Second competition spot for Russian ladies?

[The Finn]

Everything should be looked at in context. 201 is a good score for juniors. In fact it was the second best score ever. Still it was not enough for Marin to win JWC because Alina had 207. 188 might be a good score but who would care if Kihira were clean with 2 3As scoring around 200? And it is quite safe to say that Samodurova was lucky to win trailing behind Tarakanova who scored 196 just 2 weeks ago with the free score of 130 vs. Sofia's 125. Yes, they deserved to win but they were lucky unlike Trusova and Tarakanova who were dominant at their events.

I would care because 188 points should be enough for Sofia so that she would make it to the JGP final. Nowadays one doesn't make it to the final unless one has scored good scores. Good scores doesn't always give you the victory but it is something that is enough to win some events and to get on the podium in most events. Even great scores doesn't get you to the center of the podium every time, just ask Dasha. She was clearly very disappointed that she didn't win despite the great score.

 

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I would care because 188 points should be enough for Sofia so that she would make it to the JGP final. Nowadays one doesn't make it to the final unless one has scored good scores. Good scores doesn't always give you the victory but it is something that is enough to win some events and to get on the podium in most events. Even great scores doesn't get you to the center of the podium every time, just ask Dasha. She was clearly very disappointed that she didn't win despite the great score.

Frankly speaking, I don't see any relevant ground for arguing here. What we have is one hell of a junior squad which means the cutthroat competition we never saw before. Trusova 197, Tarakanova 196, Kostornaya 197, Panenkova 196, Samodurova 187 plus someone very good likely from Japan.

As for Dasha, it is either her face or her character. She always looks very depressed. She won the first time but she was crying anyway. May be she is very receptive and fragile being ambitious at the same time. And she knows that the place under the sun in the Eteri's group will not come easy to her.

 

[puremagic]

So, I'm sure in Sunya. She never struggled with her consistency, she was getting low scores because of URs and low PCS. As we see now, her jumps look more solid, no URs. The only scary thing is her SP and 3-3. It's still diffcult for her. If she will manage to do clean 3-3 combo in the short program, everything is fine.

Alena also never was a girl who loses her mind and starts to ruin everything (like Tarakanova). Before the injury she was very stable. So she should be also fine.

The main question - how good is Rika now. She got 125 points for the free program with fall on axel (almost the same score as Trusova with fall on 4S) If Rika will be clean and will skate clean the SP - she can win. But the main rival for the Russians is Nana and two South Korean girls.

For Sonya and Alena enough to beat them to get to the final.

1. Rika
2. Alena
3. Sonya
4. Nana

or

1. Rika
2. Alena
3. Nana
4. Sonya

or

1. Alena
2. Rika
3. Sonya
4. Nana

or

1. Alena
2. Rika
3. Nana
4. Sonya


Rika, Alena, Sonya in the final in all those cases.