Russian Senior Test Skates 2023

[Skating91]

The less we see Valieva and Kromykh from now on, the better imo.

I thought Valieva performed really well landing all her combinations with ease only error was the the popped double axel. Jumping 3-3 combos without any strain or difficulty while almost everyone else fell on them or didn't attempt. Only trained one week out of the last three in a critical period of the season. At about 30% by her own admission. I thought she was tremendous, especially the short program this is a memorable program that no-one else in the world has the charisma to pull off.

I'm not sure about the free program, the music might need to be altered a little (I like the Rihanna part), but I've been wrong about Kamila before she will probably pull it off. Full credit to her team for experimenting though, when you take a risk it doesn't always work out but I think it will because Kamila is performing it. She clearly trained the short a lot more than the free.

 

[icewhite]

We caught up! I think I actually feel good for once about the ice dance this year in Russia. I didn’t remember Prokopetz/partner (?) but i think they can replace K/A in the niche of young and sweet.

Women were fun in the SP, with Zhilina, Gorbacheva, Petrosyan and Sinitisna showing fun programs. Not sure what's up with Muravieva so far, but fingers crosssed. The less we see Valieva and Kromykh from now on, the better imo. Really missed Frolova there based on her St. Petersburg skate. Shul'skaya also would have been lovely to see again.

Men were fun, but I loved Kondratiuk the most, I think. Mozalev was really awesome in the short, except of course jumping. Love his consistent interest in intelectually challenging programs. Aliev was a touch of a disspaointment with similar songs in both programs and mono-mood.

Pairs wise, it's Russian pairs. They are absolutely the best, always. I missed Mukhortova and Evgen'ev the most.

And, well, I feel that the JGP is starting to show very much the absence of a technicaly solid Russian team in every event. I have a feeling that even GP will also look like it's losing the drive. Russians seem to be going their own way atm. How long this can continue, I dunno.

I don't think the technical side is really missing from international competitions, except in pairs. The Asian skaters have great tech, and Malinin, but also skaters like Adam SHF for instance, absolutely do as well. In ice dance I don't see that the Russians are stronger. Quads in women are lacking, but since they were always quads in girls anyway, I really don't mind. And there are quite a few female Asian skaters with a 3A.

What I am missing actually are the programs. Some of the European skaters have some really nice programs, but apart from a few skaters they often don't have the skills or physical abilities to do amazing programs (although I enjoy someone like Arlet Levandi very much nonetheless). The Koreans and Japanese, as good as they are technically both in terms of jumps and skating skills, do mostly have very boring, repetitive, conservative programs. They aim to be perfect, but they don't aim to be innovative or different or really "entertaining". There are a couple that are different, but the huge amount of them just has packaging and programs not to my taste. And the Canadians and US skaters have way too many weepy ballad and jazzy, slow covers for my taste.

I also think the audience the skaters skate for are differing.
All in all I think that if this goes on much longer figure skating will develop in different directions in Russia/the rest of the world (although the rest of the world is hardly one).

 

[Flying Feijoa]

I don't think the technical side is really missing from international competitions, except in pairs. The Asian skaters have great tech, and Malinin, but also skaters like Adam SHF for instance, absolutely do as well. In ice dance I don't see that the Russians are stronger. Quads in women are lacking, but since they were always quads in girls anyway, I really don't mind. And there are quite a few female Asian skaters with a 3A.

What I am missing actually are the programs. Some of the European skaters have some really nice programs, but apart from a few skaters they often don't have the skills or physical abilities to do amazing programs (although I enjoy someone like Arlet Levandi very much nonetheless). The Koreans and Japanese, as good as they are technically both in terms of jumps and skating skills, do mostly have very boring, repetitive, conservative programs. They aim to be perfect, but they don't aim to be innovative or different or really "entertaining". There are a couple that are different, but the huge amount of them just has packaging and programs not to my taste. And the Canadians and US skaters have way too many weepy ballad and jazzy, slow covers for my taste.

I also think the audience the skaters skate for are differing.
All in all I think that if this goes on much longer figure skating will develop in different directions in Russia/the rest of the world (although the rest of the world is hardly one).

Yep to the tech and especially the programmes! Too many people tend to write off Russian choreography as though it's a single homogeneous style, but the internal scene is actually quite diverse.

A few lower-profile Russian choreographers I like:
Sergei Plishkin (Rubleva/Shefer dance teams, also some pairs teams)
Denis Lunin (frequent collaborator with Kirill Davydenko, has also made programmes for Selevkos)
Sergei Verbillo (my brain associates his name with Davydov?)
Ilona Protasenya (many Panova girls)
Evgeni Vlasov (seems to be Butsaeva boys' in-house choreographer currently)
Alena Samarskaya (formerly with Zhuk/Svinin, I'm not sure about her current status)
Stalwarts like Averbukh and Nikita Mikhailov have some real gems too within their large (and somewhat variable) œuvres.

ETA: also Betina Popova!

 

[AlexBreeze]

Yep to the tech and especially the programmes! Too many people tend to write off Russian choreography as though it's a single homogeneous style, but the internal scene is actually quite diverse.

A few lower-profile Russian choreographers I like:
Sergei Plishkin (Rubleva/Shefer dance teams, also some pairs teams)
Denis Lunin (frequent collaborator with Kirill Davydenko, has also made programmes for Selevkos)
Sergei Verbillo (my brain associates his name with Davydov?)
Ilona Protasenya (many Panova girls)
Evgeni Vlasov (seems to be Butsaeva boys' in-house choreographer currently)
Alena Samarskaya (formerly with Zhuk/Svinin, I'm not sure about her current status)
Stalwarts like Averbukh and Nikita Mikhailov have some real gems too within their large (and somewhat variable) œuvres.

ETA: also Betina Popova!

There are also new choreographers like Kirill Aleshin and Artem Fedorchenko. I follow Artem with interest. He helped with Lisa T's short program for this season and choreographed programs for Zinina, Rubtsova, Prineva, Rebrova, Paramonova, Rukhin.

 

[lariko]

I don't think the technical side is really missing from international competitions, except in pairs.

I specifically said JGP was noticeably technically weak this year so far. The new influx of Koreans and Chinese skaters is nice, but the Japanese are losing their depth/quality, particularly in men. American men keep pushing forward skaters with really low tech. Canadian singles are really weak in juniors too. There are some sekrit (and not so sekrit) Russians emerging throughout the junior ranks, and I am glad they do, heh, but Russians still keep the A team close to home.

Actually, in senior pairs there are finally at least some that have technical sophistication.

RID was in shambles in the last few years as far as I could see because of the corruption/nepotism stranglehold, but I feel it's finally starting to revive at least a little bit. I am looking forward to seeing what will eventually emerge from the current reshuffle and partner switcheroo.