Russian Ladies: One Spot for 2008 Worlds

[krenseby]

Next year, the Russian ladies have one World spot. To my utter horror, I have the feeling that Sokolova's going to grab it.

Nothing against her, but the younger ladies need some Worlds experience! There's Martynova and Ievleva.. (Doronina might also have potential not sure.)

Incidentally, the men are in the same situation. Plushenko will grab the one men's spot and the other men won't get to go to Worlds.

 

[amber68]

Well I have the feeling that Sokolova is going to retire. But even if she's going to "grab" the world spot, I don't see anything wrong with it as long as she proves to be the best Russian lady and has chances to make top 10 (which means that next year another lady will get to go!).
I like Martynova a lot, I think she has potential but she was given chances and no improvement.... If the younger ladies want chances, they must work harder to be better than Sokolova (which should not be that difficult, considering her present shape). It does not seem that Pissev prefers Sokolova over them.To the contrary.
As for the Russian men, I doubt that Plushenko will return, but if he does, even a sub-par Plushenko would be able to get a top 10 placement, which again will mean that two guys will go to the next Worlds. What's wrong with this?
I am sure that any Russian guy, who becomes so good to threaten Plushenko, will be given chances to get international experience.
This is the way the things went before. And it was tougher.
Plushenko himself had to compete with Urmanov, Kulik, Yags, Abt for a place in the national team. It kind of looks easier now.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

One Skater!! Sokolova or Martinova? Plushenko or Griazev?

I would prefer Vikka Volchkova and Serei Dobrin. But it aint going to happen.

Joe

 

[JonnyCoop]

Next year, the Russian ladies have one World spot. To my utter horror, I have the feeling that Sokolova's going to grab it.

Nothing against her, but the younger ladies need some Worlds experience! There's Martynova and Ievleva.. (Doronina might also have potential not sure.)

If Russia is going to go thru a period wherein they only get to send one lady a year to the Worlds for, say, the next 4 or 5 years (and I don't think, given their current situation, that that would be inconceivable), it's going to take a LONG time to get Worlds experience for most of the younger ladies....

Russia no longer has the luxury of having a huge stable of talented ladies to choose from in regards to who they send to Worlds. They're going to send whoever's having the best season. I don't see the Russian Federation as having the patience to just lean back and say, "Ah, whatever, we're in a transition year, let's just give the rookies some Worlds experience and wait a few years." If Sokolova is having a decent season (and with her you never know, given her erratic career), they'll send her. Or Martinova could catch fire and they'd send her.

Anyway, I'm not sure Worlds experience, at this particular time in figure skating, means all that much anyway, especially among the ladies. Certainly Mao Asada and Yu-Na Kim did QUITE all right this year without any.....

 

[euterpe]

The Russians have had two ladies' spots in all eight JGP events every year for the past couple of years, and have used less than half of them. If the Russian ladies aren't getting competitive experience it's because the RFSF hasn't allowed them to get it.

I'm not sure what the reason is. It could be the cost of sending skaters to competitions, but considering that most of the JGP events are in Europe, that doesn't seem to be the case. I think the RFSF won't send ladies to the JGP unless they are sure they will medal. And of course, the few they do send have little chance to medal because they don't have experience.

 

[R.D.]

one spot?! Yikes, how times change. They were once a dominant force!

 

[SeaniBu]

one spot?! Yikes, how times change. They were once a dominant force!

No doubt, and then how do you "climb back up" to being a dominate force when you only have one spot. Seems like it will take some time if they ever can get that "designation" back. But I have a feeling it will stay in Japan for awhile. - solos.

 

[seraf]

One Skater!! Sokolova or Martinova? Plushenko or Griazev?

I would prefer Vikka Volchkova and Serei Dobrin. But it aint going to happen.

Joe

If Plushenko after all don't want to go to the worlds next year I actually think that Sergei Dobrin has a great chance of the spot. Of course there's gonna be a tough competition between him, Griazev, Lutai, Klimkin (if he still is competing) and Voronov. But didn't he attempt three quads in CoR? or at least in some competition this year. If he keeps his nerves under control I think he can get the worlds spot.

Though of course my hope is that Grigoriev will get the spot , but that surely aint gonna happen.

 

[scorekeeper]

Next year, the Russian ladies have one World spot. To my utter horror, I have the feeling that Sokolova's going to grab it.

Nothing against her, but the younger ladies need some Worlds experience! There's Martynova and Ievleva.. (Doronina might also have potential not sure.)

Incidentally, the men are in the same situation. Plushenko will grab the one men's spot and the other men won't get to go to Worlds.

I'm not so sure that Sokolova has a lock on that one spot. She did poorly at Nationals, and she disappointed the Russian Federation at Euros and Worlds. If any of the current Russian ladies shows shows significant improvement over the next year, Elena might find herself watching Worlds '08 on televison. As for Plushenko, I'd be surprised if anything less than a broken leg kept him off the team.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

For those who think Russia has sunk, it is not yet that certain.

The skaters have gone from the luxury of the Soviet system to the dreaded capitalistic system. Money talks now. There's plenty of talent in Russia, but who is going to pay to develop it? How much interest is there in figure skating in Russia that a nuvo tycoon would be willing to pay for the development of a young skater? Can a peasant like Plushenko do it on his own? Are skating rinks operating in the whole of Russia? The country needs to listen to Tarrasova.

Joe