Alena Kostornaia | Page 269 | Golden Skate

Alena Kostornaia

Vemvane said:
I am awake and alert again, and now that I have had time to reflect on the excitement of the free skate yesterday, I am still sticking with the feeling I had of tranquility watching her skate. Some of her jumps might have been underrotated, the step sequence may have had an obvious fumble, the spin levels may not have been what they could be, but throughout it all, I was never anxious that she would fall. Even when she's not at her best, she is (for me, at least) a very special skater.

I'm also revising my somewhat critical opinion of her hairstyle. She's experimenting, she's finding out which looks work, and which don't, and that's just fine. My guess is that she wanted a classic-looking updo, something reminiscent of the first half of the 20th century, and at certain angles, it did indeed have that effect. At other angles, it didn't work as well, which I think is attributable less to the hair-do, and more to the way her hair has been coloured - the bouffant effect was fine, the blonde highlights may have been what gave the "politician's wife" look.

At any rate, it's not what I think that matters, but how Aliona feels. If she likes the way her hair has been styled, then what do I have to complain about? If she doesn't like it, she'll change it - she's very clear on what she wants and likes! Besides, it looks just fine on the ice, which is what the judges see. They don't get the zoomed-in views from the cameras, nor the still frames from photos, not until after the competition. It's about how it appears in real time, in person, during the performance.

Ahem. That was a lot on hairstyle.

Anyway, I enjoyed Aliona's performance at Rostelecom. There are areas she will no doubt work to improve, and she may come out of this motivated to put the 3A back in, or she may continue to take things a little slower this season, adjusting to all the changes from the long and confusing off-season. She's retained her consistency, she has her lovely carriage, that open, strong back as she jumps, and the marvellous height and distance on her flip and axel and salchow. And props to her for her graciousness and good face in the Kiss and Cry.
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I think you are correct about the “politician’s wife” hairstyle which seems to match the second music cut “ Dance With Me Wallis” referring, of course, to the love affair between Wallis Simpson and Edward of England which took place in the 1930’s. It is a style so reminiscent of the period and Wallis did style her hair and make up precisely this way. Kudos to you for noticing this!

 
elbkup said:
I think you are correct about the “politician’s wife” hairstyle which seems to match the second music cut “ Dance With Me Wallis” referring, of course, to the love affair between Wallis Simpson and Edward of England which took place in the 1930’s. It is a style so reminiscent of the period and Wallis did style her hair and make up precisely this way. Kudos to you for noticing this!

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Ah! That makes sense! Thank you for finding the direct link between the programme and the source of inspiration! Aliona's hair is definitely reminiscent of that, but adjusted for the practical considerations of skating, spinning and jumping at speed.
 
I'm sure Plushenko's is a good school, and she may feel more comfortable training there. Tutberidze and friends give the impression to be drill instructors, and surely with their super-strict ways they have produced results. plus, they are politically powerful there's no doubt about that. Girls seem to run away from that school on a consistent basis, so there must be big problems there. So if Alena is less stressed with her current coaches I'm happy. The downside though, is that Plushenko's is a relatively new academy. He may have excellent professionals but in order to surpass Sambo70 you need the goods, the tricks and above all the experience that understandably he still lacks, not to mention the judges' favour. Sambo seems to know well how to deal with stars. Trusova and Kostornaia are the first stars that Plushenko "got". Alena has all the issues that we know, but let's be realistic, there's no Plushenko bonus for her scores otherwise Tuktamysheva, who is never allowed to beat anyone, would have been surely placed behind Alena. personally I'm not desperate for her to get the gold and I'm respectful of all the work that her team has put in. i'm just observing. although I'm confident that by Nats Alena will be on fire, I wouldn't be so sure that her team will fix up everything in terms of technique and choreography, or at least not in the way her previous team did.
I don't think this is not an important season either. No matter what, the pre-olympic season is always a key season, if anyting in the "politics" departement. If at Nationals Anna and Kamila get monstrous GOE and PCS above Plushenko's girls we can easily foresee who will be the Chosen ones next season, including the Olympics.
Virus or not virus, from the very start Russia has been making its skaters compete and compete because they're extremely serious about Beijing 22.
I wouldn't "relax" too much this year if I were a skater.
And we've seen that Liza Tuktamysheva is more than prepared to take advantage of the split of the 3A. After missing all the Olympics of her career she will obviously want to have her chance next year. That chance may be the reason why she keeps staying and trying exhausting quads and swallowing iffy scores.
 
Back after so long (deterred by trolls on other threads) and not for long...
I'm so sorry to see you distressed about Alena Kostornaia's skate.
We must not forget she had a three-week stop until around August 7th, while other top Russian Ladies could skate since June 1st (May 25th or 26th for Eteri Girls). And this, before having been able to retrieve her shape.
I was glad to see her this weekend, because she has now had exactly the same time to recover as others had at the Test Skates. I suppose you remember how were other Ladies at these Test Skates? Yes Elizaveta Tuktamysheva already had her 3A back but they have been old friends for so many years now, and she hasn't grown of course. For Alena, 3A was still new when confinement started, plus she grew 5cm. So her adaptation takes logically longer, it is more comparable to Anna Shcherbakova's or Alexandra Trusova's, with that additional delay.
So, knowing she had only 3 months practice (plus the broken boots), my expectations were low at 4th stage of Cup of Russia, and I must say they have been exceeded. Given how they had been exceeded, and in spite of the probable disturbances for practice due to Angels of Plushenko's moving to new premises, I had wild hopes of one 3A either in the short or in the long, but I knew these were wild hopes. I can tell you in fact, her skating at both programs this weekend, quite relieved me : things are getting back in place, and fast. In fact they need to be fast, because, if she doesn't need to be perfect at Stage 5 in less than two weeks, she needs to be excellent (and she needs her 3A back) at Nationals in a month, to be one of the three selected for Worlds (and Europeans if they take place, but I somehow wonder why they would as 4CC was cancelled, while ISU seems to prioritise a replacement "GPF" — where she would be at least — upon a replacement 4CC). She doesn't need to be first at Nationals, but she needs a spot, I agree with the importance of international spots in a pre-Olympic season. Then she will have enough time to come back to the "top of the top".
Also, Shae-Lynn Bourne can work efficiently with Yuzuru Hanyu online because they know each other so well, they've done so many programs (what programs!) and adjustments in person that they can guess and work nearly as well remotely. Not the same goes with Alena Kostornaia, it's a first time collaboration and the first time Alena Kostornaia works with a "non-home" choreographer.
To sum up, catching up with other top Russian Ladies after such a late off-ice period (only Anastasia Tarakanova had worse but she hadn't grown) is really tough but her progression is above my expectations so I have hopes — and I like very much to have this insight every fortnight to get reassured! Plus, it gives me a hint on what makes her such a special skater apart from technical perfection.
 
Fluture said:
Isn‘t there usually a final to the Russian Cup as well? It‘s going to be a repeat of RusNats, basically, but I think it‘s still relevant as another competition this season.
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I think top skaters rarely go there and so far Aliona has only confirmed another Cup stage and Nationals.
 
SkateSkates said:
The jumps look fine rotation wise in practice and on warmup, I think she doesn’t have enough confidence and stamina to do them properly in the program yet. I’m not as worried about her rotation issues because we see they are fine in training (check out angels of plushenko video of her 3F3S combo from training before the LP). It seems like she tenses up and doesn’t really “go for it” with her full strength, which is what’s causing her rotation issues. Hopefully as she builds up her confidence - and with more runthrus - she will execute them again like she does in practice. She also seems to get behind the music which I think is causing her to try to catch up and trip in her Stsq. Maybe they should adjust the pattern of the choreo sequence instead, because at both events this is where she fell behind vs training videos.
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Yes, didn't she say in an interview that that was what was happening? That she was conserving energy.

I'm not too worried in general. The programs still aren't up to her usual standards because she's still worried about the technical elements. She also said in her interview that she tried to show more of the performances side this time and I think it paid off because I could feel more of the Alena magic coming through. The problem was that by that time in the steps sequence, she was already getting tired so it was sloppy.

As for the jumps, I think Ito be solved once she's fixed her stamina problem. She's just not confident in them right now but once she knows she can get through the whole program without "dying" she'll be back to normal.

The only thing I'm worried about is that she doesn't have much time to do all this work. And if she's not longer solid top 3 or 4 then it gives RusFed an excuse to drop her.
 
nussnacker said:
I think top skaters rarely go there and so far Aliona has only confirmed another Cup stage and Nationals.
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Yeah but if they cancel Euros or Worlds, it might be worth it. And even if that doesn’t happen - if she gets the 3A back, she might need a few competitions to stabilize it. I’m not sure what will happen but I thought it’d be a possibility at least.
 
Lzbee said:
Yes, didn't she say in an interview that that was what was happening? That she was conserving energy.

I'm not too worried in general. The programs still aren't up to her usual standards because she's still worried about the technical elements. She also said in her interview that she tried to show more of the performances side this time and I think it paid off because I could feel more of the Alena magic coming through. The problem was that by that time in the steps sequence, she was already getting tired so it was sloppy.

As for the jumps, I think Ito be solved once she's fixed her stamina problem. She's just not confident in them right now but once she knows she can get through the whole program without "dying" she'll be back to normal.

The only thing I'm worried about is that she doesn't have much time to do all this work. And if she's not longer solid top 3 or 4 then it gives RusFed an excuse to drop her.
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I agree she needs stamina for doing all the program and I think she stills thinking about the steps .. even at the final of the program her reaction is more ... I know it's not perfect but it's all I can do at this time ... and she needs to be sure for doing the 3A

But I disagree .. she is a still solid top 3 or 4 ... except maybe Anna .. I think the rest is a open field .. sasha needs at least 2-3 quads jumps without them she will loose to alena and the rest. Liza has two good programs but has been years ...in the 3 stage she was 3.The juniors don't have 3A or a 4. And Kamila .. well I know most people will disagree ... she isn't so stable like Anna or other skaters Eteri skaters .. and her body type isn't like anna or sasha in more like alena, liza, etc .. so even if i believe she is a great skater I think isn't that clear that she will be the only and one champion ... Medvedeva is at this point an unknown card ..
 
I just watched Aliona’s exhibition and I think I saw some glimpses of Aliona magic in some sections! The black dress was lovely and I would love her to make it her long program dress.
Regarding the competition, I think Aliona has improved so much since Stage 4 less than a week ago. Hopefully now she will have at least a week of uninterrupted training before Stage 5 and her fitness and confidence will increase even more.
As others mentioned, I think it would be smart for her to do the cup final. It’s a month after nationals and a perfect opportunity for her to show her 3A and prove to the federation she’s still a top contender for the Olympic gold.
 
Sometimes I‘m asking myself why I‘m still following skating but then I watch Aliona fly across the ice and I remember. That gala was brilliant (only the jacket part was a little awkward still) - sparks of her old magic. She still has it, and she has it in spades. She just needs more time.

Love the program, the dress, everything. Thank you, Aliona.
 
yesterday I was destroyed by the result: I strongly hoped for her win
But I was also happy because I saw fragments of the true Aliona, even more than in the SP (despite the SP being better scoring wise)
Problem is both her and the program look unfinished.
I can understand she tryes to manage energy to finish, but why is that?
She lost some time for sure, and that may explain some lack of performance and quality, but aerobic should be there already and if it's not something is wrong
 
her gala dress is stunning :love: I also really love that hairstyle on her :) however it's probably a bit unfuctional for competitions
 
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