Thoughts on Evgenia Medvedeva's 2018-19 Season

vorravorra · Oct 4, 2018

Charlotte 71 said:
I feel like Evgenia has nothing left to prove and if she wanted to she could just skate for herself and as a student of life at this point, but it will be interesting to see how she responds competitively this season. I love her SP, but less sure about her LP - she didn't appear to me to be finding the inspiration in it, or at least not as much as in her SP. But I wonder if seeing how Alina came out blazing at Nebelhorn is going to light that competitive fire in Evengia? Alina really surprised me with how good she looked at Nebelhorn - she seems to have worked really hard adjusting to her growth, and she looks more mature and absolutely beautiful on the ice. (Maybe I'm just relieved she wasn't wearing a tutu?) - But how is this rivalry going to play out this season, now that Alina appears to be moving into high gear - will Evgenia see what Alina is up to and find a new gear to move into as well?

I think if Zhenya's goal was to come out blazing for one more season she would have stayed with Eteri (and hoped her injury wouldn't finish her off before the season's end). Lit fires could potentially lead to the same result re: injury. I hope she and Brian use their heads, not go "OMG have to kill Alina dead" :ddevil:

Fluture · Oct 4, 2018

vorravorra said:
I think if Zhenya's goal was to come out blazing for one more season she would have stayed with Eteri (and hoped her injury wouldn't finish her off before the season's end). Lit fires could potentially lead to the same result re: injury. I hope she and Brian use their heads, not go "OMG heave to kill Alina dead" :ddevil:

Zhenya certainly is a very competitive person but she has clearly stated in her latest interview that she wants to be the best version of herself primarily. Also that her focus has shifted from: “I need this now and only this and only now“ to a different approach. She sure has goals but she knows that reaching them will take time. I‘m sure she wants to be on the podium and to be the best - she‘s an athlete after all - but I think her overall state of mind has changed a bit since the Olympics and working with Brian.

bubblecherry · Oct 4, 2018

Evgenia can do many interesting and uncommon combos. Would love to see a Loop-Loop combo, 3?-1eu-3F and/or a 3-3-3 combo in her programs in the future. Of course, only when she's completely ready for that.

https://youtu.be/ZG2k5RuQo68

https://youtu.be/wDsQdo-7chM

tomc100 · Oct 4, 2018

Imagine said:
Um, no it isn’t. At the very least, Kim Yuna is ahead of her.

Not even close. Michelle Kwan won 5 Worlds Championships, 2 consecutive. The only one to beat her record is Carol Heiss who won 5 consecutive World Championships.

narcissa · Oct 4, 2018

tomc100 said:
Not even close. Michelle Kwan won 5 Worlds Championships, 2 consecutive. The only one to beat her record is Carol Heiss who won 5 consecutive World Championships.

As if that is the one true measure of a GOAT :rolleye:

el henry · Oct 4, 2018

I don’t care about Michelle Kwan, Yuna Kim or anyone else.:disapp:

Can we get back to Zhenya?

Thank you.

TGee · Oct 4, 2018

tomc100 said:
Not even close. Michelle Kwan won 5 Worlds Championships, 2 consecutive. The only one to beat her record is Carol Heiss who won 5 consecutive World Championships.

Uhm, this is a thread for thoughts about Evgenia Medvedeva's season.

If you'd like to debate about about who is the GOAT in the women's event, please move that to a thread on that topic.

drivingmissdaisy · Oct 4, 2018

Before anyone dismisses Evgenia as being in the twilight of her career because of up-and-coming skaters doing more difficulty, lets remember that at the 2002 Skate America event two women (Nelidina and Nakano) landed ratified 3A's. Some of thought that would become the new normal, and yet at the following Olympics a woman didn't even need a 3-3 in either program, or a 7 triple LP, to win. She has survived her growth spurt with her jumps intact, so Evgenia will be a factor at every event.

moriel · Oct 4, 2018

drivingmissdaisy said:
Before anyone dismisses Evgenia as being in the twilight of her career because of up-and-coming skaters doing more difficulty, lets remember that at the 2002 Skate America event two women (Nelidina and Nakano) landed ratified 3A's. Some of thought that would become the new normal, and yet at the following Olympics a woman didn't even need a 3-3 in either program, or a 7 triple LP, to win. She has survived her growth spurt with her jumps intact, so Evgenia will be a factor at every event.

I would say that the situation currently is rather different.
In short, both skaters you mentioned literally could do nothing except a 3A, based on their results. Current girls have TES higher than Zhenya's even if they fall on their quads.

charlotte14 · Oct 4, 2018

vorravorra said:
I think if Zhenya's goal was to come out blazing for one more season she would have stayed with Eteri (and hoped her injury wouldn't finish her off before the season's end). Lit fires could potentially lead to the same result re: injury. I hope she and Brian use their heads, not go "OMG have to kill Alina dead" :ddevil:

You know staying with Eteri does not help anything as the juniors will come next season. Even Alina will be in danger. Please people... Alina is not Zhenia's main rival for the next 4 years. There will be an army.

FreyaZz · Oct 5, 2018

charlotte14 said:
You know staying with Eteri does not help anything as the juniors will come next season. Even Alina will be in danger. Please people... Alina is not Zhenia's main rival for the next 4 years. There will be an army.

Eteri did say it's a factory, they are all coming starting from Zhenya's domination, now Alina's, next two years you know who.. Well, at least Zhenya was the first.

moriel · Oct 5, 2018

FreyaZz said:
Eteri did say it's a factory, they are all coming starting from Zhenya's domination, now Alina's, next two years you know who.. Well, at least Zhenya was the first.

yep, Eteri clearly has a different approach, similar to russian rythmic gymnastics, which is not focusing on most medals for each student, but most medals for the country.

Charlotte 71 · Oct 5, 2018

vorravorra said:
I think if Zhenya's goal was to come out blazing for one more season she would have stayed with Eteri (and hoped her injury wouldn't finish her off before the season's end). Lit fires could potentially lead to the same result re: injury. I hope she and Brian use their heads, not go "OMG have to kill Alina dead" :ddevil:

I too hope that she will avoid injury and think it is smart to play a long game. I was thinking more in terms of the level of inspiration being stepped up as these two great champions see each other from a distance and each assesses what the other is doing. Over the summer maybe there was a sense that Alina was struggling with growth and maturity, Zhenya was in a new place and reinventing herself, and both of them would be in transition this season. Then Alina shows a dazzling, powerful vision of her mature self at Nebelhorn, seeming to disrupt any preconceptions of what "maturity" means, and showing great promise that she can buck the trend of what usually happens to teen stars as they mature in this sport. Maybe Zhenya sees that and it energizes her. S'all I'm sayin' - I don't want anybody killed dead. I want to see them both rise magnificently above our - and their own - expectations!

Erin9 · Oct 5, 2018

moriel said:
yep, Eteri clearly has a different approach, similar to russian rythmic gymnastics, which is not focusing on most medals for each student, but most medals for the country.

Based on that, I can see why she wanted a different coach.

tomc100 · Oct 5, 2018

Question. Does every single figure skater wind up getting injuries and then retiring?

DSQ · Oct 5, 2018

Not that I can remember. Most have problems towards the end as the sport is quite high impact but most competitive skaters just retire with with minor injuries because they don’t want to skate anymore not because of their injuries stopped them early b

zenskate · Oct 9, 2018

I've been wondering about this question for a while now. Why did Evgenia choose Orser as her coach, as opposed to say, someone like Mishin? Mishin also has experience with older female skaters. I know champions don't take the easy way out and all that, but I can't help but think things would be so much easier for her if she had stayed in Russia.

Imagine · Oct 9, 2018

zenskate said:
I've been wondering about this question for a while now. Why did Evgenia choose Orser as her coach, as opposed to say, someone like Mishin? Mishin also has experience with older female skaters. I know champions don't take the easy way out and all that, but I can't help but think things would be so much easier for her if she had stayed in Russia.

When was the last time Orser produced a World/Olympic Champion? When was the last time Mishin produced a champion? There’s your answer.

moriel · Oct 9, 2018

Imagine said:
When was the last time Orser produced a World/Olympic Champion? When was the last time Mishin produced a champion? There’s your answer.

Well, thats pretty simple.
Mishin produced his last world champion in ladies in 2015, when Tuktamysheva won gold. Also, to add to his credentials, we should mention his work with Kostner, in her 30s, and Tuktik currently jumping a 3A at 21.
Orser produced his last world champion in ladies in 2009, when Yuna Kim won gold. In 2010, she won an OGM at 19.

There's your answer.

el henry · Oct 9, 2018

moriel said:
Well, thats pretty simple.
Mishin produced his last world champion in ladies in 2015, when Tuktamysheva won gold. Also, to add to his credentials, we should mention his work with Kostner, in her 30s, and Tuktik currently jumping a 3A at 21.
Orser produced his last world champion in ladies in 2009, when Yuna Kim won gold. In 2010, she won an OGM at 19.

There's your answer.

In order to promulgate this argument, you need to posit a world where a singles coach coaches *only* ladies or men, so there's no answer there at all :palmf:

But it doesn't really matter why Zhenya chose Orser over Mishin. She chose Brian over every single coach in the world, over Eteri and Mishin and Raf A. and Tom Z. and Stephane Lambiel and Ravi Walia and every other coach we could name.

She is brave and courageous in making a change and we will see what the 2018-19 season brings.

Thoughts on Evgenia Medvedeva's 2018-19 Season

vorravorra

Fluture

bubblecherry

tomc100

narcissa

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.

TGee

drivingmissdaisy

moriel

charlotte14

FreyaZz

moriel

Charlotte 71

Erin9

tomc100

DSQ

zenskate

Imagine

moriel

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.

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