Mikhail Kolyada

[coldblueeyes]

Either the Fed or the fans, they're not really that wrong - even if I don't like to single out Mika from the rest, he has his own problems with the jumps, we all know that. He had some bad competitions, but there was always a constant, and he did get better towards the end of the season again, I mean WTT was his best competition ever. Now take a look at all the other guys. Samarin seems to be the one with the biggest scoring potential for now, because he do lands his jumps. Lazukin just never cleans out a FS, Aliev rarely does it too. It's not too far-fetched to see them betting on him, but I don't like the kind of attention it brings to Mika.

Perhaps he found a way to deal with it, we did hear there are changes to his training that garnered good results, so let's hope that's true.

 

[vorravorra]

Either the Fed or the fans, they're not really that wrong - even if I don't like to single out Mika from the rest, he has his own problems with the jumps, we all know that. He had some bad competitions, but there was always a constant, and he did get better towards the end of the season again, I mean WTT was his best competition ever. Now take a look at all the other guys. Samarin seems to be the one with the biggest scoring potential for now, because he do lands his jumps. Lazukin just never cleans out a FS, Aliev rarely does it too. It's not too far-fetched to see them betting on him, but I don't like the kind of attention it brings to Mika.

Perhaps he found a way to deal with it, we did hear there are changes to his training that garnered good results, so let's hope that's true.

Aliev and Lazukin both have serious stamina problems which is something that should be fixable but doesn't seem to get fixed. You don't even have to be a headcase to regularly crash and burn if a FS is like climbing Mt. Everest. Such a pity because both have great potential in the PCS area, unlike poor Samarin, although he does try and works hard. I wish his work ethic could be grafted onto the other two somehow, then we might get a complete skater. Unless/until any of them fix their respective shortcomings the Fed can't bet on them as it does on Misha, you are right. But it can at least keep them in mind as a fall back option, but probably more for Kovtun than Misha at the moment as he is obviously the bigger liability. But at least it's not a barren wasteland in men's skating in Russia any more.

 

[coldblueeyes]

Aliev and Lazukin both have serious stamina problems which is something that should be fixable but doesn't seem to get fixed. You don't even have to be a headcase to regularly crash and burn if a FS is like climbing Mt. Everest. Such a pity because both have great potential in the PCS area, unlike poor Samarin, although he does try and works hard. I wish his work ethic could be grafted onto the other two somehow, then we might get a complete skater. Unless/until any of them fix their respective shortcomings the Fed can't bet on them as it does on Misha, you are right. But it can at least keep them in mind as a fall back option, but probably more for Kovtun than Misha at the moment as he is obviously the bigger liability. But at least it's not a barren wasteland in men's skating in Russia any more.

Oh, it certainly isn't. But I don't know about Aliev's stamina problems. He does have them, but he does lack a stable quad too. Stamina seems to be a problem ingrained in all the Russian men though, they do have problems in skating up to the end of the problem, even Samarin and Mika, although, I do have to say that he didn't seem to be out of breath at WTT, so something must be happening in training.

The thing is that they need to hit the quads. Some of the guys have more artistry than the others, but without the quads they can't really play in the big leagues. Look at Mika's total score from WTT, it would land him in a seventh place at Worlds this year.

 

[vorravorra]

Oh, it certainly isn't. But I don't know about Aliev's stamina problems. He does have them, but he does lack a stable quad too. Stamina seems to be a problem ingrained in all the Russian men though, they do have problems in skating up to the end of the problem, even Samarin and Mika, although, I do have to say that he didn't seem to be out of breath at WTT, so something must be happening in training.

The thing is that they need to hit the quads. Some of the guys have more artistry than the others, but without the quads they can't really play in the big leagues. Look at Mika's total score from WTT, it would land him in a seventh place at Worlds this year.

It's true about Russian men and stamina, unfortunately, virtually all of them would benefit from improvements in that area, some are just worse than others. Misha definitely needs to improve his if he wants to up the level of difficulty, it seems to be one of the main limitations for him.

 

[vorravorra]

Thoughts after a rewatch: I think exactly one English-speaking commentator (and no announcer) has ever pronounced Misha's last name with the stress on the right syllable, everyone else stubbornly says Kolyada. The Japanese too apparently (or at least that's what it sounds like, I know they have pitch accent rather than stress accent like in Russian and English). It's Kovtun but Kolyada, people! (And incidentally Mikhail (like 'naive'), but I am prepared to let that one go because there is little chance of anyone ever getting it right.) Nobody expects commentators/announcers to produce sounds that do not exist in their language, but correct stress should be manageable for a language that also has mobile stress.

 

[beki]

My wish for Mika is that he starts to believe great things are possible for him. For one thing, I think he is capable of beating Javi at Europeans. Yes, he has a lot of work to do. But first he must believe.

 

[sallycinnamon]

Thoughts after a rewatch: I think exactly one English-speaking commentator (and no announcer) has ever pronounced Misha's last name with the stress on the right syllable, everyone else stubbornly says Kolyada. The Japanese too apparently (or at least that's what it sounds like, I know they have pitch accent rather than stress accent like in Russian and English). It's Kovtun but Kolyada, people! (And incidentally Mikhail (like 'naive'), but I am prepared to let that one go because there is little chance of anyone ever getting it right.) Nobody expects commentators/announcers to produce sounds that do not exist in their language, but correct stress should be manageable for a language that also has mobile stress.

Thank you first this! I searched for videos where Mika himself or other native speakers say his name and it indeed sounds Kolyada. Before it I had no idea that the stress was on the last letter - it's not even last syllable, right? That could be Kolyada.
For every commentators/reporters there should be a mini lecture about how to pronounce the skaters' names correctly. It is difficult, but once they are educated it should be easier

 

[vorravorra]

Thank you first this! I searched for videos where Mika himself or other native speakers say his name and it indeed sounds Kolyada. Before it I had no idea that the stress was on the last letter - it's not even last syllable, right? That could be Kolyada.
For every commentators/reporters there should be a mini lecture about how to pronounce the skaters' names correctly. It is difficult, but once they are educated it should be easier

It is on the last syllable, I only highlighted the vowel because it is always the vowel that bears the stress in a syllable (in Russian, anyway, we do not have syllabic consonants, and neither does English). I will change it to make it more clear.

 

[beki]

Today I was watching Tanith White's WTT commentary on American NBCSN and she attempted it as you say. She seems to make the effort to get names right. I never knew we were pronouncing his name incorrectly, so thanks for letting us know.

 

[Tutto]

If Averbukh was allowed to make Mika's program I'd take rope... We would probably see our little sunshine skating to "Book Thief" music or "Boy in stripped pyjamas" wearing stripped pyjamas...

I'll be happy with any choreography that does not leave the viewer thinking "he can do so much better than this". That just shouldn't happen with good programs. They should look like they are fully utilizing the skater's strengths, while also being convenient to skate and earning points with the judges. I think Olga has given Misha choreography that is convenient and has point-earners in it, but in a way that somehow ends up looking like it's wasting his potential. Hallelujah didn't need to either be convenient or earn points and it ended up looking great on Misha, but there shouldn't be an either/or choice there. Misha isn't perfect by any means and he obviously should not get a program that he has trouble keeping up with either artistically or physically, which could be a danger with a new choreographer who doesn't know him. But skaters with much worse choreographic and performance potential have been given competition programs that they can cope with and look their best in the process. Hopefully Olga can combine those two components in her new programs.

I still think Olga's choreo is not the problem here, it was well received by the judges so far, but they need to hit the right music & theme for Mika. I feel that he would do well with portraying some well recognisable character like Javi tends to do (imagine what Mika could do with Figaro!), Mika is such a good actor and clearly enjoys acting on the ice (see Baba Yaga ) but these talents haven't been, as your rightly point out, utilised so far. I so hope that they get it right this time and come up with the program people will talk about and remember years later.

It's true about Russian men and stamina, unfortunately, virtually all of them would benefit from improvements in that area, some are just worse than others. Misha definitely needs to improve his if he wants to up the level of difficulty, it seems to be one of the main limitations for him.

I was surprised how energetic Mika looked at WTT - he was flying at the end of LP with no sign of fatique, jetlag... Whatever changes they made to the training routine they must be doing something right!

My wish for Mika is that he starts to believe great things are possible for him. For one thing, I think he is capable of beating Javi at Europeans. Yes, he has a lot of work to do. But first he must believe.

I so agree with you. I wish he had at least a half of massive self-belief of Plush!
But I believe his confidence will grow with time. My main wish for him (and all the skaters!) to remain healthy. Hope a good holiday is planned unlike last year.

 

[vorravorra]

I still think Olga's choreo is not the problem here, it was well received by the judges so far, but they need to hit the right music & theme for Mika. I feel that he would do well with portraying some well recognisable character like Javi tends to do (imagine what Mika could do with Figaro!), Mika is such a good actor and clearly enjoys acting on the ice (see Baba Yaga ) but these talents haven't been, as your rightly point out, utilised so far. I so hope that they get it right this time and come up with the program people will talk about and remember years later.

Yes, I think that the choreography is done competently and ticks the right boxes for the judges. It just doesn't look as good as it could. For instance, Misha is someone who can do a lot of movements while skating, which is actually difficult, especially if you don't just flail around randomly in the fashion of Samarin. This means it earns points, so it's reasonable to utilize it. But to me in the LP in particular movement frequently looks crammed in for the purpose of giving Misha things to do and ends up looking odd. Misha is not expected to produce perfect balletic lines every second a la Lazukin, but having him move in a way that looks a bit more fluid and less random should be possible. Maybe there is just something I don't get about that program.
As for portraying a recognisable character, I agree - just as long as they leave cartoons, the circus and children's fairy tales alone.

I was surprised how energetic Mika looked at WTT - he was flying at the end of LP with no sign of fatique, jetlag... Whatever changes they made to the training routine they must be doing something right!

I am not sure how long he'd had to take it easy for before Worlds due to back problems and whether it might have been a factor, but yes, he seems well at WTT both physically and mentally. Let's hope this continues.

I so agree with you. I wish he had at least a half of massive self-belief of Plush!
But I believe his confidence will grow with time. My main wish for him (and all the skaters!) to remain healthy. Hope a good holiday is planned unlike last year.

With regard to Plush - that's the kind of personality you either have or you don't, fortunately or unfortunately. Misha is one of the few people who would benefit from feeling more like a star. In interviews he often gives the impression that he would like to be successful but not deal with anything that actually comes with it. Even fans seem to scare him a bit, even though he is not exactly Yuzuru in terms of public adoration as of yet. He always seems to blend into the background at Galas, you have to look hard to spot him. He knows how to command attention when he is on the ice alone, but it often seems like it's the only time he wants to be seen, with the public safely on the other side of the boards.

 

[Alchamei]

I think that much was obvious, but on the other hand, Misha's just posted in his VK group that they are not considering a new choreographer.

I'm not so happy about this. Why can't he take Lambiel's offer for choreo? I bet he'd create something competent for him that would be more polished and stretch his style more. Olga's choreo is not bad, it's just maybe too juniorshish in a certain way and too Russian drama. Or is Russian fed authoritative even about that?

 

[ejnsofi]

I'm not so happy about this. Why can't he take Lambiel's offer for choreo? I bet he'd create something competent for him that would be more polished and stretch his style more. Olga's choreo is not bad, it's just maybe too juniorshish in a certain way and too Russian drama. Or is Russian fed authoritative even about that?

Wait... did Lambiel offered him to make choreo?
I think RusFed might have something to do with it. Are any foreign choreographers besides Misha Ge allowed to work with top Russian skaters?

 

[Alchamei]

Wait... did Lambiel offered him to make choreo?
I think RusFed might have something to do with it. Are any foreign choreographers besides Misha Ge allowed to work with top Russian skaters?

Yes, he did, last year at least. After Misha's great showing at Euros and Worlds in 2016, Lambiel comented that he loved Misha and later after the season he offered Misha to do choreo for him, but he refused. If I recall correctly, he said he did so because of his respect to Olga, who does his choreo. But I wouldn't be suprised if RusFed had somehing to do with it, as from he previous experience.

 

[beki]

Yes, he did, last year at least. After Misha's great showing at Euros and Worlds in 2016, Lambiel comented that he loved Misha and later after the season he offered Misha to do choreo for him, but he refused. If I recall correctly, he said he did so because of his respect to Olga, who does his choreo. But I wouldn't be suprised if RusFed had somehing to do with it, as from he previous experience.

What a compliment. And now I will feel like I'm missing out on what they could've created together. I'm wondering if he is capable of more difficult choreography. I just watched Kurt Browning's WTT commentary and he said a lot of it is arm movements. He is excited by Misha's talent but wasn't quite convinced by the LP.

 

[vorravorra]

Wait... did Lambiel offered him to make choreo?
I think RusFed might have something to do with it. Are any foreign choreographers besides Misha Ge allowed to work with top Russian skaters?

Allowed - yes, certainly. Lipnitskaya and Tuktamysheva worked with Lambiel, for example. Paying for it is another matter.

ETA: But then of course Mishin threw out most of the choreo as he usually does to make it more convenient for Liza to jump

 

[vorravorra]

What a compliment. And now I will feel like I'm missing out on what they could've created together. I'm wondering if he is capable of more difficult choreography. I just watched Kurt Browning's WTT commentary and he said a lot of it is arm movements. He is excited by Misha's talent but wasn't quite convinced by the LP.

I think he is capable of more difficult choreography, but there is the matter of combining it with the upped tech. Stretching himself to some extent in the Olympic season would be a good idea, of course, and maybe they are planning that. But if it's difficult choreo or jumps, jumps win hands down, whether we like it or not. I think Lambiel would be quite likely to create something Misha can skate potentially but not realistically within a competition program will more quads. But then maybe not.

 

[beki]

I think he is capable of more difficult choreography, but there is the matter of combining it with the upped tech. Stretching himself to some extent in the Olympic season would be a good idea, of course, and maybe they are planning that. But if it's difficult choreo or jumps, jumps win hands down, whether we like it or not. I think Lambiel would be quite likely to create something Misha can skate potentially but not realistically within a competition program will more quads. But then maybe not.

Yes, that's true. And his basics are quite beautiful to watch, so he still presents a good impression.

 

[Tutto]

Yes, he did, last year at least. After Misha's great showing at Euros and Worlds in 2016, Lambiel comented that he loved Misha and later after the season he offered Misha to do choreo for him, but he refused. If I recall correctly, he said he did so because of his respect to Olga, who does his choreo. But I wouldn't be suprised if RusFed had somehing to do with it, as from he previous experience.

I know that Lambiel praised Mika after the Euros but do we really know for fact that Mika refused an actual offer from Lambiel? I have my doubts about it. I think that was just a hearsay initiated by Max Trankov? If anyone has more info on that I'd love to know -thanks.
I am also not sure that Lambiel would be a good fit for Mika at this stage. I read Julia's account of working with Lambiel and while it was undoubtedly very interesting & exciting, she found it extremely difficult as Lambiel was changing his ideas all the time and she had difficulties to follow and remember all the moves. It could be one of the reasons apart from financial & the loyalty to Olga that Mika is reluctant to work with someone else, he is used to learn & work on things at his own pace, to complete the choreo in 2 - 3 days (sometimes just hours) is not easy.
IMHO Misha Ge would be a perfect choice for Mika at this point...

What a compliment. And now I will feel like I'm missing out on what they could've created together. I'm wondering if he is capable of more difficult choreography. I just watched Kurt Browning's WTT commentary and he said a lot of it is arm movements. He is excited by Misha's talent but wasn't quite convinced by the LP.

I would not dare to argue with the expert but respectfully disagree with Kurt all the same, I think Mika has a good range of movements not just arm movements but those movements are not always meaningful enough. I still would be very much interested to see what Olga could create if they 'hit' a right music & character

With regard to Plush - that's the kind of personality you either have or you don't, fortunately or unfortunately. Misha is one of the few people who would benefit from feeling more like a star. In interviews he often gives the impression that he would like to be successful but not deal with anything that actually comes with it. Even fans seem to scare him a bit, even though he is not exactly Yuzuru in terms of public adoration as of yet. He always seems to blend into the background at Galas, you have to look hard to spot him. He knows how to command attention when he is on the ice alone, but it often seems like it's the only time he wants to be seen, with the public safely on the other side of the boards.

Haha I think Mika got a first taste of what the stardom is like and didn't like it at all- who could blame him?

 

[vorravorra]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwnKAwnwMNk

A video interview with Misha that was taken a year ago but only uploaded now for some reason. A summary of new information:

Misha's last name is Ukrainian in origin (that's obvious from its structure, and so is Kovtun's, incidentally). Neither of them seems clear about its meaning which is a bit odd since it's a word that you can easily look up (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koliada) and it's still in use in Russia. He likes the 'dance' part of skating very much, although he doesn't have any particular style preferences; they mostly do modern dance of various kinds [although we also know from Stanislava that they do classical training several times a week]. He has only been to a nightclub once in his entire life and it was pretty much as he'd imagined. The interview was taken at a more innocent time when he felt no need to hide from fans, although he already sounded a bit tentative about his growing popularity. The thing he enjoyed the least when he began living independently was washing dishes, but he got used to it eventually. He sees his family once a week (at least he did at the time of the interview). He found that being the eldest in the family brings responsibility, but it is also interesting and when the little kids look up to you it's a stimulus to be better. He generally chooses the sports style in clothes because he is used to it. The interviewer shows photos of Misha from his Instagram and there is much joking about them. Misha has a nice sense of humour and must be fun to be around. He is 13 in the last photo shown and it was taken in 2008 at a training camp in Crimea at a time when he seriously wanted to quit - that's why such a sad expression. There is a short conversation about the more 'artistic' photos in his Instagram, and he says that would like to take up photography more seriously when he has time. If he was granted three wishes, right now they would be to get enough sleep every night, to have even more patience, and he doesn't really need anything else. When asked to give a message to viewers/fans/friends, he says that everything in our life is actually simpler than we often make ourselves believe - our health is the only thing we really need, and the rest will come - or it won't. He also wishes good fortune, as luck is a decisive factor in a lot of things.