Medvedeva: “I expected more from myself” | Golden Skate

Medvedeva: “I expected more from myself”

gsk8

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Country
United-States
Despite a shaky start in her routine, overnight leader Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia was able to defend (227.66) her title at the 2016-17 ISU Grand Prix Final. Japan’s Satoko Miyahara finished second (218.33) while Anna Pogorilaya of Russia won the bronze (216.47).

Medvedeva, who was the last one to skate in the long program, made a mistake on her first jumping pass, a triple flip, which was supposed to be a triple-triple combination. However, the 17-year-old recovered to land six more triple jumps, including an improvised triple flip-triple toe loop combination, in the second half of the program.

“I expected more from myself,” said the 2016 World champion. “I wanted to do more and I could have done more. The mistake was hard to overlook. It happened to me for the first time that I missed that first jump and the combination, but there is always a back-up plan. I had to move the combination to the second half and I did it well, so I’m happy about that.”

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What are your thoughts on the ladies event in Marseille?
 

friedbanana

End Turandot!
Final Flight
Joined
Feb 12, 2014
The Grand Prix Final is the most important competition of the season, because it is the only one that has the juniors and the seniors and only the best skaters," added the Russian. “I am proud to have qualified for my fourth Grand Prix Final, twice as a junior and now twice as a senior. Here, [there] are a lot of talented people you can learn from.”"

Yuri On Ice's impact?
 

Interspectator

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
I'm so impressed with her competitive mindset. The Forum is full of discussions about her programs and debate about other things regarding scores, musical choices etc. etc. which I partially agree with.
BUT, underneath it all, she's a rock-solid competitor with amazing skills and she herself is a charming, bright and lovely person.
So, Goooo Evgenia! :thumbsup:
 
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[email protected]

Medalist
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
Of course, she is not perfect - nobody is. But in the current field she is simply the best and, as people say, better than all the rest.

Anna is getting close, though. If she is perfectly clean she can break 220 and it's already Medvedeva's territory.

Satoko has a lot of qualities. Her Star wars program is impressive. But with her tiny jumps I just don't see her as the leading lady in the world. Jumps have always been the focus points of competitive figure skating. Nice lines and spins are important but you can see a lot of those in shows and galas. But you won't see a 7 triple gala program. Because it's the main physical challenge: big clean jumps. And she does not have them yet.

All other girls either cannot match Zhenya technically or inconsistent or need to work on reputation like Sotskova who was seriously lowballed during this competition.
 

Sam L

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Satoko's jumps are not the most spectacular, true, but she has great spins, choreography and presentation. I think the judging was right but I agree that Sotskova suffered on reputation. She deserved so much more.
 

TheCzar

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 30, 2013
Of course, she is not perfect - nobody is. But in the current field she is simply the best and, as people say, better than all the rest.

Anna is getting close, though. If she is perfectly clean she can break 220 and it's already Medvedeva's territory.

Satoko has a lot of qualities. Her Star wars program is impressive. But with her tiny jumps I just don't see her as the leading lady in the world. Jumps have always been the focus points of competitive figure skating. Nice lines and spins are important but you can see a lot of those in shows and galas. But you won't see a 7 triple gala program. Because it's the main physical challenge: big clean jumps. And she does not have them yet.

All other girls either cannot match Zhenya technically or inconsistent or need to work on reputation like Sotskova who was seriously lowballed during this competition.

There are many girls who can challenge Zhenya technically. Regardless of where you stand on the tano arms, Medvedeva's technical arsenal is fairly standard. Pogorilaya, Osmond, Radionova, Higuchi, Honda, Gold, Nagasu, even Kostner if all is still well- are all more than capable to produce harder technical content. Medvedeva's rise is boosted by reputation, gifted points in components and sheer consistency. Is that a bad thing- not necessarily. She's good, but she's not the second coming.

What is commendable however is how smart the team has been is developing skaters like Zhenya into IJS machines who can deliver on a points based system. Really impressive work on Tutberidze's behalf. She really should reap in all she can now before Tsurskaya's come on the scene and pulls the rugs from under her.

Just a shame because other skaters who have much more to offer get lowballed a lot. Personally, I think Anna shouldn't be that far apart from Zhenya.
 

nolangoh

Steps and Spirals enthusiast
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 15, 2015
Of course, she is not perfect - nobody is. But in the current field she is simply the best and, as people say, better than all the rest.

Anna is getting close, though. If she is perfectly clean she can break 220 and it's already Medvedeva's territory.

Satoko has a lot of qualities. Her Star wars program is impressive. But with her tiny jumps I just don't see her as the leading lady in the world. Jumps have always been the focus points of competitive figure skating. Nice lines and spins are important but you can see a lot of those in shows and galas. But you won't see a 7 triple gala program. Because it's the main physical challenge: big clean jumps. And she does not have them yet.

All other girls either cannot match Zhenya technically or inconsistent or need to work on reputation like Sotskova who was seriously lowballed during this competition.

Best at tano/arm over the head category, I agree. But that does not automatically make you the best. There are other skaters who are also good at jumps, in different aspects. Some jump far, some jump with great flow etc..

Anna might not be able to jump with her arm above her head in most of her jumps. But there are other qualities that she is better than Evgenia. Like her expression and emotional projection.

And regarding the lines and spins, and other non-jump elements. They may not be the biggest point getter, but they are still an essential part of figure skating. Because these elements can be used to enhance the music, which is the core of competitive figure skating. All the skating movements (including jumps), the music and the interpretation of the skater are supposed to create a synergy. That is the magic of figure skating.

Of course it is a sport, and I know jumps are important. But I just want to emphasise that figure skating means more than just jumps. there are spins, steps, and many other movements, like spirals that make up this sport. But it just makes me sad that all these non-jumps aspects are so overlooked and belittled, and a skater who is best at ONE major aspect of this sport is crowned the best.
 
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