Channel One Cup: Free Program

[chasingneverland]

Yeah, but they were the first, and by the time Trusova and Scherbakova went into seniors at 15, people said they are going to lose their jumps as they are aging. Now they are 16. So, Maia not being old enough (she is 14 going on 15 this year) is kindda weird argument, particularly given her training team’s logic, the earlier, the better.

overall, though, it is not going to last long anyway.

fingers crossed that if not Kostornaya, then Frolova and Sinitsina will be back in the mix next season to fortify the top 10

The arguement isn't that Maiia's not old enough. It's that no one has clean/stable 3As/quads (unless your Aliona) when they first debut them. Everyone takes at least a year or two to stabilize them. It's really only Maiia's first year trying them. And Maiia's only 2 years younger than Anna and Sasha. The training method didn't change much between them. And If anything 16 year old Anna and Sasha are MORE stable on their jumps than before. That's WHY starting them early is important - according to them - so you have years to stabilize them and keep them through growth/puberty/etc rather than trying to get them after.

In fact, Anna didn't even attempt the 4F in competition until she was 15 AFTER she had started to stabilize the 4Lz. It took her about a year to stabilize the 4Lz and it looks better now. She was working on that at 14. And she fell there ALL the time. And people said the same thing then - why does she do it? But when she was 15 and now she's landed it consistently now. But at 15 she was falling and under rotating her 4F. Now she's landed that much more consistently at 16.

Sasha also has gotten her jumps more stable.

Even Kamila was falling or stepping out of ALL her opening 4Ts at 13 and even halfway through this year. Now a year later she's landing them much more consistently and is adding a 3A. Her first couple attempts at a 3A weren't clean either. She fell and stepped out of them too.

The argument is that it takes about a year to stabilize a jump even when you've landed it in comp. Also consider Liza with the 3A and Rika with her 3A. Rika took about 2 years to get that 3A consistent.

Maiia has really only been working on it for a year.

 

[Amei]

Yeah, but they were the first, and by the time Trusova and Scherbakova went into seniors at 15, people said they are going to lose their jumps as they are aging. Now they are 16. So, Maia not being old enough (she is 14 going on 15 this year) is kindda weird argument, particularly given her training team’s logic, the earlier, the better.

overall, though, it is not going to last long anyway.

fingers crossed that if not Kostornaya, then Frolova and Sinitsina will be back in the mix next season to fortify the top 10

And now what "people" (cough, haters) are saying is that well they've not gone completely through puberty; its sad how desperate people are trying to cling to them losing their quads and quads going away in ladies skating; both Shcherbakova and Trusova have noticeably grown if you look at a podium picture from nationals last year to nationals this year and the quads are still there

Trusova and Shcherbakova get the benefit of being the trailblazers of ladies quads being something consistently done, not just a one-off, look she did it event. So they not only get the benefit of not 'living up to' a standard set by another skater but they also got the benefit that with no other ladies doing those elements they could largely have errors when they first started and it not affect too much their placements at competitions. For everyone else going forward they have to contend with multiple skaters doing quads, including others doing quads successfully.

 

[chasingneverland]

And now what "people" (cough, haters) are saying is that well they've not gone completely through puberty; its sad how desperate people are trying to cling to them losing their quads and quads going away in ladies skating; both Shcherbakova and Trusova have noticeably grown if you look at a podium picture from nationals last year to nationals this year and the quads are still there

Trusova and Shcherbakova get the benefit of being the trailblazers of ladies quads being something consistently done, not just a one-off, look she did it event. So they not only get the benefit of 'living up to' a standard set by another skater but they also got the benefit that with no other ladies doing those elements they could largely have errors when they first started and it not affect too much their placements at competitions. For everyone else going forward they have to contend with multiple skaters doing quads, including others doing quads successfully.

If anything, I think the individual quads look BETTER than they did last year. (Especially considering illness and injuries.)

 

[alexocfp]

A next time would be great, but remember this was a replacement for the canceled European Championship. Let’s hope that there doesn’t need to be a next time and that we can have actual competitions. But still, great event on the whole.

I am thisclose to saying “so just cancel the European championships and replace it with this” haha

 

[ladyjane]

Just watched the pairs (only four of them regrettably) and I was mightily impressed by all four. I also liked it that Maxim Trankov managed to be both a part of the Blue team (I don't get the real name) and cheering wholeheartedly for them, while still doing his coaching duties for Evgenia and Vladimir who were part of the Red Team. Seeing Sergei once again being a real good friend/coach was also great.

 

[vorravorra]

And now what "people" (cough, haters) are saying is that well they've not gone completely through puberty; its sad how desperate people are trying to cling to them losing their quads and quads going away in ladies skating; both Shcherbakova and Trusova have noticeably grown if you look at a podium picture from nationals last year to nationals this year and the quads are still there

Trusova and Shcherbakova get the benefit of being the trailblazers of ladies quads being something consistently done, not just a one-off, look she did it event. So they not only get the benefit of not 'living up to' a standard set by another skater but they also got the benefit that with no other ladies doing those elements they could largely have errors when they first started and it not affect too much their placements at competitions. For everyone else going forward they have to contend with multiple skaters doing quads, including others doing quads successfully.

Well, they haven't gone completely through puberty. I would love them to be the first ladies who keep their quads after puberty, but this is yet to be seen.

 

[Dawn825]

I think the thing with Maiia is that no one believes she's nailing it on the regular in practice at home and just needs time to get used to doing it in competition. I remember with Mirai's triple axel, we'd see her do a bunch on the practice sessions and warm ups, so we believed she was about to land it in competition, and so did she. Confidence is a big factor. It's hard to imagine Maiia isn't going into these quads every time expecting to fall - plenty of men do the same thing, and it's never something you want to watch.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

Yeah, but they were the first, and by the time Trusova and Scherbakova went into seniors at 15, people said they are going to lose their jumps as they are aging. Now they are 16. So, Maia not being old enough (she is 14 going on 15 this year) is kindda weird argument, particularly given her training team’s logic, the earlier, the better.

overall, though, it is not going to last long anyway.

fingers crossed that if not Kostornaya, then Frolova and Sinitsina will be back in the mix next season to fortify the top 10

Well, it's a combo of training and natural aptitude. Khromykh so far isn't in the same category as Trusova, Valieva, Scherbakova - they might keep their quads, who knows. She has no quads to keep. She falls into the same category as numerous other girls reported to be working on quads/3A (sometimes with video), yet receives a lot more attention than them, and somehow 'working on' becomes 'has'.

 

[EdgeCall]

Btw., many thanks to Mr. Ted Barton for providing english commentary for this event. No doubt a lot of people around the world would enjoy it a lot less, had it only been in russian. And regarding his troubles with the russian names, in the computer industry they have a saying for this: It's not a bug, it's a feature!

 

[Amei]

Btw., many thanks to Mr. Ted Barton for providing english commentary for this event. No doubt a lot of people around the world would enjoy it a lot less, had it only been in russian. And regarding his troubles with the russian names, in the computer industry they have a saying for this: It's not a bug, it's a feature!

Ted gets a pass because he's so positive and most importantly he admitted he was struggling with the pronunciations and apologized for it.

 

[[email protected]]

Well, at least it wouldn’t be by over 100 points or something. Basically, Medvedeva not picking Valieva lost her team the event.

She could not do it. Sasha was seeded and went to Zhenya automatically when Alina picked also seeded Anna.

This refers to all other comments on the topic. There were clear selection rules: one captain starts with one of the seeded skaters - the other has to pick the second seeded skater - not the one she likes. Only after that come other choices.

The mistake was to seed Sasha rather than Kamila especially after the Rusnats. Why did they do it? I think the combination of the following reasons: 1) Kamila is still a junior and cannot go to Sweden. Her picking ahead of Sasha would demotivate the latter who is a sure team candidate and does not need to be demotivated before the worlds 2) Sasha still has both the brand and score potential. If she had added 3A to the SP (rumors say she wanted to) and had landed both 3A and all her quads her score would have been enormous: something like 83+170 3) The did not want to further agitate Pluschenko who, I am sure, would be very vocal if Sasha was not seeded for the reasons 1) and 2).

If Kamila was seeded and the teams were: Alina: Anna, Sasha, Darya Zhenya: Kamila, Liza, Maia the Blue team would have won.

 

[brakes]

I just want to say Anya is still recovering to her 100% physical ability - she had it for brilliant TWO days of competition, third day in a row was too much at the moment. Congrats to all fine ladies!

 

[Amei]

I just want to say Anya is still recovering to her 100% physical ability - she had it for brilliant TWO days of competition, third day in a row was too much at the moment. Congrats to all fine ladies!

Yeah, it's clear she's not fully recovered her stamina, hopefully though a standard competition like the Final she will be fine competing.

 

[lariko]

Maiia has really only been working on it for a year.

More than 2 years, because, presumably, she was training them before trying to land them in her Junior international season, in 2019, because her first attempts were during the JGP. She was born in May, so she will turn 15 in a few months. Obviously, neither 14, nor 15, nor 16 is a magic number for quads. It’s more that she just doesn’t land them.

 

[lariko]

She could not do it. Sasha was seeded and went to Zhenya automatically when Alina picked also seeded Anna.

This refers to all other comments on the topic. There were clear selection rules: one captain starts with one of the seeded skaters - the other has to pick the second seeded skater - not the one she likes. Only after that come other choices.

The mistake was to seed Sasha rather than Kamila especially after the Rusnats. Why did they do it? I think the combination of the following reasons: 1) Kamila is still a junior and cannot go to Sweden. Her picking ahead of Sasha would demotivate the latter who is a sure team candidate and does not need to be demotivated before the worlds 2) Sasha still has both the brand and score potential. If she had added 3A to the SP (rumors say she wanted to) and had landed both 3A and all her quads her score would have been enormous: something like 83+170 3) The did not want to further agitate Pluschenko who, I am sure, would be very vocal if Sasha was not seeded for the reasons 1) and 2).

If Kamila was seeded and the teams were: Alina: Anna, Sasha, Darya Zhenya: Kamila, Liza, Maia the Blue team would have won.

There was a rule that Sasha and Anna had to be picked in the same round of picking? It’s crazy.

 

[[email protected]]

There was a rule that Sasha and Anna had to be picked in the same round of picking? As far as I heard, it was only that by some mystifying reason, Anna and Sasha could not be on the same team, despite being #1 and #3.

There was the rule. All the selections for all events were like that: the first captain picks the first seeded skater - the second seeded skater immediately goes to the second captain. And on Russian TV it was presented exactly like that: "well, if she picked a seede skater X than the second captain does not have to think - she got the skater Y"

 

[lariko]

There was the rule. All the selections for all events were like that: the first captain picks the first seeded skater - the second seeded skater immediately goes to the second captain. And on Russian TV it was presented exactly like that: "well, if she picked a seede skater X than the second captain does not have to think - she got the skater Y"

Yeah, crazy.

 

[anonymoose_au]

There was the rule. All the selections for all events were like that: the first captain picks the first seeded skater - the second seeded skater immediately goes to the second captain. And on Russian TV it was presented exactly like that: "well, if she picked a seede skater X than the second captain does not have to think - she got the skater Y"

I had no idea of that rule, Zhenya looked super excited to pick Sasha (I mean she probably was).

But thinking on it, they must have known the teams in advance, otherwise how did Alina get the hockey jerseys made up so fast?

Also I'm dying of curiosity and can't find out anywhere what did Plushy say to Maxim T?

 

[Amei]

But thinking on it, they must have known the teams in advance, otherwise how did Alina get the hockey jerseys made up so fast?

Not necessarily, at least in the US if you think about it within minutes of the championship game being over the winning team is sporting t-shirts and hats proclaiming their team the champions, how do you think that happens - the leagues pre-print t-shirts for each team, the winners get their shirts and the losing shirts end up going to Africa for charities or get incinerated. It would have been that hard to have jerseys made up with everyone's names on it and only pull out the skaters after team selection, or even to put on letters with fabric tape (I didn't see the whole draw ceremony so I don't know when they were given the jerseys)

 

[RatedPG]

I just finished watching this competition.

For Dance, it looks like the following will be joining Victoria Sinitsina / Nikita Katsalapov at worlds:

Stepanova/Bukin
Zagorski/Guerreiro

Im not sure if Victoria or Nikita will be healthy going into worlds. If not, I can see Stepanakert/Bukin fighting for a spot in the podium with the two American teams and the one Canadian team.

For PAIRS, it looks like it will be the following teams:

Tarasova/Morozov
Mishina/Galiamov
Boikova/Kozlovski

I’m curious to see how the Russian team compete against the Chinese teams. Also, Frazier and Alexa impressed me at Nationals.

For MEN’s, I thought Ignatov was only going to solidly his silver or Aliev would step up for the 2nd spot. However, Kondratyuk amazed me. I think he should go to Worlds at this moment. I think whomever does better between those three at Russian Cup, should be sent to Worlds. Kolyada is an amazingly talented skater. But, he always seems to choke in the big competitions. I’m still mad at how badly he did in the team event at the Olympics. His horrible skate put the Russian team out of gold contention and I’m seeing signs of that creeping into his skates again. I think a top 5 finish at Worlds is a step in the right direction. Can they get three spots? That is what I’m worried about. As I don’t have enough confidence for two of the men to place high enough to garner three spots. I even worry they could lose to their two spots .

For LADIES, wow!!! Valieva was actually perfect. I think her SP is the best short program ever skated by a lady in figure skating. Her LP was awesome as well. She couldn’t skate any better. I think the key to winning Olympics is 3A and 4T and amazing artistry and she has all three. This kind of skating would score higher than 250 internationally.

Shcherbakova was amazing and proved she is the best Senior Russian lady heading into Worlds. I worry a bit, about her endurance, as her landings on her combos are a bit tight towards the end. Still, she is the one to beat heading into Worlds. This performance though, I don’t think would garner over 240 points at Worlds. She was about 235-240 for me. I actually think she has to worry more about Kihira. If I was a skater, I would prefer to master the 3A and a quad jump and Kihira’s layout is very similar to Valieva’s. Anna is a fighter though and seems to peak at the right moment and I think that favours her going into Worlds.

Trusova, what a fighter. She locked the second spot here. Her 4T in the second half was amazing. In my opinion, she should do two of them instead of the Lutzes. But, I think the reason she goes for two 4Lz is to compete against the two girls ahead of her. The one thing that makes me worry about her, is without 3A in SP, she will have a tough time placing in the top three at Worlds after the Short Program. I think there are actually about 6 ladies capable of out scoring her in the short program. If she doesn’t place in the top 6, it will be hard to play catch up without being in the final group. However, most likely, some of the top contenders, will end up making mistakes and she should be fine. I think as long as she skates clean, she should be okay. But, while her competitors look for her to screw up her long program. It is ironic, that she is relying on others to screw up in the SP to be in contention. I like her SP more than the LP. I see her scoring around 230 with what she put here.

Usacheva was actually quite close to Trusova due to clean skating and artistry. She is showing she can skate well after strong performances and I think this experience is good for her.

Tuktamysheva, it is amazing that she is still competing. Her performance here was much better than Nationals. However, her skate here would probably garner around 210-215 points internationally. I think without clean 3A, it will be difficult to beat Kihira and Sakamoto. She would be fighting for 5th with Tennell, the Koreans and Miyahara. Kostornia is actually the one I think is favoured for the third spot. Even without a 3A, she is better. Sinitsyna and little Liza (she actually came in 3rd at Seniors) have an outside chance. It will be interesting to see who steps up at the Russian Cup final.

Khromykh ; that is all I have to say. I saw her after her free skate, and I could tell she was a bit traumatized. I hope she isn’t too hard on herself. She has learned two different types of quads. So, the potential is there.

Overall, I really enjoyed this competition and the placements were fair. However, I do have to note that watching this competition made me feel like there was no COVID. My biggest concern is watching everyone interact with one another with no masks on. The Russian squad is full of stars. I predict they can win half the golds, silvers and medals at Worlds. However, their inability to take care of themselves, might be their downfall. I worry that some of them could test positive and be disqualified from competing in Sweden.