- Joined
- May 27, 2021
Yes, for instance, I think that M/G's performance was a bit too much in terms of props. And the plot is not clear.
Gala Competition "Russian Challenge" 2023
- Thread starter AlexBreeze
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2016
I really enjoyed that and got all emotional seeing my old favs again.
On this occasson, I don't understand why some skaters were so upset. To me it was always clear that the scoring in a 'not really serious show comp' would be all over the place.
Scoring and prizes for different elements of the performance is great - maybe the rules can be reviewed if this becomes a thing.
Anyway, my Top 5 are (in no particular order):
Kaganovskaya/Angelopol (Gangnam Style)
Liza Tuktik (simply
)
Bobrova/Solovyev (still got it
)
Mishina/Gallyamov (skating with footballs requires skill - and I always appreciate real fans)
Zhenya Medvedeva (loved the video intro as start of her programme)
Extra shout-out: Matvei Vetlugin (simply fabulous mimicking of other skaters) and T/M, for whom I'm biased but they can do a lot better.
Tatiana and Maks - yeah, they're keeping in the game and still can vow a crowd.
SinKats are still my number 1, but this was not the best thing I've ever seen of them. Nice story, though.
On this occasson, I don't understand why some skaters were so upset. To me it was always clear that the scoring in a 'not really serious show comp' would be all over the place.
Scoring and prizes for different elements of the performance is great - maybe the rules can be reviewed if this becomes a thing.
Anyway, my Top 5 are (in no particular order):
Kaganovskaya/Angelopol (Gangnam Style)
Liza Tuktik (simply
)Bobrova/Solovyev (still got it
)Mishina/Gallyamov (skating with footballs requires skill - and I always appreciate real fans)
Zhenya Medvedeva (loved the video intro as start of her programme)
Extra shout-out: Matvei Vetlugin (simply fabulous mimicking of other skaters) and T/M, for whom I'm biased but they can do a lot better.
Tatiana and Maks - yeah, they're keeping in the game and still can vow a crowd.
SinKats are still my number 1, but this was not the best thing I've ever seen of them. Nice story, though.
No way, In Memoriam was perfection. Of course this year is not as good as last season her body shape is completely changed she's built like an adult woman now.
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2019
I think it won’t be as fun with ISU, because Russians were able to leverage the common backgrounds to present a wide variety of music and ideas. With ISU it will be like any other gala, using the same scores and classic by athletes who try to appeal across the board… and a lot of them not really connected to it and the judges also. Here, the interplay was far more interesting, intergenerational, with different ideals and ideas…
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2019
I will continue to disagree.
But, tbh, this competition didn’t have women numbers that appealed to me personally, despite liking how much Tuktamysheva and Zagitova nailed it for their personalities, so…
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2020
Final table:
| 1 | Alexey Yagudin | 20.00 |
| 2 | Victoria Sinitsina - Nikita Katsalapov | 19.17 |
| 3 | Anna Shcherbakova | 19.08 |
| 4 | Tatiana Totmyanina - Maxim Marinin | 18.83 |
| 5 | Sofia Akatieva | 18.75 |
| 6 | Mikhail Kolyada | 18.58 |
| 7 | Ekaterina Bobrova - Dmitry Solovyov | 18.50 |
| 8 | Elizaveta Tuktamysheva | 18.17 |
| 9 | Alina Zagitova | 18.09 |
| 10 | Kamila Valiyeva | 17.83 |
| 11 | Mark Kondratyuk | 17.75 |
| 12 | Tatiana Volosozhar - Maxim Trankov | 17.58 |
| 13 | Evgeny Semenenko | 17.42 |
| 14 | Evgenia Medvedeva | 17.41 |
| 15 | Anastasia Mishina - Alexander Gallyamov | 16.67 |
| 16 | Andrey Mozalev | 16.25 |
| 17 | Elena Radionova | 16.00 |
| 18 | Evgenia Tarasova - Vladimir Morozov | 15.84 |
| 19 | Vasilisa Kaganovskaya - Valery Angelopol | 15.42 |
| 20 | Peter Gumennik | 15.08 |
| 21 | Matvey Vetlugin | 14.91 |
| 22 | Dmitry Aliyev | 12.84 |
| 23 | Makar Ignatov | 12.75 |
| 24 | Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva - Yegor Bazin | 11.75 |
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2019
I appreciated how much they did with those balls, but yes, if they just used it in the spiral to show mastery and told a clearer idea of a player who meets a girl who has no idea what the sport is and in the end she is a fan… but that would be a repeat of their rockstar program. They should have maybe let Mishina lead for once.
Elizaveta - suprisingly good, they actually worked on some choreo and the ending pose is innovative
Sofia - cool moon but choreo was standard Danill G work
Evgenia - emotional start but didn't really go further than it could have
Anna - expressive as always. I was too busy watching the film
Kamila - i dont remember the choreo much except there was a hut and it started raining
Alina - fun program, but could have had much more interesting choreo as a Marilyn program. Bad wig threw me off
Sofia - cool moon but choreo was standard Danill G work
Evgenia - emotional start but didn't really go further than it could have
Anna - expressive as always. I was too busy watching the film
Kamila - i dont remember the choreo much except there was a hut and it started raining
Alina - fun program, but could have had much more interesting choreo as a Marilyn program. Bad wig threw me off
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2020
Great entertainment value. I laughed when he was parodying Liza’s Toxic skate.
Kamila creates such a vivid image with every skate. This native Indian program, Wednesday, Truman, Interstellar, Avatar, Bolero, In Memoriam, Girl on a Ball. Every time is a surprise. She should have been at least on the podium. There was so much energy in her skate.
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2022
Short write up of my impressions:
Yagudin:
He performed spectacularly well, very on point, very expressive, his program had a clear idea, a plot with an arch, and apart from a slightly weird outfit and a spotlight he didn't require any props. Funny, but not silly, very much in the tradition of old clown programs there was also something tragic about it. Complex choreo, well skated.
S/K:
I've already said what I think. The start threw me off already and I wasn't willing to be engaged in the program at all. In my opinion it bordered on tasteless, at most it was some over-acted soap opera. But the skating was good, of course.
Shcherbakova:
Very classic in a very pretty dress with black-white movie pictures in the background. Her skating was very much her. Expressive, yet boring. I have immense respect for her, but her skating and programs have hardly ever done anything for me.
Akatieva:
I don't exactly get her relatively high score. The moon idea has been used quite a few times in movies and shows, I don't think it's any kind of original, despite always lovely. The whole skate was sweet and nice to watch, but there was nothing special about the entire program. At least it wasn't Soviet romanticism.
Kolyada:
Wonderful movements, wonderful posture, clean idea. One of the most unoriginal music choices one could make, though. I just think there must be more to be had from him.
Tuktamysheva:
I really liked that, it wasn't super special, but the choreo was sublime in detail, and she had great expression. I liked that it was neither decidedly sexy nor decidedly not sexy. There was a lot of personality and passion in that skate.
Zagitova:
I practically turned away the moment I saw the Marilyn outift. Sorry, I don't understand that. You are supposed to do a show program where you can do almost anything, and you go for Marilyn in a platin wig to a Marilyn song everyone skates to?
Valieva:
Not sure if that is cultural appropriation, but it surely isn't original. Neither does it have much to do with her personally, does it? Apart from that it was an energetic performance.
Kondratiuk:
Not bad. I just had expected more from him. Honestly I think his short program this season is better. At least I enjoy it more. But he did make an effort to invent something special and he's always the most passionate.
Semenenko:
Like I already said: not my personal cup of tea, but I'm always totally into young skaters skating to things they can relate to and which are young, modern and original. It's definitely different and he always seems to enjoy it so much himself. Also skated very well.
Medvedeva:
I think I didn't really get this program, because I don't speak Russian. For an outsider it was a very sweet program (which it wasn't so much with the lyrics??), but nothing that will be remembered for long.
M/G:
Too much props and show in comparison to skating and actual plot, I guess, also not SUPER original, but at least they had an idea, it was fun, and why not do something like that in a show which you can never do in a comp. program.
Mozalev:
I never read The Perfume since I was never sold on the idea. Having a bunch of models in fake nudity looking up to you at the end is also... well. But even if I didn't like it personally, he at least had a special idea and a nice choreo which he skated well.
Radionova:
Average women's choreo to average women's show music. Not bad, but very unoriginal, it was basically red, sexy and Shakira.
T/M:
I always find them pretty boring, although high level.
K/A:
I enjoyed that. I feel sorry for their low score.
Gumennik:
Certainly he wasn't worse than Radionova for instance... But well, the scores in general...
Vetlugin:
Did the judges even know the programs he cited? They must. Then how could they not score him better? He surely isn't a big name and there was more costume change than skating, but the skating he did was great. It was fun and well executed.
Aliev:
It's like in the Eurovision song contest. If you're a woman you can get decent points by just doing an average program, but as a single man - forget it.
Ignatov:
The program honestly wasn't it. Probably more fun if you understood what it was about. But if I was one of the best looking skaters out there I would probably go for sexy instead of a fake beard.
There are a few I left out, because I used their programs to take a phone call and such.
Yagudin:
He performed spectacularly well, very on point, very expressive, his program had a clear idea, a plot with an arch, and apart from a slightly weird outfit and a spotlight he didn't require any props. Funny, but not silly, very much in the tradition of old clown programs there was also something tragic about it. Complex choreo, well skated.
S/K:
I've already said what I think. The start threw me off already and I wasn't willing to be engaged in the program at all. In my opinion it bordered on tasteless, at most it was some over-acted soap opera. But the skating was good, of course.
Shcherbakova:
Very classic in a very pretty dress with black-white movie pictures in the background. Her skating was very much her. Expressive, yet boring. I have immense respect for her, but her skating and programs have hardly ever done anything for me.
Akatieva:
I don't exactly get her relatively high score. The moon idea has been used quite a few times in movies and shows, I don't think it's any kind of original, despite always lovely. The whole skate was sweet and nice to watch, but there was nothing special about the entire program. At least it wasn't Soviet romanticism.
Kolyada:
Wonderful movements, wonderful posture, clean idea. One of the most unoriginal music choices one could make, though. I just think there must be more to be had from him.
Tuktamysheva:
I really liked that, it wasn't super special, but the choreo was sublime in detail, and she had great expression. I liked that it was neither decidedly sexy nor decidedly not sexy. There was a lot of personality and passion in that skate.
Zagitova:
I practically turned away the moment I saw the Marilyn outift. Sorry, I don't understand that. You are supposed to do a show program where you can do almost anything, and you go for Marilyn in a platin wig to a Marilyn song everyone skates to?
Valieva:
Not sure if that is cultural appropriation, but it surely isn't original. Neither does it have much to do with her personally, does it? Apart from that it was an energetic performance.
Kondratiuk:
Not bad. I just had expected more from him. Honestly I think his short program this season is better. At least I enjoy it more. But he did make an effort to invent something special and he's always the most passionate.
Semenenko:
Like I already said: not my personal cup of tea, but I'm always totally into young skaters skating to things they can relate to and which are young, modern and original. It's definitely different and he always seems to enjoy it so much himself. Also skated very well.
Medvedeva:
I think I didn't really get this program, because I don't speak Russian. For an outsider it was a very sweet program (which it wasn't so much with the lyrics??), but nothing that will be remembered for long.
M/G:
Too much props and show in comparison to skating and actual plot, I guess, also not SUPER original, but at least they had an idea, it was fun, and why not do something like that in a show which you can never do in a comp. program.
Mozalev:
I never read The Perfume since I was never sold on the idea. Having a bunch of models in fake nudity looking up to you at the end is also... well. But even if I didn't like it personally, he at least had a special idea and a nice choreo which he skated well.
Radionova:
Average women's choreo to average women's show music. Not bad, but very unoriginal, it was basically red, sexy and Shakira.
T/M:
I always find them pretty boring, although high level.
K/A:
I enjoyed that. I feel sorry for their low score.
Gumennik:
Certainly he wasn't worse than Radionova for instance... But well, the scores in general...
Vetlugin:
Did the judges even know the programs he cited? They must. Then how could they not score him better? He surely isn't a big name and there was more costume change than skating, but the skating he did was great. It was fun and well executed.
Aliev:
It's like in the Eurovision song contest. If you're a woman you can get decent points by just doing an average program, but as a single man - forget it.
Ignatov:
The program honestly wasn't it. Probably more fun if you understood what it was about. But if I was one of the best looking skaters out there I would probably go for sexy instead of a fake beard.
There are a few I left out, because I used their programs to take a phone call and such.
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2020
Sorry, I have no sympathy for the guys today. They made us look bad.
One managed to get his hair cut by Deliliah and another lost control of the radio on his ship.
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2020
Yeah, Anna’s not coming back to full time competition.Its interesting that all the winners are retired skaters, maybe they got placed as a nod to their retirement? And Alexei finally won a Russian competition
I will obviously rewatch her skate today, but I was not able to keep my focus on it 100% because I used that time to reminisce about her career. My thoughts on Anna are well known, one of my favorite athletes of all time.
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2020
As it was, she was in SPb watching SKA take a 2 games to none lead in their second round Gagarin Cup playoff series.
Unrelated, I almost fell out of my chair the first time I learned you can go to KHL matches and sit rinkside for less than 10 dollars. Insane value.
As a comparison, tonight’s Ranger game has last row seats for $200 plus each.
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2020
There better be.
That’s why they say necessity is the mother of invention.
Sometimes we defer to the governing bodies so much that we get into a bubble and lose perspective.
A lot of sports’ governing bodies have a “this is the way things have always been done” mentality that they don’t seek solutions from outside sources, ie fresh eyes. And by a lot, I’m not talking about just the ISU, which is notoriously conservative.
Sure, some ideas will fail but sometimes thinking outside the box produces gems that would otherwise not be discovered.
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2022
According to Sports.ru Plushenko wanted one million rubles take part, he was probably joking, I guess he didn't apply. It was also speculated that any skaters who worked for Channel 1 and were 'encouraged' to take part.
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