off her season with 2 clean programs and a world title.
 
macy said:
has anyone heard anything regarding a back injury from training a 4S that is supposedly similar to Tursynbaeva's? i just heard this on TSL so obviously i'm taking it with a grain of salt, but i haven't seen any discussion of it anywhere at all.
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Why in hell would she be practicing that before the world championships? That's for the offseason not before the biggest event of her career. If this is true it's a dubious coaching decision. Aliona can beat all the best competition even without a quad. And she has time and time again. Should she add a quad or two before the Olympics in two years? Of course. But now is not the time. International judges love her and for great reasons so Alona has a great chance to win worlds in her first try.
 
Oh no, I really, REALLY hope that Aliona isn't injured!!! :pray: :pray: :sad21:

Although I did think it was a bit peculiar to see all those photos of Aliona with the little kids when she was wearing the red Team Russia sweats (and not her practice clothes). The last time I saw her in that outfit was when she went to Universiade since she couldn't go to Junior Worlds... :slink:

Then:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Buv4-wGn5il/

Now:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Ekpf_I8PY/

And, like SkateSkates said, her dealing with an injury would explain why she seemed to have grown so much, so suddenly. :yes:

BUT, then again, when I saw the photo of her and Anna side-by-side, then it really didn't look like she had grown that much at all:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9KMUguoJSW/

So I don't know... :confused:

I'm going to try to think positive thoughts. :yes2:

A lot can happen over the next two weeks, BUT, assuming that Aliona makes it to Worlds, and that I make it there as a spectator, I would like to get her some kind of present! What do you guys think she would like???

For reference, for the 2016 Worlds in Boston, I gave Elena Radionova a Harvard University hoodie, because I thought it would be a good souvenir from Boston, and I was really pleased to see that she actually went to visit Harvard and wore the jacket a few more times after that! :luv17:
But I don't know what would be a good souvenir from Montreal/Canada...or maybe I should get something from the US (where I actually live) instead..?

Let me know what you think! :)
 
Scott512 said:
Why in hell would she be practicing that before the world championships? That's for the offseason not before the biggest event of her career. If this is true it's a dubious coaching decision. Aliona can beat all the best competition even without a quad. And she has time and time again. Should she add a quad or two before the Olympics in two years? Of course. But now is not the time. International judges love her and for great reasons so Alona has a great chance to win worlds in her first try.
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Although I agree that they should’ve been cautious and worked on keeping consistent with the 3As and continuing to fix the Lutz/Flip edges, it’s not like she just started on the 4S out of the blue. We know for sure she was training it after test skates from her interview after Finlandia (and who knows, maybe before too), but decided to go back to the 3A. I’m sure competing every couple of weeks in the fall didn’t allow her to train the 4S, but after GPF Daniil gave an interview they would work on it again, and then at Nationals he gave another interview that she wanted to try it at Nationals. Meanwhile, Aliona said it was still a new jump at Nationals, but had chances for the future. So she has been training it on and off throughout this season, but that’s all we know. No videos, or information if she’s landing it in the harness, trying it outside of the harness, etc. We don’t know when/if she got injured on it - and probably won’t ever know for sure - but she is aware that if her competitors skate clean she is at a BV disadvantage and I’m sure she wanted to have her fate in her own hands, so I understand her wanting to train the jump. I really hope the possible injury doesn’t prevent her from having skates she can be proud of at Worlds.
 
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