Ladies FS - 2014 Russian Championships

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

To be fair Leonova sold her program wayyyy better than Pogo and jumps were more consistent than Tuk.

 

[snowflake]

So Leonova goes to Europeans, thanks to incredibly generous PCS for what is an absolutely terrible program, even if she sells it well. Who would have guessed?

But who do you think was better and should go? It's not decided yet what I understand. I don't know if Leonova is a Russia's favorite. Is she? Anyway, I'm happy to see her at Euros if she is chosen.

 

[Ziggy]

I just think that Leonova's PCS were very high for what she's shown in both programs (she deserves high PE, not so much anything else).

 

[CarneAsada]

And I'm glad I did given the boooooooring result that you could predict yesterday and the use of PCS to prop Russian Fed's favourites and bury the 'ugly ducklings.' Meh.

So Leonova goes to Europeans, thanks to incredibly generous PCS for what is an absolutely terrible program, even if she sells it well. Who would have guessed?

Hey, that's not fair! Adelina and Julia earned their spots. But hopefully you enjoyed the incredibly gay movies at least.

 

[SaraM]

Hah, maybe for you Julia wins in those components, but everyone here (and the judges) disagree. Although you also think Hanyu deserves better PCS than Chan and Gold is the #1 US skater, so we all know who the real "headcase" is.

Oookeey i migt agree with some of the points skyfly makes about julia but if she thinks that hanyu deserves higher pcs than chan he or she obviously has no idea what theyre talking about what pcs score actually is.. so thanks for pointing that out canadaskaterdude

 

[Frenchie]

OK, big delay on my part as I gave up on watching the live-freeze-feed after a while and waited for the youtube vids instead.
In case LenaElika@youtube reads this: thanks so much, esp for the quick uploads! Some wait hours, some days to upload... you do it within minutes!!!

- Sotnikova: Congrats. For her standards, that was a very consistent skate. I'm still waiting to see the protocols, because her 3Lz3Lo looked << to me. If they chose to only rate it as <, then that difference might have been enough to change the outcome... Still, regardless if it was judged < or <<, I'd really suggest she stops trying this combo and just concentrates on a clean Lutz, so she can do a 2A3T2T later in the program instead of a 2A. (she didn't do a 3-jump combo today)
-Lipnitskaya: Great Skate. One might argue that she should have made up more/all of her point deficit thanks to this great skate, but on the other hand, I'd say I was surprised she got such good marks for her SP with the mistakes/insecurities... So I'm ok with the result. Anyway, seems obvious that Sotnikova AND Lipnitskaya will go to Sochi, which has to be their N°1 goal. Once they're there, I'm sure they both can hope for very generous marks.
My main issue with Lipnitskaya today is her dress: Compared to what it was previously, I think it's a huge step backwards. The pure red dress was just perfect to reminisce of the little girl in Schindler's List. These "ornaments" they added just take away from that. If you know what her dress looked like previously, and if you saw the movie, then it takes away a lot. Sometimes, less is more.
- Leonova: Wow, congrats! Who would have thought? (not me!) Her dress today showed off just how fit she seems to be - I don't think I've ever seen her this slim. I'm not a fan of her frantic facial expressions regardless of what theme her program is, but she does put way more focus than others on trying to sell her program. So in the end, congrats, she deserved it.
Last year's men's event showed us just how much the Russian Federation can disregard the National Championship results when naming the 3rd entry for Euros. I guess the only plausible alternative for Leonova would be Pogorilaya, since she won a GP, finished 3rd in the other, and went to the GPF. But since Leonova still has some nice credentials to put forward (2012 World silver medalist, 2011 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, 2009 World Junior champion), finished 3 spots and 6.6pts ahead of Pogorilaya today, and genuinely has the potential to get big(ger) PCS scores, it seems like an obvious choice to me...
- Radionova: Isn't she cute? C'mon! Just how cute is she?!?
- General observation: especially in the first group (13 to 18 after SP), I was disappointed by many of the Choreo Sequences: Many were short, with crossovers in between, and just simple. I know there are no levels awarded to them, but aren't there some requirements they have to meet? Like go from one side to the other? Some really treated the ChSeq as a throw away element. :disapp:

- Since I saw the comp thanks to youtube videos, I followed an idea I had while watching: after the competition was over, I watched Akiko Suzuki's JN LP again as a comparison... yes, I've made it clear that I'm a fan of Suzuki. Still, if you have a minute and the Russian girls are still fresh in your memory, humor me and watch it again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjsDhCQhy_0
I'm aware the Olympics are held in Russia, and that the Russian skaters will get generous marks. But honestly, whether it's Sotnikova or Lipnitskaya. They seem to me like lightyears away from Suzuki in terms of transitions, choreography, and sheer delicacy. Every stretch of the arm->hand->finger is perfect, and her skating is just silent on the ice, where in comparison, the Russian girls are more like "ok, Butch! Let's get the next jump done! harrr!" Wouldn't you agree?

 

[SaraM]

Agreed frenchie about suzuki! No matter how clean the russian skates in sochi if suzuki skates like that again she SHOULD get a medal. Sadly this olympics are in russia...
And generally speaking i enjoyed the top japanese girls much more than the top russians...

 

[FS_rrb]

Yes, Suzuki is awesome. I didn't have to watch her LP again because I've already watched it many times...but I replayed the video once more . I was thinking the same as frenchie while watching the top ladies here. Akiko has a special ability to be elegant without looking like a ballerina and be emotional without over-the-top facial expressions or overdone choreography. She's special and, if clean, I would like her to get a medal. Hope her scores go up now that she's the Japanese National Champion.

 

[Amei]

Julia was, as expected, on fire.
Adelina is inconsistent but I don't think anyone can call her a headcase anymore. She had the best competition overall (Sp+Lp) in her senior career right when it mattered the most: when she needed to qualify for Sochi. This is a very big deal and she held it together,

Adelina has generally always skated well at nationals, so skating well today was not a shock, it's other competitions that's the problem.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

I'm aware the Olympics are held in Russia, and that the Russian skaters will get generous marks. But honestly, whether it's Sotnikova or Lipnitskaya. They seem to me like lightyears away from Suzuki in terms of transitions, choreography, and sheer delicacy. Every stretch of the arm->hand->finger is perfect, and her skating is just silent on the ice, where in comparison, the Russian girls are more like "ok, Butch! Let's get the next jump done! harrr!" Wouldn't you agree?

I don't necessarily agree. I think that, after many years, Akiko has found the type of programs that showcase her strengths and hide her weaknesses. What she does she does very well but I don't think the has the artistic breadth of last year's Worlds medalists. Akiko is arguably the fourth best artist today but I think Adelina is close behind, as is Julia. They are just skating the wrong type of programs; I almost think Adelina and Julia would be better off switching their LP music because I can see Julia doing well with more whimsical pieces and Adelina something more mature.

 

[kwanatic]

I am so happy for Adelina! It's great to see her control her nerves and deliver two strong programs in this very stressful pressure filled situation. I have always maintained that if Adelina is able to skate cleanly, she deserves very high marks: she has very good speed, excellent flow, gorgeous lines and extension, nice edges and transitions, and has good artistry/interpretation despite the fact that her music and choreography aren't all that great. Her spins are excellent, her jumps are massive and, when she lands them, they're quite good. I definitely think the judges got it right here and I'm really happy to see her win her fourth national title.

It was good to see Julia hold up under the pressure skating last. She was brilliant as well and should be really proud of the score that she got. Julia is very good but next to the power of Adelina, her skating is small. It doesn't leave as big of an impression as it needs to. I think she has improved a lot this season but she still looks somewhat juniorish to me. Next to Anna or Elena, Julia looks very polished and mature; but next to the older girls (Adelina, Carolina, Yu-Na, Mao, Akiko or Ashley) you can see how she lacks maturity and presence. It's something that she will gain with time and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I love Elena so much! She rocked both of her programs! If she goes back to the junior worlds this year she has a really good shot at winning another title. I always say it but I really am very excited to see the kind of skater she turns into as she continues to grow and mature. LOVES her!!

Alexandra reminds me of a more expressive Julia. She had a pretty good season on the JGP and I'm really glad to see her skate well here. She is so tiny, it's so cute! Russia just has a lot of young upcoming skaters... Probably the deepest pool of juniors in all of figure skating. I'm excited to see how she progresses as well...

I'm happy Alena was able to turn around her season and have two strong showings here. I absolutely hated her SP music and choreography but her jumps were really nice. That 3T-3T in both programs was massive! Given her bad showing on the GP these last few seasons, I knew her making the team was a pretty long shot especially if Julia and Adelina skated well, but I am happy to see her turn in two very respectable skates here and I hope she's able to go to Euros.

So wonderful to see all of the top skaters really deliver here... Except for Liza. I can imagine she is pretty devastated right now especially considering how strongly she debuted on the GP a few seasons ago. All of the talk was about her and Adelina being the two who were going to lead the pack to Sochi and now a few years down the line, she doesn't even make it on the team. I'm pretty sure she's hurt right now. I was glad to see her fight but she has a lot of work to do if she wants to try to regain her positioning in the Russian lineup of ladies, which is constantly changing. That means she's going to have to work really really hard if she wants to continue competing.

 

[zamboni step]

It has to be noted that Diana Pervushkina's jump technique is stellar, nice basics too. Two tano 3-3s with great quality.

 

[Excidra2001]

Alena lives to see another season. A lot of us were predicting that the young Russian ladies will flush her out so fast she wouldn't know what hit her. If they all end up skating to their potential next season, then Alena is 6th at best in Russia.

What these results tell me is that Russia might bring home it's first European ladies title since Slutskaya's last win 2006.

 

[sky_fly20]

Press Conference Interview after the FS:

Adelina, Julia and Elena

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W13Zt2_TJso

 

[David21]

I don't necessarily agree. I think that, after many years, Akiko has found the type of programs that showcase her strengths and hide her weaknesses. What she does she does very well but I don't think the has the artistic breadth of last year's Worlds medalists. Akiko is arguably the fourth best artist today but I think Adelina is close behind, as is Julia.

Arguably, Akiko is on the same level artistically as the Top 3 from last years Worlds (or even higher than some of them) and much better than Sotnikova and especially Lipnitskaya.

 

[Dots]

As an act of political protest against the Russian laws, I went to see two incredible gay movies instead of the Ladies FS.

Have you seen Stranger By The Lake? It's fantastic!

 

[amc987]

Arguably, Akiko is on the same level artistically as the Top 3 from last years Worlds (or even higher than some of them) and much better than Sotnikova and especially Lipnitskaya.

I would definitely take Suzuki's artistry over Kim's Les Mis program. It's a little more of a toss up between Suzuki, Kostner, and Mao, although I'd definitely take Suzki's program over Carolina and Mao's current LPs artistically. I really liked their interpretations of Bolero and Swan Lake, though.

Agree that in terms of components it should be Suzuki>>Sotnikova>Lipnitksaya. There is something about Julia's programs that seems so manufactured. There's a genuineness, musicality, and connection with the audience that she lacks. Not surprising given how young she is. I'm just surprised Sotnikova was able to hold her lead with the botched 3Z/3Lo combo. Why she does that instead of 3Z/3T really defies understanding.

How many Russians get sent to Euros?

 

[Amei]

Press Conference Interview after the FS:

Adelina, Julia and Elena

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W13Zt2_TJso

Making her statement for being on the Russian Olympic team- Julia the only 1 wearing a Team Russia jacket (It's the little things I notice)

 

[RemyRose]

How many Russians get sent to Euros?

3. The coaching council has nominated Adelina, Julia, and Alena. Now we wait to see if the executive committee gives Alena the nod! In a few hours we shall know.

 

[Frenchie]

How many Russians get sent to Euros?

They get to send 3 athletes/pairs in every competition!
They don't exactly rule the world, but as far as Europe goes, they're pretty close!