Alina Zagitova | Page 477 | Golden Skate

Alina Zagitova

Wow - Nathan had it too!
These skaters are warriors.

Apparently it is a very common occurrence with figure skaters, and young kids that do high impact sports. Nathan talked a lot about it back in the day and today I can still see the telltale signs from having had it on his knees (bit of a lump right beneath the kneecap, which not everyone that had it gets btw).

It sorts itself out and ideally you shouldn’t have any long lasting effect from it, but figure skating in general (I guess) is probably a pretty “painful” sport.
 
I was just watching the program again. (for the 449th time I admit) And what I find the most exciting are the transitions.
The transitions - the entries and exits - in between every element are truly BREATHTAKING.
The second half is truly a display of an impossible technical dare which only someone like Alina would have the guts to attempt.
For all the talk of the juniors driving the technical game, look at Alina over here leading the trend of extreme transitions and back-to-back passes.
This girl is still LEADING THE PACK.

What a legendary technician...:shocked:

I agree, as long as they want her to be on the top, she can be (alone or with some others, we will see) .. the girls need some space for their huge jumps, Alina is able to jump from everything and is able to do insane hard elements, she is not only jumping expert. Deffinitelly she is not the one behind juniors.

And for juniors:
For me,
- Alena is lovely skater, very beutiful, mature, with all skils (+ eventually 3A, it will be huge important question if she will be handle it as a stable element or no), she is nice but for me type of skater like Sotskova, when powerfull skaters are on, she cannot beat them.

- Anna has quad, but very weak quad at this time, is maybe better to jump perfect triple than 1 from 10 quads, also i'm curious if she will able to stabilisate it. Plus she is very nice skater. Anyway, Alina's full pocket with insane elements can beat her.

- and Sasha is Sasha, I'm curious what else this girl is able to do. Her jumps began solid now. But still can imagine that when Alina will be precise she can beat her, but it will be worst bettle than between Alina and Zhenya in Pyeongchang. BTW I cannot imagine she will stay as tinny as she is now, .. it will be interesting to watch how she will handle body changes (in the time of OG she will be 17).

BTW everytime I think about those youngsters I'm wondering if Eteri in some era want only girls with the A name :D All 4 her young killers between 14-16 are A-lina, A-nna, A-lena, A-lexandra :laugh: interesting
 
BTW everytime I think about those youngsters I'm wondering if Eteri in some era want only girls with the A name :D All 4 her young killers between 14-16 are A-lina, A-nna, A-lena, A-lexandra :laugh: interesting
next is coming
2006 - Kamila, Daria, Maya
2007 - Sonya
2008 - Veronika
 
Longer interview by Tatjana Flade https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=300&v=MVGU2ehYix4
there's more about dresses and plans and rules changes (auto-translate looks funny but i need to go bed... zzz....)

Someone on Youtube translated the entire interview, I will post it here too so you guys can read it all, too, it's really interesting :luv17:

- Alina, congratulations on your successful debut at the beginning of the season. You skated both your programs so good.
- Thank you.
- How did you feel on the ice today?
- I felt more relaxed than in my short program. In the short I was pretty worried.
- More than in the free?
- Yes, more than in the free.
- Why?
- Well, this is my first official competition after the Olympics. It was a little harder for me. Mentally harder. But I calmed myself, Eteri Georgiyevna calmed me too and I got myself under control.
- Your arrival here was pretty unexpected. How do you like here in Oberstdorf, in Germany?
- Right now I'm catching myself that maybe it was better I didn't go to Bratislava, but came to Oberstdorf. It's incredibly beautiful here! These cute little houses, these mountains, this nature, this fresh air! This is exactly what I need now! All these comforts me so much!
- You feel comfortable here?
- Yes, just like at my granny's home )
- Your costume for Carmen is just gorgeous. Can you tell me something about this?
- The costumes for both my programs are very cool. I really like these. Eteri Georgiyevna and my costume designer always makes my dresses very tenderly, because my dress makes my character on ice. This is a very important element of figure skating.
- And the costume for you short program...
- And the costume for my short program we made together with Eteri Georgiyevna and my designer. We couldn't create my character fully without it.
- So you can speak yourself what do you want more, what do you like more?
- Yes, but I trust my coach and my designer more, because I don't have such good taste as they do.
- I think you'll got it.
- I hope so )
- What did you take from this competition?
- This competition was very important for me, because I needed to fell myself in new programs, in new characters, and just to take part in new competitions. That was a main thing for me.
- The rules have changed now. Now judges gives GOE +5/-5 and there's a limit for jumps in the second half. What do think about it?
- Well, the rules changes almost at every Olympic cycle, and I knew after these Olympics the rules will be changed again, and maybe these changes will be about the second half. But these changes are not only for me. This is for all figure skating world. All I can do is just to get used to the new situation. And i think it's good that figure skating is changing.
- Do you think it's better for you? You used to be to do all your jumps in the second half. But now you can't do it.
- Now I can pay more attention to my artistry. I was criticized for this last season. Many people didn't like I did all my jumps in the second half. And now I want to show that I am strong not only by my second half. I want to show my skating, my jumps and my character combined together.
- I think you did it in your today's programs ) And the last question: what will you do next? How will you work next?
- I will work as I work now. My next competition is Japan Open. And I'll try to show good, clear skating there.
- Thank you and good luck.
 
It looks I was a bit late... :). But here is my translation as well, just for the effort to not go in vain.

Alina, we congratulate you with the very successful season debut you skated very well both free and short program.

“Thank you”

How did you feel today on ice?

“I felt more relaxed (free) today than in the short. In the short program, nevertheless, I was more worried.”

More than the free skate, right?

“Yes, more than the FS”

Why?

“Well, it was like the first time on ice, first competition after Olympics (my comment: she tries to forget Worlds :biggrin:), I think it’s always difficult morally, but I calmed myself. Eteri calmed me and I gathered it together.”

You came here unexpectedly, did you like Oberstdorf and Germany?

Well now I’m founding myself thinking, probably, it was for the better that I didn’t went to my first competition (Nepela). Because here there is unbelievable beauty, when I come here, all these little houses, those mountains, the nature, the air, this was just what I wanted now. All this atmosphere clamed me.”

You felt very comfortable?

“Yes, like in my grandmother’s” (laughs)

You presented as Carmen, and the dress is so amazing can you tell about it?

“Yes, the dress is very classy (cool). I liked both the SP and LP (dresses). For me always Eteri and our dressmaker… they always very sensitively work on dresses. They add (complete) to the program and it is a key element let’s say of figure skating.”

And the dress for the SP?

“For the sort program as well it was Eteri and our dressmaker … without the dresses I think there will not be the complete image.

So, you had also a saying (on the dresses), what do you want, what do you like?

“Well, I trust more Eteri and our dressmaker, because I don’t have that kind of taste (yet) like they have.”

I think you will have too

“Probably” (laughs)

What did you gain from this event?

“Well, this event was very important for me. I had to feel myself in the new programs, new image. Just to participate on competitions. That was the most important”

The rules have changed a bit. There is -5, +5 now, a limitation for the jumps in second half. How do you see these changes?

“With each Olympiad something changes. I knew that, after the Olympics something will be changed and that could have been the second half that will be affected so … but it ‘s not that it was changed only for me. It was for all the figure skating world. I cannot do anything about that, what can I do is to adjust to those rules … It’s nice that figure skating is changing”

Do you think that it is easier or … (trying to say harder) not important to do all the jumps on the second half and now some on the first half?

“Now, I can show more artistry (I think she is trolling here because of the way she smiles) like many last season for that … well they didn’t like, that I was jumping in the second half. And I want to prove that it was not only the second half. That I can show image, skating and jumps all combined...”

I think everything is working (coming out). (Alina small laugh and smiles). Finally, a last question. What will be from now on, how you will work, what are the next steps?

“I will further work in the same way. My next competition is Japan Open and I will try to show a nice and clean skating”

Thank you and good luck

“Thank you”
 
I am a little bit too late but congratulations to Alina! She didn't let her nerves to get on her way and did fantastic. I personally liked her long program way more than the short. I have said earlier that she needs big music in order to shine and thatvs exactly what we saw in the free because it's fast and matches her fast paced skating and doesn't show her as disconnected. I am not fond of Carmen but I loved Alina's skating. The choreo has interesting moments and she has refinded her moves soo much! I think some of her jumps look also better. Yes, she had some wobbles at the end but I guess she was already tired.
 
Ehm... both did Carmen really well, for example. ;)

Katarina Witt also likes Alina ;) probably happy to see her skate to Carmen as well. She said in an interview before Olympics that she likes Alina's arm movements and prefers her over Zhenya as gold favorite :P. Sadly the interview cannot be found as a video, it was on live TV back then otherwise I would have linked it.
 
Off Topic - but I saw that Eteri's daughter won a bronze medal in Ice Dance at the JGP.

Pretty decent day for Eteri.

By the way, I noticed that she and her partner generate a lot interest since their FD video has been watched 10k times and RD video 15k times. These numbers are 2 to 3.5 times higher than what Khudaiberdieva/Nazarov's videos have.

Someone should create a thread for them.
 
Go Diana!

Not entirely off topic. Diana's good friends with Alina. They appear in a lot of photos and videos together and Alina has borrowed her clothes a bunch of times.

Alina and Diana are real BFFs even more than Alina and Zhenya were. ;)

But what's all this about Alina knees? It must have something to do with our growing 3 to 4 in in the last 12 months.
 
Just watched ladies gala training. Her program looks really good. Still no costume but with leather jacket. She was still testing what to do with it. :D
At the end she shows some good 3Lutz-3Loop-3Loop and 3Lutz-3Loop-3T combos and parts of her LP.
 
Just watched ladies gala training. Her program looks really good. Still no costume but with leather jacket.

Maybe that is her costume. :)

Alina and Diana are real BFFs even more than Alina and Zhenya were. ;)

Since Polina Shuboderova and Daria left, Diana is the only close friend Alina still has on rink. Luckily, since Diana's Eteri's daughter as long as Alina is with Eteri I don't think anything will come between them.

Alina and her new friend :luv17::

https://www.instagram.com/p/BoTds5nnxQZ/?taken-by=teamzagitova

Her face when she first saw the puppy was priceless..She is so good and kind with animals :luv17:

:rofl: We now know the secret to getting Alina's attention when we swarm her for autographs at competitions.

BTW everytime I think about those youngsters I'm wondering if Eteri in some era want only girls with the A name :D All 4 her young killers between 14-16 are A-lina, A-nna, A-lena, A-lexandra :laugh: interesting

Yes, I desperately want to find a picture of the A-Team. Yuzuru'd better look out...Eteri already has a 4A. :laugh:
 
Has anyone already pointed out how much Alina's 2A has improved? I feel this was her only "weakness" last season and now it is smooth and it has length and good speed in and out.

Everyone is talking about Zhenya's axel but Alina's for me is more improved!
 
Has anyone already pointed out how much Alina's 2A has improved? I feel this was her only "weakness" last season and now it is smooth and it has length and good speed in and out.

Everyone is talking about Zhenya's axel but Alina's for me is more improved!

I noticed it too!
:luv17:
 
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