2019 Rostelecom Day 2

We are nearing the end to the Final! Time is flying fast!

What are your thoughts on day 2 of Rostelecom Cup? Did your favorites do well? What was your biggest disappointment? What were the highlights for you?

Recaps

• Men's FS
• Free Dance
• Ladies' FS
• Pairs' FS

A bronze medal for the German pair! What a joy! :agree:

Loved Sasha and Zhenya for different reasons. A quad queen and an artist both special in their own ways.
Satoko... oh dear. Such a beautiful performance but the jumps, those do not cut it even without the quad and 3A queens. A fall and 5 called URs... I desperately want someone to fix her jumps somehow

Was sad Shoma just missed out on Bronze despite two falls. So close!

Glad to see Miyahara and her tiny jumps get the score they deserve. Her PCS is still too high for my liking. Her skating have never impressed me so I'm still looking for a satisfying reason for her ridiculous scoring.

eterialskater said:

Glad to see Miyahara and her tiny jumps get the score they deserve. Her PCS is still too high for my liking. Her skating have never impressed me so I'm still looking for a satisfying reason for her ridiculous scoring.

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She is lovely though, gorgeous program and her skills are great... on everything but jumps she is good.

She isn't my cup of tea to be honest, I find her mostly quite boring but that is not her fault at all, just my own feelings. I truly admire her artistry though.

But... the jumps ruin it they absolutely do

Thumbs up to those who can ignore them and still love her performances but... they are jarring and out of place in comparison to the quality elsewhere.

They were worse here than they have been for a while. 5 URs and at least one uncalled, plus a fall and some messy landings.

I dont think there is any fixing them either, she has had several years to do so and yet they're declining even now

A Russian golden sweep, which was kinda expected. It was helpful that I had a lot of Russian faves here Short thoughts:

Men

- Miscalculated the time difference again, had to catch up for the most part.
- Oh Dima, if you hadn't zayaked your 3Lz you could've won... But he landed a 3A and only popped one quad (two if you count the first 3Lz as a 4Lz attempt), so I'm content.
- I may have done something to make the god of the quad salchow angry at me, my beloved men are struggling with it this season. But still, Kazuki performed as he can and sold his step sequence to the crowd. He has my sole Roxanne bye for a reason.
- Deniss Vasiljevs performed with his heart, despite the mistakes he was quite enjoyable to watch.
- Uno Shoma is not having a good season so far, but this was the better of his FS performances. With two splats. I still want him to go to Stephane Lambiel just to see the two at the KnC again.

ID

- Piper and Paul do create magic, it wasn't as spectacular as in SC but it was still magical. Only the costumes (esp. Paul's trousers) remain an issue.
- Reed/Ambrulevicius have a quite wonderful FD, not pitch perfect but enjoyable to watch.
- I'm undecided on Hurtado/Khaliavin's FD, it has its enthralling moments yet it has its moments. I'm giving up on picking sides on the Spanish rivalry this season.
- Sinitsina/Katsalapov skated well (twizzles were wild, but what do I know) and were loved by the home crowd and the judges.
- Shpilevaya/Smirnov have a really cool lift. And they showed some sass right in front of the judges. Wish I could remember anything else.
- La/La are great dancers and are improving with every competition, I still hate the pitch change in the middle and wish they could go back to Warsaw Concerto

Ladies

- Of course there's a war. It's ladies.
- Zhenya She skated clean and gave a beautiful performance in front of the home crowd, her expression when she was finished says it all. I'm so proud of her
- Sasha Trusova has grit, hope she recovers in time for GPF.
- Both Mariah Bell and Miyahara Satoko did not have clean skates, with the former's bronze they say Bradie Tennell is going to GPF. Good performances if you ignore the mistakes.
- Ekaterina Ryabova had a great GP outing with clean skates, congratulations.
- Chen Hongyi landed her lutz this time!
- Again, poor Stanislava Konstantinova

Pairs

- I'm finally coming down from the high Sasha and Mitya sent me on with, GPF with 30 points, and it's their second senior season! The Kozlovskii Fistpump™ did not make a comeback for no reason, they were fantastic.
- SBS jump errors aside T/M did pretty well with their FD, while I miss the blue costumes it was pretty great to watch.
- Hase/Seegert did get themselves on podium, the shock and subsequent joy in her face when she realized it was quite endearing. Never mind the not-clean skate, I was happy for them.
- Ziegler/Kiefer have some great lifts, and while it wasn't 100% squeaky clean it was one of their better skates. And I want her dress.
- Ksenia Stolbova and her partner are not fully warmed up for competition, or so it seems. I'm going to wait and see how it turns out later on.
- Can Walsh/Michaud not have great lifts, it's those good moments that make me go through the pain that is the rest of their skate (deep sigh)

Overall, while it wasn't a jam-packed field like, say, SC (which is going to battle it out with NHK for the title of best GP of the season) and there were signs that it was the Motherland here, I had fun with this GP as a whole. Just, stop with the bad camerawork and give the park (wherever it is) the bench you stole it from. Spasiba.

Can someone explain to me why Shoma's 2nd 4T got a +REP?

Unless I've been missing sth. in the protocols, the only triple he repeated was 3A and no other quad apart from 4T. He'd be in 3rd place if it weren't for the +REP...

ETA: It's not because he intended to jump the 4T earlier and decided otherwise, is it??? That would be ridiculous reasoning, he didn't even jump, he was only preparing ie setting up a jump, but never even left the ice!

1111bm said:

Can someone explain to me why Shoma's 2nd 4T got a +REP?

Unless I've been missing sth. in the protocols, the only triple he repeated was 3A and no other quad apart from 4T. He'd be in 3rd place if it weren't for the +REP...

ETA: It's not because he intended to jump the 4T earlier and decided otherwise, is it??? That would be ridiculous reasoning, he didn't even jump, he was only preparing ie setting up a jump, but never even left the ice!

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According to the protocols he had a 4T already and not in combination and the second wasn't either so +REP

MaiKatze said:

A bronze medal for the German pair! What a joy! :agree:

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Indeed! :clapper:

I ache for Shoma. His entire planned layout was massively changed from what was submitted.

Mishaminion said:

According to the protocols he had a 4T already and not in combination and the second wasn't either so +REP

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Oh right, totally forgot about the combination rule!

Well, who predicted a sweep of the men's field? (Not the organisers or I don't think the men's event would have been first up!)
I was really impressed by Dmitri's two programs. I would have given him the highest PCS. But, he has silver and medalled at both events so I'm pleased for him. Hope to see him at the GPF.
And wow where did Makar come from? Great debut! :thumbsup:

Evgenia was brilliant in her free skate, I will rewatch it many times!
Sasha was amazing too. Scoring 234+ whilst not feeling well is something to admire greatly!
I also liked Nicole Schott's free program.

My favourite pairs routine was Z/K. I am a big fan of the 4th place finishers (Shoma, Satoko too)!
I am also heartened to see T/M in better form! If this competition has shown me anything, it's that the path with a coaching change is hardly ever smooth. I think that things will get better for all of them.

I didn't see much of Ice Dance but the results were fairly predictable. Glad to see R/A reach the top 5!

What a day. First in the morning and early afternoon the Warsaw Cup (Challenger) Pairs - twenty of them - and then the Rostelecom Cup. Well, here's my evaluation of the Free part of the Competition.

Pairs: Yay, yay, yay!!! This was a great event. Aleksandra and Dimitrii were just superb. No other word for it. Great skate, great emotions afterward. Aleksandra's smile was very much in evidence today, as was Dmitrii's fistpump. Also, Evgenia and Vladimir are on the game once more. They have a beautiful programme, and finally it was also nicely executed. Not perfect, but really nice to watch. I'm not sure they'll be at the GPF but if not, this is a great way to close the GP season. Miriam and Severin also had a great skate - lower level than the two Russian pairs but lovely to watch - and the 3rd best of the evening. Too far behind though. I was so happy for Minerva Fabienne and Nolan today. They were underscored yesterday to a certain extent but even so had gathered enough points to fall back on even though Minerva had a fall. A medal it was, and especially Minerva's reaction in the K&C was priceless. Had me sniffing. Regrettably Ksenia and Andrei couldn't hold on, and had a maybe not disastrous but definitely rough skate. As a first showing as a team it wasn't bad. I'm sure they're on the way up, and I really like the way they handled it. No blame either way, just needing a bit more gelling. I really like Evelyn and Trennt but this wasn't their day. A pity, as yesterday it looked so promising. Rebecca and Filippo continue to improve...good to see Italian pairs skating still going strong after Nicole and Matteo, if not at the highest level yet. Audrey and Misha were last, but that's okay for now.

Ladies: Lots of respect for the tiny Russian dynamo. Having said that, I do think something is wrong with the scoring when you can win with two falls just because there are quads. A bit like the men, but then Alexandra wishes to compete with the men in any case (I love that girl). Evgenia was fantastic. I really, really enjoyed her skate today. She interprets the music well, and is just wonderful. Good for her! I also enjoyed Mariah's skating today. I often do, but today was special. Nice final of the ladies.

Men: what shall I say? I'm so glad Shoma is with Stephane. I really hope he stays on. I never, ever want to see him again as he was at his last GP. Okay, only fourth, and two falls but the mindset seems to be so much better. Since Nebelhorn I've been expecting to see Makar shine, and although his aren't the most emotive programmes, he's there. Congrats. Dmitri had a few mistakes (that Lutz with no points was a bomb) but he's still very much in the race for a GPF placement. I hope so, because he really is a skater I love to watch. The complete package in my view. What about Alexander? The best today, no question. But to me, without the 'It' factor that Dmitri does have. Still, good for him. a deserved win.

Dance: glad to see Sara and Kyrill back on track with another medal in the GP of Russia. I love their very flamenco like steps. Piper and Paul are one of my favourites, and so they were today as well. Sorry for all the people not liking their outfits, but I just love them. The tint of yellow is not my favourite colour (Aleksandra and Dmitrii's pink SP costumes are first on that score) but they look really good on them. Victoria and Nikita had a deserving win.

That's it again.

Ichatdelune said:

A Russian golden sweep, which was kinda expected.

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It kinda was, after the Russian Federation memo.

Mathman said:

It kinda was, after the Russian Federation memo.

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I just accidentally inhaled milk laughing when I read this

- Dancers were amazing as always, I don't know the rules so I can calmly enjoy everyone
- Shoma and his yolo toe (we should get a yolo bonus, make this a proposal to ISU). Also, he's not alone in K&C!
- Deniss had such terrible music and such beautiful skating that I feel torn now
- Samarin and that heck of GOE
- Makar making a surprise appearance on the podium
- Evgenia's performance was so emotional, too bad she barely had any chance to make GPF despite the high scores she got
- Sasha wasn't as good as she could be, but still was better than any of the men
- a lot of new skaters I may start following now - Ryabova, Chen, Yokoi
- I only saw Boikova/Kozlovskii from pairs, but they were perfect and I love both their skating and their chemistry

Rostelecom is always the biggest joke on the grand prix, but I do hope some of the posters here now see the irony of their whining.























Hahaha, who am I kidding

Mathman said:

It kinda was, after the Russian Federation memo.

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Did anyone expect otherwise?

Mathman said:

It kinda was, after the Russian Federation memo.

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It’s the third thread where you left the same comment now how many more do you plan?
However, you missed the russian ladies thread, russian men thread, russian ice dance thread, russian pairs thread still 4 to go I assume

Boikova and Kozlovskiy — omg, that charisma and wit and ardor and all around awesomeness! I hope RusFed picks them to close the gala, because they will have one hell of a time choosing. But for me that will be their night no matter what, and their exhibition skate (at least in Kelowna) is totally a show closure! Please, please, let them close with the Twilight in the Moscow Countryside!

The gentlemen division at Rostelecom could have run a beauty pageant on ice.

Nguyen didn’t make it, but I was glad he didn’t flinch either. I’m now a fan.

I’m hoping nothing truly unexpected happens in NKH and Aliev makes it into the final — i’m starting to root for him.

Uno, he is always an explosion, no matter what, and i’m so glad to see the number of falls halved!

Ladies, totally the podium that picked my favourites in this particular group, and I was pleasantly surprised by Ryabova’s performance as well. I was super worried about Trusova being sick, but she’s the miniature ice dragon, and the dragons don’t let flu get in their way. :hap57: