State of Russian Ladies in skating: 2014-15 Season

[AlexRus]

"State of Russian Ladies in skating: 2014-15 Season" may as well be called "State of Ladies skating: 2014-2015", LOL.

May be, but... Ice is slippery, ladies are so unpredictable.

Gold and Silver at Worlds will be between Lipnitskaia and Sotnikova.

If Worlds would start tomorrow, Gold would go to Radionova for sure.
Silver - maybe Pogorilaya, maybe Lipnitskaia.
From November to March all may change, but in unpredictable way.

 

[StitchMonkey]

I have decided what I want the podiums to be this year

GPF
1. Radionova
2. Sotnikova
3. Lipnitskaya

European
1. Tuktamysheva
2. Sotnikova
3. Leonova

Worlds
1. Lipnitskaya
2. Sotnikova
3. Pogorilaya

I'm not willing to give up on Lenova. And I really hope some Russian ego decides they like the idea of trying to get as many ladies to medal as possible, not just as many medals as possible.

Radionova I like for GPF as she can not go to European or Worlds. And I would love to see Lipnitskya move up, and she already has a gold for European, but not worlds, so I like her for world champion.

I am also a sucker for combacks so had to go with Tuktamysheva for European. Adelina already has an Olympic gold, so she gets three silvers. May not be gold, but she has a better gold anyway, so she gets more medals rather than better medals.

For nationals. I wanna see three girls from the Junior Grand Prix take first second and third.

 

[jace93]

I have decided what I want the podiums to be this year

GPF
1. Radionova
2. Sotnikova
3. Lipnitskaya

European
1. Tuktamysheva
2. Sotnikova
3. Leonova

Worlds
1. Lipnitskaya
2. Sotnikova
3. Pogorilaya

I'm not willing to give up on Lenova. And I really hope some Russian ego decides they like the idea of trying to get as many ladies to medal as possible, not just as many medals as possible.

Radionova I like for GPF as she can not go to European or Worlds. And I would love to see Lipnitskya move up, and she already has a gold for European, but not worlds, so I like her for world champion.

I am also a sucker for combacks so had to go with Tuktamysheva for European. Adelina already has an Olympic gold, so she gets three silvers. May not be gold, but she has a better gold anyway, so she gets more medals rather than better medals.

For nationals. I wanna see three girls from the Junior Grand Prix take first second and third.

RAdionova CAN compete both in europeans and world...

 

[StitchMonkey]

RAdionova CAN compete both in europeans and world...

You are right. . . I got confused due to last year.

Well I would still be happy with this outcome so I am still likening it.

 

[[email protected]]

I'm not willing to give up on Lenova.

Me neither. I like her and I lost some points betting on her at SC (fortunately was right with other predictions). Alena seems to be a nice person. She skates well and she is just different. She said she had Olympic dream. I am sure she has the will to dedicate everything to that. She showed some good promise at Nebelhorn where she won over Gracie and could be the first with a clean FP. The problem is her alleged injury. The word "luxury" is wrong but she does not have it now.

 

[[email protected]]

Pogorilaya admitted that she was nervous in Canada and had some issues with rotations. Said that she will work on confidence before CoR. http://allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=87297

 

[lefeury]

Pogorilaya will be wonderful when she can actually perform and connect.
she never once changed her facial expression or looked at the judges or audience. This is why I don't connect with her, even though she is lovely and has technical goods. I am looking forward to seeing the remaining Russian ladies this season before predicting anything.

 

[[email protected]]

At 1:37.40 she looked at the judges very skittishly http://news.sportbox.ru/Vidy_sporta...pri-Kanadi-ZHenschini-Proizvolinaya-programma

 

[hanca]

Pogorilaya will be wonderful when she can actually perform and connect.
she never once changed her facial expression or looked at the judges or audience. This is why I don't connect with her, even though she is lovely and has technical goods. I am looking forward to seeing the remaining Russian ladies this season before predicting anything.

But who did? I don't know any ladies skater who at this moment can tick all the boxes. They are either super-consistent, or delivering very high technical difficulty, or connecting with the audience, but I don't recall anyone doing all those together.

 

[Sandpiper]

I would also argue that even if Sotnikova could skip the GP and go to B level events to qualify, she will be disadvantaged at the bigger competitions due to lack of competitive experience compared to other skaters who went through the GP. Kim was an extremely special case of a skater who could show up at the biggest event with barely any prior competitive prep, and still be the favorite for gold/dominate her competition. There hasn't been another skater who could pull that off. I think that is more important to consider than whether or not Russia will let Sotnikova go the B level comp route.

Plushenko?

(That said, I do agree with your assessment of Adelina. Yuna and Plushy are on a completely different level in terms of consistency and competitive nerve. I hope Adelina has improved in that regard, but I don't expect her to suddenly be Queen Consistency).

 

[begin]

They consider Euros' results and if they wanna change one skater in the team, they use Russian Cup Final results (which is held close to world championship to see the current status of candidates).

That's interesting, thanks. So they don't weigh in Grand Prix results at all? I feel like the Finalists would at least have some advantages.

 

[Alba]

From the practice videos at CoC Julia seems to be dealing with a rather significant growth spurt, which is also understandable.

I don't know, she has new boots as well, could be for that. In the airport she looked the same to me.

 

[Ophelia]

But who did? I don't know any ladies skater who at this moment can tick all the boxes. They are either super-consistent, or delivering very high technical difficulty, or connecting with the audience, but I don't recall anyone doing all those together.

Michelle Kwan? Yuna Kim?

 

[Icey]

No one knows the future but people are quite nervous now in Moscow. The dollar hit 45 yesterday - the rumors are 50 and even 60. With so much depending on imports it means that people will start to save on expenses. A recent TV program (it is only in Russian) said that keeping a child at FS costs about 300000 rubles ($8,000) per year. This might become too big an expenditure for most parents quite soon. But those who are 8+ and show promise will be supported by the Federation. Nugumanova started to land triples at 8. The issue may be the influx of 4-8 year old kids for the years to come.

I read today that Russia spend 51 billion on the winter games (multiple times what any other country has ever spent). Seemingly something which perhaps shouldn't have been done.

 

[NaVi]

I read today that Russia spend 51 billion on the winter games (multiple times what any other country has ever spent). Seemingly something which perhaps shouldn't have been done.

It wasn't 51 billion for the Olympics... so many infrastructure projects that were going to be done and needed to be done are included in that.

 

[gravy]

It wasn't 51 billion for the Olympics... so many infrastructure projects that were going to be done and needed to be done are included in that.

Let's be honest, the OL gave the Russian government the cover they needed to embezzle the huge majority of those $51 billion.

 

[Isabel_O'Reilly]

That is a huge score; not even Adelina, Yuna, or Yulia (Team) achieved that technical score with their clean skates in Sochi.

Yulia almost cracked 41 TES in the SP at Worlds (40.85). And it's worth noting that unlike other times when her TES always goes down, this time her TES went up under closer scrutiny.

 

[Amei]

From the practice videos at CoC Julia seems to be dealing with a rather significant growth spurt, which is also understandable.

I think it has more to do with the all black practice costume making her look taller - if you go on her fan fest thread there are pictures of her at the airport and she doesn't look any taller than last season.

But I think it's been mentioned on her fan fest thread that she has swapped to different boots once or twice this off season.

 

[[email protected]]

Let's be honest, the OL gave the Russian government the cover they needed to embezzle the huge majority of those $51 billion.

I did not check the accounts and cannot say for sure. But my summer house is in Sochi. It is very clear that a lot has been built and it is functioning now. Roads are now amazing - 2 years ago driving in Sochi was a nightmare.

 

[Interspectator]

I did not check the accounts and cannot say for sure. But my summer house is in Sochi. It is very clear that a lot has been built and it is functioning now. Roads are now amazing - 2 years ago driving in Sochi was a nightmare.

Sochi is a resort area, correct?
Will the new structures and buildings still be in use over the next years?

I went to the 'old' Olympic village in Tokyo which is now being used for conventions and concerts.
Since it is in Tokyo it is always in use. I heard of some cities that hosted Olympics that lost considerable money because the facilities were left empty afterward.

On the topic of the state of the Russian ladies, I am always impressed by how technically brilliant they are-even at a young age.
Individually, I think Radionova and Julia have the most 'star quality' though their presence on the ice are complete opposites. It is always fun to watch them compete. I think there is a good chance that they will sweep the podium either at GPF or Worlds or both. -They will almost certainly do so at European Championships.