Alina Zagitova

[lesnar001]

Well, enough worrying about next season.

I've got this year's Worlds to get nervous about!

Like most here, I just want Alina to skate well and be happy with both her SP and LP.
She can't control what others do, and needs to just be focused on herself.
If she is smiling at the end of her programs, that is good enough for me!

It is kind of nervewracking because there has been an almost 2 month gap between competitions.
There have been some practice videos that have made me optimistic.
But, of course, putting it all together in competition is always the most difficult part.

I really hope that this past 2 months has allowed Alina and her team to "sort out" any number of issues that have cropped up in previous competitions.

I am very nervous, but also very excited for what really could be a "Mini-Redemption" for Alina at Worlds.

No matter what, though, she will be fighting for every jump, element, level, etc.... like she always does.
I hope she is rewarded for all the hard work and struggles she has been through this season.

 

[paji15]

Seeing that neither have even reached the age of 20 yet, I think they CAN learn new tricks.
And they certainly will have the "motivation" to do so.

Agree. People sometime forgot that Liza was able to add 3A in not junior age. Both Alina and Zhenya are still eligible to compete at juniors, Alina for a couple of years. She is not competing there only because she is good enough to be senior, but it doesn't do her older. She is just a very little older than 3A and she has an advantage that she already had a major body changes. I always compare figure skating with gymnastics. There, girls can compete in seniors since 16. And look, the very best is still Simone Biles who is 22. She wasn't replaced by any junior despite a full year off, and whats more, she add new, more difficult skills. She was age eligible to compete at seniors in London 2012, and she didn't make a team because she wasn't prepare enough. And look at her now. Alina is definitelly able to learn new skills. It's up to her. But it's very bold to say 16yo girl who is second best senior in the world now, despite all her troubles, that she is done. Also for me, she is not only brutal jumper but very complex skater.

This year is perfect example, that it's hard to predict anything. Russia has a huge number of amazing skaters and look, Sofia who didn't break a 200 before Europeans, made a team. It doesn't matter if favorites failed at Nats or someone had health issues. She made a team and she also made a GPF & she deserve it. Also not every junior girl automatically do well in seniors, look at Polina Truskaya, she was the best junior too, but she is strugling in seniors.

One thing is for sure, next year will be huge battle in Russian camp. But Alina is not done. She is able to compete with everybody, if she wants to.

 

[FreeSkater]

All videos about all events with Alina after European Championships 2019 till now.

1) PUMA Ambassador:
Promo&Clips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnwKcYvnGoc

Interviews RU&EN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alfAawQJPko

2.) Airweave three promo, making of, signing the contract, news clips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYZ379_GLMg

3.) Winter Sports Festival 2019:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IRTt4OrozQ

4.) 3Lz3T3Lo and Masaru on Ice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjA6CAYRmoo

5.) Silver Doe 2018 Award and Interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h0y0qMdKt4

6.) SAKURA Festival:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAN7qPffVI4

7.) ISU WC2019 Promo, Interview and Reportages before WC2019 from japanese TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwsbQhtasT4

Enjoy and stay tuned!

 

[flanker]

Agree. People sometime forgot that Liza was able to add 3A in not junior age. Both Alina and Zhenya are still eligible to compete at juniors, Alina for a couple of years. She is not competing there only because she is good enough to be senior, but it doesn't do her older. She is just a very little older than 3A and she has an advantage that she already had a major body changes. I always compare figure skating with gymnastics. There, girls can compete in seniors since 16. And look, the very best is still Simone Biles who is 22. She wasn't replaced by any junior despite a full year off, and whats more, she add new, more difficult skills. She was age eligible to compete at seniors in London 2012, and she didn't make a team because she wasn't prepare enough. And look at her now. Alina is definitelly able to learn new skills. It's up to her. But it's very bold to say 16yo girl who is second best senior in the world now, despite all her troubles, that she is done. Also for me, she is not only brutal jumper but very complex skater.

This year is perfect example, that it's hard to predict anything. Russia has a huge number of amazing skaters and look, Sofia who didn't break a 200 before Europeans, made a team. It doesn't matter if favorites failed at Nats or someone had health issues. She made a team and she also made a GPF & she deserve it. Also not every junior girl automatically do well in seniors, look at Polina Truskaya, she was the best junior too, but she is strugling in seniors.

One thing is for sure, next year will be huge battle in Russian camp. But Alina is not done. She is able to compete with everybody, if she wants to.

I would agree with everything beside "second best senior"

 

[paji15]

I would agree with everything beside "second best senior"

Like for me she is the very best, I don't think someone have a better short than Alina. Despite all controversy about that program in the begining, I love it so much. And she strugled with Carmen, but I don't know, I somehow see good thing in it, she fell but overall there are improvements. One day, and I believe it will be Words, she execute it again and it will be huge. But because of I somehow don't enjoy Rika's skates at all - she can do two 3A in one program and I'm like "and where it was? boring, next" so I was trying to be objective and goes with GPF results.

(PS: Don't tell anybody, but I believe GPF results will be just history after Words and our Alina will be undoubtelly on top!!)

 

[lopsilceci]

I agree. Personally I respect Rika a lot for what she can do and her recent success, but I don't really enjoy her programs much this season.
Also, I think that, coming into this year's worlds, Alina has the advantage of experience. Last season and this season were full of ups and downs for her and she will benefit from all of it. After all, in sports, as in life, we always learn more from failure than from success.

 

[Autumn Leaves]

What do you think are the realistic odds of Alina doing at 3A or 4? next season? As in attempting it in a competition setting. I was thinking about program layouts earlier and started wondering. I know we saw the video of her on the harness but I don't know how serious of an attempt that was or if is something she is training consistently, obviously not right now with worlds though, outside of that.

I think the odds are good, once she adjusts to her growing body. Alina seems so hard-working and dedicated that she can achieve a lot.

On the other hand, Eteri made an interesting comment once. After the test skates, she said that Rusfed suggested to simplify Alina’s programs a bit and make them less busy, but Eteri refused and said “that’s the way we have decided to develop Alina.” Maybe I am reading too much into this, but maybe her team sees her incredible stamina and skating skills as the primary strength, not the quads or the 3A. Of course, I am just speculating now, but Eteri is a genius in knowing and highlighting the strengths of each skater.

 

[nips]

I think the odds are good, once she adjusts to her growing body. Alina seems so hard-working and dedicated that she can achieve a lot.

On the other hand, Eteri made an interesting comment once. After the test skates, she said that Rusfed suggested to simplify Alina’s programs a bit and make them less busy, but Eteri refused and said “that’s the way we have decided to develop Alina.” Maybe I am reading too much into this, but maybe her team sees her incredible stamina and skating skills as the primary strength, not the quads or the 3A. Of course, I am just speculating now, but Eteri is a genius in knowing and highlighting the strengths of each skater.

Next season Alina will have more time and less pressure to further develop her technique. With 3A going senior, the Russian team won´t be carried only on Alina's shoulder (like it was last year during WC, or this year when she is one of few medal contenders). They can take more time and upgrade her technique and maybe even add new jumps. With other senior skaters, Eteri and Alina can take the risque and add new elements, even if it will take a longer time to adjust. (Like the problem with losing the triples for a while practising the quads). Maybe its priority of Eteri to make Alina competitive in another Olympic cycle and show the world that she can have a long period of success with senior skaters.

 

[TheBallerina]

Alina and a little skater [emoji173]️

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvEa6SKne3F/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1wiyhrf24ffqa

 

[lesnar001]

Next season Alina will have more time and less pressure to further develop her technique. With 3A going senior, the Russian team won´t be carried only on Alina's shoulder (like it was last year during WC, or this year when she is one of few medal contenders). They can take more time and upgrade her technique and maybe even add new jumps. With other senior skaters, Eteri and Alina can take the risque and add new elements, even if it will take a longer time to adjust. (Like the problem with losing the triples for a while practising the quads). Maybe its priority of Eteri to make Alina competitive in another Olympic cycle and show the world that she can have a long period of success with senior skaters.

As an Alina fan, I certainly would like to see this scenario.

Alina has such a huge amount of natural talent, and I personally want to watch her further development towards the next Olympics.

She is so much more than a "jumping bean" (and btw, there would be nothing wrong with that either)
Even in this transitional season of struggles, she has only had 1 "Level 3". Everything else has been "Level 4".
And to those who don't like Eteri's "busy choreography", watch Alina's skating with more "traditional" choreography at any of the ice shows she did in the off-season.

So many people long for skaters to stay and have "longevity", yet with Alina, there always seems to be a "retirement watch" going on.
I don't get it.

Anyway....
No matter what Alina does or doesn't do in the future, she has already accomplished so much in her sport.
But I am "selfish", and I so much want to see her continue skating competively.
So I really hope she does.

 

[johnlawyer999]

Like for me she is the very best, I don't think someone have a better short than Alina. Despite all controversy about that program in the begining, I love it so much. And she strugled with Carmen, but I don't know, I somehow see good thing in it, she fell but overall there are improvements. One day, and I believe it will be Words, she execute it again and it will be huge. But because of I somehow don't enjoy Rika's skates at all - she can do two 3A in one program and I'm like "and where it was? boring, next" so I was trying to be objective and goes with GPF results.

(PS: Don't tell anybody, but I believe GPF results will be just history after Words and our Alina will be undoubtelly on top!!)

May be it's just me, I prefer her Don Quixote performance more as you can feel the excitement confident and joy of the character....Still remember her lovely smile at the end routine in Olympic...It truly melted me down. What a beautiful girl with innocent face.

For Carmen, the story and character are a bit “dark", you can feel she is performing rather than living with the character. May be that's something she will grow into it as time goes by.

 

[Seruleane]

While I love seeing all the Alina fans in here supporting her, maybe we should refrain from comments/criticisms of other skaters. Just my 2 cents.

 

[lusk8]

Alina can learn anything she sets herself to learn.

The main issue with 3As and 4s was only one: risk, reward.

Harder tech elements mean more risk of problems with executing said hard tech elements.

You can see that even in a "regular 3" program, Alina has the hardest one (hardest program without a 4 or 3A of the current seniors, she also had the hardest one last season). Now she does a FS with two different 3Lz combos, it has inherent risks and executing it to perfect (as she did a bunch of times this season) requires a lot of skill. I would argue that as much skill as it takes to execute a 3A program or a 4 program.

It is a different, but equivalent, high level of skill, if it wasn't lots of other skaters who have the six 3s would go for it.

Alina was developed as a Junior for her first senior season using the best rationale of risk x reward available then, having her do 4s that could misfire was not a smart more then (same with a 3A), so she was not pushed into them. She had stamina, solid 3-3s, they used those instead of adding a "less solid 3A or a less solid 4s". She obviously did try them, 4s for sure, in training, everyone else did. Tara Lipinski in that documentary episode about Surya Bonali stated that she practiced 4s, I'm sure lots of other skaters did and do practice 3As and 4s with varying degrees of success rate.

To make a jump really worth your while to use in competition you have to land it in practice say 70% of the time, if you have "nothing to loose", you can throw stuff out there and see if it sticks. Alina was never a "nothing to loose" skater, when things in her Junior Season clicked into place it became clear she would move up and with Olympic team chances, then she had to get her success rate up to those 70% or better (it was, say, in the high 90% there, as mentioned by Daniil after Worlds). Figure Skating requires that you have the tech, have the nerves and have the health all at the same time. And you only get one shot at each program per competition. So, it is that moment, what you do then and there is what you end up with as a score.

For this season, adding a 4s for Alina and working actively towards that didn't make as much sense developmentally wise. She had the best 3A and 4 less tech, she had room to improve on other things that could add GOE. Her team worked with that. It looked, from the new judging recommendations, that the risk reward wasn't quite there yet.

Then it got a bit more there, via a skater with a 3A that while not at a 90% success rate could also be done in combo and could be executed when landed with a pretty rewarding GOE. Hard tech also carries your PCS to higher ground over time provided you have other elements to back it up. This season we have this case.

Alina's team probably looked at the reality of how the season was playing out and made a few decisions, for this season it was to stick to the original plan, work for those GOE bullets, she has been hard at work for that. This work will pay out in the long run, whatever the strategy. For next season, they are probably going to up her tech, with a jump that is most comfortable to her of the new arsenal of 3As and 4s. My bet is on a 4, because I don't think that adding both a 3A and a 4 at the same time would be smart right off the bat unless she gets both to 70% during training which is a tall order. 3As and 4s are added to competition programs lots of times with 50 or 60% success rate, because building them up to 70% or more, requires competition experience with them to bring solidity.

So far she seems to be following her team's "4 acquisition" blue print, in interview with other team skaters with this jump they describe going through a similar process than the one we can observe with her, near the end of a season they start training the jump with harness, then after if becomes good, they try it without harness, after they land it a bunch of times without harness they move it into their program layouts.

We will have to wait a bit to see how it goes for Alina, but she is training them (not right now in the lead up to Worlds, but trained them this season after GPFinal), since she is a gifted technical athlete, a great hard worker, I'm sure some positive developments will come from her training.

For this year's Worlds, her mission, and she chose to accept it, is to have clean skates, show her amazing skills, hit GOE bullets for her jumps and amaze us all.

 

[zenskate]

Bah Only on condition that another Akita would come with another Iriskat.

Impossible! Iriska is one-of-a-kind.

 

[taylor1]

You can see that even in a "regular 3" program, Alina has the hardest one (hardest program without a 4 or 3A of the current seniors, she also had the hardest one last season). Now she does a FS with two different 3Lz combos, it has inherent risks and executing it to perfect (as she did a bunch of times this season) requires a lot of skill. I would argue that as much skill as it takes to execute a 3A program or a 4 program.

[/QUOTE]

100% no question

 

[Finley]

While I love seeing all the Alina fans in here supporting her, maybe we should refrain from comments/criticisms of other skaters. Just my 2 cents.

Lets please try to do this. It keeps the thread positive and doesn't antagonize other posters who are fans of many skaters. It's also one of the rules. I know I've done it myself many times just trying to illustrate a point or not even thinking about it in the flow of conversation, but I'm going to try to do better.

I think we are all blessed to have so many amazing skaters who bring so many different qualities to the ice. No two of them have exactly the same gift. Let's appreciate them for everything they are instead of picking them apart for what they lack. The judges take care of that.

 

[paji15]

She has a hardest "regular" (mean witbout quads or 3A) programs, that's for sure. Also I personaly love her way of portraiting a story. In Carmen, she sometime lose artistry a little, because is so nervous, because she knows she had some bad skates before, she fall, and than it's very hard. But overall, I really like her artistry. For some people it's maybe not that obvious, but if you watch her carefully, it's really nice.

But I personaly believe that they are focusing on quads with her. They post her doing 4F with harness, everybody knows it now. And her team is very well awared that she is not just any skater, she is Alina Zagitova. Everything about Alina is serious. Once you achieve something, you are there and everybody is looking and waiting for failure. (Sad, yes) Also because of Daniil talk about it himself. He said at GPF (I think?) that they are working on 4Lz and Lo. He seems like he like Alina since the begining. I don't think he would talk about it if it won't be serious or she will be far away. He even told sth like now it's not time to add it, maybe in the end of the season or the next one.

So we'll see. I don't need her to see necesarilly do quads or 3A. I believe the team and Alina herself know what's the best for her and they give her the best program she is able to do. They don't give her quad program if it will be too risky. As someone said, Eteri knows the advantages of her skates the best. Also, Alina is very young and she has a time for trying a new things, different styles etc. I'm really looking forward to see her next season. But now, let's focus on Words first!

 

[lesnar001]

You can see that even in a "regular 3" program, Alina has the hardest one (hardest program without a 4 or 3A of the current seniors, she also had the hardest one last season). Now she does a FS with two different 3Lz combos, it has inherent risks and executing it to perfect (as she did a bunch of times this season) requires a lot of skill. I would argue that as much skill as it takes to execute a 3A program or a 4 program.

Well, a quad or a triple-axel is a whole other level of difficulty to be sure.
A very different skill to learn than any 3-3.

That being said, we CAN see just how difficult the 3Lz-3Lo combo is.
How many even attempt it, and how many have been landed successfully in Seniors this season.
My gripe has always been how the ISU scores it (or any combo)
Just adding the 2 BV's together.

Yet, instinctively I know that the 3Lz-3Lo is much more difficult than the 3Lz-3T, of 3F-3T.
But the scores assigned to these combos do not show the vast difference in difficulty.

So, in some ways, the 3Lz-3Lo is ALMOST as risky as a quad or a triple axel.
But the reward for landing it successfully is not as great as it should be.
In my opinion, anyway.

 

[paji15]

Well, a quad or a triple-axel is a whole other level of difficulty to be sure.
A very different skill to learn than any 3-3.

That being said, we CAN see just how difficult the 3Lz-3Lo combo is.
How many even attempt it, and how many have been landed successfully in Seniors this season.
My gripe has always been how the ISU scores it (or any combo)
Just adding the 2 BV's together.

Yet, instinctively I know that the 3Lz-3Lo is much more difficult than the 3Lz-3T, of 3F-3T.
But the scores assigned to these combos do not show the vast difference in difficulty.

So, in some ways, the 3Lz-3Lo is ALMOST as risky as a quad or a triple axel.
But the reward for landing it successfully is not as great as it should be.
In my opinion, anyway.

Oh yes, I really don't understand this juding system. How it could be rewarded this way. There is no doubt that do any combo is much more difficult than jump two single jumps. There is so many aspect which do it more difficult. It's kinda stupid for me to just count two BVs together. I'm a little afraid that now, young girls will be force to do quads, even when they will fall, and then easy combos, because it's more valuable.

That 3Lz-3Lo combo is insane. Combos are very interesting to watch but are very porly rewarded. It's safer to do easier one and then add harder jump as a single jump and the BVs are the same in the end. Just why. It's unfair system.

 

[Giltedge]

This weekend and Monday there is the Zhuk Memorial Novice Championships of Russia

Here is the same event from 5 years ago, Alina at 11 yrs delivering a wonderful skate.
Look at her comportment! her arms! her energy!

https://youtu.be/5H32JLPKcL0

:2thumbs: