Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin
- Thread starter OrdinaryDreamer
- Start date
They've beaten both teams before in the SD and both teams in the FD - the problem was I/Z couldn't put two clean performances together, but to me the judges were pretty much saying if all three teams last season went clean, I/Z would be the one on top. Even with the error at Worlds they were less than a point behind a clean G/P overall, and the gap to the Shibs was pretty much what they lost on the twizzles. So, yeah it's not going to be easy, but if they make no big mistakes and hit their levels, they can absolutely beat those two teams. It will be interesting to see if the Shibs have the usual early season level issues that have plagued Marina's teams in the last few years.
Why is that even important now? First or second, just skate for yourselves and the results will come. If not here, at Saransk etc. But I am really impressed that they have chosen to try.
I have learnt not to judge any event beforehand, and that skaters that are competitive and want to become champions want to compete and believe in themselves. Or else they should all go to Minsk and get 'fake' marks or, that event in Romania...cough cough..
Anyway, I/Z have beaten both teams in the FD at the GPF, and at Worlds at the SD, and if they skate clean they can do it again, they're not a brand new team anymore.
And they can give it a try if anything.I just want them to enjoy it and skate as well as they can
Anyway, I/Z have beaten both teams in the FD at the GPF, and at Worlds at the SD, and if they skate clean they can do it again, they're not a brand new team anymore.
And they can give it a try if anything.I just want them to enjoy it and skate as well as they can
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I watched Gilles/Poirier and Hubbell/Donohue's free dances. G/P is watchable but program is empty... Holds are simple, no power or speed; their skating skills still very weak... Hubbell/Donohue's free dance is too old-fashioned and empty as well... Even last year's disaster free dance could have beat these two free dances... We will see...
Anyway important thing is showing programs and getting levels early as possible... I just hope there will be strict tech specialist... It is much more important than ''who will be medal owners?'' question...
Anyway important thing is showing programs and getting levels early as possible... I just hope there will be strict tech specialist... It is much more important than ''who will be medal owners?'' question...
I watched Gilles/Poirier and Hubbell/Donohue's free dances. G/P is watchable but program is empty... Holds are simple, no power or speed; their skating skills still very weak... Hubbell/Donohue's free dance is too old-fashioned and empty as well... Even last year's disaster free dance could have beat these two free dances... We will see...
Anyway important thing is showing programs and getting levels early as possible... I just hope there will be strict tech specialist... It is much more important than ''who will be medal owners?'' question...
I agree. Despite that I think G/P new free dance is a step forward for them, they still need to do a lot of work on their technical skills. And H/D FD is better than their last season 'experimental' FD, but it's tragically predictable and boring. It's like they wanted to make something clever and creative (a la P/C), but the final result seems like a standart dance from an average team with distracting costumes. And I'm not even going to say what I think about their new SD.
Shibs is a different story. With the right dances they can be a real threat to even top 3 teams IMO. But I/Z can be too. But I/Z have beaten them last season with signifacantly less time to prepare for the season, so I don't see why they should lose now. Of course if they will skate without major mistakes.
CB are Chock and Bates or Coomes/Buckland?
Coomes/Buckland.
It's possible they changed their minds about Saransk to give them more time before CoC, or maybe they'll do both for the experience and ranking points. Or maybe they'll decide about Saransk depending on how they feel about Nepela. This is a really great opportunity for them to establish themselves as a Top 5(or higher) team. And if they win, they'll be in a better position at CoC.
Coomes/Buckland
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2009
Look at my I/Z going after points! I'm not concerned about the field. They are doing them... Get it!!!!!!
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
Well, I guess they are really confident about their programs if they choose such a early start to their competitive season. Usually, Elena had one of the later GPs and I don`t think she ever did a Senior B. The competition is tough, but they have to start to beat teams like S/S and G/P if they want to compete for a medal in Boston (if they qualify for the Worlds team).
It`s two weeks until the test skates. Can`t believe we will finally see their new programs
It`s two weeks until the test skates. Can`t believe we will finally see their new programs
They not only feel confident, but the Russian Fed trusts them to send them so early on. I'm very optimistic about this. So far, I think that they are the first Russian senior ice dance couple that's been assigned a Senior B competition.
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
They are
I thought B/S wanted to do a Senior B? Maybe they will be assigned to Finlandia Trophy. I also remember from an icenetwork article that S/K wanted to do one, but the US Classic was probably too early.Ruslan said in his short interview that specialist from the federation came regularly in to overview their progress. I guess they are doing well, at least I hope so
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2014
This! :thumbsup:
:dance:
With a good program and with a clean skate they already did beat both teams, in their first season together . Hell, they were going ahead of them even with that crappy FD if not for the mistake in twizzles.
p.s. and pleeease. I can see Shibs being tough because they are very good skaters but let's not compare these two with G&P, C&B UK etc. I&Z are head and shoulders above them. Obviously if they screw up and makes mistake, it's another matter but to consider G&P as a threat even before a competition is LOL to me.
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
With a good program and with a clean skate they already did beat both teams, in their first season together . Hell, they were going ahead of them even with that crappy FD if not for the mistake in twizzles.
p.s. and pleeease. I can see Shibs being tough because they are very good skaters but let's not compare these two with G&P, C&B UK etc. I&Z are head and shoulders above them. Obviously if they screw up and makes mistake, it's another matter but to consider G&P as a threat even before a competition is LOL to me.
Oh, I/Z are definitely better than G/P, H/D and C/B, but we all know how these things go in ice dance, they are established couples, whereas I/Z are new. What is surprising is that I/Z got more PCS than G/P and were very near to S/S at Worlds. With that dull FD I/Z had, they still received a lot of scores in the 9.00s. If Frida is as good as I hope it is, I can`t imagine how high the judges will score that
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- Joined
- Feb 26, 2014
Oh, I/Z are definitely better than G/P and S/S, but we all know how these things go in ice dance, S/S and G/P are established couples, whereas I/Z are new. What is surprising is that I/Z got more PCS than G/P and were very near to S/S at Worlds. With that dull FD I/Z had, they still received a lot of scores in the 9.00s. If Frida is as good as I hope it is, I can`t imagine how high the judges will score that
Exactly!
They were new last season, in their very first year, and it didn't prevent them from beating both and C&L also. I'm hoping for more this season.
If they are well prepared they know what to do. No need to worry. I agree with elif about the b competitions. It's more important to check the levels, test the programs and get some ranking points. If they win, it a bonus. I won't complain.
I don't agree that Hubbell/Donohue's FD is empty. It doesn't have many choreographic highlights in terms of interesting moves (like G/P's FD which is empty in other ways), but it has more than enough transitions. Also, I would say their FD is old fashioned in a good sense taking from the best examples of past programs.I watched Gilles/Poirier and Hubbell/Donohue's free dances. G/P is watchable but program is empty... Holds are simple, no power or speed; their skating skills still very weak... Hubbell/Donohue's free dance is too old-fashioned and empty as well... Even last year's disaster free dance could have beat these two free dances... We will see...
They beat Shibutanis in the FD when Shibutanis themselves had serious mistakes. And at Worlds Shibutanis also lost two levels on their lift. If not for that, their FD score would have been over 104 instead of 102.71 they got. Even cleanly executed twizzles with higher GOE and PCS would not have made up the difference from 95.38 I/Z got (clean level 4 twizzles would mean + 2 points on the base value, around 1.20 on GOE, and probably an added point or two in PCS which would result in a score of 99.58 or 100.58 points - not enough to beat Shibutanis even with their 102.71 points). Which doesn't mean that Elena and Ruslan can't beat them now, of course.With a good program and with a clean skate they already did beat both teams, in their first season together . Hell, they were going ahead of them even with that crappy FD if not for the mistake in twizzles.
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