Mikhail Kolyada

[CuhyShoma]

I don't want to be inopportune, I just want to say I like Misha's skating and it saddens me what happened with his FS.
I support you Misha.

 

[vorravorra]

Here are some more comments:

Mikhail Kolyada (RUS), 2018 World & European bronze medalist(on injuring his left arm) I fell on the Axel and it started to hurt. I don’t know what happened, but maybe it is broken. I broke my right arm about ten years ago when I slipped on the street after rain and it kind of feels the same. (On whether he thought about stopping) No. No matter what happens, I wanted to skate the program to the end and show the maximum. I should have done the second quad toe instead of a triple. (On skating after Javier Fernandez) It was not easy to skate after him, especially when he got such a high score. (on missing the quad Salchow) That was a technical mistake, the jump itself was not bad. Then the program went downhill. (On leading after the Short Program) I tried not to think about it.

Also, since when does Misha listen to the score of the skater before him? He always used to block his ears. Maybe he should go back to doing that. He is the last person who needs that distraction.

 

[rachno2]

Also, since when does Misha listen to the score of the skater before him? He always used to block his ears. Maybe he should go back to doing that. He is the last person who needs that distraction.

I noticed that too. Maybe he just heard the response and assumed? But Javi was always going to get a standing ovation and lots of cheers, no matter how he skated. If he did listen to the scores, that is a terrible idea, especially when he was leading after the short.

I guess every experience is a learning experience, like he said. This was his first time leading the short after a major international competition.

 

[vorravorra]

I noticed that too. Maybe he just heard the response and assumed? But Javi was always going to get a standing ovation and lots of cheers, no matter how he skated. If he did listen to the scores, that is a terrible idea, especially when he was leading after the short.

I guess every experience is a learning experience, like he said. This was his first time leading the short after a major international competition.

He specifically mentioned the score not the standing ovation, unless once again there is a translation error. It sounds like he let his brain drift in a completely wrong direction of concentrating on what others are doing instead of what he needs to do. He is the last person for whom that would be a sensible approach.

 

[vorravorra]

I noticed that too. Maybe he just heard the response and assumed? But Javi was always going to get a standing ovation and lots of cheers, no matter how he skated. If he did listen to the scores, that is a terrible idea, especially when he was leading after the short.

I guess every experience is a learning experience, like he said. This was his first time leading the short after a major international competition.

He is often accused of a lack of ambition, I think it is rather the opposite that can sometimes hurt him. It sounds like he got into the mindset where he wanted to win and nothing else was acceptable (he already has a couple of non-gold medals from Euros, I guess another one was not sufficiently alluring). And it ended up exploding in his face as it was likely to do.

 

[chasseneige]

Wasn’t it Mishin who criticized Mikhail’s technique in an interview? Maybe I’m just making this up but I’m genuinely worried about him. These types of performances are doing nothing to better his physical and mental health.

 

[rachno2]

He is often accused of a lack of ambition, I think it is rather the opposite that can sometimes hurt him.

So true, and nobody seems to get it. I saw a post claiming he needs to "evaluate his options" and consider retirement, because he is wasting everybody's time with his inabilty to compete.

Having the will to compete doesn't guarantee that you will end up competing successfully. You can want something just as much as the next person, but there is only so much human willpower can do when it is faced with the right set of negative circumstances, like hypersensitivity, perfectionism and good old-fashioned nerves. Not to mention the fact that the slightest mistake in timing can be the difference between a landed jump and a fallen jump. He's always been very open about his psychological issues, and very open about his love for skating and competing. I don't understand why people get personally offended when he doesn't do well. It’s not as if he's ruining our days and shaming his country on purpose!

He 100% wanted gold, and that’s why he went for the harder layout.

 

[vorravorra]

Wasn’t it Mishin who criticized Mikhail’s technique in an interview? Maybe I’m just making this up but I’m genuinely worried about him. These types of performances are doing nothing to better his physical and mental health.

Mishin criticised the training approach, not technique, unless there was another interview? Misha's technique is very old-school Mishin so he would not be the most likely person to criticise it.

 

[vorravorra]

So true, and nobody seems to get it. I saw a post claiming he needs to "evaluate his options" and consider retirement, because he is wasting everybody's time with his inabilty to compete.

Having the will to compete doesn't guarantee that you will end up competing successfully. You can want something just as much as the next person, but there is only so much human willpower can do when it is faced with the right set of negative circumstances, like hypersensitivity, perfectionism and good old-fashioned nerves. He's always been very open about his psychological issues, and very open about his love for skating. I don't understand why people get personally offended when he doesn't do well; it's not as if he's ruining our days on purpose.

Wasting whose time? In whose way is he supposed to be getting again? There are, ahem, a lot of skaters in the world who are doing worse and are not being asked to retire and stop wasting people's time.

But honestly, this particular time it sounds like Misha was the architect of his own demise and it wasn't even nerves as such, just a toxic thought pattern.

 

[rachno2]

Regarding a skate-off, I do think it would be in Kovtun and Kolyada's interest to get more competitive experience before Worlds, but I don't see why they should have to compete with possible alternates for Worlds spots. As far as I'm concerned, the top 3 at Nationals earned their spots. At Euros, they each proved capable of posting high scores, Misha especially. Given the inconsistency of all the Russian men, I see no reason to change the composition of the team.

 

[vorravorra]

Regarding a skate-off, I do think it would be in Kovtun and Kolyada's interest to get more competitive experience before Worlds, but I don't see why they should have to compete with possible alternates for Worlds spots. As far as I'm concerned, the top 3 at Nationals earned their spots. At Euros, they each proved capable of posting high scores, Misha especially. Given the inconsistency of all the Russian men, I see no reason to change the composition of the team.

Who would you even replace them with? Voronov is injured, Aliev is not in a mental? physical? shape to complete this season. Send Lazukin?

 

[Heleng]

Well, I’m heartbroken for Misha. Talk about extremes of emotion from the short to the long. (I was so sad, I almost didn’t watch U.S. nationals men’s short.) I think his unlucky draw was the worst possible given his competition nerves. He likely did block his ears (I’d not realized skaters do that until I saw Evgenia do it in person at Skate Canada), but he could probably still hear. I didn’t expect him to be clean, and predicted Javi would win, but was hoping for a decent performance regardless of placement. (I know I’m probably preaching to the choir here.)

Trying to look for positives...His beautiful SP — the judges scores with one quad show what he can achieve when he delivers, and validate what we all love about Misha’s skating. His comment afterwards, that he never thought about stopping and regretted not going for the second quad, shows his fighting mindset, that he’s going to continue to work hard for the rest of the season and not give up. His hand isn’t broken. The heartwarming support for Misha after both his SP and his FS, the recognition of his talent and brilliant qualities, on GS (well, with the predictable exception of one unpleasant poster).

The fact that he decided to put in the three quads including the sal means he and his team had enough confidence with how he’s been practicing since his recovery that they believed it was worth the risk. Knowing his competition nerves though, I wish they’d decided to play it safer, especially after he got the draw. There really wasn’t a whole lot of time once he started practicing again. I really hope more mileage and more muscle memory with the layout is mostly what he needs.

I wonder whether his spot on the world team is secure, or whether that’s still TBD with a skate off.

 

[sowcow]

I suppose if he seriously injured his wrist on the axel it is not surprising the rest of the program didn't go well. I am just hoping it's not as bad as a fracture.

Very bad. He had a nasty one on the 3A and then a really nasty one on the 3Lo. He was in visible pain afterward, and is now at the hospital getting his wrist examined.

Yes, I am kind of puzzled by what happened to Misha's falls. He is good at falling safely and rising quickly. The 4S was as expected more or less but the 3A, it's not just that he doesn't fall from axels, but he doesn't normally have such floppy falls from any jumps. And the loop of course, falling onto the hand like that. Something was going very wrong with those jumps in terms of control.

TAT said his wrist is NOT broken somebody on twitter said possibly bruised. Hope we get official comments soon, but this is something positive.

Something is usually bruised when you hit it directly. His hand would be bruised, wrist likely sprained.

According to TAT it's indeed sprained.

Ok, I just watched the LP on youtube.
The fall on the 4S was the usual waiting too long before jumping.
The fall on the 3A looked like he slipped upon landing and fell.
The fall on 3 Loop was the one where he got his wrist hurt cos he put his hand down.The axis was already off when he 'launched' up. He held his wrist a couple of sec then went on with his program.
Popped the next axel jump. Held on to the 3 Lutz. Shook his wrist a bit at the non jump elements.
Once he finished, held that wrist and winced.

It seems my 'diagnosis' :scratch3:about Misha's injury (posted in the competition thread just as his marks were being announced) was correct...

If I had to speculate, I'd bet he sprained his wrist on the 3-Axel fall (which, looked more like a really awkward, unexpected slip off his landing edge, rather than a true 'fall'). Then, when he fell on the 3-loop and applied pressure to the already sprained wrist ... that's when he really felt pain! OUCH!! From then on, you could tell he was really 'nursing' his wrist and doing whatever he could NOT to have any pressure put on it (even rotational air pressure), and was even avoiding any 'twisting' motion of his wrist during certain choreographic movements. DOUBLE OUCH!!

My heart goers out to him! He really deserves a competition with 2 clean (or, at least clean-ish) programs!!

Dr. Cow.

 

[rachno2]

Who would you even replace them with? Voronov is injured, Aliev is not in a mental? physical? shape to complete this season. Send Lazukin?

Lazukin was the first alternate to Europeans, so I imagine he would be the first choice. But neither he nor Aliev has shown they can deliver in competition any more effectively than Kovtun and Kolyada this season. I would understand the reasoning behind sending Voronov, but only if he is fully recovered and beats the two of them at Russia Cup Final.

The whole thing just feels like a needless and potentially harmful exercise in humiliation. I know TAT is just speaking her mind in the moment as a commentator, but she shouldn’t have planted the idea of a skate-off in people’s heads.

 

[vorravorra]

Well, I’m heartbroken for Misha. Talk about extremes of emotion from the short to the long. (I was so sad, I almost didn’t watch U.S. nationals men’s short.) I think his unlucky draw was the worst possible given his competition nerves. He likely did block his ears (I’d not realized skaters do that until I saw Evgenia do it in person at Skate Canada), but he could probably still hear. I didn’t expect him to be clean, and predicted Javi would win, but was hoping for a decent performance regardless of placement. (I know I’m probably preaching to the choir here.)

Trying to look for positives...His beautiful SP — the judges scores with one quad shows what he can achieve when he delivers, and validate what we all love about Misha’s skating. His comment afterwards, that he never thought about stopping and regretted not going for the second quad, shows his fighting mindset, that he’s going to continue to work hard for the rest of the season and not give up. His hand isn’t broken. The heartwarming support for Misha after both his SP and his FS, the recognition of his talent and brilliant qualities, on GS (well, with the predictable exception of one unpleasant poster).

The fact that he decided to put in the three quads including the sal means he and his team had enough confidence with how he’s been practicing since his recovery that they believed it was worth the risk. Knowing his competition nerves though, I wish they’d decided to play it safer, especially after he got the draw. There really wasn’t a whole lot of time once he started practicing again. I really hope more mileage and more muscle memory with the layout is mostly what he needs.

I wonder whether his spot on the world team is secure, or whether that’s still TBD with a skate off.

If he really wanted to he could have avoided hearing it, he somehow had managed it before? And it's not just that he heard it but that it affected him so much. We may have hoped for a decent performance regardless of placement but I don't think Misha did. Not after the SP anyway. His reaction after the SP was telling, he was waiting with bated breath willing the score to be high, it clearly wasn't someone who only cared about a good performance. And this was what hurt him. Physically too. You can't really blame him for wanting to win a major competition, you can, I guess not blame him, but hope he learns that this approach is not one that is workable.

 

[vorravorra]

Lazukin was the first alternate to Europeans, so I imagine he would be the first choice. But neither he nor Aliev has shown they can deliver in competition any more effectively than Kovtun and Kolyada this season. I would understand the reasoning behind sending Voronov, but only if he is fully recovered and beats the two of them at Russia Cup Final.

The whole thing just feels like a needless and potentially harmful exercise in humiliation. I know TAT is just speaking her mind in the moment as a commentator, but she shouldn’t have planted the idea of a skate-off in people’s heads.

Seriously, Lazukin to Worlds? Who is as inconsistent as anyone with a low international scoring potential and has never been to a major competition? What's the point? Aliev if he suddenly revives himself but that seems unlikely this season. He somehow appears to be the most drained of all the Olympians from those cursed Games.

 

[SnowWhite]

Seriously, Lazukin to Worlds? Who is as inconsistent as anyone with a low international scoring potential and has never been to a major competition? What's the point? Aliev if he suddenly revives himself but that seems unlikely this season. He somehow appears to be the most drained of all the Olympians from those cursed Games.

Wasn't he injured most of the Olympic season? That would probably make the whole thing more draining.

I don't really think the men need a skate off, but it seems they may have one for the ladies, so they might decide to do both.

 

[Heleng]

If he really wanted to he could have avoided hearing it, he somehow had managed it before? And it's not just that he heard it but that it affected him so much. We may have hoped for a decent performance regardless of placement but I don't think Misha did. Not after the SP anyway. His reaction after the SP was telling, he was waiting with bated breath willing the score to be high, it clearly wasn't someone who only cared about a good performance. And this was what hurt him. Physically too. You can't really blame him for wanting to win a major competition, you can, I guess not blame him, but hope he learns that this approach is not one that is workable.

I wholeheartedly agreed that focusing on winning is not a positive mindset. I do think he knew that and had every intention of not having that mindset — he said he tried not to think about his placement in the SP leading up to the FS. Elite skaters consistently say that their focus is/should be on accomplishing what they know they can do, based on their training, and not think about scores or placement. But knowing this is one thing, actually carrying it out successfully is another. It must be awfully hard, because let’s face it, competition is about results in the end. So it’s completely understandable that Misha, not having been in this position before, couldn’t successfully block out everything else except for what was within his control based on the confidence of his training. Now having been in this position, hopefully it’s something he can learn from and work on going forward.

BTW, I’m very appreciative of this forum, because otherwise I’d be stuck going crazy in my own head. We all love Misha and want what’s best for him.

 

[vorravorra]

I wholeheartedly agreed that focusing on winning is not a positive mindset. I do think he knew that and had every intention of not having that mindset — he said he tried not to think about his placement in the SP leading up to the FS. Elite skaters consistently say that their focus is/should be on accomplishing what they know they can do, based on their training, and not think about scores or placement. But knowing this is one thing, actually carrying it out successfully is another. It must be awfully hard, because let’s face it, competition is about results in the end. So it’s completely understandable that Misha, not having been in this position before, couldn’t successfully block out everything else except for what was within his control based on the confidence of his training. Now having been in this position, hopefully it’s something he can learn from and work on going forward.

BTW, I’m very appreciative of this forum, because otherwise I’d be stuck going crazy in my own head. We all love Misha and want what’s best for him.

I don't think there is something wrong with wanting to win, it's when you let it go to your head that it becomes a problem. Yes, I hope it will be a learning experience. More or less an opposite one from what the Olympics would have taught him. What not to do when you have a real chance of winning an ISU Championship.

Btw, a narrowed focus on scores - Fernandez's, his own required to beat it, what he needed to do to achieve it, and realising that he can't after the 4S, would go a long way to explain the loss of concentration that led to the freak falls and injury.

 

[coldblueeyes]

Btw, a narrowed focus on scores - Fernandez's, his own required to beat it, what he needed to do to achieve it, and realising that he can't after the 4S, would go a long way to explain the loss of concentration that led to the freak falls and injury.

I'd say he probably got panicked after the 4s because he knew it was a crucial element for his win - especially confidence-wise. But alas, botching the axels was what did him in. Between the fall and popped combos he lost somewhere between 18-20 points in those elements. But of course, extenuating circumstances with the fall and injury, then another fall later on played a big part in this. He might have gotten caught up in the implications and variables after that first fall, and it was downhill from then on. For all intents and purposes, he could have skated all his elements after the quad sal and won.