2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Scott512]

Becoming????
It's been like that for a long, long, long, time.
There are just many more places (social media, youtube) for jackasses to spew their venom now.
And some even start their own websites to do it.

I was trying to be kind.

It's a sad situation that will probably only get worse.

 

[Jontor]

What a great event that was! It was messy, but very exciting.

Sasha won! And convincingly so. It was so good to see Sasha happy again after a competition. It's been a while.
It looks like she has not fully regained her 4Lutz though, hopefully that will come. She will need that to beat Anna and Alëna.

The second thing I take away from this competition is Maria Talalaykina. Her Maleficent program is just fierce. There should be a prize for best program. And this should win it.

So Sasha turns a 10 points behind to a 7 points win.
But if we take away all the bonus, they don't matter anyway at Nationals and Internationals - this is the final score

1. Trusova (4 bonus) 236.59
2. Usacheva (5 bonus) 228.20
3. Valieva (8 bonus) 225.70

So in reality, Trusova won with 8 points over Usacheva and Valieva only came 3rd.

 

[Tolstoj]

I think Valieva should go back to Exogenesis. Bolero doesn't suit her. Plus I hate Bolero. No matter what she needs a new costume. I love her short program, but I'd like a dress more similar to Evgenia's 911 program.

I don't hate Bolero, but i'd agree this program still makes me confused.

There are a lot of moves one after the other, but not much is held (except that cool spiral in the choreo sequence), and the program doesn't really build, a bit one dimensional.

Exogenesis maybe worked better for her, but it is similar to her SP so keeping that with this short, would give her 2 very similar programs on a piano music.

 

[Lechat]

Well, as for Sasha free program, today it definitely looked better that at the test skates. I called it jumping to the music a month ago and today it was actually a program. Though still average program.

I liked Kamila's Bolero, it looked much better than at the test skates and from the performance perspective it was very good skate, exactly my taste.

Sasha’s style for the free is very like plushy. When I see her skating the free, I see plushy’s vibes but she still lacks emotions.

Dasha’s R&J was breath taking. She improved so much, she deserves to be on the top three.

Kamila did a good job knowing how much pressure she had to face. Her free is the opposite of her sp. She’s a fighter.

 

[Helena b]

Trusova having her PCS anywhere near Usacheva's is ridiculous. That's all I have to say.

 

[bubblecherry]

If she did a lyrical program, people would say her team doesn’t develop her artistically. If they give her a different style of program, then it’s not her style. There’s always something some won’t like. I guess, you can’t please everyone. She’ll grow to perform it, it’s only her first actual competition.

While I agree that it’s impossible to please people, especially on the internet, there’s almost a unanimously bad impression of Kamila’s Bolero. Even the judges went from giving her some 10s in the SP to giving her some 8s in the FS. I think it’s okay to swing and miss with a program, but it’s SUCH a misfit for her, to the point where most people aren’t just going to overlook it.

 

[silveruskate]

Congratulations to Sasha.

Kamila's program looks much better than test-skates, but when you're falling on 3 jumps it isn't easy to get into the program. In my opinion Sasha's program also suit her more than any FS she has ever done before.

The judges really don't care for poor Daria. It's like they already decided the PCS before the competition started. And both Kamila and Sasha were given one less fall than they deserved. I just hope these performances today give her a chance for the next competitions now. If the judges have already made up their minds, you have to force them to change it.

 

[Vemvane]

The medal ceremony:



My internet is being fiendishly slow, so I haven't seen more than the first minute so far, but at the beginning, where the three of them are waiting, it's clear how much Kamila grew in the off season, as she used to be noticeably shorter than Daria. That's a lot of adjustment for her to be doing.

 

[Skatesocs]

The only things I have to say:

1. Valieva needs to work on her combos. There's a case to invalidate all three of hers, though it will never be done.

2. Trusova needs more work on presentation than some believe. That upper body isn't an aesthetic choice, only Daniel Grassl does it even worse among the visible skaters, and he severely limps across the ice.

 

[lariko]

If I was to pick my ‘artistic/performance’ favourite, I prefer Frolova over Usacheva. I love Frolova’s aristocratic bearing and delivery. Usacheva appears studios, squicky clean, yet mediocre to me, just like she did last year in juniors. Hence, I don’t disagree with Valieva winning by half a point.

overall though, my heart is always with the skaters who charge me with energy rather than steal it, so I hope Trusova keeps giving. I love this dynamo.

I don’t have the same uncomfortable: ‘wow, Russian judges are the best judges’ feels as yesterday

 

[Lechat]

Congratulations to Sasha.

Kamila's program looks much better than test-skates, but when you're falling on 3 jumps it isn't easy to get into the program. In my opinion Sasha's program also suit her more than any FS she has ever done before.

The judges really don't care for poor Daria. It's like they already decided the PCS before the competition started. And both Kamila and Sasha were given one less fall than they deserved. I just hope these performances today give her a chance for the next competitions now. If the judges have already made up their minds, you have to force them to change it.

well Sasha and Kamila were definitely the favorites but they also had the most difficult programs. Maybe the judges want to reward those who take risks.
if Kamila removed her first quad today maybe she would beat sasha but I prefer to see a skater falling while doing a difficult program than to take the easy way.

 

[Lzbee]

The only things I have to say:

1. Valieva needs to work on her combos. There's a case to invalidate all three of hers, though it will never be done.

2. Trusova needs more work on presentation than some believe. That upper body isn't an aesthetic choice, only Daniel Grassl does it even worse among the visible skaters, and he severely limps across the ice.

I'm curious what the arguments for invalidating Valieva's combos are?

 

[nussnacker]

While I agree that it’s impossible to please people, especially on the internet, there’s almost a unanimously bad impression of Kamila’s Bolero. Even the judges went from giving her some 10s in the SP to giving her some 8s in the FS. I think it’s okay to swing and miss with a program, but it’s SUCH a misfit for her, to the point where most people aren’t just going to overlook it.

Well, the scores went down because of her falls, which disrupted the performance. I don’t think the PCS in an unfortunate performance really reflect a true assessment of the program. I also don’t know where unanimous vote came from, unfortunately I wasn’t invited to take part in it.

 

[silveruskate]

I'm quite worried for Sasha. This is now 4 competitions in a row (I'm including test skates...maybe I shouldn't) where she hasn't landed her 4Lz while she landed her first 5 4Lzes of the 2019-20 season. Also 4 competitions in a row of missing her first jump in the FS. And 7 competitions in a row of not landing her first two jumps of the FS when she was able to do this in her first two competitions.

This tells me it is me this is a mental issue and I think it all started with the 4S. They should never have added it in. Also I wonder why Sasha's 2nd 4T is never squeaky clean after an amazing 1st one. She left Eteri and had the pandemic to deal with, but I hope Plushenko isn't ignoring these dangerous trends.

 

[lariko]

With 2+ falls, that are counted as serious mistake that disrupts the performance, the PCSs are capped according to the rules, iirc

 

[Fluture]

it’s a pity, I would like to see her skating. Her sp and free were great. If only she was not injured.

At this point, I‘ll be happy to see her skate at all again competitively...

2. Trusova needs more work on presentation than some believe. That upper body isn't an aesthetic choice, only Daniel Grassl does it even worse among the visible skaters, and he severely limps across the ice.

Oh, for sure. She‘s very stiff in her movements, which has always been my biggest issue with her skating. But I still think they made some great progress; it‘s just that the FS is filled with so much difficult TES, she barely has time to concentrate on anything else. But in the SP, I saw some good attention to detail and a nice attempt to hold her positions. It‘s not great and there‘s tons left to do but it‘s an encouraging start, IMO.

 

[Jontor]

Standings in the Russian Cup - after two events

1. Anna Frolova 28 points (will not skate again, has qualified for RusNats)
2. Anna Shcherbakova 18 points
2. Alexandra Trusova 18 points
2. Maria Talalaykina 18 points (will not skate again, will it be enough?)
5. Kamila Valieva 16 points
6. Maiia Khromykh 14 points
6. Daria Usacheva 14 points
8. Kamila Sultanmagomedova 10 points
8. Stanislava Konstantinova 10 points
8. Arina Onishchenko 10 points (will not skate again, won't qualify)

So congratulations to Anna Frolova who is our first qualifier to Russian Nationals!

 

[lopsilceci]

Congrats to Sasha, it was a well deserved win.
When she lands the quads it's just impossible not to go "Wow!", esp. the combo. Today's skate was still rough around the edges. Work needs to be done in step sequence (I liked it, the hip shimmy was cute) and spins to make sure she gets the level 4s, she could improve the emoting and performing to the music but I guess if she goes clean with the technical stuff it won't matter too much if she doesn't. Skating clean should be the priority. It doesn't look like her consistency with landing the quads has improved from last season, but we'll see.
If she skates these programs clean with the 3 quads and 3A, it will be amazing.

It was sad to see Kamila so disappointed. There were many mistakes but I actually liked her Bolero more here than at test skates. I don't like Bolero as music and particularly not as skating music but I could watch Kamila skate to anything and she can make me enjoy it. As with Sasha, once she skates this program clean I'm sure it will be awesome. I still think it has the potential to become her Olympic FS.
I don't like her costumes this season, though I hope they will change them a bit.

Daria was very good. I hope she can add a 3A soon so that she isn't held back by her tech compared to the ultra-c skaters. Performance-wise she was definitely the best here.

It was good to see Stasya without a single fall in both programs. I don't think I had ever seen her in a competition before where she didn't fall. There were a few pops but that's still better than the falls.

ETA: Anna Frolova also keeps improving. If she keeps it, she could have a Ksenia Sinitsyna last season kind of breakthough. Too bad that it's happening when there are no international competitions.

 

[Jeanie19]

I'm happy for Anna Frolova. She is a skater that does not have the wow factor, but is pleasant to watch and very consistent.

 

[Arbitrary]

Yes, I'm concerned with Sasha's 4Lz, it wasn't good enough today for points.
But she landed few great Quads throughout the day, morning, prep... And those two 4T.