Russian test skates 2017-2018

jkun said:

Back after a hiatus and am I going crazy or does Zagitova backload all 7 jumping passes and Evgenia is backloading 6?

I hate both of their long programs so much. What an abuse of the system.

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It is your choice to hate their long programs, and indeed heavily backloaded programs often feel really unbalanced.

But it is not an abuse of the system at all. It's really what the system encourages, and also what the flawed judging encourages (PCS does not really get affected by quality/composition of the program, although it should). For any skater whose ultimate goal is to win (and I imagine most of these skaters' are), naturally they would backload as many jumps as they can, given the scoring system.

hippomoomin said:

Thank you. Finally got a real look at Liza and Elena's costumes.

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I like Liza's first dress. I'm not sure why she continues to do the "unbuttoned shirt tied at the waist" look. It is not flattering at all.

drivingmissdaisy said:

I like Liza's first dress. I'm not sure why she continues to do the "unbuttoned shirt tied at the waist" look. It is not flattering at all.

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That's her last year's SP costume, the one she wore for the Mozart tango. Also, in the Liza fan thread, MelDee pointed out that the dress she wore for the SP here also was an old dress. We'll have to wait and see what her actual dresses will look like...

Caustica said:

It is your choice to hate their long programs, and indeed heavily backloaded programs often feel really unbalanced.

But it is not an abuse of the system at all. It's really what the system encourages, and also what the flawed judging encourages (PCS does not really get affected by quality/composition of the program, although it should). For any skater whose ultimate goal is to win (and I imagine most of these skaters' are), naturally they would backload as many jumps as they can, given the scoring system.

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That is my biggest problem with backloading. I get constructing your program to your strengths so that if you're the athletic jumper with great stamina then backload for the bonus points and if you're not then go out and skate a nicely balanced program that (probably) goes better with the music but the two are nowhere near the same level in this system. You can almost skate to an audiobook of the phonebook, backload the jumps, and so long as you're consistent, the PCS will come while the TES of a balanced program will probably not change much nor will the PCS make up that difference. It's not a matter of the artist vs the athlete trying to edge out the other's strategy it's basically futile to compete for the top if you're NOT trying to backload and that's going to get boring to watch as more skaters start using it.