Evgenia Medvedeva

[Coryocris]

Sorry for kinda spamming, seeing as this is my 3rd post in the last 10min, but I just wanna talk about it.
The reason why I suggested that maybe taking a season off might be good, because what I just saw pretty much resembles my feelings at the beginning of the year about my studies. Yes, that's very different, I know, but I know the feeling of going out with thoughts like "here we go again, I'm gonna do bad again, (in my case, I'm gonna fail again and have to retake the course)", and it's a really crappy feeling. So I ended up taking a break. It didn't make me love it again, but at least it helped me sort out my thoughts. I think after this competition that is what she needs to do too.
I will follow her and watch all future videos of her, no matter what. I just want her to feel better again, regardless of what she's doing.

I actually felt the same some years ago. I was an athlete too, with national callings and podium at nats (not skating) but around Zhenya's age everything was a mess. I had to quit, I started at the universty with the feeling off "now what? my life is not the same, so many changes... I'm not even good at what I used to do anymore. I'm not worth it anymore." and it was terrible. Zhenya has gone abroad, to a new country, with a new coach, after an injury that almost made her lose her Olympic spot... I can empathyse with her and I know she will survive this. I'm sure TCC also has an excellent panel of psychologists and therapists to help her. She's not alone in this.

 

[esteticlove]

This reminds me of Serafima's situation, she used to look so afraid of the ice. I hope fully that Brian would find the right words for Evgenia. She need so much support right now. :sad46:

 

[NoviceFan]

At least her grandmother is there to comfort her. As long as she does not give up, she will get over this. She will start believing in herself again. She will start winning again.

But for crying out loud - Paige, fix the darn spins!!!!

 

[StrikerIvan]

But she can do it! It looked amazing in all the practices. It's all in her head.

That's why I said that it's not about her technical problem but the mentally reasons... Maybe Zhenya should learn how to face the criticism form Yuzuru. Pressure can make a person progress or destroy her, it's up to her. Just want her to know that, she still get the support from us, please just ignore those malicious criticism...

 

[bubblecherry]

When are RusNats?

 

[s_parks]

I'm frustrated- not at her or her coaches, but people who are so impatient with everything and expect a quick fix. Like it or not, fixing jump technique, breaking bad habits is going to take a long time. Not just her jumps, but she's also changing her eating habits, working on SS (no easy feat either), all in a new environment. We're not used to Evgenia not winning everything and, gasp, struggling, but it's inevitable when you commit to improving your skating like she's commendably done.

 

[Amy Zara]

Zhenya, you have my full support, always.

It is hard to see her struggle where before we have seen her shine, but I know that sometimes it's easier to rebuild when you've been knocked down.
With the ladies field as tight as it is, especially being a Russian lady, I think any mistakes are amplified and seem to be scarier than they are, but nothing has happened that she cannot bounce back from, stronger than ever.

She has time before Nationals to work on not only perfecting her performances, but on herself too - to find the strength and happiness to really shine on the ice and off it. She's got a good team behind her, and friends and family too, who will help her recover from this.

I wish her all the best as always, and I will be sending all the love and support I can to her! We love you Evgenia <3

 

[thatbeatingheart]

Please don't say she didn't try. She's been training so hard for months now and trying to address all of her issues. She was nervous and devastated after the first jump, but of course she still tried.

Sorry, bad choice of words, but I can't think of the english word I'm actually looking for. :think: Of course she tried but... aaah, I don't know.

Edit: I think hesitant is the word I was looking for, she looked very hesitant doing pretty much everything, almost too careful.

What did Brian say?

No I (he) mean(t) his immediate reaction in the K&C when he didn't even look at her.

 

[Metis]

I think she's mainly having spin issues when there are jump issues beforehand. It a loss in concentration/trying to catch up with the music that causes her to miss rotations. I noticed in her short program they moved the double axel up to allow for more buffer time to get the spin done even if there are jump issues, and she hit her levels on that spin.

This is indeed the case. If you watch her SPs side by side, you can see that she’s behind the music at IdF compared to SCI, and consequently didn’t hold the camel position long enough on the last spin. (I also think she got calls at SCI due to the sit spin position not being low enough, which I assume is more of an issue due to back pain.)

Jason, Yuzu, Cha are all hitting Level 4 spins. So either TCC’s spin coach is an idiot and/or deliberately teaching Medvedeva incorrectly OR maybe spins can’t be fixed in a day (straight LMAO to that idea, Internet coaches are amazing) and there’s a big difference between practice and performance. Yuzu can do spins in his sleep and lost a level on his final spin in the Olympic SP because he rushed the COE feature to stay on the music. (And he also loses levels on his step sequences fairly often due to jumping a turn.)

Medvedeva’s step sequences are, choreo graphically and in terms of content, enough to receive a Level 4, but Brian can’t manipulate Med’s skates while she’s on the ice. For the spins, it’s clear she knows the rules to receive Level 4 and is working to check off all requirements, but minor mistakes are enough to lose a feature and a level. Seems normal to me, but I also watched Yuzu get an entire spin invalidated and didn’t freak out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Vandevska]

I'm frustrated- not at her or her coaches, but people who are so impatient with everything and expect a quick fix. Like it or not, fixing jump technique, breaking bad habits is going to take a long time. Not just her jumps, but she's also changing her eating habits, working on SS (no easy feat either), all in a new environment. We're not used to Evgenia not winning everything and, gasp, struggling, but it's inevitable when you commit to improving your skating like she's commendably done.

I think that most people here (including myself) are mostly sad or afraid of her being so scared even before the program starts, not due to the mistakes. It's not like I haven't seen her make mistakes before, but this is a whole new thing too.

 

[carmina]

I'm frustrated- not at her or her coaches, but people who are so impatient with everything and expect a quick fix. Like it or not, fixing jump technique, breaking bad habits is going to take a long time. Not just her jumps, but she's also changing her eating habits, working on SS (no easy feat either), all in a new environment. We're not used to Evgenia not winning everything and, gasp, struggling, but it's inevitable when you commit to improving your skating like she's commendably done.

She was good at practice... she could get silver
I think it was nerves
She seemed so lost

 

[Jeanie19]

What makes Evgenia special is not the winning, not the scores, but how she brings such emotion to her skating. I have followed figure skating for 25 years, and only she brings me to tears.

 

[StrikerIvan]

We should do sth to show the support to her. Maybe we can write the letters to encourage her again? I don't know did she read my letter that wish her birthday, but it's the only way I can think...

 

[grey19]

Maybe she'll do better when people will forget about her. With less focus she'll be able to relax

Oh no, it won't be so.easy. There was a very famous person who just had to.casually mention Lipnitskaya at last Russian Nationals. It was like 'she would be 10-th in the best case scenarion'. Why, why drag a person who already had enough and had to retire at 19. I'm praying for Zhenya not to repeat that.

 

[eaglehelang]

Sorry for kinda spamming, seeing as this is my 3rd post in the last 10min, but I just wanna talk about it.
The reason why I suggested that maybe taking a season off might be good, because what I just saw pretty much resembles my feelings at the beginning of the year about my studies. Yes, that's very different, I know, but I know the feeling of going out with thoughts like "here we go again, I'm gonna do bad again, (in my case, I'm gonna fail again and have to retake the course)", and it's a really crappy feeling. So I ended up taking a break. It didn't make me love it again, but at least it helped me sort out my thoughts. I think after this competition that is what she needs to do too.
I will follow her and watch all future videos of her, no matter what. I just want her to feel better again, regardless of what she's doing.

Dont think that will cut it since the Russian field is so deep. Evgenia can do the programs in practice. She has to compete to learn to deal with the pressure.

On another note, Yuzuru's 1st year with Orser he struggled too. Loads of comments saying Yuzuru should go back to Nanami Abe, that he shouldnt have changed coaches, blah blah.

The difference I see here is for Evgenia its more mental . For Yuzuru it was technical + stamina.

 

[DeeDee18]

and the thing is, HER BIRTHDAY was this week. She got SO MUCH SUPPORT and it still didn't help her. I think this just shows how much stress and scrunity she is under and how much she is aware of.

 

[Vandevska]

She was good at practice... she could get silver
I think it was nerves
She seemed so lost

Yes, I agree. Even the spins during the practice: I counted and she did do 3 revolutions in the last one. It's just mistakes during the competition.

 

[neusw]

This is indeed the case. If you watch her SPs side by side, you can see that she’s behind the music at IdF compared to SCI, and consequently didn’t hold the camel position long enough on the last spin. (I also think she got calls at SCI due to the sit spin position not being low enough, which I assume is more of an issue due to back pain.)

Jason, Yuzu, Cha are all hitting Level 4 spins. So either TCC’s spin coach is an idiot and/or deliberately teaching Medvedeva incorrectly OR maybe spins can’t be fixed in a day (straight LMAO to that idea, Internet coaches are amazing) and there’s a big difference between practice and performance. Yuzu can do spins in his sleep and lost a level on his final spin in the Olympic SP because he rushed the COE feature to stay on the music. (And he also loses levels on his step sequences fairly often due to jumping a turn.)

Medvedeva’s step sequences are, choreo graphically and in terms of content, enough to receive a Level 4, but Brian can’t manipulate Med’s skates while she’s on the ice. For the spins, it’s clear she knows the rules to receive Level 4 and is working to check off all requirements, but minor mistakes are enough to lose a feature and a level. Seems normal to me, but I also watched Yuzu get an entire spin invalidated and didn’t freak out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Another point--she hasn't NEEDED to adjust to jump mistakes in like 4 years, because they miraculously never happened. So there will be a learning curve just in terms of learning to catch up to music and getting spins/steps done. As for step sequences, I think her programs before were choreographed with a lot of extraneous steps/turns, so even if it wasn't hit perfectly every time she could still get the levels. This is a different strategy now, and of course will also require adjustment.

She deserves the right to struggle or fail while she learns all of these things without everyone in the skating world being up in arms about every small (or large) mistake she makes.

 

[Greyswan]

When are RusNats?

I am not totally sure, but I think it's just a few days before Christmas.

 

[Hello from Brazil]

I finally built up courage to open the FS protocol:
Fortunately her 3Lz was clean, without !.
However she got 3F-3T<< and, once more, a V spin