Of course we don't know any of them personally. However, the presumption is based on logic and personal experience. Also IZ themselves have said last year that they quickly gelled and came together as a team whereas Nikita spoke last year in an interview about a difficult transition to American life.
Victoria Sinitsina & Nikita Katsalapov
- Thread starter sunnystars
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Of course we don't know any of them personally. However, the presumption is based on logic and personal experience. Also IZ themselves have said last year that they quickly gelled and came together as a team whereas Nikita spoke last year in an interview about a difficult transition to American life.
I felt the ganging up on S/K was unfair. While I think how the break up came out if Elena did learn at Worlds through the grape vine (although it sounds like others talking more than Nikita) that wasn't great.
At the end of the day, some common sense is necessary. People don't leave a talented partner and someone they won an Olympic medal without some pretty big reasons. Just because one person ends a relationship doesn't mean that the other person didn't give them reasons. Nikita I am sure was part of the problem too but it takes two normally for a relationship to break down.
Nikita did take the high road by IMO not going into all his reasons for leaving his partner which I appreciated about him. Trankov did this whole why he was leaving Maria which I felt was unfair and unnecessary. Oleg then did it too and I'm sorry but it made all of them look bad.
I never think going into one's dirty laundry in public is a good idea or necessary. I never think well of people who air their issues with others on social media, interviews etc.
I felt like people were treating it as someone leaving a spouse. Which it is not.
At the end of the day, some common sense is necessary. People don't leave a talented partner and someone they won an Olympic medal without some pretty big reasons. Just because one person ends a relationship doesn't mean that the other person didn't give them reasons. Nikita I am sure was part of the problem too but it takes two normally for a relationship to break down.
Nikita did take the high road by IMO not going into all his reasons for leaving his partner which I appreciated about him. Trankov did this whole why he was leaving Maria which I felt was unfair and unnecessary. Oleg then did it too and I'm sorry but it made all of them look bad.
I never think going into one's dirty laundry in public is a good idea or necessary. I never think well of people who air their issues with others on social media, interviews etc.
I felt like people were treating it as someone leaving a spouse. Which it is not.
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The timing of it played a role in it becoming this big deal as well. I/K were fantastic at the Olys, which brought them a whole lot of attention and probably a lot of new fans. Fans perhaps not aware of the rather more complex history of the pair, of their infamous inconsistency. And, yikes, there are always the shippers who DO treat dance pairs like characters from romance novels (anyone remember that crazy "V/M have a secret baby" blog? Scary.) and they probably did feel like it was like leaving a spouse, because they were overinvested in a fantasy about them. If you're invested in a certain narrative and in what you perceive I/K's relationship to be and Nikita comes and basically burns down everything you imagined, of course you get almost personally offended. It's not fair, but that's how fandom and shipping often works, sadly.
And I suspect the fact that even after winning an Oly medal he wanted to split from Elena, that he resisted all attempts from the Russian Fed to mediate between them, that he paid for the coaching expenses for a time until the Fed reluctantly accepted the decision played into the resentment even more. Because it made very clear that he felt the relationship was so beyond repair that he would rather risk his career than stay with her.
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- Feb 8, 2015
That makes me praise Elena even more. She is such a fighter. I remember in some gala before I/K split again the Russian commentator was telling how Elena went to US to train after their first split . It more sounded like a fairy tale how Elena couldn't manage to find any better partner for her in the whole world and went home to get back again with Nikita (while in fact she was invited to a casting for the prince charming hand). Elena was a lot younger without partner in new country with new language. Poor Elena if only she knew that several years later Nikita will put her again in the same situation at least in her country. I totally believed that S/K had a harder time adjusting to the new reality after second I/K split but at least that is what they have chosen. And they were the favourites the "better" one that leave their unrealable partners. And last year Marina was telling how good their were and this year she is telling the hard time they are having. Elena did not chose to be alone the first time and now again. What about Ruslan was he even told by Vika that she is leaving him ( I really dont know)?
I am so happy that nevertheless that they are again said to have less chances of progressing they are fighting chosing hard programs, working their buts out with not that famous coach of theirs, but looking for specialist, good choregraphers and showing own style. Honestly if they had 9 months to practise their dance like Nikita and Vika had I am sure that they would have better results taking in account that their programs are harder. Yes I am one of those I/Z fans that were in love with I/K and are still making videos about the second. I like Nikita I am ok that he has chosen that he can't handle Elena, I dont fancy the fact that he has left Elena twice , I dont think their time together was wasted since they were a special couple, but I don't like and understand Vika leaving Ruslan. Now both couples are not that good but I natuarally side Elena just becuase she is for me the best female ice dance performer and really a fighter. I would like both couples to progress and be each other rivals. But I don't get and agree how it is harder for S/K when they have chosen their dream partner and dream coach. For me Ruslan is the one that is having the hardest time - to be left, to be compared with Nikita and to have to cope with Elena.
I like Elena a lot. I think she is the best female dancer/performer. However, that does not mean that I can't appreciate SK. I do. I think they have some fine qualities. I didn't appreciate them last year, I thought SK did not look good and honestly wasn't sure they would recover from that disastrous season. However, they have and I do think they must have had a tougher adjustment, for the reasons mentioned above, in that Ruslan for example did not have to switch countries or even change coaches.
I do think Nikita is a better dancer, but he also has more experience than Ruslan. In time, Ruslan could develop to be just as good as Nikita. Vika, I think could be very good in time. Lena is a natural, Vika is not, but just as in any job, you can learn and Vika could develop nicely. She is obviously a lot weaker than Nikita, but she could catch up in a couple of years.
I don't know that Vika will ever be the performer Lena is, but this is a team sport and sometimes it is not so much about the individual skaters as it is about what the team looks like and how the team develops, together.
For whatever reason, IK did not work well together. They were not happy skating together. Both seem much happier now, honestly. That could translate to great things for both new teams.
I think both teams have good chances of making it to a high level. We'll just have to wait and see.
Geez. Just stop with the S/K vs I/Z comparisons. It's gone far enough. If you want to carry on discussing that, do it in the Rostelecom Cup event thread. And I'm tired of hearing about I/K because that couple is long over. If you want to rehash the same old argument about why or how they broke up, find another thread to post in.
Ok. Maybe you're right. IK is long gone. I agree. No point in discussing.
SK vs IZ comparison, well, it is hard, they are competing against each other and the comparison pops up as a natural discussion. Even in the IZ thread.
I might want to compare SK and BS after NHK. Would that be OK? What about at Russian Nationals?
I know the FanFests are supposed to be gushing threads, but I think comparisons with other teams directly competing with them can be OK.
Maybe there is a general analysis and comparison thread?
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There's a state of Russian ice dance thread in The Edge. That's the place to compare the various Russian teams:
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?57106-2015-16-State-of-Russian-Ice-Dance/page5
OK, thanks.
I do think the two GP performances so far have shown that S/K need to work on their SD a bit. They get nice PCS for it, so it seems the judges like the program (I agree, I think it's one of the stronger ones in the field when it comes to really capturing the character of the assigned dances.). But they didn't get all the levels in either GP. The waltz patterns and the step sequence seem to be a bit vulnerable at the moment? They should improve that so they don't run the risk of disadvantaging themselves in that part of the competition. Which I'm sure they'll do, just as they fixed that extended lift. And I don't like the ruffles on Nikita, they disturb his body line and just look fussy. Other than that it's a lovely program. 
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- Jan 12, 2015
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2015
I dont have any problem with comparing SKIZ & IK in this thread
S/K didnt come out of nowhere & there always be looked at through the prism of their former partnership
new Marina interview
http://fsrussia.ru/intervyu/1495-ma...ess-podgotovki-to-rezultat-dolzhen-rasti.html
google trans
S/K didnt come out of nowhere & there always be looked at through the prism of their former partnership
new Marina interview
http://fsrussia.ru/intervyu/1495-ma...ess-podgotovki-to-rezultat-dolzhen-rasti.html
google trans
At the CoR banquet:
http://cs629125.vk.me/v629125306/238e4/hGekVWITTHU.jpg
http://cs629125.vk.me/v629125306/238e4/hGekVWITTHU.jpg
Yes, I think they've done great for themselves and can be very proud of their performances! :thumbsup: The rest is not something they can control and it happens every year that skaters narrowly miss out on qualifying for the GPF. And tbh, NHK did show a bit that B/S have a sort of maturity and experience that S/K understandably lack at the moment. They need to work on their SD to get all their levels there, for one. I'm also rather glad that the NHK dance event was IMO rather overscored for all the pairs, so in the end it didn't only come down to S/K narrowly losing the tiebraker on the SD scores, B/S closed the gap in all phases.
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- Feb 19, 2015
I found another positive
not that many flights
Only have to prepare 4 the Nats
less stress & hopefully it will be less nervous than CoR. they should learn
+ To carry the burden of being team's #1 may be too hard for them now. They'll gain more experience & their time will come
also how happy I am that they train with the Shibs!:luv17: Its such motivation! I hope they learn from them every day!
not that many flights
Only have to prepare 4 the Nats
less stress & hopefully it will be less nervous than CoR. they should learn
+ To carry the burden of being team's #1 may be too hard for them now. They'll gain more experience & their time will come
also how happy I am that they train with the Shibs!:luv17: Its such motivation! I hope they learn from them every day!
Here is an interview with Nikita. Even in the badly cobbled together google translate version laugh it sounds interesting. 
http://www.sovsport.ru/gazeta/article-item/862979
As stereotypical as it sounds, failure, if you learn from what went wrong, can be a useful experience sometimes. It really seems as if the team as a whole took a good hard look at themselves after last season and decided where they wanted to go, what they needed to do to get there, what their biggest problems were etc. In hindsight the Fed did S/K a huge favour by leaving them off the team and basically telling them "you're not ready yet" last season (they could have squeezed them past M/K into third, I guess, but would it have been deserved? And with S/K not even having the SD tech minimum at that point...). So S/K had time to practice hard without distractions of competitions where they wouldn't have gotten good results anyway (and which might have discouraged and destabilized them further at a fragile and crucial time in their development) and that's why they are where they are now.
laugh it sounds interesting. http://www.sovsport.ru/gazeta/article-item/862979
As stereotypical as it sounds, failure, if you learn from what went wrong, can be a useful experience sometimes. It really seems as if the team as a whole took a good hard look at themselves after last season and decided where they wanted to go, what they needed to do to get there, what their biggest problems were etc. In hindsight the Fed did S/K a huge favour by leaving them off the team and basically telling them "you're not ready yet" last season (they could have squeezed them past M/K into third, I guess, but would it have been deserved? And with S/K not even having the SD tech minimum at that point...). So S/K had time to practice hard without distractions of competitions where they wouldn't have gotten good results anyway (and which might have discouraged and destabilized them further at a fragile and crucial time in their development) and that's why they are where they are now.
