Is there a link to the Pavlova interview where she says Lubov's recent weight loss was Lubov's decision? I had assumed it was Pavlova who was pushing her to do so.
Agafonova could be a decent partner for Maisuradze but does anyone know her current height? She seems to have grown a lot.
I don't know why Makarova and Mukhortova are being mentioned. Mukhortova is fairly tall at 1.62. Trankov is more than tall enough but Nodari at 1.77 would be way too short for her.
Makarova turning to pairs doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. She's listed as 1.67 m. Sure, there are some like Vanessa James and Ashley Cain who can achieve modest success but they'll never be able to fight for a place in the top five in the world. Huge triple twists are becoming increasingly necessary to reach the top. It's unlikely Makarova would consider switching to a more dangerous discipline which offers her no hope of getting out of Russian nationals. She's not likely to even find a partner. At her listed height, it would be tough, and I read somewhere that she's actually closer to 1.70 m now. So she would need a partner who's at least 1.92 m.
I do wish Maisuradze would consider skating for Georgia because the competition in Russia will probably remain tough even after V/T and K/S retire. Bazarova/Larionov are likely to stay on, Martiusheva/Rogonov and Davankova/Deputat show a lot of potential to be well-rounded pairs, Stolbova/Klimov are good jumpers even if lacking posture and grace, Gerboldt/Enbert are decent, Gainetdinova/Bich could be very strong once they become more comfortable with the switch to pairs, and who knows what other junior pairs will appear in the next couple of seasons.
