And Max Ambesi and some Italian commentators also did a podcast. I know they talk about Aliona, but I don't speak Italian, so I have no idea what they're saying.
https://www.spreaker.com/user/talk-sport/kiss-cry-reloaded-puntata-3
Anyone speak Italian and want to summarize what they said?
Well, I tried to translate the podcast. I apologize in advance: my English isn’t that good and I didn't have much time, so this is more a draft than a finished work.
I apologize for the text lenght too. I tried to summarize, but they talked A LOT about Aliona, more than half an hour
(about the technical panel)
[Ambesi - 33:34] In the ladies competition they were very strict. To be honest, the level of tolerance was similar for all, except for one. Mariah Bell was treated with kid gloves on all the pointed jumps, unlike the others.
Kostornaia's triple axel in the short was good, maybe there could be doubts about the first in the free.
...
[Ambesi] I didn't understand anything about the judgment in Grenoble. My parameters are completely different.
When I see that Aliona Kostornaia, for some judges, has weaker skating skills and transitions than Mariah Bell, then something’s wrong.
For some judges Aliona was behind Mariah in that components, for others on par. We are facing an aberration. It’s a denial of reality. It’s like claiming that the earth is flat.
There’s a limit to everything. Kostornaia is weaker in two components that have an objectivity, more than the others ... no, it’s not possible!
When I see, this is insane, the SP of Kostornaia, recycled from the past season, very nice, very refined, which proportionately is valued less than the free, which instead is still to be finished, it means that I see something quite different than the judges.
Moreover, if you give to Kostornaia’s SP the same score you gave to Trusova in Skate Canada, then we have a serious problem.
I concede that Trusova’s SP is skated mostly on one foot and that there’s something good ... but we are on another planet. There cannot be only tenths of a point of difference. It's inexplicable.
...
[Paone - 72:48] As for the ladies competition, the main theme is Aliona Kostornaia, who won clearly in Grenoble.
Have you been surprised that Kostornaia, a newcomer (at senior level), has beaten Zagitova so clearly?
[Ambesi] In short: zero.
First of all there was a precedent in the Russian championships. Kostornaia thrown away the last Russian national championship, falling in the step sequence of the SP, otherwise she would be the current Russian national champion.
It’s simple. Compare the base value of Kostornaia’s programs and the base value of Zagitova’s. If Kostornaia doesn't have a meltdown, she is unattainable for Zagitova.
The real question is: with the same programs, if they performed the same elements, who would be better between the two? My answer is: Kostornaia is better.
Not everyone agrees, someone think that Zagitova has greater artistic maturity. I respect every opinion but we must talk about facts, not fairy tales.
The real facts are that Kostornaia's programs, if skated clean, have a huge base value margin above Zagitova's. Adding the base value and the available GOEs, if they both skate clean, Zagitova is behind by 15 points to Kostornaia on the technical side. Compared to Trusova she is behind by 36 points.
[Dolfini] It hurts. It’s painful.
[Ambesi] If Kostornaia skate clean, with three triple axels, when can she lose to Zagitova?
[Dolfini] Never.
[Ambesi] End of speech.
[Dolfini] I’m not surprised. I’m admired.
It was not to be taken for granted, to win at the debut in the senior category. She showed a great character. She had some difficulties with the triple Axel in practise.
In my opinion she needed the triple Axel to beat Zagitova, in her first international competition as senior. Zagitova is the current Olympic and world champion.
If she were weak in that element, her competition would have been complicated, even if I agree that Aliona has excellent quality in the components, despite her young age. But if she lands the Axel, there’s no history.
She wasn’t event treated well by the judges and by the technical panel, because the triple Axel in the short had not left me in doubt ...
Maybe, watching it in slow motion, they have had a better point of view but a different call wouldn't have surprised me at all.
[Ambesi - 76:41] There are unwritten rules in this sport, that everyone follows.
It appears to the audience that the components scores of Kostornaia’s programs were very low. However, if we analyze the newcomer's scores, especially in the FS, none in the past has ever approached those of Kostornaia.
She got over 71 in the components of the FS, with a program that is objectively much weaker than the short.
Honestly, I would have no problem giving 38 to Kostornaia in the SP. I would have no doubts.
On the current FS I have some more doubts. Clearly her SS should be above 9, and her TR should be around 9. On the other components we can discuss but 9 points average is fair, which means at least 72 points in the FS.
I feel that, refining the FS, she can get more points. Even in the SP she can get at least 36 points in the components.
It seems to me that Kostner still has the record in the SP, like 39 points. I think that the best Kostornaia is not at all inferior (to Kostner). We will see where Aliona, who is still young, will arrive.
Surely, the components score in the SP cry for vengeance. As I finished watching her short program, I expected the world record. I expected 85 points.
[Dolfini] Instead, we didn't even get close.
[Ambesi - 78:39] She got nine points less. I think that everyone was appalled.
I know that some Kihira’s fan consider her SS superior to Kostornaia’s. Let's talk about it ... (meaning he doesn't agree)
[Dolfini] I think that in some aspects Kihira is superior to Kostornaia, but not in the SS.
I am a big fan of Kihira, who I followed for a long time, since she was in the Junior categories, when she had inconstant results. I like her SS but Kostornaia is an exceptional athlete.
All the 3A are exceptional athletes but I regret not seeing the fair difference between Kostornaia’s components and those of Trusova. I would like to see a wider gap.
There must be a difference, just as there is an abysmal difference on the technical side between Trusova and all the others.
If she (Trusova) lands her jumps, she is unapproachable, maybe even for the best Kostornaia, because she simply can’t get the necessary points.
[Ambesi - 80:18] If you add the base value and the maximum GOEs available, Kostornaia starts from 21.17 under Trusova.
[Dolfini] For me it’s amazing that we have three athletes so different that they can satisfy all preferences.
Kostornaia is technically complete. She has a beautiful triple Axel, excellent interpretative qualities, at the highest level.
Trusova is the pure jumper.
Shcherbakova is somehow in the middle. She has something less than Trusova in the jumps and something less than Kostornaia from the artistic point of view.
If these three don’t have a meltdown, it’s very difficult for everyone to get close.
Kihira is extraordinary. There are other athletes of great quality, but right now the three Russian girls are objectively above all.
[Ambesi - 81:44] There is always room for improvement. I think that Aliona’s SP is already the excellence.
Compared to last year, the change from a double Axel to a triple Axel needs a different preparation.
Something, in the preparation for the jump, was lost, because that double Axel is the textbook example of an unanimous +5 GOE.
With the change to the triple Axel you gain points but some quality is lost.
However, I think that at the end of the season the short program with the highest score in the components should be Kostornaia’s.
In the FS the game is more open, but the others don’t have the overall quality of this skater.
Not surprisingly, Kostornaia, who is one year younger than Kihira, always had higher scores at junior level.
...
[Paone - 83:17] Excluding Gleichengauz, which choreographer would you like to make a program for Aliona?
[Ambesi] I can tell who I wouldn't trust: Lori Nichol.
I'd like to see her work with Jeffrey Buttle, even with different rhythms. With Shae-Lynn Bourne too.
[Dolfini] I was thinking about Shae-Lynn Bourne too.
[Ambesi] Even David Wilson.
But it doesn’t matter, because as long as she remains there (in Eteri’s group), she will work with Daniil.
Daniil is doing a good job.
In my opinion, however, if we look at the FS of the four leading athletes of Tutberidze, the one further back is that of Kostornaia. It will certainly improve a lot in the coming times.
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Massimiliano Ambesi is a professional sportcaster on Eurosport Italy.
Angelo Dolfini is a former competitive figure skater, a figure skating coach and a technical commentator of figure skating on Eurosport Italy.
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