State of Russian Ladies in skating: 2014-15 Season | Page 33 | Golden Skate

State of Russian Ladies in skating: 2014-15 Season

Raising prodigies on ice: Russia’s figure-skating champion production line

Intro:
Young female Russian figure skaters are now winning international competitions while still in their teens. Sochi Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova ascended the podium when she was 17; Yulia Lipnitskaya won the gold medal in the team competition of the Olympics at the age of 15. RBTH finds out how these young stars are raised to become champions.​

Not saying that this article has anything new. Just a chance to read something in English about the Russian ladies.

via @Skate Today
 
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golden411 said:
Raising prodigies on ice: Russia’s figure-skating champion production line

Intro:
Young female Russian figure skaters are now winning international competitions while still in their teens. Sochi Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova ascended the podium when she was 17; Yulia Lipnitskaya won the gold medal in the team competition of the Olympics at the age of 15. RBTH finds out how these young stars are raised to become champions.​

Not saying that this article has anything new. Just a chance to read something in English about the Russian ladies.

via @Skate Today
Click to expand...
Thank you, Golden. As you said, nice to read something in English about the Russian ladies. I disagree that figure skating could be heading the way of gymnastics--these things always seem to come in stages--there's a 'young' quadrennial (94-98, 06-10), followed by one or two more veteran quadrennials (98-02, 02-06, 10-14). We just happened to be back in a young quadrennial at this time. And there are always men and pairs, who seem to be retiring later and later. :laugh:

But, also, I am immensely thankful to this link for a reason you probably didn't intend. I have finally figured out what "Ultra-C" means due to the related article. :shocked: Answers do come in the most unexpected places... No, I don't expect anyone to understand what I'm talking about, unless they're following the Plushenko fan fest.
 
witcher said:
ps. what does Evgenia need this event for anyway? She has had perfect season, won everything she could this year, I bet she is tired - what's the point? To accompany Polina maybe? :shrug:
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I asked myself the same question. She did indeed qualify herself for the event though so she did foresee herself attending a possibility but I still wonder did Moscow really need to send someone of her caliber? They didn't. Of everyone who qualified only Polina came close to Evgenia and she also represents Moscow so there was no real point to sending Evgenia. I guess I'm making a rant because it played against Evgenia's favor. Here she is the top Junior skater in the world and she's in fifth place with two nasty falls in her SP.
 
stryke said:
I asked myself the same question. She did indeed qualify herself for the event though so she did foresee herself attending a possibility but I still wonder did Moscow really need to send someone of her caliber? They didn't. Of everyone who qualified only Polina came close to Evgenia and she also represents Moscow so there was no real point to sending Evgenia. I guess I'm making a rant because it played against Evgenia's favor. Here she is the top Junior skater in the world and she's in fifth place with two nasty falls in her SP.
Click to expand...

It's unfortunate that Evgenia had a disappointing SP today. But, it by no means diminishes her status as the top junior skater in the world right now. Everyone including her is allowed to have "off" days once in a while. One bad skate from her doesn't make her into a terrible skater overnight. Clearly she looked tired and not ready for the competition. But, who can blame her? It's been barely a week since she competed at the junior world championships. Here's hoping that she rests as much as possible and makes an amazing debut next season as a senior lady skater! :yay:
 
I have a difficult time believe that both Anna & Tsareva would support the idea of sending her off to compete at Worlds if she were so injured that she had little hope of a good placement. They both seem to have high standards in competitions, so I am hoping that there is the chance that she can fight through this to some extent.

I also don't believe that Ashley is the only viable contender for the bronze, even if we count out Pogorilaya.
 
sabinfire said:
I also don't believe that Ashley is the only viable contender for the bronze, even if we count out Pogorilaya.
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Of course, not the only but based on the season so far Ahley and Pogo were the most likely contenders. No one knows the future but I assumed the chances before the news: Ashley-Anna-someone else as 50:30:20. Now more like Ashley vs. someone else as 70:30.
 
The sad thing here that despite all the depth of Russian ladies there is noone to substitude Anna now...
They should have included Lipnitskaia as a sub, since she was in top 6 among the senior-eligible at Russian nationals. Because in that case both Leonova and Lipnitskaia had great SP and consistently bad LP, but if Lipnitskaia would train hard for two months she would be in better shape, and imo would be able to fight for bronze.
For Anna it is too big of the risk to get more serious injury if she goes to the Worlds injured. Imo, it is a shame on her coach to do that.
 
I personally think that had Lipnitskaya been included as one of the subs after so many bad skates, she would be labelled as "Fed's favourite", which she already was when she got second place in CoC. Plus, I cannot even imagine the drama people would make if she bombed at Worlds and somehow (I don't think it is possible even if she tried, though) lost the 3 spots.

And now it is too late :drama:

I have to confess I am curious to see how Worlds will turn out, almost curious enough to wake up in the middle of the night, hopefully when I wake up in the 26th Anna will be feeling better, Lena will be fierce as ever and Liza will have had a clean SP with a 3A. It would be a sweet birthday gift from the skating gods...
 
Lipea said:
The sad thing here that despite all the depth of Russian ladies there is noone to substitude Anna now...
They should have included Lipnitskaia as a sub, since she was in top 6 among the senior-eligible at Russian nationals. Because in that case both Leonova and Lipnitskaia had great SP and consistently bad LP, but if Lipnitskaia would train hard for two months she would be in better shape, and imo would be able to fight for bronze.
For Anna it is too big of the risk to get more serious injury if she goes to the Worlds injured. Imo, it is a shame on her coach to do that.
Click to expand...

Or maybe its that knowing how deep the field is in the ladies that giving up a chance at Worlds for Anna would be worse than going out and getting more injured? I mean with the way Russian ladies are you have no guarantee that you'll make it back the following year.

Lipea said:
The sad thing here that despite all the depth of Russian ladies there is noone to substitude Anna now...
They should have included Lipnitskaia as a sub, since she was in top 6 among the senior-eligible at Russian nationals. Because in that case both Leonova and Lipnitskaia had great SP and consistently bad LP, but if Lipnitskaia would train hard for two months she would be in better shape, and imo would be able to fight for bronze.
Click to expand...

As much as I love Lipnitskaia, I think that its a good thing, her season was really rough and that FS might be a mental curse for her, plus she is re-working her jump technique - it's better for her to have more time off to work on that rather than risk her going out on the Worlds stage and bombing - A) bad for her confidence B) figure skating is a reputation sport.
 
bellflower said:
I personally think that had Lipnitskaya been included as one of the subs after so many bad skates, she would be labelled as "Fed's favourite", which she already was when she got second place in CoC. Plus, I cannot even imagine the drama people would make if she bombed at Worlds and somehow (I don't think it is possible even if she tried, though) lost the 3 spots.
Click to expand...
Why? She was fairly No. 6 excluding juniors at the Nationals. They should have considered her amazing past achievements. Instead they put injured Adelina as a sub, and Artemieva who is just not at that level. Even considering Yulia's bad first half of the season, she still got into GP final (!), wouldn't this fact alone be enough to become a sub? She was not injured, she just obviously had lack of rest and preparation time after Olympic season. Even if she performed like at TEB she would have good chances for bronze. 3 skaters for Worlds and only one sub is not at all a smart decision of the Russian FS Fed.
bellflower said:
Anna will be feeling better, Lena will be fierce as ever and Liza will have had a clean SP with a 3A. It would be a sweet birthday gift from the skating gods...
Click to expand...
The problem is that Anna cannot just get better with a problem like this. Every day of training is a risk for her. Of course, she wouldn't want to withdrew because next year her chances to go to Worlds might get very slim.
 
I wouldn't have felt confident sending Yulia into any international event after that Nationals performance. She's had issues all season long, and they seemed to grow larger over the course of the year. I think she needed a break to regroup and rebuild for next season.

Russian Fed wasn't too worried in making their selections at the time, I'm sure... they are still sending the single strongest team of ladies than any other nation, even without Pogorilaya. Liza/Elena have been the consistent top 2 this season... that third spot had always been up for debate.
 
I think it was a good thing for Julia not to have the possibility of competing at Worlds' hanging over her head - I think it was better for her to have this time off, to refocus and come back strong next season.
 
Get your championships, medals, World/Olympic Team spots, Grand Prix finals, all the glory and praise you possibly can in the next three years, because Anastasia Gubanova is coming...
I'm Lipnitskaya uber fan thinking Julia in top form can beat every single junior/senior skater in this world and universe, but this 12yo makes me really nervous.
Hurry up Julichka! :hopelessness:

Skate from today in Younger Age Nationals (13yo and younger) - 69.40 (TES 41.48)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSI0CWc2t8M :shocked:

She is 12 and 3 months.
 
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Lipea said:
The sad thing here that despite all the depth of Russian ladies there is noone to substitude Anna now...
They should have included Lipnitskaia as a sub, since she was in top 6 among the senior-eligible at Russian nationals. Because in that case both Leonova and Lipnitskaia had great SP and consistently bad LP, but if Lipnitskaia would train hard for two months she would be in better shape, and imo would be able to fight for bronze.
For Anna it is too big of the risk to get more serious injury if she goes to the Worlds injured. Imo, it is a shame on her coach to do that.
Click to expand...

Leonova did pretty well at Universade and at a recent Russian Cup event. Her FS skates/scores were not great, but not horrible either, and her SPs were great at both events so her total scores were in the 180 range. Given this I wonder if both girls were monitored and Pogorilaya was still chosen to go to Worlds? Or perhaps it was just too late to send Leonova as a sub?

I am worried for Anna but I also think it's possible that this may be similar to the Gracie Gold situation in December. IIRC, Gracie was not jumping for about a month and only resumed training full programs a week or two before Nationals, and she was totally fine at Nationals. So hopefully, Anna will be okay. I tend to think if the injury was that bad she would have withdrawn, and I also feel like Russia is one of the countries that keeps tabs on its skaters leading up to big events so I tend to think she must have been evaluated in some sense and given the OK. At least I hope so.
 
[email protected] said:
Pogo's coach Tsareva said today that the whole last month Anna was injured and resumed practice just a week ago. Looks like nothing stands between Ashley and the bronze now.

http://www.team-russia2014.ru/article/21272.html
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Oh no, Anna! :hopelessness: The only bright spot is, as others have stated, she hasn't withdrawn so it's probably not career-damaging.

Regarding your last sentence... Er, Polina? :p Bad attempt at lightening up the mood...

LRK said:
I think it was a good thing for Julia not to have the possibility of competing at Worlds' hanging over her head - I think it was better for her to have this time off, to refocus and come back strong next season.
Click to expand...
Agreed. While Yulia has a slightly higher chance of bronze than Alena (on the off chance she goes clean), it's probably kinder to Yulia herself--long-term--to not keep dragging out this season.

bellflower said:
Plus, I cannot even imagine the drama people would make if she bombed at Worlds and somehow (I don't think it is possible even if she tried, though) lost the 3 spots.
Click to expand...
That's thankfully impossible. Even if she forgets all her elements, finishes 30th in the SP, and doesn't make the LP, Russia's 3 spots are safe as long as Liza and Elena have a combined placement of 13.
 
Is it not the same type of injury Adelina got - a torn ligament of the ankle? if so it is very serious. So sorry for Anna.
BTW most comments on Russian websites say that it is a total madness to compete at Worlds with this type of injury - the consequences could be very severe.

I myself think it is very very sad that Anna is driven to risk a further (possibly career ending) injury by that crazy level of competition in Russia
 
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