2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Tolstoj]

Yes, and from, that fact you are creating the picture fitting your narrative.

Two years ago eteri had only Alina as a senior russian lady and no Aliona, Sasha or Anna were invited to senior test skates, even that according to your logic it would make her "to look like the leading coach". I am not for such move but this blind hatred is truly annoying.

BTW I thought conspiracy theories are forbidden here...

Two years ago Eteri didn't have the reputation she has post 2018 Olympics, CSKA was still trying to pretend Sotskova was as good as Eteri's skaters if you remember scores at Nationals in 2017, while Tarasova was rooting for Konstantinova.

Also worth adding media exposure for Test Skates is a recent phenomenon, years ago it was really just about checking and audience sometimes wasn't even invited.

Last year the whole event was streamed on youtube by state media Perviy Kanal, with the arena packed with audience, press also was invited.

 

[flanker]

I'm wondering what's going on with Anna? It seems that Eteri does not see her as a serious rival to Sasha and Alena, and therefore pushed the decision to take Valieva into senior test skates.

It seems you think you know what Eteri thinks, that all based on the action done by someone completely different...

 

[dlco]

Interesting. This definitely brings the question of why Trusova didn't have the opportunity to skate in senior test-skates as well when she was a junior.

Are you aware that senior test skates take place AFTER JGP starts? Why would Trusova go there instead of JGP competitions? For what imaginary 'privilige'?

 

[Scott512]

lets not get ahead of ourselves quite yet

Looks like eteris bet on olympics is clearly valieva and not anna. Poor anna,already seen as too old

Anna has been great so far back-to-back Russian national champion going for 3-peat. Killa Kamila is on an unbeaten streak against juniors and may be better than Anna at some point but probably not now. And by the time the next Winter Olympics rolls around is anyone's guess thanks to this worldwide pandemic. I think they should do the Olympics without fans or very limited fans I certainly know hundreds of thousands of protesters allowed like some people want. I just hope the next Winter Olympics takes place but I think that's in great doubt because they don't want to have an Olympics without fans but I say the athletes are the most important aspect of the Olympics and their careers should matter.

Alina ( did everyone forget about her?) Anna and Kamila vs. Sasha Aliona and Stasya at Rusnats will be epic! Get your popcorn ready.

 

[flanker]

Two years ago Eteri didn't have the reputation she has post 2018 Olympics, CSKA was still trying to pretend Sotskova was as good as Eteri's skaters if you remember scores at Nationals in 2017, while Tarasova was rooting for Konstantinova.

Also worth adding media exposure for Test Skates is a recent phenomenon, years ago it was really just about checking and audience sometimes wasn't even invited.

Last year the whole event was streamed on youtube by state media Perviy Kanal, with the arena packed with audience, press also was invited.

Two years ago was autumn 2018, post-olympic season has started. At that time Eteri had only Alina as a senior (and Lilbet, but she doesn't represent Russia). The test skates were streamed as well as in 2019. And when, if not that time, Eteri should have the reputation she had post 2018 Olympics?

 

[Scott512]

lets not get ahead of ourselves quite yet

I don’t think Tarakanova needs any exposure, considering that she switched to roller skating. Guliakova and Sinitsina should be invited, because if I remember correctly, they are in the reserve team. Gubanova very likely won’t be invited, but one can argue that it is her fault she didn’t get to main or reserve team.

I can make a case that Gubanova should have won the Russian cup in February. She should be invited to test skates as should everyone who made Nationals last December. How many spots are allowed for test skates and Nationals? Both need to expand their rosters of skaters in the pandemic. I mean would it really be a problem if the Russian Nationals went from 18 slots to 25 for one year? Of course not. I don't get why they need to limit things the way they do and in a pandemic we know they're not going to be traveling internationally much if at all so invite more skaters.

 

[Tolstoj]

Two years ago was autumn 2018, post-olympic season has started. At that time Eteri had only Alina as a senior (and Lilbet, but she doesn't represent Russia). The test skates were streamed as well as in 2019. And when, if not that time, Eteri should have the reputation she had post 2018 Olympics?

Ah okay sorry i thought 2017 despite writing 2018 for some reason.

You're right there but see that was just after the Olympics, and she had Gold and Silver there, no need to prove anything really, she had the fresh new Olympic Champion.

This year instead with Kostornaya and Trusova with Plushenko, some may wonder if she is still the leading coach in Russia, especially if and when Alyona and Sasha start to bring results.

 

[flanker]

Ah okay sorry i thought 2017 despite writing 2018 for some reason.

You're right there but see that was just after the Olympics, and she had Gold and Silver there, no need to prove anything really, she had the fresh new Olympic Champion.

This year instead with Kostornaya and Trusova with Plushenko, some may wonder if she is still the leading coach in Russia, especially if and when Alyona and Sasha start to bring results.

And why she should prove anything now? Why, after everything her team has achieved in the last three or four seasons, there would remain anything to prove?

I see that if there are at least two explanations:
1. either it is the move because of Kamila no matter who is coaching her
2. or it is because of Eteri
people like you immediately chose the latter one

Again, I don't think it's the best move by FFKKR, but I don't think it's Eteri-centered.

 

[fabienne1996]

Isnt it unfair for kamila to go to seniortestskate? And Maria and daria are not allowed? Why ?imean i get that kamila is a olympia hopeful, but seriously it could also be one of the other 2 . I mean its still one hear at the very least if not more sincewe ditneven know if winter olympics eill take place in 2022 or not..i find it a bit unfair that kamilia gets special treatment but the other 2 dont at least it seems that way.. kamilia get more time to train her programs than the others.

Gesendet von meinem SM-T813 mit Tapatalk

 

[zounger]

Very pationate the conversation here...I think the next Russian Olympic team in ladies will consist of only 18+ skaters. So I found very premature who is the hope, who is pushed and why etc...

 

[hanca]

I can make a case that Gubanova should have won the Russian cup in February. She should be invited to test skates as should everyone who made Nationals last December. How many spots are allowed for test skates and Nationals? Both need to expand their rosters of skaters in the pandemic. I mean would it really be a problem if the Russian Nationals went from 18 slots to 25 for one year? Of course not. I don't get why they need to limit things the way they do and in a pandemic we know they're not going to be traveling internationally much if at all so invite more skaters.

You can make case for anything you want to, but the reality is that she did not win the Russian cup. It always good idea to live in reality.

There are no regulations about how many spots are allowed for test skates, they usually invite those who are on team, but one needs to consider the safety aspect. Increasing the numbers of invited skaters when there is pandemic may not be that great idea.

 

[Scott512]

.

Ah okay sorry i thought 2017 despite writing 2018 for some reason.

You're right there but see that was just after the Olympics, and she had Gold and Silver there, no need to prove anything really, she had the fresh new Olympic Champion.

This year instead with Kostornaya and Trusova with Plushenko, some may wonder if she is still the leading coach in Russia, especially if and when Alyona and Sasha start to bring results.

EG has made great skater after great skater after great skater. Plushenko should not get credit for Sasha and aliona he had greatness handed to him twice in two months. He better hit a homerun with these two girls. I want to see Plushenko take an average skater and make them a champion then I'll believe he's a great coach.

 

[dlco]

Isnt it unfair for kamila to go to seniortestskate? And Maria and daria are not allowed? Why ?

Not allowed? What makes you think they even want to go there? Are you aware that senior test skates is just a week after Junior Moscow Cup and just 5 day before Cup of Russia 1st stage? Which is in 600 miles from Moscow, by the the way.

 

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[Baron Vladimir]

What we know is that Valieva will be added in the senior test skates despite being a junior.

If you take out all the speculations on why they are doing this, at what cost, who is out if she is in, that alone is already a privilege.

Well, her scores are not 'juniorish'. It's not like Russian federation decided to do something based purely on their own mind. They just looked at Kamila's scores, courtesy of ISU and their judges and came to a very logical conclusion. It is not something they invented by themselves in order to privilege someone, it is what ISU and their judges telling them through the scoring of last year competitions. So, if you claim that Kamila is privileged by the Russian federation, you can also claim she is privileged by all those officials in the world who said through their numbers what they think about her skating. After all, she will skate at the Russian senior nationals this year, as many others at her age did before her. As they do in the rest of the world too. And my question is - if the whole world think you are a wunderkind and above your age in skills you are showing, why would someone constrain you with the 'age limits' if your skills in some circumstances, as it is a Test skate allow you to be 'above'?

 

[Scott512]

You can make case for anything you want to, but the reality is that she did not win the Russian cup. It always good idea to live in reality.

There are no regulations about how many spots are allowed for test skates, they usually invite those who are on team, but one needs to consider the safety aspect. Increasing the numbers of invited skaters when there is pandemic may not be that great idea.

True about the pandemic probably not allowing them to invite more skaters.

 

[nussnacker]

If Rusfed is betting on Kamila heavily for Olympics, it just shows they learned nothing in last 10 years.
Liza was once an olympic hope, was given exactly the same “privilege” (don’t know how much of a privilege it even is) of skating at senior test skates, while Adelina, being the same age only skated at junior test skates, and we all know how it went by the times Olympics came.

Polina was once expected to be the next Olympic Champion, Anna, Lena, Liza were all expected to make the team, and then, new seniors Alina and Maria took those spots.

And that given that Olympics would even take place, which is still a big question mark.
What if Olympic Games get postponed? Then it would be Sofia Samodelkina who would be ready to challenge all seniors with her 3A and 4S.
All in all, if it’s in order to bet on Kamila for Olympics, it seems like a rushed decision.

The simpler explanation could be that she’s sick, not feeling well and can’t make it to junior test skates, and the only other option was to still get her viewed on senior test skates.
But I’m not sure what I should believe.

 

[Tolstoj]

Well, her scores are not 'juniorish'. It's not like Russian federation decided to do something based purely on their own mind. They just looked at Kamila's scores, courtesy of ISU and their judges and came to a very logical conclusion. It is not something they invented by themselves in order to privilege someone, it is what ISU and their judges telling them through the scoring of last year competitions. So, if you claim that Kamila is privileged by the Russian federation, you can also claim she is privileged by all those officials in the world who said through their numbers what they think about her skating. After all, she will skate at the Russian senior nationals this year, as many others at her age did before her. As they do in the rest of the world too. And my question is - if the whole world think you are a wunderkind and above your age in skills you are showing, why would someone constrain you with the 'age limits' if your skills in some circumstances, as it is a Test skate allow you to be 'above'?

I agree that Valieva is strong enough to compete against the seniors today, that's not the question here.

The real challenge for all these girls is more about endurance: how many years can she last? her lutz technique already regressed this past season.

So what you'll see from Valieva this year is not indicative of what you'll see from her next year when she will actually compete in seniors.

 

[hanca]

I really don’t understand why is everyone so upset about Valieva being allowed to senior test skates. The test skates don’t really mean anything. I would understand with people being upset about her getting free pass to the nationals, but who cares when she shows her programs? One year Voronov and Radionova could not attend senior test skates, so they were allowed to show their programs at the junior test skates. No one made a big drama out of that!

I am more curious how they are going to sort out the qualification for the nationals. Recently they published that the Russian cups are the only way to qualify to the nationals this year. The problem with this is, only pairs were allowed to attend both junior and senior Russian cup events in one season. Singles had to choose, whether they want to attend junior events or senior Russian cup events; they were not allowed to attend both. Someone still could qualify and attend both senior and junior nationals, for example by having JGP event the skater qualified to junior nationals and then qualifying to JGPF or having good results at two senior Russian cup events would qualify the skater for senior nationals. But if the skater did not get JGP event, then they had to choose which nationals are more important and qualify through the Russian cups. This will cause serious problems to those who are planning to move to seniors next season (e.g. Valieva, Khromykh and Usacheva). They need to do junior Russian cup events to get to junior nationals to qualify for junior worlds, but at the same time they want to compete at senior nationals too because they want to be in top six to get to the main senior team, because of funding and assignments for the next season. So if they can’t attend both junior and senior Russian cup events, which events will they choose? What is more important, junior worlds or getting to senior national team for funding for the next season?

 

[Scott512]

sounds like RusFed is full speed ahead on the Kamila train for 2022.

Probably.

They shouldn't put too much pressure on her through expectations. It can turn very counterproductive.

No doubt. But she is growing up in a pressure cooker looking at all these older girls thrive and become great under the greatest pressure in figure skating.

Yes but Maiia and Daria are also probably going to Russian nationals, why not invite them too then? Why not invite all promising juniors that are eligible for Nats? And why not invite promising novices to junior test skates if they're eligible for local competitions as well? Besides, as already mentioned, it puts a lot of pressure on her and singles her out from others, which is not useful neither for Kamila, nor for her competitors.

I would consider inviting them as well but as other people if pointed out covid might limit invites.