2018-19 European Ladies' figure skating | Golden Skate

2018-19 European Ladies' figure skating

Tolstoj

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
I'm opening this since we have a thread of European men but not for the ladies.

Think of this thread as a place to discuss all the other european ladies/girls both from seniors and juniors besides the russians (there is already a popular thread about them)

Anna Kuzmenko (FRA) just finished 6th at JGP Linz, i thought she was really good. Coached by Svetlana Panova

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHsl8WuEzY0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S81i2fV0Bz4

If she fixes the underrotations, she will be the best female skater representing France in a year or two.
 

Fluture

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 26, 2018
Anna Kuzmenko was really great today. I also liked Lara Naki Gutmann who represents Italy. Her SP to Mary Poppins was great. Unfortunately she had quite a rough time during the FS. :(

And from a national point of view I have to bring this skater up: Olga Mikutina! She’s representing Austria and finished 13th today. She can do all triple jumps and a triple-triple combination. She won’t be challenging the Russians obviously but I really enjoy her skating. :)

Maria Levushkina of Bulgaria finished in the top ten today (10th place), she seems promising. Somebody else I really liked was Noemie Bodenstein. She‘s representing Switzerland and especially her FS was wonderful. Unfortunately she had some falls and other mistakes but I feel like she‘s talented and can do a lot better.

But of course with European ladies skating a big part = Russian ladies. Alena Kanysheva and Alena Kostornaya were in a league of their own today. And they’re not the only Russian juniors obviously. I don‘t want to comment on the others since this post won‘t end but if anyone‘s interested: check the Russian ladies thread. (I‘d highly recommend it, they‘re awesome. :biggrin: )
 

Shayuki

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
A rather interesting skater will be representing Azerbaijan, that being Ekaterina Ryabova. Indeed, whether or not Azerbaijan is a part of Europe is up for debate, but they're a member of European ISU so as far as figure skating goes, this should belong here. She could potentially score around 180 and is a former Russian younger age national champion.
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Anna Kuzmenko was really great today. I also liked Lara Naki Gutmann who represents Italy. Her SP to Mary Poppins was great. Unfortunately she had quite a rough time during the FS. :(

And from a national point of view I have to bring this skater up: Olga Mikutina! She’s representing Austria and finished 13th today. She can do all triple jumps and a triple-triple combination. She won’t be challenging the Russians obviously but I really enjoy her skating. :)

Maria Levushkina of Bulgaria finished in the top ten today (10th place), she seems promising. Somebody else I really liked was Noemie Bodenstein. She‘s representing Switzerland and especially her FS was wonderful. Unfortunately she had some falls and other mistakes but I feel like she‘s talented and can do a lot better.

But of course with European ladies skating a big part = Russian ladies. Alena Kanysheva and Alena Kostornaya were in a league of their own today. And they’re not the only Russian juniors obviously. I don‘t want to comment on the others since this post won‘t end but if anyone‘s interested: check the Russian ladies thread. (I‘d highly recommend it, they‘re awesome. :biggrin: )

I thought the purpose of this thread was to discuss non Russian skaters. So you named a few Russian skaters who had to change countries because they were getting nowhere in Russia?
Kuzmenko - born in Moscow. Levushkina - born in Varna, home town Moscow. Mikutina - born in Ukraine. Do they at least have the citizenship of their new countries? Nothing against Russian ladies, but they do have their own thread.
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
A rather interesting skater will be representing Azerbaijan, that being Ekaterina Ryabova. Indeed, whether or not Azerbaijan is a part of Europe is up for debate, but they're a member of European ISU so as far as figure skating goes, this should belong here. She could potentially score around 180 and is a former Russian younger age national champion.
It seems this thread should be renamed Russian B skaters. Or Russian skaters representing other countries.
 

Mawwerg

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 8, 2014
It's intresting problem where Anna Kuzmenko should be discussed. Is she already European skater or is she still Russian skater? Or both? Or none?:confused2:

Overall unfortunately the state of European ladies skating is dreadful.:sad4:
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
It's intresting problem where Anna Kuzmenko should be discussed. Is she already European skater or is she still Russian skater? Or both? Or none?:confused2:

Overall unfortunately the state of European ladies skating is dreadful.:sad4:

Don’t take me seriously. I am just envious that we haven’t imported our own Russian girl to skate for us. :laugh:
 

Fluture

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 26, 2018
I thought the purpose of this thread was to discuss non Russian skaters. So you named a few Russian skaters who had to change countries because they were getting nowhere in Russia?
Kuzmenko - born in Moscow. Levushkina - born in Varna, home town Moscow. Mikutina - born in Ukraine. Do they at least have the citizenship of their new countries? Nothing against Russian ladies, but they do have their own thread.

Erm, no, I was naming European skaters I liked today ? I don‘t recall Lara Naki Gutmann having any relations to Russia, do you?

Kuzmenko is representing France now, same with Levushkina for Bulgaria. Mikutina‘s family came to Austria three years ago, she‘s training and living here. And since when is Ukraine part of Russia? They wouldn‘t be too happy to hear this. :disapp: I know many Russian people live there but... well. It still doesn’t seem respectful to call her “a skater who got nowhere in Russia“.

And really, what‘s the problem in those girls changing countries if they don‘t get anywhere in Russia? That‘s a chance for them to compete at the big events like Worlds or Olympics. And France is getting a top lady in Anna Kuzmenko. I‘m sure they‘re very happy to have her!
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
I have no problem at all with those girls changing countries. I was just commenting on how the majority of this thread turned back to Russian skaters. Out of five skaters you named, two are of Russian background and one of Ukrainian background.
 

Deripashka

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 31, 2018
By the way, the state when sportsmen representing other country than his homeland is not uncommon in other sports, for example biathlon. In fact, its weird that it didnt happend sooner since overpressure of talented girls in russian figure skating.
However, its true that state of non-russian european figure skating is dismal. I remember on SP in Bratislava when finally came Anna Scherbakova, it was like skating from other planet. That difference in abilities was brutal. Maybe it would be rational to pay training of promising girls from these countries in Russia, otherwise I dont see any chance to even get closer to performance of russian girls.
 

Fluture

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 26, 2018
I have no problem at all with those girls changing countries. I was just commenting on how the majority of this thread turned back to Russian skaters. Out of five skaters you named, two are of Russian background and one of Ukrainian background.

Yeah, I know that but they will likely be the top prospects of their new countries in a few years. And it’s not like this doesn‘t happen in other sports, too. European figure skating hasn‘t been that good for years. We have the Russians and apart from that there‘s only really been Carolina Kostner who was on podiums. Now somebody like Loena Hendrickx could become really interesting. She was really good at Worlds, her FS was amazing. And she‘s definitely not Russian!

And I only commented about those ladies because they were the first who came to mind after just seeing them today. I could name others like Sofia Sula and Anastasia Vaipan-Law but the truth is, while I personally enjoyed watching them, they‘re not going to challenge for Worlds Top 10 any time soon. Whereas somebody like Anna Kuzmenko or Ekaterina Ryabova potentially could.
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
By the way, the state when sportsmen representing other country than his homeland is not uncommon in other sports, for example biathlon. In fact, its weird that it didnt happend sooner since overpressure of talented girls in russian figure skating.
However, its true that state of non-russian european figure skating is dismal. I remember on SP in Bratislava when finally came Anna Scherbakova, it was like skating from other planet. That difference in abilities was brutal. Maybe it would be rational to pay training of promising girls from these countries in Russia, otherwise I dont see any chance to even get closer to performance of russian girls.
Would Russia be willing to train their future competitors? Would families of 13 years old kids be happy about sending them to Russia? And in Russia they believe that it is best to learn all jumps pre-puberty, so the kids would have to be sent to Russia much earlier than at 13. Not sure how easy it is to move to Russia. Some countries need visa even just to visit, so moving in would be even harder.
 

Ducky

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 14, 2018
From the little I was able to catch this morning I was really impressed by Sofia Sula of Finland. And even though she didn't have the best skate Ireland's Elizabeth Golding had a very lovey step sequence (that suffered from the worst electronic swan lake rendition ever and the person responsible for splicing it in should be taken out back and shot with a rusty bullet but I digress) and good poise on the ice rather than too much dramatic waving of arms. Will definitely be on the look out from more for them just because they seem fun to watch.
 

Fluture

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 26, 2018
Would Russia be willing to train their future competitors? Would families of 13 years old kids be happy about sending them to Russia? And in Russia they believe that it is best to learn all jumps pre-puberty, so the kids would have to be sent to Russia much earlier than at 13.

Well, Anna Kuzmenko is representing France now thus being a competitor. And she‘s training with a Russian coach. Carolina Kostner’s training under Mishin. So, yes, they might be willing if paid the money. It‘s more that the parents aren‘t willing to send their kids to a foreign country or simply can‘t afford it. I mean, it‘s not like it‘s not understandable, is it? Somebody needs to look after a 13 year old or even younger and most parents just can‘t afford to pay for the training and live in a totally foreign country. It‘s a difficult situation. And it‘s also that in Russia kids have their lives dedicated to figure skating from a very young age whereas in other countries parents aren‘t willing to let this happen. But if others train this way and this much and you don‘t, then catching up is difficult if not impossible.
 

Deripashka

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 31, 2018
hanca: Anna Kuzmenko is also their competitor and still they training her in Snow leopards. I think its mainly question of money. If some country will pay enough, they will train them, after all Eugenii Plushchenko already training kids from Turkey and Kazakhstan and Mischin in Sankt Petersburg have also some abroad students.
The question of sending kids to Russia is hard to answer. For me as a parent it would be extremely hard to send my child anywhere on bigger part of year, thats for sure.
 

Spirals for Miles

Anna Shcherbakova is my World Champion
Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 25, 2017
It seems this thread should be renamed Russian B skaters. Or Russian skaters representing other countries.

If they represent other countries, which they do, then they no longer belong in the Russian Ladies' thread. They represent other European countries, and we should respect their decisions by discussing them as such.
 

Tolstoj

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
I thought the purpose of this thread was to discuss non Russian skaters. So you named a few Russian skaters who had to change countries because they were getting nowhere in Russia?
Kuzmenko - born in Moscow. Levushkina - born in Varna, home town Moscow. Mikutina - born in Ukraine. Do they at least have the citizenship of their new countries? Nothing against Russian ladies, but they do have their own thread.

Let's discuss all skaters representing european countries that are not Russia (since there are already threads for those), so that includes russian skaters competiting for a different eu country too, like Anna Kuzmenko.
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Well, Anna Kuzmenko is representing France now thus being a competitor. And she‘s training with a Russian coach. Carolina Kostner’s training under Mishin. So, yes, they might be willing if paid the money. It‘s more that the parents aren‘t willing to send their kids to a foreign country or simply can‘t afford it. I mean, it‘s not like it‘s not understandable, is it? Somebody needs to look after a 13 year old or even younger and most parents just can‘t afford to pay for the training and live in a totally foreign country. It‘s a difficult situation. And it‘s also that in Russia kids have their lives dedicated to figure skating from a very young age whereas in other countries parents aren‘t willing to let this happen. But if others train this way and this much and you don‘t, then catching up is difficult if not impossible.
That’s different though. Yes, Mishin was coaching Kostner but Kostner was not taking medals away from Russia because she was nowhere near to Medvedeva or Zagitova. Russia will happily coach Kuzmenko who has never achieved anything yet, and also Tursynbaeva who is also nowhere near the podium. But if other countries sent their youngsters to Russia and then those youngsters started beating Russian skaters, I think the goodwill would run out pretty fast. Look at pairs - last few years Russia happily released many pair skaters. A significant part of european pairs have a Russian skater. Then they released Alexandrovskaya, who the following season managed to beat all their skaters at junior worlds, and suddenly this season Osipova wasn’t released (even though they have many very good junior pairs) because they are worried that she would be beating their skaters. (Osipova was going to skate with Bidar for the Czechia)
 

NaVi

Medalist
Joined
Oct 30, 2014
European figure skating needs to be collectively reformed just like US figure skating just reformed itself. I honestly think there needs to be a European development meta-federation... one that put's on a European novice and junior championship and/or it's own internal grand prix(like Russia's Cup of Russia events) and then gives funds to those who do well. And maybe have it serve as a qualifier for junior worlds and/or the junior grand prix as IMO there are too many skaters at the events IMO. I honestly think many of these skaters would have more fun in a "euro skate league" rather than going to grand prix events/junior worlds and then getting wrecked by Russians. Figure skating would be better for spectators with more Europeans who are competitive, fewer non-competitive Europeans at the big events, and some specialized events for the mid level skaters.

Carolina Kostner is still the best European hope. When she retires, the top non-Russian European skaters will probably be Anastasia Arkhipova from Ukraine and Ekaterina Kurakova who is Russian but is likely going to skate for Poland.

The European ladies with grand prix events are Loena Hendrickx, Laurine Lacavelier, Nicole Schott, and Carolina Kostner with 2 events and then Viveca Lindfords, Mae-Berenice Meite, Matilda Algotsson, and Alexia Paganini with one event. Nicole Rajicova withdrew from 2 events.

Besides Anna Kuzmenko, there are a few more Russian skaters switching countries... and it's something that should be talked about because there's going to be more transfers in the near future... and it'll be interesting to see how this trend is greeted.

Polina Shuboderova is a russian skater who will be skating for Israel. She left Eteri and then injured her foot. It'll be interesting to see what kind of shape she's in. She's fun to watch but don't really expect her to be a medal contender.
Ekaterina Kurakova is a russian skater who is likely to be skating for Poland. She can do a 4S... she pretty good but has had bad outings at the events which decide who goes to the junior grand prix. She did really well in 2016 and 2017 at the Mentor Torun Cup and was the highlight of the galas which is probably why she would be skating for Poland.
Ekaterina Ryabova is a skater from Russia listed to skate for Azerbaijan. Good jumper but kind of lacks in performance.

I think the last two Russian ladies singles skaters that tried to switch countries were Polina Shelepen and Elizaveta Yushenko... both for Israel. It didn't work out for either but their bodies were changing in a way not good for skating and their coaching wasn't as good as when they had good results.

Pogorilaya could potentially skate for Latvia now... looking at Wikipedia, it seems Latvia typically doesn't allow dual citizenship for Russians but marriage is an exception... but in doing so she's be stepping on the toes of Diana Nikitina and Angelina Kuchvalska. I worry about her health though but everything wants to skate in the Olympics.
Medvedeva could potentially skate for Armenia... citizenship should be easy if her father has Armenian citizenship. But I don't think Russia will ever let her switch... at least before 2022. She may have to contend herself with the grand prix and shows and being a sub for worlds.
Cyprus and Belarus would probably be the two easiest countries to switch to... though nobody has yet. But there's going to be a glut of potential transfers and more willingness to let people go. Tuktamysheva has never skated in an Olympics yet and I could see the Fed letting her go.

And there's a few Americans skating for European countries. Nicole Rajicova for Slovakia and Alexia Paganini for the US. They're both at a level where they'd potentially get grand prix spots were they still skating for the US. Sophia Tsintsadze could potentially skate for Georgia.

Olga Mikutina is an Austrian skater originally from Ukraine. She scored in the mid 150s last year but had a bad outing this week. TBH, I'm not that optimistic about her future but wonder what could have been had she gotten better coaching.
 
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