Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin

[Marta25]

You have to remember that if Elena contacted Marina first, Marina would have taken Elena. That was publicly stated by Marina. Marina was a never a coach for Elena anyway. The fed was against the split anyway so I don't think the were for Elena or Nikita but Elena and Nikita. We all saw the fans at COC and Rostelecom, the people are behind I/Z. That's even obvious on social media. I/Z are over a year ahead of them. They are up against stacked competition because it's believed they are world contenders. One good comp isn't going to solidify S/K. It's going to take a season to work their way into the good graces of the Fed.

I think people were just shocked how soon S/K got those kind of marks. But you are right S/K still have to prove that they can skate a whole season well. In a way, this competition was much easier for them than COR last year. They have programs, that they could polish the last 10 months and nobody was expecting anything from them. Now, the pressure is on to repeat this performance. I would say they are around the level I/Z were last year.

 

[MK's Winter]

I think people were just shocked how soon S/K got those kind of marks. But you are right S/K still have to prove that they can skate a whole season well. In a way, this competition was much easier for them than COR last year. They have programs, that they could polish the last 10 months and nobody was expecting anything from them. Now, the pressure is on to repeat this performance. I would say they are around the level I/Z were last year.

That was where I was at with them. They didn't make the podium at Russian Nationals, no Euros, no Worlds and no one was calling them to tour. If they didn't improve this year they were going to be done.

 

[Alba]

I think partly it still has to do with how I/Z were treated after they teamed up. S/K got the star coach and choreographer in the US and they got all the attention from the media, so maybe people had the feeling that I/Z already started with a disadavantage. Maybe people thought that Elena got the worse package with Ruslan and Kustarova, although they were both handpicked by Elena.

How were they treated? Elena chose Kustarova, it was not like she wanted somebody else. Marina would've got them too if they wanted but they didn't. S&K chose Marina and she got them. What's bad about that? Both couples got what they wanted, including programs, costumes etc. At least we know this for sure as far as IZ is concerned. So again, there is absolutely nothing, nothing to suggest that IZ were not supported and that SK got more support from the FED. What you are talking about is people perception formed but some some media and people havely biased against IZ because they were involved in person and pushing their own agenda. The media in most cases is about articles worth to wrap up some old shoes. They have their favorites, they have connections with friends and family of skaters, or a grudge against this or that skater and they push their agenda. Nothing new about that but It's not the FED position. They brought foreign judges to judge ID at the RN last season, remember that.
IMO, these people who are so easily panicked are still stuck with IK, and in most cases they never even watch them before Sochi. Some become IZ fans out of pity, let's face it. The story of "poor victim" Elena vs Nikita the "evil" apparently is still more interesting for some, than the actual skating. Either this or they simply do not like that much IZ in the end or do not like Ruslan as her partner. They never will, if by now they haven't been able to appreciate their skating quality and the huge potential that these two have.

I agree that we should wait how the season unfolds and it`s too soon to panic. I think they Russian Fed wants above all a team who can compete for the OGM in 2018 and it doesn`t really matter who that team is. The Russian Fed adored I/K, but they supported B/S for years as #1 when it seemed like they were the more reliable team and more likely to compete for an Olympic medal in Sochi.

And they had every reason to support BS all those years since IK couldn't handle two clean performance for years. That didn't prevent them to support IK though and we saw that in Sochi. It was not Russian Fed acting bad, they were doing their job. It was all IK's doing. So yes, I fully agree with you that the Russian Fed wants above all a team who can compete for the OGM in 2018 and it doesn't really matter who that team is. It's up to the skaters and so far I haven't seen victims or couples treated unfairly by the FED.

 

[MK's Winter]

https://translate.googleusercontent...4.html&usg=ALkJrhg4NEApGXDAda6CZVfI6D9JgHvy-Q

And here start the I/Z and S/K shitstorm.

 

[Alba]

https://translate.googleusercontent...4.html&usg=ALkJrhg4NEApGXDAda6CZVfI6D9JgHvy-Q

And here start the I/Z and S/K shitstorm.

What I've been saying. It's the story, the story behind the skating it's more important than the skating itself. I thought we were done with that. No luck it seems. I'm bored!hwell:

 

[Marta25]

What I've been saying. It's the story, the story behind the skating it's more important than the skating itself. I thought we were done with that. No luck it seems. I'm bored!hwell:

Here something more interesting: https://instagram.com/p/9PvhgcPLFk/?taken-by=ilinykh_zhiganshin_official

I love Ruslan`s hair in the left pic.

 

[MK's Winter]

What I've been saying. It's the story, the story behind the skating it's more important than the skating itself. I thought we were done with that. No luck it seems. I'm bored!hwell:

I hate seeing this crap in my Twitter feed. I/Z are mentioned so I had to share.

 

[MK's Winter]

Here something more interesting: https://instagram.com/p/9PvhgcPLFk/?taken-by=ilinykh_zhiganshin_official I love Ruslan`s hair in the left pic.

I love all of this!

 

[Alba]

I hate seeing this crap in my Twitter feed. I/Z are mentioned so I had to share.

Sorry love. I didn't meant you. I was speaking about this whole story coming again on the press for a whole season.

Here something more interesting: https://instagram.com/p/9PvhgcPLFk/?taken-by=ilinykh_zhiganshin_official

I love Ruslan`s hair in the left pic.

I love their facial expression on each pose. I loved Ruslan in that picture with the teddy bear. The boy is natural.

 

[uhh]

I do think the Federation won't necessarily favour S/K just for being S/K, but they do have the advantage of having a bigger name coach who does all the politicing much better than than Kustarova does. Just look at the ice network article about the FD and all her comments in the Russian media for proof of that. We laugh at her media games, but the more you get the message out there that your team is the best, most fast, beautiful, classic Russian etc etc, the more people just start to accept it as fact, and you can bet that she's doing exactly the same thing behind the scenes. Kustarova is more honest, restrained and realistic, and it's probably better for her skaters' mentality in the long run, but it doesn't help their PR. If S/K were with Platov or Krylova and had skated the exact same program last night, I think they would have been mid 90s, not snapping at C/B's heels.

It didn't matter when last season I/Z were clearly the stronger team, but as they are closer now, every little thing starts to count. If you're the federation thinking strategically, and all other things are equal, you'd probably give the nod to the team that comes from the coach of the last two OGMs, not the one that has a great rep with juniors but is yet to fully covert it into senior champions. And I don't know what I/Z should do about it. Kustarova has done a great job, and they obviously have a great working environment that I wouldn't want to change, but they need someone powerful playing the politics for them. Maybe TAT will after seeming so pleased at MO. And at least Averbukh is saying that S/K still have to prove themselves against I/Z rather than crowing them champions already.

The other thing that they must must do is keep the technical advantage they have over S/K. Hit the levels in the SD like last year, have a cushion going into the free. I hope they are doing something about the FD twizzles because Ruslan has had problems with them both times we've seen it, and with B/S & S/K back there is no room for the mistakes they had at the end of last year.

 

[tulosai]

I love their facial expression on each pose. I loved Ruslan in that picture with the teddy bear. The boy is natural.

He really is!!

 

[MK's Winter]

I do think the Federation won't necessarily favour S/K just for being S/K, but they do have the advantage of having a bigger name coach who does all the politicing much better than than Kustarova does. Just look at the ice network article about the FD and all her comments in the Russian media for proof of that. We laugh at her media games, but the more you get the message out there that your team is the best, most fast, beautiful, classic Russian etc etc, the more people just start to accept it as fact, and you can bet that she's doing exactly the same thing behind the scenes. Kustarova is more honest, restrained and realistic, and it's probably better for her skaters' mentality in the long run, but it doesn't help their PR. If S/K were with Platov or Krylova and had skated the exact same program last night, I think they would have been mid 90s, not snapping at C/B's heels. It didn't matter when last season I/Z were clearly the stronger team, but as they are closer now, every little thing starts to count. If you're the federation thinking strategically, and all other things are equal, you'd probably give the nod to the team that comes from the coach of the last two OGMs, not the one that has a great rep with juniors but is yet to fully covert it into senior champions. And I don't know what I/Z should do about it. Kustarova has done a great job, and they obviously have a great working environment that I wouldn't want to change, but they need someone powerful playing the politics for them. Maybe TAT will after seeming so pleased at MO. And at least Averbukh is saying that S/K still have to prove themselves against I/Z rather than crowing them champions already. The other thing that they must must do is keep the technical advantage they have over S/K. Hit the levels in the SD like last year, have a cushion going into the free. I hope they are doing something about the FD twizzles because Ruslan has had problems with them both times we've seen it, and with B/S & S/K back there is no room for the mistakes they had at the end of last year.

Marina is losing ground though. She is facing a lot of back lash in the US because of the Shibs. And realistically she is not much of a Tech coach, that was all Igor and V/M and D/W were a product of that. Tarasova even stated this during Sochi- saying they were as much Igor's teams as they were Marina's. Scali isn't really proving a technician either. Even if the Shibs are losing ground artistically they should be leaps and bounds over many technically but they are losing levels. I/Z are after C/B and a World Title/medal.

 

[uhh]

This is what Ilia said in his sovsport interview

I saw Frida in the test skates in Sochi and I think it's a statement. Of course Ilinykh and Zhiganshin improved compared to the last season. I like both their programmes. Now it's important how will they do in their first GP event. So far they (meaning S/K, B/S & I/Z) are not facing each other in the competitions, but it's still a fight.

Marina is losing ground though. She is facing a lot of back lash in the US because of the Shibs. And realistically she is not much of a Tech coach, that was all Igor and V/M and D/W were a product of that. Tarasova even stated this during Sochi- saying they were as much Igor's teams as they were Marina's. Scali isn't really proving a technician either. Even if the Shibs are losing ground artistically they should be leaps and bounds over many technically but they are losing levels. I/Z are after C/B and a World Title/medal.

She may be losing ground but S/K still got very good levels on everything but the RW. & I think the backlash is only from the fans of the Shibs, unfortunately the Fed doesn't care about them as they haave C/B and a lot of good junior teams.

 

[Marta25]

I do think the Federation won't necessarily favour S/K just for being S/K, but they do have the advantage of having a bigger name coach who does all the politicing much better than than Kustarova does. Just look at the ice network article about the FD and all her comments in the Russian media for proof of that. We laugh at her media games, but the more you get the message out there that your team is the best, most fast, beautiful, classic Russian etc etc, the more people just start to accept it as fact, and you can bet that she's doing exactly the same thing behind the scenes. Kustarova is more honest, restrained and realistic, and it's probably better for her skaters' mentality in the long run, but it doesn't help their PR. If S/K were with Platov or Krylova and had skated the exact same program last night, I think they would have been mid 90s, not snapping at C/B's heels.

It didn't matter when last season I/Z were clearly the stronger team, but as they are closer now, every little thing starts to count. If you're the federation thinking strategically, and all other things are equal, you'd probably give the nod to the team that comes from the coach of the last two OGMs, not the one that has a great rep with juniors but is yet to fully covert it into senior champions. And I don't know what I/Z should do about it. Kustarova has done a great job, and they obviously have a great working environment that I wouldn't want to change, but they need someone powerful playing the politics for them. Maybe TAT will after seeming so pleased at MO. And at least Averbukh is saying that S/K still have to prove themselves against I/Z rather than crowing them champions already.

The other thing that they must must do is keep the technical advantage they have over S/K. Hit the levels in the SD like last year, have a cushion going into the free. I hope they are doing something about the FD twizzles because Ruslan has had problems with them both times we've seen it, and with B/S & S/K back there is no room for the mistakes they had at the end of last year.

You are right that Zueva has the stronger political cloud, but both Shpilband and Zueva started similar to Kustarova with successes in the junior ranks until they got with B/A, V/M and D/W teams that had the talent to get on the top. I think I/Z are the first Kustarova team that have the potential to be stars. Her former teams were all good, but were missing the IT factor and the girls were usually not as strong as the guys. Averbukh already stated in an article that he believes I/Z can challenge the top teams this year and Tarasova was apparently enthusiastic about their programs at Saransk. Regarding coaches, I don`t think they have much choice, they are the clear #1 in the Kustarova camp and if they switched to Shpilband, who is the only one with a comparable political pull as Zueva, they had to share a lot of his focus with C/B.

If it comes to the worst and I/Z fall behind S/K or don`t qualify for Euros then a coaching change should be considered, but it`s definitely too soon to talk about this now, where we haven`t even seen how I/Z will be scored in their GPs.

 

[MK's Winter]

This is what Ilia said in his sovsport interview She may be losing ground but S/K still got very good levels on everything but the RW. & I think the backlash is only from the fans of the Shibs, unfortunately the Fed doesn't care about them as they haave C/B and a lot of good junior teams.

Trust me. It's not only from Shib fans.

 

[Alba]

You are right that Zueva has the stronger political cloud, but both Shpilband and Zueva started similar to Kustarova with successes in the junior ranks until they got with B/A, V/M and D/W teams that had the talent to get on the top. I think I/Z are the first Kustarova team that have the potential to be stars. Her former teams were all good, but were missing the IT factor and the girls were usually not as strong as the guys. Averbukh already stated in an article that he believes I/Z can challenge the top teams this year and Tarasova was apparently enthusiastic about their programs at Saransk. Regarding coaches, I don`t think they have much choice, they are the clear #1 in the Kustarova camp and if they switched to Shpilband, who is the only one with a comparable political pull as Zueva, they had to share a lot of his focus with C/B.

If it comes to the worst and I/Z fall behind S/K or don`t qualify for Euros then a coaching change should be considered, but it`s definitely too soon to talk about this now, where we haven`t even seen how I/Z will be scored in their GPs.

100% agree. :thumbsup:

Them going to Igor it's something dreadful for me. I don't care how good with TES he is (for me that has become a bit of a myth but anyway) or how much political power he has. I want these two become the couple I know they can. I still love and watch today Moiseeva&Minenkov and never cared about Linichuk&Karponosov, for example. Obviously I want IZ to win many titles and become OGM but I don't want them to become like "ordinary" and have generic, crappy or cheesy programs. About the "god coaches" in ID the history speaks for it. Before it was Dubova, later Linichuk kicked her out (Dubova's fault IMO also), after Linichuk came Marina and now Igor it seems, which will fall also.

And I don't know what I/Z should do about it. Kustarova has done a great job, and they obviously have a great working environment that I wouldn't want to change, but they need someone powerful playing the politics for them. Maybe TAT will after seeming so pleased at MO.

The other thing that they must must do is keep the technical advantage they have over S/K. Hit the levels in the SD like last year, have a cushion going into the free. I hope they are doing something about the FD twizzles because Ruslan has had problems with them both times we've seen it, and with B/S & S/K back there is no room for the mistakes they had at the end of last year.

I know what they should do. One you already mentioned and it's more or less the same thing I was going to say. Put it shortly they should skate clean and skate great and impose themselves. Work hard and skate great, better than others. That's how the greatest couples in the history of ID have done and that's the way it should be.

 

[uhh]

I don't want them to go to Igor & I'm definitely not panicking yet! But one thing I would love for them to do is to use Lena's friendship with Dubova & get her to work with them for a couple of weeks just on the basics, matching lines, getting closer in hold & all the polish that the classic teams of the late 80s/90s had. Maybe next summer, instead of just going to stay with Dubova on vacation, Lena should just take Rus to CT to work! No one pays attention to that stuff any more and it's the kind of thing that would elevate them above the rest of the field. And it counters Marina's "S/K are the most Russian team to ever Russian" crap. Just as long as they don't let her near changing any of the choreo

 

[Alba]

I don't want them to go to Igor & I'm definitely not panicking yet! But one thing I would love for them to do is to use Lena's friendship with Dubova & get her to work with them for a couple of weeks just on the basics, matching lines, getting closer in hold & all the polish that the classic teams of the late 80s/90s had. Maybe next summer, instead of just going to stay with Dubova on vacation, Lena should just take Rus to CT to work! No one pays attention to that stuff any more and it's the kind of thing that would elevate them above the rest of the field. And it counters Marina's "S/K are the most Russian team to ever Russian" crap. Just as long as they don't let her near changing any of the choreo

I've been thinking about that since I first saw her pictures with Dubova. I had no idea that she knew her and if Dubova can it would be great for them to work on the things you mentioned. It's true teams now don't pay attention to these things but that's dance and it will make them stand out even more. Dubova was a great coach and she actually made all the great ID couples of the past in Russia. Such a pity she was so fixated with Usova and lost all her best and strongest team. I could never understand that. :disapp:

 

[LisaM]

Sorry for panicking guys, it seems to be always me posting first when a discussion flares up!

 

[uhh]

She's really good friends with Dubova - she & her mum spent a week staying with her this summer before they went to the Caribbean. & like you said, for all her faults with managing people, she is a brilliant coach. If they could use her knowledge, even just as a consultant like A/P did for their Olympic season, it would be wonderful.

Sorry for panicking guys, it seems to be always me posting first when a discussion flares up!

Haha I'm normally panicking in silence and then I type a response to you and start to feel better when I think it all through, so no worries!