State of Russian Ladies in skating: 2014-15 Season

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Not with the current rules. And looking at Ovcharova who skates not impressively after she moved to Switzerland I do not think that skating for other countries is a good solution. Well, it is possible that Korea might be vengeful for Viktor An who decided to become a Russian and who won 3 golds in Sochi and will approach some of the skaters. But as it is now I cannot imagine that, say, Pogorilaya will skate for Korea.

 

[stryke]

Not with the current rules. And looking at Ovcharova who skates not impressively after she moved to Switzerland I do not think that skating for other countries is a good solution. Well, it is possible that Korea might be vengeful for Viktor An who decided to become a Russian and who won 3 golds in Sochi and will approach some of the skaters. But as it is now I cannot imagine that, say, Pogorilaya will skate for Korea.

Is one required to be a citizen of the country in order to skate for it?

 

[gravy]

Is one required to be a citizen of the country in order to skate for it?

For the Olympics, yes. For all other ISU events, no. But your own country's federation has to "release" you first.

 

[ManyCairns]

Should probably just gush in the fan threads, but all the Russian ladies are pretty remarkable. Strongly agree that, similar to the recent years for the Japanese men, it is a big shame they cannot all go to Worlds. The depth of the field is astounding.

Not exactly anything new in my comments, but had t express my admiration. Really, what amazing skaters, all of them.

 

[Amei]

Should probably just gush in the fan threads, but all the Russian ladies are pretty remarkable. Strongly agree that, similar to the recent years for the Japanese men, it is a big shame they cannot all go to Worlds. The depth of the field is astounding.

Not exactly anything new in my comments, but had t express my admiration. Really, what amazing skaters, all of them.

What's amazing is that if Adelina was doing the GP this season, we would probably be talking about 5 of the 6 GPF spots being Russian.

 

[Eclair]

after watching Yulia's Romeo and Juliet a second time I take back what I said a few weeks ago and now think that she should have stayed with the mulan theme instead. But please not the cliché disney version, but with the soundtrack of the 'real' mulan movie (especially from 0:36 on)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L8yACPSsss

It's within her range of interpretation and with a clever music cut the crowd in shanghai would have gone wild for her

 

[Scott512]

Although I am still not a big fan of Elena's skating, she is the powerhouse of this season. The only one who can challenge her now is Liza if she beefs up her tech content. Yulia and Anna are the second tier yet. Which brings to the realization that unless Anna makes a miracle in Barcelona she will be out of the team.

And if Adelina reemerges there will be huge politicking picking 2 out of 3. Anna will be left out no matter what unless they split the teams.

And next year if no one retires and everybody is healthy and we will have Sakhanovich and hopefully improved Artemyeva then Russia only GPF becomes a reality. Just looks like no competition so far. Satoko, Gracie, Polina? Well, they wiil be all in Japan. Will be interesting to see who can challenge the podium this and next year.

If Adelina reemerges and is healthy for worlds some other Russian needs to miss worlds like Ade did last year and I think we all know who that should be.

 

[starlight97]

If Adelina reemerges and is healthy for worlds some other Russian needs to miss worlds like Ade did last year and I think we all know who that should be.

If Adelina doesn't compete at Nationals while all other girls made the GPF and were succesful at Nationals imho this person should be Adelina herself.
It will be extremely unattractive politicking if one of the others will be pushed out to get her the spot (although it's likely to happen...)
Should she skate great at Nationals though, the person who skated the worst and placed the lowest should be the one that misses out.

 

[MalAssada]

samkrut, what about Medvedeva? I think her chances of her making the GPF are bigger than Artemyeva's. It would be a heck of a GPF with Yulia, Lena, Sima, Liza, Zhenia and Adelina/Anna (not sure how they will be next season).

Also, I've been meaning to ask, what do you think Proklova and Sotskova will do next season? Stay in juniors, or move to seniors?

 

[Amei]

after watching Yulia's Romeo and Juliet a second time I take back what I said a few weeks ago and now think that she should have stayed with the mulan theme instead. But please not the cliché disney version, but with the soundtrack of the 'real' mulan movie (especially from 0:36 on)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L8yACPSsss

It's within her range of interpretation and with a clever music cut the crowd in shanghai would have gone wild for her

It wasn't her decision to not go with Mulan, during the closed test skates the Russian Fed. viewed the program and said she needed to change it.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I think it's possible that only one of either Zhenia or Sima go to seniors. If one of them wins the JWC the other could stay back and take a Tim at it the following year and compete as a senior domestically via Russian Cup and Nationals.

I am certain Proklova will stay back another year or two and Maria will likely stay back at least one more year although I think while Serafima has the most potential to score competitively on Senior GP....Maria has the quality of movement to get good PCS. The whole thing is just so fun to watch. Who knows what could happen. Maria could win a JWC and make everything I just said completely wrong

 

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samkrut, what about Medvedeva? I think her chances of her making the GPF are bigger than Artemyeva's. It would be a heck of a GPF with Yulia, Lena, Sima, Liza, Zhenia and Adelina/Anna (not sure how they will be next season).

Also, I've been meaning to ask, what do you think Proklova and Sotskova will do next season? Stay in juniors, or move to seniors?

The issue is the lack of balance if they become seniors. If all of them go, there is a huge overflow. How many can enter GP series with 2 events, six? We will have more than that. At the same time, it will be empty in the junior circle with only Tsyrskaya competing with the Americans and Japanese. They will be just 16 - junior by all means.

I think it's possible that only one of either Zhenia or Sima go to seniors. If one of them wins the JWC the other could stay back and take a Tim at it the following year and compete as a senior domestically via Russian Cup and Nationals.

I am certain Proklova will stay back another year or two and Maria will likely stay back at least one more year although I think while Serafima has the most potential to score competitively on Senior GP....Maria has the quality of movement to get good PCS. The whole thing is just so fun to watch. Who knows what could happen. Maria could win a JWC and make everything I just said completely wrong

I agree with you. JWC title is nice to have in the resume while entering the senior world - Radionova has quite high pcs already. Then whoever wins JWC will go - others will stay. I presume a Russian junior will win - upsets although unlikely are still possible. Then all of them may stay another year. It is quite crowded in the seniors anyway.

 

[Scott512]

If Adelina doesn't compete at Nationals while all other girls made the GPF and were succesful at Nationals imho this person should be Adelina herself.
It will be extremely unattractive politicking if one of the others will be pushed out to get her the spot (although it's likely to happen...)
Should she skate great at Nationals though, the person who skated the worst and placed the lowest should be the one that misses out.

You may be right about nationals. And Europeans and the health of the skaters. Adelina was kept out of worlds last year after her OGM she cannot miss another worlds and if someone else gets squeezed out for her so be it. Ade got squeezed out last year due to politics from her own federation. It's too bad Russia can't post more than 3 females skaters. That would cure this problem.

 

[adelia]

I think it's looking likely Medvedeva will join the seniors next season while Sotskova and Proklova stay juniors. Tsurskaya will not be the only strong Russian girl to enter juniors, Alisa Fedichkina will turn 13 this coming February. She is quite good.

 

[[email protected]]

I think it's looking likely Medvedeva will join the seniors next season while Sotskova and Proklova stay juniors. Tsurskaya will not be the only strong Russian girl to enter juniors, Alisa Fedichkina will turn 13 this coming February. She is quite good.

Yes, she is good but so far it is very early to say that she can be competitive on the JGP level with the likes of Wakaba. Her best in Russia is 167. It is still very far from Tsyrskaya's 192 (and 187, and 180)

 

[NaVi]

How many can enter GP series with 2 events, six?

No, it's 9... and this year the US has 8 skaters performing twice and another one performing once. There will likely be 9 Russian girls who will have earned being given at least 1 spot on the Grand Prix circuit by being ranked in the top 24 or having a top 24 score from the previous year and the current crop of US skaters is not at the talent level as a group as the those 9.

I have practically zero doubt that Serafima and Evgenia will be in next years Senior Grand Prix. Sotskova is a tough call. If she's able to score over 180 in either the Grand Prix Final or Junior Worlds then I would like to see her move up... but it makes a lot of sense with the current rules for the Russian Fed to have her stay down at the junior level for another year. It would ensure that Russia is highly represented at Juniors and it would give Leonova(who has no real shot at making the Olympic team) and Artemieva(who I really like for her lovely personality, is improving, want to see another year, but will never be a real contender) a last hurrah.

Russia will be fine for Grand Prix space up to and including the 2018 Olympic season... after that either people will have to retire, sit out, or the rules will have to be changed. It would be sad if the rules forced retirements or people to sit out so I hope the Grand Prix becomes more like tennis in how it's structured.

One rule change I would make is to give the winner of the Grand Prix an individual placement at Euros/4Cont + Worlds... give the next top Euro/4Cont competitor an individual placement in those competitions, and I would like to see the winner of Euro/4Cont a individual placement at Worlds.

These changes would increase the maximum representation of a nation at Euros/4 Continents/Worlds to 5 skaters which would be enough to make them reflect reality when it comes to high level competition without one nation completely smothering out the others.

The Grand Prix need to become more like a pro league... like the NBA or the English Premiere League... while the big 3(Euros,4Cont, Worlds) needs to strike a balance between eliteness and representation.... like FIBA and the World Cup.

 

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A lot of interesting info on the topic is in the Russian qualifiers thread which is supported thanks to Alexrus. One highlight is the recent 4th stage of the Russian cup. All top 4 ladies from the JGP circle competed as seniors there. Their final standing (Sakhanovich, Medvedeva, Sotskova, Proklova), I guess, among others reflects the FED's view on their scoring power at JGPF and JWC (for the former Proklova did not qualify). Well, Sima was very good again. The other high point for me was Proklova's FP. She used to fall as I saw it before which destroyed the mood and the building up of the tension. Looking at her clean performance now I was very impressed. If she skated like that during the JGP she would have surely qualified. And I liked her firebird even better than Anna's.

So, the top Russian 14-15 year olds are in the top condition now. And the first three are ready to sweep the JGPF podium.

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...fiers-and-other-important-competitions/page19

 

[hippomoomin]

I don't even know there's a non-animated Mulan movie. But this sounds too "Oriental" (new age though) & too tragic to me; Even Zijun does not use any traditional Chinese music for her program. The Disney movie may not be a good reflection of the true story, but the music is better for Yulia's childish innocence appeal.

after watching Yulia's Romeo and Juliet a second time I take back what I said a few weeks ago and now think that she should have stayed with the mulan theme instead. But please not the cliché disney version, but with the soundtrack of the 'real' mulan movie (especially from 0:36 on)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L8yACPSsss

It's within her range of interpretation and with a clever music cut the crowd in shanghai would have gone wild for her

 

[MalAssada]

Sorenkay, I would really enjoy that rule happening. Another thing I consider is maximizing the limit to 5 skaters, but only allow the top 3 skate the FP. I have to say I like your rule better


This is how I, newbie fan currently with insomnia, would make the girls junior/senior:
2015-2016
Senior: Sima and Zhenia (competing against Yulia, Lena, Liza and Anna, considering Ade retires. I also think about Anna sitting out in order to compete for Ukraine). Possible GPF sweep.
Junior: Sasha, Maria and Tsurskaya (and Alissa! I like the girl). Providing possible sweep.

2016-2017
Senior: Maria and Sasha
Junior: Gubanova, Tsurskaya and Nugumanova. Most likely a podium sweep, if they watch out for the Japanese.

2017-2018
Senior: Tsurskaya
Junior: Gubanova, Nugumanova and who knows who else.

Ugh, even I can see this wouldn't work out By the next Olympics we would have what, 9 great senior skaters? Even if a disaster happens and only half of them are still competitive by then, that's still a lot! And Holding them in Juniors would also be a pity, seeing how they already have the potential.

We need a solution

 

[makaihime]

I don't even know there's a non-animated Mulan movie. But this sounds too "Oriental" (new age though) & too tragic to me; Even Zijun does not use any traditional Chinese music for her program. The Disney movie may not be a good reflection of the true story, but the music is better for Yulia's childish innocence appeal.

Kostner has done oriental music before but Julia's probably still too young to pull it off.