2017 GP Rostelecom Cup Ladies FS

[chuckm]

Alina Zagitova never finished worse than THIRD in 2016-17. Sure, she was a Junior, but she won the silver medal at the 2017 Russian SENIOR Ladies Championship and won the 2016 JGPF and 2017 JW. This fall, she won the Lombardia Trophy with a total score of 218.46 (147.17 in the FS).

Alina is competing in the GP this season at Cup of China and Trophee de France.

 

[Mathman]

I certainly don't recall such hatred for miming when it came from skaters like Elena Berezhnaya/Anton Sikharulidze either when did they did their own 'Chaplin' in their Pairs program.

In the "what if" department, what if Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze had done Charlie Chaplin for their long program at the 2002 Olympics (paired with the exquisite Califfa short program. They would have won all judges and there never would have been a judging scandal. )

 

[Mathman]

Everything is contextual. I will rarely say an absolute no to anything. I'm more practical: if you're going to stray from the classic or the standard you have a higher hurdle to make it work. There will be times when miming will be completely fine: a Charlie Chaplin program almost calls for it. Also, if someone has established that they can do other styles well and then they have a program in which they mime or use overwrought faces I'm much more likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. ...

Sometimes I think we are expecting too much of these teenaged athletes. If they can land their triple Lutzes and move sort of gracefully on ice, I think that is a pretty cool accomplishment right there. :yes:

When I watch ladies' gymnastics, for instance, it seems to me that on the floor exercise the girls are thinking, "Now let me get this stupid posing out of the way so I can get on to the next tumbling pass."

 

[GGFan]

Sometimes I think we are expecting too much of these teenaged athletes. If they can land their triple Lutzes and move sort of gracefully on ice, I think that is a pretty cool accomplishment right there. :yes:

When I watch ladies' gymnastics, for instance, it seems to me that on the floor exercise the girls are thinking, "Now let me get this stupid posing out of the way so I can get on to the next tumbling pass."

I see your point. Part of the problem is that the difficulty is such that there's not much time for other details. I think it's always important to push athletes to improve however. Even if it's the work of a career. I have only recently found Patrick Chan to be interpreting music on a deeper level. I'm glad he wasn't satisfied with resting on his laurels.

I cringe at so many gymnastics floor exercises. The "dance" sections often have nothing to do with the rhythm. I've started to wonder if the one off amazing exercise is worth it. Let's give up and just do a music-less exercise like the men.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I think I would prefer the trend to continue to reward and score difficult steps and precision transitions over a perceived artistry when considering PCS marks. I think the thing with this sport is that whoever controls the TES controls the high ground. I don't look at Zhenia's PCS as over scored even though it isn't to my taste but rather her TES affords her the opportunity to set the standard.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I think people tend to undersell her Skating Skills. She's nothing like Caro but then again Caro is nothing like Zhenia. I'm alright with both being scored relatively close to each other even though they get there in completely different ways.

 

[Blades of Passion]

I think I would prefer the trend to continue to reward and score difficult steps and precision transitions over a perceived artistry when considering PCS marks.

Ick. Why.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Ick. Why.

I know right :scard7:

Easier to define I guess.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I enjoyed Carolina Kostner's Afternoon of a Faun freeskate far more than Evgenia's AK. Carolina is truly an artist on ice.

Tara and Johnny said the same thing today.....Tara said she is the best artist out there today and Johnny said she is not just another robot. NBC said that when she skates, its as if there is a warmth that fills the arena....
I think that warmth is what we felt under the old scoring system when MK had time to do those beautiful spirals. Caro's PCSs show that some folk appreciate her skating skills....my puppy was right after seeing the short...Caro is an artist.

 

[CoyoteChris]

"Check out the blood, it's not easy" *shows camera a nick on her thumb*

Thanks! My hearing is the 43rd thing to go in old age....

 

[bekalc]

People may not like Med's style but at least she is trying to give a performance and the facial expressions may work better for the crowd. She is also a skater who has improved every year inspite of winning everything. She has also been a class act in the sense you never hear the girl bad mouth anything.

Is she confident heck yes! Good for her she should be when you get out their you have to be. If I was a coach of young skaters I would ask my young skaters to follow her example. In terms of demeanor and how she approaches competitions. She is a wonderful champion.

 

[Alexz]

You read my mind and saved me from embarrasssing myself again. At the end of the comp, I was ready to make some flippent remark about if there was any proof of her being human since she is so consistantly good and here she falls and laughs....for me, this makes her very human and likeable. I wonder if she would sit down and have a beer with Mathman and I?

For that she probably will have to clip her angel wings first... or adjust her robot stomach to accept beer.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

In the "what if" department, what if Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze had done Charlie Chaplin for their long program at the 2002 Olympics (paired with the exquisite Califfa short program. They would have won all judges and there never would have been a judging scandal. )

Actually, Elena and Anton's 2002 Olympic programs (both of them) are my all time favorite of theirs. I love that they skated those two exquisite programs at the Olympics and rightly won gold with them. I liked their Chaplin program but it wasn't my fave lol! And as to the Olympic judging scandal - imo there was no question that B&S were the superior pair overall. It's unfortunate all the judges didn't see it that way. It's possible that even had they skated to 'Chaplin' the judges would have still been divided. Under open scoring there would have been no question. They had superior speed, far more intricate transitions, choreo, quality of edge, etc. They would have (again imo) been far ahead of the pack just in the SP and won comfortably overall even with Anton's small step out on one of the jumps. I don't recall a big to do when the Canadians had a mistake in their program at Worlds 2001 and still won...

Anyway, back OT I REFUSE to give up on the U.S. ladies. I look forward to seeing what Ashley and Karen and all the U.S. ladies throw down in the coming weeks. And I look forward to even better skates from Mirai. Mariah did well at COR and she too can bring even more improved programs to NHK.

 

[andromache]

Kaetlyn and Evgenia are both wonderful skaters with different strengths and weaknesses. God forbid one skater should be better at one thing than another skater. No one skater is the best at everything. Different fans will have different tastes, but arguing like this about it is just immature and embarrassing. We get it - y'all don't like that someone is better at something than your fave so you need to drag them.

some Canadian ubers see her as a threat and take every opportunity to tell us how good Osmond is.
Imho, we will talk about her when she skates 2 clean programs back to back.

lololol this is ridiculous. Yuzuru Hanyu, Javier Fernandez, Patrick Chan - I don't think any of them have ever skated 2 clean programs back to back - who care? Or are we not allowed to "talk about" inconsistent skaters? Wow, someone should've told that to Adelina Sotnikova when she won the Olympics.

Is she confident heck yes! Good for her she should be when you get out their you have to be. If I was a coach of young skaters I would ask my young skaters to follow her example. In terms of demeanor and how she approaches competitions. She is a wonderful champion.

I loved seeing her laugh after her mistake. I think that is probably very healthy, psychologically. If you beat yourself up over every mistake, you're going to start playing mind games with yourself, and you'll make more mistakes in the future. Letting it all go, laughing, forgiving yourself and getting over it - is exactly the way to go.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

People may not like Med's style but at least she is trying to give a performance and the facial expressions may work better for the crowd. She is also a skater who has improved every year inspite of winning everything. She has also been a class act in the sense you never hear the girl bad mouth anything.

Is she confident heck yes! Good for her she should be when you get out their you have to be. If I was a coach of young skaters I would ask my young skaters to follow her example. In terms of demeanor and how she approaches competitions. She is a wonderful champion.

ITA!

I say again, Miming IS an art form though it is not to everyone's taste. And yes, it IS used in ballet's and other art forms. Not in EVERY ballet or play, etc. but in quite a few. It is a style of performing and at least under this COP it is earning Evgenia HUGE points from the judges. I doubt they all like the style but I believe that most of them seem to appreciate that that is her way of expressing the character that she is trying to portray while ALSO getting in the other required elements! And I certainly remember men like Yagudin and Plushenko who weren't shy to express themselves threw facial expressions, angsty looks, etc. when they wanted to! Especially Plushenko!! And not every female skater has to 'mime' her way through a program! I certainly never said that either! What I am saying is that EVERYONE has their own style and, if they can, they have a right to express it on the ice as they choose!

 

[Interspectator]

super late in commenting here. But Radionova's LP dress, AMAZING! Really beautiful.

 

[Aquinox1]

this is figure skating

Accept the facts abour this sport is judging by humans with feelings and very different thoughts, not for robots; f you're not agree, there's another sports like swimming or running in what the final result is about to get the lowest times.

On the one side I must admit it was a really nice program (and I don't love her at all). On the other hand does she just hope they will give her a massive scores for long legs and skating skills? Yes I know they will, but really? no 3Lz, no 3+3...Sometimes you can read opinions on scoring system and how it values difficulty over artistry. And then she comes and doesn't even try? Of course because she can afford it but it is unfair. #sorrrynotsorry
Also what I find funny is who she has as her coach. Remember Mishin after Plushy (with quads but not exactly clean program) lost to Evan (with no quads but better artistry) in Vancouver 2010? And now he doesn't complain? Interesting isn't it?

 

[Aquinox1]

Yes, only in your DREAMS. It was undoubtable that Kostner is better than Wakaba. Only more than 14 points of difference.
Accept the facts!

Rad underscored.

Med overscored, but the clear winner.

Kostner should be behind Wakaba.

 

[yyyskate]

People may not like Med's style but at least she is trying to give a performance and the facial expressions may work better for the crowd. She is also a skater who has improved every year inspite of winning everything. She has also been a class act in the sense you never hear the girl bad mouth anything.

Is she confident heck yes! Good for her she should be when you get out their you have to be. If I was a coach of young skaters I would ask my young skaters to follow her example. In terms of demeanor and how she approaches competitions. She is a wonderful champion.

Med has mocked Karen.

 

[Sugarpova]

tired of some evgenia ubers undermining her skating and treating kaetlyn like crap and bullying her. What are we suppose to do? sit back and let people attack her? If

there are some Osmond ubers acting like that towards other skaters' fans as well
I even made a promise myself to never post anything about her on this board

Med has mocked Karen.

hmm when? Im very disapointed if true:disapp:

Actually, Elena and Anton's 2002 Olympic programs (both of them) are my all time favorite of theirs. I love that they skated those two exquisite programs at the Olympics and rightly won gold with them. I liked their Chaplin program but it wasn't my fave lol! And as to the Olympic judging scandal - imo there was no question that B&S were the superior pair overall. It's unfortunate all the judges didn't see it that way. It's possible that even had they skated to 'Chaplin' the judges would have still been divided. Under open scoring there would have been no question. They had superior speed, far more intricate transitions, choreo, quality of edge, etc. They would have (again imo) been far ahead of the pack just in the SP and won comfortably overall even with Anton's small step out on one of the jumps. I don't recall a big to do when the Canadians had a mistake in their program at Worlds 2001 and still won...

You can always distinguish most Canadian fans by their usernames which usually have some kind of "agitprop" that is ironically invented in Russia. And most of them usually never say anything nice about non-Canadian skaters who would be any kind of challenge to their skaters.

there are some really nice Canadian posters tho who even if they have their biases (like all of us) at least express it in an polite way

lost to Evan (with no quads but better artistry)

artistry? Lysacek?:shocked::shocked: lmao OK I will not start it

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Med has mocked Karen.

When? I've seen no proof of any of this...