2017-18 State of Russian Ladies skating

tars said:

If this is average
https://pp.userapi.com/c638831/v638831937/52348/znzmDv9jjIg.jpg
and this is average:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJe-DCSqxDk

then who among top present skaters is above average according to you?

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I don't think that's what she meant. Obviously, the picture of her at the ballet studio looks amazing; it's a question of whether or not she'll tap into her inner Sasha and really create a picture on the ice. Nice posture and line, nice easy flow across the ice. Alina looks like her team spent a lot of time teaching her to jump (her jumps are great) and not enough time on floating above the ice. If u watch her Russian senior nationals performance without the jumps, actually, it is quite average. I say "but she's only 14" is a bad excuse; look at Sasha at 14, Nugumanova at 14, Gubanova at 13, Marin at 14.....
Btw, I do not hate Alina.

Anybody knows what happens with Julia Lipniskaia? Other than the new apartment in Moscow, I know nothing. Does she still skate? I don't speak any Slavic language so I can't understand Russian interviews.

tars said:

If this is average
https://pp.userapi.com/c638831/v638831937/52348/znzmDv9jjIg.jpg
and this is average:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJe-DCSqxDk

then who among top present skaters is above average according to you?

Click to expand...

The YouTube link shows her posture and carriage is pretty average...at best.

CanadianSkaterGuy said:

Oh, but unless Anna skates cleanly, any and all victories Kaetlyn earns against her are illegitimate! :sarcasm: Kaetlyn could go clean and Anna could have errors and the talk would be "Well, Osmond only won because Pogo made errors." Although I wonder if people would similarly dismiss any win by a solid Anna over a flawed Kaetlyn.

As for undermarking of Anna as a response, well I'm sure many think Osmond is under marked too, including Osmond herself!

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Until Osmond skates clean FS with 7 triples+two 2axels, it is not relevant to compare her with the top skaters who have content. This is sport.

Lol, maybe we should rename the thread to "State of Russian Ladies skating and Kaetlyn Osmond."

Anyway, to get things (hopefully) back on track, here is an interview with Elena Radionova (translated on fsuniverse):

https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...r-switching-coaches-i-saw-that-coming.101689/

As much as I loved her relationship with Inna Goncharenko, I kind of got the feeling they were headed towards a dead end professionally as well. I don't think either is to blame (or maybe both share some blame), it just happens that the relationship is no longer working. I've heard good thing so far from Buyanova, and it sounds like Elena really is working on her gliding skills, so I'm hoping she comes back strong during the Olympic season. Would love to see her on the Olympic team!!

Osmond4gold said:

Why do contributors to the Thread ask others not to talk about Osmond, only to talk about Osmond? Perhaps Russian ladies fans are finally realizing, who their real threat is? Trying not to respond here to Lipea's post, as some have requested, to remain on topic ...but it's tough. :shock2:

Osmond fans are rarely silent, when it comes to nonsensical criticisms.

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Enough, maybe?


As for Elena...
I think it is a big deal to change coaching. It will be a nice thing for her, new motivation, new training environment. Really hope she does well this season

Seruleane said:

Lol, maybe we should rename the thread to "State of Russian Ladies skating and Kaetlyn Osmond."

Anyway, to get things (hopefully) back on track, here is an interview with Elena Radionova (translated on fsuniverse):

https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...r-switching-coaches-i-saw-that-coming.101689/

As much as I loved her relationship with Inna Goncharenko, I kind of got the feeling they were headed towards a dead end professionally as well. I don't think either is to blame (or maybe both share some blame), it just happens that the relationship is no longer working. I've heard good thing so far from Buyanova, and it sounds like Elena really is working on her gliding skills, so I'm hoping she comes back strong during the Olympic season. Would love to see her on the Olympic team!!

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I always enjoy reading the translations of Russian interviews. I like what she says when asked if she ever gets tired on skating.

No. I love skating, it's my life, how can you get tired of life?

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I'm looking forward to seeing what the veteran World and Olympic gold medalists bring this season. Will Julia return with captivating artistry? Will Adelina and Liza get their jumps consistent? How will Evgenia handle the Olympic pressure? It will be interesting to see how the season unfolds, especially given that the OGM favorite usually doesn't win.

tars said:

If this is average
https://pp.userapi.com/c638831/v638831937/52348/znzmDv9jjIg.jpg
and this is average:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJe-DCSqxDk

then who among top present skaters is above average according to you?

Click to expand...

I know that Satoko is not skating a ballet but I think she has better carriage and movement quality than Alina.

drivingmissdaisy said:

I'm looking forward to seeing what the veteran World and Olympic gold medalists bring this season. Will Julia return with captivating artistry? Will Adelina and Liza get their jumps consistent? How will Evgenia handle the Olympic pressure? It will be interesting to see how the season unfolds, especially given that the OGM favorite usually doesn't win.

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Yeah, I don't think it's in the cards for Yulia or Adelina. There's just too many other competitive girls who can make the team. Anna flops? It's okay, Elena will take her place. Elena sick? That's fine, we got Maria, Alina, etc. Sadly, Yulia and Adelina have not proved themselves to be competitive enough with this DMV line of talent in recent years regardless of how much more I like them compared to all the rest combined. Both are young enough that we could see them come back in the future, but for the Olympic year, I think the battle is over before it's even begun. I definitely am biased and 100% hope I am wrong though. At this point, I just want to see Yulia skate again. I really don't care if it's at some D-list Russian competition or the Olympics. An Adelina comeback would be especially epic if she can somehow pull off the impossible upset again. Just imagine the meltdowns! So out of the three "veterans" (they're all still so young it's kind of laughable calling them that), I think Liza actually has the best chance of making it onto the team. Of course, I don't think she will, but I think she has the best chance relative to the two Olympic champs. In some of her recent photos, she looks really in shape. If she can get back the 3A and land it consistently, I think she makes the team. I wouldn't consider myself the biggest fan of her per se, but I really want it for her because she's had like the crappiest luck out of all the Russians with puberty/injuries and what not. Adelina and Yulia were able to weather the issues and make it to the Olympics in their careers, and I want that for Liza too. I think she is too talented to have never gone to the Olympics, and it would be such a shame if she missed again.

Well, the OGM favorite has rarely been as dominant as Evgenia has been for the past 2 seasons either. It's unprecedented really. I mean, I guess you could argue for Kwan but that's a bit irrelevant as she competed under a different system. Yuna in 2010 looked just as unbeatable, so that's probably a better example. In that case she won, not without a fight from Mao, but it still looked easy. IMO, Evgenia faces an even easier field except maybe Alina, as compared to what Yuna faced in 2010. On her toughest day, she's up against Alina, Anna (assuming she doesn't throw away the competition by going into her jumps face first like at Worlds), some still rising Japanese upstarts headed by Miyahara The-World's-Most-Impressive-Jumper Satoko, and yeah that's it really. Who else is there? Ashley? Yeah...I guess, if she's still the USA #1 at that point. Maybe the Canadian ladies will luck into a podium spot again if everyone else flops again like at Worlds but don't count on it. Unless she suffers some sort of career ending injury, Evgenia is going to be in Pyeongchang (I mean, if the country is still there that is) in February and can start booking her flight right now. And if she's there, she's going to win. And yeah, people are going to say like oh look at how Yulia crumbled under the pressure when she made a run at the OGM (which seeing the aftermath of what happened, I am somewhat glad she didn't win). Well, Evgenia is going to be older than Yulia was in Sochi and much more tested on such a large stage being the reigning World Champ for the past 2 years. I don't foresee any sudden mental collapse for her in the same way. Short of breaking a leg (literally), we're just waiting for the formal coronation to happen in Pyeongchang.

So...now that I've said my piece, watch as all my carefully thought out predications are systematically proven wrong one by one. It's going to happen. Just watch. Olympics will happen lol. Calling it now:

OGM: Gracie Gold
Silver: Li Zijun
Bronze: Alena Leonova

Bluediamonds09 said:

Alina looks like her team spent a lot of time teaching her to jump (her jumps are great) and not enough time on floating above the ice.

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Because they did. Like 2 years ago Alina couldn't do toe, flip and lutz. Alina didn't have the time to focus on her SS properly. She didn't have the best posture, SS and etc ... but she won JWC from not just someone but Marin Honda herself. People always say that juniors never get high PCS, technical side seems more important at that level.

But that aside, her coaches are not blind, they know areas she's weak at. Also Daniil Gleyhengauz said Alina is going to have really complicated StSq that will show off how much she's improved over the summer.

I don't get why people so eager to judge young skaters' skills based on their previous seasons. They improve and learn so quickly.

chapis said:

I know that Satoko is not skating a ballet but I think she has better carriage and movement quality than Alina.

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I give you Satoko, but she's a lost case with her jumps.

Bluediamonds09 said:

If u watch her Russian senior nationals performance without the jumps, actually, it is quite average. I say "but she's only 14" is a bad excuse; look at Sasha at 14, Nugumanova at 14, Gubanova at 13, Marin at 14.....
Btw, I do not hate Alina.

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OK, but these are juniors/past skaters. Besides, lets talk real deal which is getting into Rus team for Olympics - who's better carriage and movement quality: Liza, Anna or Alina?

Bluediamonds09 said:

Who did? The Russian media?
Also, does this mean they're criticizing both GG's Firebird and Kaetlyn 's Swan? (I have to admit I'm not a fan of her Firebird)

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Yep, they do criticise Kaethlin's Swan comparing it to GG's Firebird. Both are little overweight to portray swan/firebird.
But it was anonymous fan, not Russian media.

As for Russian ladies Olympic team, my prediction is:
1 Med
2 Zagi
3 Elena

"Матч-ТВ",the official Rissian channel for winter Olympics will show and comment the Games from Moscow. They didn't rent the studios for broadcasters and there is a rumour that it happens because of high risk of not going to Games (not being allowed to go).

koatcue said:

"Матч-ТВ",the official Rissian channel for winter Olympics will show and comment the Games from Moscow. They didn't rent the studios for broadcasters and there is a rumour that it happens because of high risk of not going to Games (not being allowed to go).

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There are rumors "Матч-ТВ" is going to be bankrupt soon

koatcue said:

"Матч-ТВ",the official Rissian channel for winter Olympics will show and comment the Games from Moscow. They didn't rent the studios for broadcasters and there is a rumour that it happens because of high risk of not going to Games (not being allowed to go).

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That's sad. Winter sports hegemon won't send TV to the most important quadrenial sporting event. Very disappointing for fans and athletes imo. hwell:

Group photo from Novogorsk: https://pp.userapi.com/c621509/v621509397/df51/1QoTy7HsbCc.jpg

Girls fom left to right: Fedichkina, Konstantinova, Samodurova, Gubanova, Trusova, Vasilieva, Nugumanova, Panenkova, Guliakova, Tarakanova, Tarusina.

Grin said:

There are rumors "Матч-ТВ" is going to be bankrupt soon

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Might be that too. Who knows.

Grin said:

There are rumors "Матч-ТВ" is going to be bankrupt soon

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these rumors are true.

atsumiri said:

these rumors are true.

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wait, what?!! Are not they the ones we always depend on for the live streams? :shocked: :sad21: What will we do now?