2017-18 State of Russian Ladies skating

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I don't see why you put Liza and Polina together with other three girls in group three.

Well, it's group two - Medvedeva is beyond any groups. I think it reflects the current state of events and my view coincides with Russian Fed's decision on the main and reserve teams which are same as my group one and group two.

Frankly speaking, I could never connect with Liza's skating - just not my cup of tea. But her jump technique is pristine when she delivers and she landed 3As in competitions. That's no joke at all. When we talked about ladies power ranking 2 years ago I put her well above everybody saying that if she lands 3A in both SP and LP no one could get near her (Medvedeva was off radar screens back then). But not only did she never show 3A since then - I did not see any clean free program from Liza last season.

Polina is a different story. I was not fan of hers 2 years ago when she crashed everyone in the junior circle. The awe of her majestic delayed 3Lz was there but that was it. I preferred Alisa Fedichkina aka Kitty. But Polina's SP last season was marvelous - she reached a different skating level. And if she had not had unclear health status and JWC disaster I would have put her in group 1, no doubt. But now we shall see. As I said, group 2 girls could surprise us at test skates. That's why test skates are so important. Nothing has been decided yet but Medvedeva.

 

[tars]

Lipnitskaya has a special innate grace in her, which has "aristocratic" touch to it.
It's an amazing story, really: some girl from the middle of Ural mountains, who loves riding horses and playing with dogs in her babushka village, puts pair of skates on her legs and she transforms into some blue blood tsarevna. Even funnier is, she takes them off and she instantly becomes the same raw, straight girl as before.
Sotnikova has much of innate grace as well, just another (more feminine) type.
The rest of seniors are far behind in that category imho, there are few promissing juniors though.

 

[andromache]

Re: the presentation skills of Yulia, Elena, and Anna

They're all so different that it's difficult to compare. Yulia has always had way more polish than the others. Good posture, no flailing, executes choreography with fluidity and grace. But she has less innate star power - there's little audience engagement. Elena, OTOH, has bad posture, flailing, but man, she can work a room. She really oozes an extroverted charisma. Anna has become more polished over time, but she has so much speed and power that sometimes still comes off as rough. She's not 100% Kostner-level with her long limbs. And she's a diva - she doesn't ham it up like Elena or ignore the audience like Yulia, but she's out there with such a presence that you can't help but watch her.

All in all, they're pretty even overall. Aside from Queen Adelina, Evgenia is probably the "best" performer in that she's the most well-rounded. Plenty of polish + interacting with the audience and giving emotion.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Yulia has always had way more polish than the others. Good posture, no flailing, executes choreography with fluidity and grace. But she has less innate star power - there's little audience engagement.

My issue with Yulia has always been that there is little correlation between her movement and the music. She often will do accenting moves that don't accent anything in the piece she's skating to.

 

[andromache]

My issue with Yulia has always been that there is little correlation between her movement and the music. She often will do accenting moves that don't accent anything in the piece she's skating to.

To be fair, that's the fault of the choreographer.

(First time getting a notification with the new setting thingy - very interesting! Wish it didn't ALSO email me, but oh well.)

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Re: the presentation skills of Yulia, Elena, and Anna

They're all so different that it's difficult to compare. Yulia has always had way more polish than the others. Good posture, no flailing, executes choreography with fluidity and grace. But she has less innate star power - there's little audience engagement. .

Actually I think it speaks to her star quality. She never played to the crowd but instead for them. My personal turn off is overt and distinct acting directed at a crowd. I'm not saying she was better than any skater but I thank god for her and Gubanova who interpret a piece of music thru a combination of motion and graceful positions rather than trying to engage the crowd via some role playing actions. Obviously YMMV.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

To be fair, that's the fault of the choreographer.

I agree. I think I would like her skating a lot more under 6.0, when she wouldn't have to pack her programs with so much movement.

 

[andromache]

Actually I think it speaks to her star quality. She never played to the crowd but instead for them. My personal turn off is overt and distinct acting directed at a crowd. I'm not saying she was better than any skater but I thank god for her and Gubanova who interpret a piece of music thru a combination of motion and graceful positions rather than trying to engage the crowd via some role playing actions. Obviously YMMV.

True - she let the movements and music speak themselves. (My use of the phrase "star quality" may have been misplaced - but she lacks a distinct on-ice personal charisma, maybe?) In any case, it's a completely different style than, say, Elena or Evgenia, -and is a little closer to Maria and Anna. I appreciate both styles (one being the personality-driven/audience style and one being the music/movement style).

ETA: Generally speaking, I think the most memorable WOW programs marry both styles. In Yulia's case, her more cold, impersonal demeanor worked perfectly for Schindler's List, and so that's how the personality/audience aspect worked there.

 

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Yulia's SP last season was out of this world. With all my love to Evgenia I was spellbound watching Yulia. If she only could come back she might not win big time because with Evgenya's and Alina's tech it seems impossible now. And new juniors will be there in no time at all like Kihira and Scherbakova. But Yulia is Yulia - one of the kind star defying rationale and common sense getting under your skin straight to your heart. At least that's how it works for me.

 

[hippomoomin]

There used to be lots of discussion of Yulia not listening to/feel the music, but does exactly what the choreography told her to do, and I agree with that. It seems in the years she didn't compete that much, she became an "artist". Yulia does not have the natural musicality as Elena has. That's why her moves don't fit the highs and lows of music. If timing is slightly off, she should adjust to catch up, not follow the choreography exactly. On a positive note, Yulia showed some improvement in performance in the past two years.

Yulia's arguably most memorable piece, Schindler's List program, started and ended with pantomime. SO many pointed out Evgenia's use -a cheap way to generate fake artistry. Speaking of quite/inner quality, Satoko is a better example.

 

[RemyRose]

Main and reserve team for senior ladies announced today

Main: Zagitova, Medvedeva, Pogorilaya, Radionova, Sotskova
Reserve: Konstantinova, Leonova, Lipnitskaya, Sotnikova, Tuktamysheva, Tsurskaya

http://www.minsport.gov.ru/2017/doc/FigurKatanie_sp2017-18.pdf

 

[hippomoomin]

Leonova still in the (reserve) team? She's a good example of the Russian fed will not dump a skater that fast. Does in the reserve team mean getting 1 GP spot instead of 2?

Main and reserve team for senior ladies announced today

Main: Zagitova, Medvedeva, Pogorilaya, Radionova, Sotskova
Reserve: Konstantinova, Leonova, Lipnitskaya, Sotnikova, Tuktamysheva, Tsurskaya

http://www.minsport.gov.ru/2017/doc/FigurKatanie_sp2017-18.pdf

 

[moriel]

Leonova still in the (reserve) team? She's a good example of the Russian fed will not dump a skater that fast. Does in the reserve team mean getting 1 GP spot instead of 2?

Its more about funding, really.

 

[Imagine]

Wow...sucks for Tsurskaya...

At least Adelina and Yulia have endorsements to carry them through...

 

[Tutto]

So Stanislava is in seniors now and on the reserve team. She might get that RoC GP spot - it all depends now how she and others do at the test skates

 

[silverfoxes]

Leonova still in the (reserve) team? She's a good example of the Russian fed will not dump a skater that fast. Does in the reserve team mean getting 1 GP spot instead of 2?

Serafima might disagree with that...

Being in the reserve team has nothing to do with # of GP spots - plenty of reserve team skaters get 2.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

topic: Way off topic but why are all of my friends in Moscow posting pics of themselves in coats and scarves? Shouldn't it be warmer by now??

 

[ejnsofi]

topic: Way off topic but why are all of my friends in Moscow posting pics of themselves in coats and scarves? Shouldn't it be warmer by now??

Not necessarily Even in June temperature in Moscow can drop below 10C. I don't even live in the coldest part of Poland and my car had frozen glass in the middle of May

 

[moriel]

topic: Way off topic but why are all of my friends in Moscow posting pics of themselves in coats and scarves? Shouldn't it be warmer by now??

Should, but not really. The weather is being weird.

 

[vorravorra]

topic: Way off topic but why are all of my friends in Moscow posting pics of themselves in coats and scarves? Shouldn't it be warmer by now??

They've been having very cold weather in Moscow. May was 2.3°C cooler than normal.