Yeah, she's not going to Worlds...never was I suppose. If she went completely clean here, I think she should be at Worlds instead of the Austrian event. That would have meant she was ready to peak. Right now, it looks like she's almost there...just needs to get the combos back in and the stamina up a little. Again, it's great to see her go for all the jumps instead of popping. She just ran out of gas on the last jump and couldn't get all the way around. No biggie....just need to train a bit more, and next season should start going her way. World's doesn't really matter this year IMO (for Yulia I mean)...it's mostly Evgenia's coming out party, and she, Elena, and the Japanese ladies have this year's competition all wrapped up. The American ladies will round out the top 10. It's better anyway that Yulia is getting over her problems now in these last two seasons, instead of the next season before the 2018 Games.
I really think the switch in coaching was the best decision she could have made....and I don't say that like Eteri sucks. Even within other sports, you often hear about the phenomenon where switching away from long time coaches often garners immediate improvements. It's that shift in environment to a new challenge that brings out the best in these athletes. I think that's what is happening with Yulia here. She got all the mileage she could out of the relationship with Eteri, and simply stagnated. The same approach just wasn't going to work after all that Yulia went through post Sochi. Eteri couldn't recognize this (and that's the only gripe I have against her) but I'm happy that Yulia did. She was very brave to just leave everything behind and head out to Sochi. Even as a fan, I felt that prior to this move she seemed to not like change, and was dependent on certain figures in her life (Eteri, her Mom). Now she's moving out, making friends, training harder, getting all chatty with the press, and coming back strong. It's definitely reflecting in her skating too and it's beautiful to watch. Now two years after the fact, we can see all the silver linings of her "failure" in Sochi. It would have been a shame if she got the "controversial" win instead of Adelina, and just retired like she was thinking about doing...to the glee of many detractors (and a certain psychotic demographic of the internet underground).
As for the actual performance...everything about her skating has become so polished. She's no Mao yet, but her skating is really flowing and effortless...minus the mental battle with the jumps. The jumps she did do were much better...nice take-offs and landings...especially that loop. The flip was still a little wonky. I'm a bit iffy on the tanos. I hope they won't become a distraction for her (which I think is what kind of happened with Serafima...). Her jumps are nice enough without them, but I do understand she's looking ahead and wants to stay competitive. I like the understated costuming this time (red is definitely her color!), but it looks a bit unfinished. Overall, I'm impressed and she has that fighting spirit again. Can't wait till next season. I am also very jealous of Yulia's giant stuffed fox
