Rank the top 8 Russian senior ladies pcs for next season

With the 3 aces coming into the senior ladies mix next season, I thought it would be interesting to discuss how their pcs would rank against the veteran ladies. Feel free to post your ranking with your comments. This is just my personal opinion of how their pcs should rank.

1. Alina Zagitova - difficult transitions and step sequence content. Artistry might not be everyone liking but I think it will improve this season
2. Alena Kostornaia - the best performer/ artist no doubt.
3. Anna Shcherbakova
4. Evgenia Medvedeva - hasnt got the intricate transitions and the performance energy level was a bit of a yoyo throughout last season but I think that her artistry will be better than last year
5. Alexandra Trusova - Choreo interpretation and performance still needs some way to go
6. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva - I never really liked the whole flirtatious style that she uses every season. She has good performance level but choreo really lacks ans so does the skating skills/transistions
7. Sofia Samodurova - very similar to Tuktamysheva
8. Stanislava Konstantinova

icybear said:

With the 3 aces coming into the senior ladies mix next season, I thought it would be interesting to discuss how their pcs would rank against the veteran ladies. Feel free to post your ranking with your comments. This is just my personal opinion of how their pcs should rank.

1. Alina Zagitova - difficult transitions and step sequence content. Artistry might not be everyone liking but I think it will improve this season
2. Alena Kostornaia - the best performer/ artist no doubt.
3. Anna Shcherbakova
4. Evgenia Medvedeva - hasnt got the intricate transitions and the performance energy level was a bit of a yoyo throughout last season but I think that her artistry will be better than last year
5. Alexandra Trusova - Choreo interpretation and performance still needs some way to go
6. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva - I never really liked the whole flirtatious style that she uses every season. She has good performance level but choreo really lacks ans so does the skating skills/transistions
7. Sofia Samodurova - very similar to Tuktamysheva
8. Stanislava Konstantinova

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How we can judge now when we haven't even seen the programs?

Every new season, it is so exciting to see where judges go with each skater's PCS -- and this new season will be even more exciting with 3A crashing the senior party! My personal ranking is different from what I think would realistically happen, but here's what I think will happen:

1. Alina Zagitova: Given Alina's reigning OGM & WGM status, even a revitalized Carolina Kostner would hardly challenge Alina in PCS. I can see a polished and consistent Evgenia or Rika getting close, but judges will hold Alina up as long as possible. RusFed paired her with the non-quad wielding Kostornaia, so Alina still has the chance to keep winning and hold onto her mammoth PCS.

2. Alena Kostornaia: I would personally place her first, but she's a new senior without a quad or 3A (yet). She has already garnered huge PCS in the junior field, but judges are always hesitant to shower newcomers with PCS until they've proven their consistency (which I have no doubt Alena will). One thing that could go either way would be her pairing with Alina. Alina will no doubt receive the highest PCS -- judges would either a) feel less hesitant to shower Alena with high PCS, so long as it's still below Alina's or b) not reward Alena with that high of a PCS to uphold Alina. I think a) is more likely, and I hope that will be the case. If she pulls out a 3A, I can see her challenge Alina.

3. Evgenia Medvedeva: Wildcard. With consistency, judges will be more than willing to give her back her past PCS. If she comes out prepared from the get-go, I can see her PCS climb back easily. Her pairing with Trusova also helps a lot -- Trusova will always get the high TES, but judges will reserve PCS (until she wins everything anyway). Evgenia will be able to hold her PCS while being compared to a "techster." While I would not personally agree, I can see judges being willing to give her higher PCS than Alena.

4. Anna Shcherbakova: Musically talented with presentation to die for -- this translates well to PCS when the TES is also there. Anna is generally pretty consistent, so I can see her PCS grow stably. My only concern is her inconsistency that her 4Lz may hold her back, but some judges may be willing to reward the attempts at least. Being paired with Tuktamysheva also helps with her PCS the same way it does in the Trusova-Evgenia combo. If Tuktamysheva comes out with another empty-ish program, Anna's will be highlighted.

5. Alexandra Trusova: I see her ranking to be just below Anna's. Anna has more "presentation-quality" programs, but judges award high TES with more PCS. If Trusova dominates with her quads, her PCS will easily follow.

6. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva: Let's be real, her TES is to die for, but her programs weren't made for PCS. Her WTT PCS were WTT-crack scores that likely won't happen again, especially with the new seniors in the field. Being matched with Anna also doesn't help, but her 3A is still competitive against Anna's 4Lz, so I would expect Liza's PCS to be okay if she's consistent with her 3A.

7. Stanislava Konstantinova: Her greatest enemy is her consistency. If she had consistency last season, she could've easily emerged on top with all the fed-backing. I still expect high PCS domestically, but I don't see RusFed trying to push Stanislava onto teams over 3A, Evgenia or Alina. No way.

8. Sofia Samodurova: The return of Alina and Evgenia at worlds ruined Sofia's chances of ever growing her PCS. She was not a top Russian there and I do not expect her to be a top Russian this season either (but hey anything can happen). Her PCS unfortunately won't be that spectacular.

Even though many people questioned RusFed's GP pairings, I think it's actually a potentially smart move. Pairing a TES skater with a PCS skater removes potential conflicts. The weaker PCS skater may suffer in comparison, but her TES will hold up back up. Judges may not be willing to shower every Russian skater in a given competition with PCS, but by putting in only one traditional PCS skater, judges will just give it to her. They fit different niches. With Alina-Alena, Alina will always receive high PCS, but judges may feel less hesitant to abide by a ceiling for Alena when they've already broken it for Alina. They won't need an excuse to give Alena high PCS when Alina's is already "acceptably" high.

I think it will be hard to judge until we see the programs and what progress the skaters have made over the summer. Based on last season I would rank PCS like this, with honestly not a huge gap between the skater (not my personal opinion but what I expect):
1 Alina 37 / 75
2 Aliona 36 / 73
3 Evgenia 35 / 71
4 Anna 34 / 70
5 Sasha/Liza 33 / 69
7 Sofia/Stasya 32 / 68

It’s hard to do an overall rank because some skaters excel at one category vs others who excel at the opposite. To be honest the most balanced PCS skaters across all categories in my opinion are Aliona (high across all) and Stasya (medium across all). To me, Sasha and Anna have completely opposing strengths (Sasha SS, Anna interpretation). Same with Liza and Alina (Liza actually has decent SS but no transitions; Alina the opposite). With Evgenia who knows because she used to have programs with a lot of transitions but last year was completely different. Again this is why it’s hard to judge before seeing the programs at the test skates.

1. Alina Z. + Good reputation, has more experience, high technical content.- will get lower PCS in case of a meltdown. My prediction: 37/76
2. Aliona K. + good in all components, has already managed to get 66+ as a junior and not even at the end of the season, consistent; - first year senior, lower technical content. My prediction: 36/75 (only if she gets included in the team).
3. Evgenia M. + has reputation, has become more consistent, emotional interpretation; - not clear situation with consistency, less transitions, lower technical content. My prediction: 35/74
4. Anna S. + high technical content, good interpreter and performer; - skating skills not so great, bit inconsistent. My prediction: 34/73
5. Alexandra T. + technical content VERY high, quite good skating skills, transitions, hits musical accents well; - not a very emotional performer, some moves come across as 'rehearsed', mistakes can make PCS go lower. My prediction: 34/71.5
6. Elizaveta T.: components already established, will depend on how consistent she is. My prediction: 33/67
7. Sofia S.: also predictable components. Very consistent and energetic, but doesn't have many transitions. My prediction: 32/65.
8. Stanislava K.: Emotional, but not consistent. My prediction: 32/64.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Kostornaya gets the same pcs than Zagitova, or very close. Judges suddenly gave her super high pcs, much higher than Trusova at JGPF. And the same happened at Rusnats. Rusfed is clearly pushing her and international judges are ready to give her those high pcs. Last season she was already getting senior pcs. So imo from the first GP she will get 35+ and 70+ with no disaster.

I can't......I have loved so many of those ladies for so many years. I'll cheer for all of them

mrrice said:

I can't......I have loved so many of those ladies for so many years. I'll cheer for all of them

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But only three spots, alas.

It feels wrong, like two parallel worlds collide and there's only place for one of them.

The worst part is the "third spot determined by couches council" rule.. It's just bait for RusFed corruption, pure and simple - which they bound to abuse

yume said:

I wouldn't be surprised to see Kostornaya gets the same pcs than Zagitova, or very close. Judges suddenly gave her super high pcs, much higher than Trusova at JGPF. And the same happened at Rusnats. Rusfed is clearly pushing her and international judges are ready to give her those high pcs. Last season she was already getting senior pcs. So imo from the first GP she will get 35+ and 70+ with no disaster.

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The situation is absolutely unfair toward Trusova.
Higher her TES mean lower her PCS.
This is correct in a way of her programs being kind of Pluschenko style. Long preparations for ultra elements. Empty skating...

Yet the Board, both domestic and international, all too happily decided to ground her PCS.

I'm afraid if she ever fulfill her dream to land 5X in competition, her PCS will be exact zero.

Arbitrary said:

The situation is absolutely unfair toward Trusova.
Higher her TES mean lower her PCS.
This is correct in a way of her programs being kind of Pluschenko style. Long preparations for ultra elements. Empty skating...

Yet the Board, both domestic and international, all too happily decided to ground her PCS.

I'm afraid if she ever fulfill her dream to land 5X in competition, her PCS will be exact zero.

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A little offtopic, but...
She never said about that dream. She said she might try a quint only after learning all the quads (don't remember the source). But, let's be realists (I'm a fan, but not the blind fan), she has less and less time left for that. I wish her best to learn and execute 4F and 4Lo in competition to fullfill the collection of ratified quads.