2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Edwin]

Sasha has scaled back on her planned quads so that is clearly false.
I think the "all she cares about is jumps" narrative is doing her a massive disservice as a skater, because it is clearly not true. She IS improving so she obviously is working on the rest of her skating and her performance and is even playing it safer with the jumps it seems which will help her PCS and performance developing skills even more

She is growing already and probably knows she won’t be jumping all those quads once she gets hips and a bosom, so she is developing her skating in the appropriate direction.

Haven’t properly read any e-media so far, but I noticed a quote from Kostornaya saying she grew over NY break, and I assume the same goes for Trusova and Shcherbakova without loads. It could be real growth in the tubular bones in their limbs, or just their backs and joints stretching a little during the break with lighter loads and some relaxation and lounging, some extra festive food etc.

Prof Mishin himself said there isn’t much time remaining for Aleksandra to try to set those records.

It also shows to me #TeamTutberidzeForProgress does care for the health and longevity of their charges.

 

[Jontor]

Sasha has scaled back on her planned quads so that is clearly false.
I think the "all she cares about is jumps" narrative is doing her a massive disservice as a skater, because it is clearly not true. She IS improving so she obviously is working on the rest of her skating and her performance and is even playing it safer with the jumps it seems which will help her PCS and performance developing skills even more

You have some good points, but I have to say that I fully agree with CanadianSkaterGuy above. Sasha looks so much more junior-ish to me compared to Anna/Alyona. She is a powerhouse, for sure, and that's what I love about her. But I've been following these three now for three years, and I think Sasha is falling behind when it comes to her artistic skating, footwork and spins. You can see that those elements are not something she trains very often. So, in a way, I think it has been all about the jumps for a while.
These losses she had at GPF and RusNats were good though. I think that motivates her more. I hope she finds the balance with her powerful jumps and the rest of the program. Did we see that balance today? I don't think so, but I hope to see it soon.

 

[SkatingFan9]

All that ultimately matters is what the judges think, and they’re starting to reward Sasha for her improvements.

Her PCS is quickly on the rise. The difference between her and Anna’s PCS was negligible, and that’s despite a mistake.

 

[SkatingFan9]

She is growing already and probably knows she won’t be jumping all those quads once she gets hips and a bosom, so she is developing her skating in the appropriate direction.

Prof Mishin himself said there isn’t much time remaining for Aleksandra to try to set those records.

It also shows to me #TeamTutberidzeForProgress does care for the health and longevity of their charges.

Nah. Sasha is the best athlete in the sport - by far. Growing won’t impede her like it will/can with others.

 

[Edwin]

All that ultimately matters is what the judges think, and they’re starting to reward Sasha for her improvements.

Her PCS is quickly on the rise. The difference between her and Anna’s PCS was negligible, and that’s despite a mistake.

I do notice a more artistic and mature skating in Aleksandra’s SP too.
Components should rise, but perhaps she and the other Aces are now getting ‘reputation’ bonus previously given to Medvyedeva and Zagitova, and perhaps some Tutberidze bonus too.

Technically, the trio are at the highest level FS has ever seen, artistically, Kostornaya and Shcherbakova are tops too. But Trusova is on the rise and sort of at a crossroads. With the coming World Championships it will be interesting what direction she will be taken.

Can’t say I like these bonuses, rather have judges approve the skaters as they are, however difficult this is in those subjective criteria that make up a large part of PCS.

 

[Ophelia]

I feel like this is the accepted narrarive that Sasha is just a jumping bean who only cares about jumps, when it it totally isn't true. Her performance today was beautiful.

Excuse moi. This is the exact narrative that Trusova and Tutberidze have themselves been spearheadng all these years, until they realized she can't quad her way to gold. They have only themselves to blame if that narrative is working against her now.

 

[Jontor]

What I wish for Sasha tomorrow is that she skates calmly.

So far this season, it looked like she is so excited and pumped up that she almost explodes. She overcharges, I think that's been her problem. She needs a calm skate.

 

[SkatingFan9]

Excuse moi. This is the exact narrative that Trusova and Tutberidze have themselves been spearheadng all these years, until they realized she can't quad her way to gold. None of us created that narrative but they themselves.

Misconception. Sasha was never only about the jumps.

By the way, Sasha didn’t win gold at Grand Prix final and Nationals because she made very costly mistakes, while Anna and especially Aliona didn’t. Had Sasha skated clean, she would’ve won gold.

Anna and Aliona won’t always be clean, just like Sasha won’t always make mistakes. Sometimes it boils down to luck and how well someone handles the pressure (Sasha hates skating last, for instance).

 

[madmax]

Am I the only one who thinks that Trusova has better SS than Shcherbakova?

 

[SkatingFan9]

Am I the only one who thinks that Trusova has better SS than Shcherbakova?

Nope. You’re far from being the only one. Many people agree with this.

 

[Jontor]

Am I the only one who thinks that Trusova has better SS than Shcherbakova?

Yes you are

Except for SkatingFan9 of course.

 

[LenaRadiFan]

Misconception. Sasha was never only about the jumps.

By the way, Sasha didn’t win gold at Grand Prix final and Nationals because she made very costly mistakes, while Anna and especially Aliona didn’t. Had Sasha skated clean, she would’ve won gold.

Anna and Aliona won’t always be clean, just like Sasha won’t always make mistakes. Sometimes it boils down to luck and how well someone handles the pressure (Sasha hates skating last, for instance).

But again it's IF she lands the quads. Yeah, IF she lands them she's gonna win. But that's a hypothesis, the fact is she hasn't yet so it is all up in the stars.

I want Sasha to be good i really would love to see her succeed, as much as any other skater. And it's no shame to realize and admit, that highly likely while Sasha had the quad advantage, others have been working on tes as well and then Sasha realized she can't only rely on the jumps. Sasha herself said that it's her favorite element and that the trainers have to sometimes make her practice other stuff. But now it seems to me that she wants to improve from herself and that's why she is imrpoving so drastically.

 

[SkatingFan9]

Yes you are

Except for SkatingFan9 of course.

Anna has the weakest SS of the 3. That’s not a slight against Anna, by the way. Nobody is perfect. She has her own strengths and weaknesses, like everyone else.

 

[Jontor]

Anna has the weakest SS of the 3. That’s not a slight against Anna, by the way. Nobody is perfect. She has her own strengths and weaknesses, like everyone else.

:noshake:

 

[Alex65]

Am I the only one who thinks that Trusova has better SS than Shcherbakova?

My opinion is that they are roughly equal in this today. Anna gains an advantage due to her stability this season .

 

[SkatingFan9]

But again it's IF she lands the quads. Yeah, IF she lands them she's gonna win. But that's a hypothesis, the fact is she hasn't yet so it is all up in the stars.

I want Sasha to be good i really would love to see her succeed, as much as any other skater. And it's no shame to realize and admit, that highly likely while Sasha had the quad advantage, others have been working on tes as well and then Sasha realized she can't only rely on the jumps. Sasha herself said that it's her favorite element and that the trainers have to sometimes make her practice other stuff. But now it seems to me that she wants to improve from herself and that's why she is imrpoving so drastically.

Sasha isn’t a finished product. She never had any intention to not keep improving other parts of her skating and trying to become a far more complete skater. She was never only about the jumps.

Of course she needs to land them. But so does Anna. If Anna makes a mistake, Sasha has more margin for error. So far, Sasha has made more costly mistakes than the other two. It doesn’t mean that will continue. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

 

[Arbitrary]

Even with clean skates tomorrow for Sasha and Anna their marks will be just okay so Alyona may do just her usual clean.

Even having 115-120+ TES Sasha will not win against clean Alyona. Subjectiviness of PCS does the job.

 

[madmax]

Yes you are

Except for SkatingFan9 of course.

I don't know, it's that ... it seems to me that Trusova is faster, does less crossovers, has deeper edges

At this moment my personal ranking about the SS among the main Russian skaters is:

1 Kostornaia-------2 Valieva--------------------------------------------------3 Trusova----------4 Shcherbakova---------------------------------------------------------5 Tuktamisheva

(My greatest regret is for Tarakanova, such a talent which runs the risk of being lost forever :sad4

 

[LenaRadiFan]

Sasha isn’t a finished product. She never had any intention to not keep improving other parts of her skating and trying to become a far more complete skater. She was never only about the jumps.

Of course she needs to land them. But so does Anna. If Anna makes a mistake, Sasha has more margin for error. So far, Sasha has made more costly mistakes than the other two. It doesn’t mean that will continue. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

I never said she was a finished product, and of course she strives to be better, like anyone especially in sports. However, I do believe that Sasha had a certain time period where she relied mainly on the jumps and maybe practiced the other stuff harder but didn't do it fully out of her own motivation. I believe we see the major improvements now because Sasha herself, without Eteris or Daniils or Sergejs influence wants to improve the other things.

If a skater makes mistakes, he makes the margin of errors bigger for other skaters, be that skater named Anna or Sasha or Aliona or Princess Cordelia doesn't matter(now of course the 3A usually only open that margin of error for each other because hardly any skater is in their TSS league) and I agree, we will see what's gonna happen tomorrow, which makes it ever so exciting since you never know with these marvelous girls.

 

[Edwin]

Post SP press conference here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UwGTTEEkY0

Alyona, please ... Anna and Aleksandra behave so much better, Anna is always serious, even Aleksandra pays more attention than you.