Top Prospects of Russian ladies

[puremagic]

Anna Zaitseva (2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K6KinlywJM
Ivanna Ivanova (2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUGF9S4ZP8I
Maria Krasnozhenova (2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJPFYkqcy94
Anna Vedernikova (2010): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__-sQ74ytPQ

 

[puremagic]

Anastasia Lusykh (2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQg8aV9rF_I

Her reaction at the end! :agree:

 

[Shayuki]

Out of junior 1s I probably liked Shifrina the most. The skating skills really stood out against the rest of the field.

 

[Shayuki]

I feel Melkumova should probably tone down on the triples and the entries a little. I don't think any triple was better than << here, though she attempted both a salchow and a toe loop. Would hope she'll find some more height on the jumps soon enough... It'd be a shame if her skating got wasted because she cannot land her jumps.

 

[puremagic]

Sofia Vokulova (2008)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNEz0Q49i_s

Poor Ksenia Melkumova
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYn08IPSO-k

 

[puremagic]

I feel Melkumova should probably tone down on the triples and the entries a little. I don't think any triple was better than << here, though she attempted both a salchow and a toe loop. Would hope she'll find some more height on the jumps soon enough... It'd be a shame if her skating got wasted because she cannot land her jumps.

Cool stsq tho!

 

[Shayuki]

Cool stsq tho!

It really was!

Well, it's going to be interesting to see where they are planning on going with this. You would assume she can land the triples at least somewhat or she probably wouldn't be doing them... But she struggles a lot even with the doubles and she practically never actually lands a jump cleanly. It's like she can't handle the rotation speed...

edit: odd typos

 

[puremagic]

Polina Plakhotnaya (2008)
Look at her first jump, at her rotation speed. I was like :shocked:
But she needs to do something with her stoneface expression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLPhA_84Jwc

Sofia Akatieva (2007)
Incredible, amazing rotation speed, nice skating skills, but weak spins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqyYM-gxONY&

Anastasia Morozova (2007)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1MkVI6EH5I

 

[Shayuki]

Sofia Akatieva (2007)
Incredible, amazing rotation speed, nice skating skills, but weak spins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqyYM-gxONY&

Actually, about that...

https://streamable.com/xiffd

In what world does this even make sense? She's 10 years old.

She even stretches her foot down and after completing rotation it takes her 3 frames until she actually lands, and she needs 5 frames for a full rotation. So she almost could have done a quad flip if she just kept rotating the triple. Casually.

 

[puremagic]

Actually, about that...

https://streamable.com/xiffd

In what world does this even make sense? She's 10 years old.

She even stretches her foot down and after completing rotation it takes her 3 frames until she actually lands, and she needs 5 frames for a full rotation. So she almost could have done a quad flip if she just kept rotating the triple. Casually.

Wow. Indeed. So, any bets when quad will appear? I think in 1-2 years. It's really interesting when they can participate in Juniors. Would be cool to see her in the next year there, being 11 yo. But she's 2 sport category? I guess after that 1 sport category, and only after that Candidate Master of Sports.

 

[tars]

Indeed, indeed!

Not great jumps, not great skating skills, relatively old but ah, the looks, mannerisms and upper body involvement.

...and flexibility!

Polina Plakhotnaya (2008): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hkOVzXAhmw

Nice!

Some serious high-flyer! :shocked:
She doesn't know how to land those monster jumps yet, but that will come with time.

Well, that remains to be seen, of course. IMO the talent's from a different planet in comparison to Valieva. Actually, I say that even right now her SS is better than the Valieva's despite Valieva being 3 years older.

Valieva is struggling with her growth lately, but still she seems to be better promise than Melkumova.

Polina Borovskih (19.01.2011): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQMrgRa3Nb8

Obvious talent, jumps weren't there today.

Maria Khabibulina (2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGvT5C--Ins

Spiral queen.

How on earth is that sitting I-spin called?
Never seen anything like that.

Anna Zaitseva (2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K6KinlywJM

Very appealing skater, soft, elegant, Shcherbakova-like a bit, unfortunately not a jumping talent.
Respect her vocal efforts though!

Anastasia Lusykh (2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQg8aV9rF_I

Her reaction at the end! :agree:

vs this!

Out of junior 1s I probably liked Shifrina the most. The skating skills really stood out against the rest of the field.

Nice girl. Tarusina vibes minus speed or Radionova's minus sass.

 

[Shayuki]

Wow. Indeed. So, any bets when quad will appear? I think in 1-2 years. It's really interesting when they can participate in Juniors. Would be cool to see her in the next year there, being 11 yo. But she's 2 sport category? I guess after that 1 sport category, and only after that Candidate Master of Sports.

I'd expect them to appear next season already. Because if she actually goes for a power quad jump I'm sure she can rotate even faster than this and jump higher than this. She already is in danger of overrotating many of the triples - Who knows how much she's holding back in that regard.

Valieva is struggling with her growth lately, but still she seems to be much better promise than Melkumova.

Their age difference is 3 years, right?

8yo Valieva SP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBdaSmq5S-0
8yo Melkumova SP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8FY8cLT0CI

It's an interesting comparison. But do you actually see Valieva as the better skater with this 1:1 comparison? The one thing is that Melkumova's jump landings are terrible, but on the other hand the rotation speed is much better.

On skating skills - You don't actually consider Valieva's display here stronger, right?

On combos that both of them fail - Note rocker counter 3turn entry vs stalked zero entry


Of course, with her current jumps Melkumova will not do all that greatly, but if she ever actually gets them in order she'll be fantastic.

What we can also think about a little is: "How would Melkumova actually be able to land her jumps if she was just doing 1As and doubles with easy entries?"

 

[tars]

I feel Melkumova should probably tone down on the triples and the entries a little. I don't think any triple was better than << here, though she attempted both a salchow and a toe loop. Would hope she'll find some more height on the jumps soon enough...

She probably won't. Move on for your own good. :noshake:

Polina Plakhotnaya (2008)
Look at her first jump, at her rotation speed. I was like :shocked:
But she needs to do something with her stoneface expression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLPhA_84Jwc

She's my discovery of the weekend.
Fantastic jumps, raw and unleashed spring. Will keep my eye on her.

 

[tars]

Sofia Akatieva (2007)
Incredible, amazing rotation speed, nice skating skills, but weak spins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqyYM-gxONY&

She's great, music killed me though.
Congrats Sofia! Another win in December!
https://pp.userapi.com/c830208/v830208470/17bf6/4Ah9ngLItz4.jpg

Actually, about that...

https://streamable.com/xiffd

In what world does this even make sense? She's 10 years old.

She even stretches her foot down and after completing rotation it takes her 3 frames until she actually lands, and she needs 5 frames for a full rotation. So she almost could have done a quad flip if she just kept rotating the triple. Casually.

OMG. :shocked:
I sense quads...

 

[Shayuki]

She probably won't. Move on for your own good. :noshake:

Well, I just don't think that's quite correct. It's possible to increase one's jump height significantly and her entries would surely affect her jump execution as well.

I think that for a skater at this age it's much more important to have good musicality and skating skills, both being things she is excellent at. And even if she never does get passable jumps(Something we even can only judge in roughly 4 to 5 years, really), I'd much rather watch someone skating like this than stone faced good jumper number 581.

Remember the standard level for her age would be to only have 1A and double jumps.

Ah, one note here. Her rotation speed is actually very fast. So if she does gain some height, that could go a long way towards stable triples(slightly lower height with slightly faster rotation tends to be more stable).

Consideration for something such as:

Last May: http://www.sportvokrug.ru/r/competition/2755/Протокол.pdf

Over 45 points a notch above her age group, while being one of the youngest members of said age group.


It's possible that the program is planned to be far too difficult as a training method which might show dividends significantly further down the line. Well, in any case - this girl definitely is worth tracking.



EDIT: She got the only +3 GOE(by one judge) of the entire competition for the step sequence, it also was the highest GOE step sequence of the competition and the second-highest scoring step sequence after Plakhotnaya, who had lvl 3 steps instead of lvl 2. It scored higher than Akatieva's, for instance.

That IS a big deal! She's 8.

Also, only 4 skaters had a higher SS PCS mark than her even though she placed 42nd in the free and had 5 falls.

 

[Alexz]

Now, that's a skating skills. Nice hair too. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc2H0Ftn7A_/

What is the song in the background? Russian language can sound nice sometimes..

 

[LizaF]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhiADc6BrIg
found only a "live" version.

Here you can find studio version.
https://vk.com/audios-30430235

 

[Shayuki]

These will be starting tomorrow: http://www.sportvokrug.ru/competitions/3517/ http://www.sportvokrug.ru/competitions/3019/

Tomorrow they'll have the 1 sports short program, 2 sports short program and 2 juniors for the first competition and 1. juniors, 3. juniors as well as 1 sport and 2 sport short programs for the second competition.

The first competition has Ksenia Melkumova out of the ones I can recognize right away. A... slightly less of a disasterous showing is what I'm hoping for. Perhaps starting with just a 4 fall FS. And good step sequences / PCS marks.

At a glance, the second competition seems slightly more interesting overall. It has Anastasia Zinina at least, for example. It also has several ladies who did reasonably well in the competition just this past weekend. And perhaps most interestingly, there's this Sofia Lapshina who's a late 2012 birthday as the only 2012 I've ever seen in junior 3s. Just turned 5. Just being able to pass the tests to participate in junior 3s at this age - Who knows what she might do in 2 years or so. But will need to actually see to judge.

 

[puremagic]

I wonder who is this little girl near Sofia, what's her name and date of birth? Will be interesting to follow her also.

 

[Shayuki]

WHAT?! :shocked:

5 years old. I thought it was impressive that she actually could qualify for junior 3, but she didn't just qualify! She actually is very GOOD for junior 3. Both in terms of skating skills and interpretation. That's insane! Even crossovers aren't something a 5-year-old usually does properly and those levels they don't even have spins. Not to mention that... even at the lower level you extremely rarely even see girls this young, not to mention junior 3s! She's the only 2012 I've seen there all year and an October birthday to boot! Who knows where this girl will be in a year or two? Absolutely blew my mind.

And how can you not love Ksenia Melkumova? So beautiful on the ice. Just magical. Special mention to the ending pose.