No, Zahorski was definitely released as an exchange for a Russian skater, the FFSG representative was categoric about that being the reason for her release.
Do we know who it is?
No, Zahorski was definitely released as an exchange for a Russian skater, the FFSG representative was categoric about that being the reason for her release.
Do we know who it is?
I bet the new slave of FFSG is one of the young russian ladies, no names were named, of course. But who else it can be?
You mean a singles skater? I highly doubt Russia would trade a young singles skater away... they do have a lot of depth but there is no way to tell who at that age will blossom, and on top of this the person would need to want to go to France, which just strikes me as unlikely, though not impossible.
No, Zahorski was definitely released as an exchange for a Russian skater, the FFSG representative was categoric about that being the reason for her release.
I very much doubt that was the real reason. This is just to save face, I agree with Tulosai. Tiffany will get the Russian passport in the end and therefore the French Federation would've been left with nothing, so why not release her now and get one skater and also probably their vote for Didier as President of ISU, which I suspect it's the most important thing for him anyway.
Do we know who it is?
No, my boyfriend has just asked the FFSG connection again.
She said it was the pairs skater that used to skate for France with Daria Popova.
How strange, didn't they do a international for France?
France don't have enough good couples to fill their spots. They are pushing the juniors. I doubt they think Z&G have no future since they are very good and France would've loved to have them but I doubt Guerriero would've been released and also Russia do support them more financially. I like them very much and they are my second favorite Russian team, after IZ. They skated in Russian Nationals last season, there are videos on youtube. Check their SD in particular, Paso, because it was a very good program. They deserved to be above Sinitsina&Katsalapov there. They had a higher TES also.
They're awesome. I'm not sure they're ready to podium at Nationals, though. But they definitely are competitive.
Like Alba said, watch their SD video from Nationals of the last season
Edit: and her accent in Russian is SOOOOO cute
As Alba says, no. France refused to release her for almost 4 years because she is very good. He is also very good- a former worlds junior silver and bronze medalist though he has yet to truly break through on the senior level. As a team they were 5th at Russian Nationals last year, and are potentially competitive for the third spot on Russian teams at this point- I would not say it's clear that any teams other than B/S and I/K are currently better than them in Russia, but we'll have to see more this fall to know for sure.
Either way these two do have potential, it is very exciting that she's released.
No, Zahorski was definitely released as an exchange for a Russian skater, the FFSG representative was categoric about that being the reason for her release.
i wasn't so much after why she finally has been released but I wanted to know if they could podium in Russia and get to the WC and even contend for top 10… because honestly, going through everything she has gone through, if she is not even a contender, it seems really too much pain…
Andrei Novoselov? According to his wiki and ISU they intended to but they didn't. I still don't believe he's the reason for her release though. Novoselov was about to represent Romania with his ex partner Novik in 2013, which means he already had the okay from the Russian Fed. to go. Besides, Tiffany for Novoselov? No way.
So, is he still in partnership with Esbrat?
At some point they will create & update their ISU bio, I suppose, and then we will be sure.
I don't know if they will make the podium in Russia- I haven't seen them since December, and there are five teams fighting for that third spot. But they could medal in Russia, they looked good last December, and depending on their programs and how much progress they've made they could be strong contenders for the podium. I don't think they'll make it to Worlds this year with only two spots, but next year is a definite possibility.
100% agree with all of this.
I'm not so sure, the competition in Russia is so strong, I think they will be 6 or 7 in RN this season.
The Russian's are not very fond of 'foreigners' so they will not be pushed as an all Russian team would be.
I don't know - they got very good scores when they skated in Russian Cup events, and there's been a lot of positive comments in the media from federation officials about them. General consensus is that they were held down a little at Nats last year because there was no chance for them to compete internationally that year. A lot will depend on how other teams do on the GP - if S/K have improved and get their TES minimums, I agree there would be little chance for Z/G to get much backing, but if S/K are still struggling, and depending on how S/B's injury is, they have a decent chance, especially if they can post decent scores at a senior B or challenger event.