2018-19 Russian Nationals live reports

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This is a placeholder at this moment. I just bought tickets for all events through this site.

https://saransk.kassir.ru/sport/rostelekom-chempionat-rossii-2019-po-figurnomu-kataniyu-na-konkah

As usual, I plan to bring along my family. I even bought 5 tickets for gala. But also as usual, the reality may be different so that I might go alone. Let's hope for the better.

So far, I have no idea about Saransk. I just know that it is 500 km from Moscow on a straight line. It is 1.5 hours by plane or overnight by train.

I shall write about my experience in this thread.

 

[katymay]

I'm looking forward to it!

 

[Azikin]

Wow, you're lucky to see the best competition of the season..

 

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Next step - booked 2 rooms at Admiral hotel:

"We are pleased to present you the results of our efforts: beautiful and comfortable hotel with new and contemporary spirit in the center of Saransk. We are proud not only to meet all the requirements of the modern traveler, but also ready to anticipate them. No matter what brings you to our city, you will find in "Admiral" everything you need to feel at home".

Sounds promising....to be continued

 

[alinaharry]

You are very lucky. I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

 

[LadyB]

samkrut, you've no idea how much I envy you!!!!!

But before that, I'm looking forward to seeing you and your family at Megasport next week. :agree:

 

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Megasport with Rostelecom is somewhere in the past now. Rusnats are current. I arrived today to Saransk ahead of Zagitova for better or for worse....

1 hour easy Aeroflot flight. I did not see skaters on board - I guess, they are all in Saransk already (but Alina). No big bosses in business class. Trankov was sitting in the first row of the coach. I was passing by - he did not say "hi"....

15 minute taxi drive from the airport to my hotel in the center of the city. Taxi driver explained that World Cup brought a lot of development to Saransk. He even told an anecdote when he drove a person who just returned after serving his 20 year prison term and that person wanted to get out of the car in the middle of the ride because he did not believe that the driver took him to Saransk

Hotel Admiral where I stay used to be a closed to public villa for Communist party officials arriving for whatever reason to Saransk during the glorious Soviet Union days. It had to undergo a serious renovation and now it enjoys #1 spot in Tripadvisor ranking. Also it is situated inside a kids' park which might be handy when my big family arrives on Saturday. And it is about 2 km walk to the Ice Arena. So I will walk tomorrow - it is about half the way we had to make from the hotel to the arena in Korea. And the weather was nice today: about -10C with snow falling and no wind - perfect Russian winter.

Somehow, there are quite few people in the hotel. I was the only person in the workout room and then in the spa area - I guess, I chose the right hotel. All the crowd is supposedly in Mercury.

As I am not supposed to cut and paste the same post in different threads I shall write here the gist of my impressions starting tomorrow while the full report will be in the edge once the threads are open.

 

[LadyB]

[email protected], have a fantastic time!!!! Can't wait to read more of your observations :agree:

 

[[email protected]]

Day 1

I stayed up quite late last night making a detailed trip to the U.S.A. next May. It was an optimization task with several constraints like my wife wants to see Yellowstone, Arches, and Monument valley. Yellowstone is in the middle of the trip and is open only since May 10. As we have small kids, I have another constraint not to drive more than 5 hours a day, etc. I finished it at 4:30 a.m. and sent the itinerary to my wife for the approval.

Today I woke up at half past noon and realized that I shall hurry in order not to miss the beginning of the competition at 2 p.m. As I had said, I decided to walk. It looked quite straightforward on the map: turn left, turn right, walk through the park and you are there. I thought I did exactly that but soon I realized that I had no idea where I was going. Thanks god we have google maps – the right way was found and I arrived exactly on time to see it all.

My first thought was: “not again: they brought the same sound guy who was at Rostelecom”. I thought that because David Guetta’s “all the crazy s… I did tonight” was playing. This tune terrorized the public in Moscow as he played it during every intermission. But this time it did not repeat – well, the song is not bad after all.

Saransk ice arena is smaller than usual venues. It is quite cozy. Unlike Moscow they don’t have an array of fast food joints. Instead, there is a Soviet style “stolovaya” – a cafeteria where you first stand in line for a good half an hour, then take a tray, put stuff on it and go to a cashier. So I had my late breakfast/lunch there. And, boy, they have bread to die for. I remember this taste from my childhood. I cannot find it in Moscow let alone abroad. And they also have compote from my childhood. After I finished lunch I went to cashier again just to buy 2 compotes with 3 pieces of bread to relish the taste….delicious….

This time I had a perfect place to watch.



The seats are quite comfortable. But the leg space is very small. And, as most of the people were sitting in their winter jackets it must be quite tight. I had my wife’s extra seat so that it was more or less OK.

Men

Petrov was first. He still has his charm. He is still a nice skater. I liked his steps, I liked his performance. If it were 4 years ago I would say that the guy has a very bright future. But it is now and his jumps are nowhere near where they should be. May be he still believes that one day he will wake up and his jumps will be with him now and forever. If it is the case, let’s hope – he can be a good skater once he learns the landings.

Kovtun – at first, I did not recognize him. There is something different in how he looks now. I don’t know if Chan ever wore suspenders but there was something Chan like in Kovtun’s outfit. Well, he did not skate like Chan but if there is a usual array of mockery in a competition thread I am not with them. Kovtun skated well – speaking about current guys, it is not Hanyu, Shoma, Kolyada, Brown level of skating. But it was still quite good. His step sequence was creative and he delivered it nicely. What I especially liked was the cat like softness of his quad landings. Whoever says that Kovtun and Lord Samarin are the same – I don’t want to use bad words here. He was very tired towards the end – his last spin was not good. Overscored? I think so. Internationally he would hardly get above 90 for such performance. It does not matter. He is back – people were shouting: “welcome back!” And I hope he follows the upward trajectory. Will he have stamina for the free program? We shall see soon.

Kolyada is a terrific skater. His blade work, his spins. He lost to Brown recently. He can always win – he just has to deliver 1 clean quad per program and all triple axels. He was close to that today and, hence, to 100 score. He just missed the axel. People around me were arguing if he had to be ahead of Kovtun. May be, but not by a lot. And they are so close anyway that the free program will decide everything.

A few words about others. Lazukin was meh after Mikha. I expected that Aliev would fall – I did not expect a total disaster like missing the axel. After that all his expression and skating skills were futile. Samarin had a huge quad lutz – it was one big monster. Sad that he could not control the landing. The rest of his skating was usual meh.

Not seeing familiar names I went for lunch after the second group. Only while eating did I realize that someone named Milyukov was very impressive to climb to the third place. Well, I shall see him tomorrow….

….to be continued

P.S. my sister called and said that she saw me on TV. Well, that is what I would name success.

 

[Interspectator]

Day 1

I stayed up quite late last night making a detailed trip to the U.S.A. next May. It was an optimization task with several constraints like my wife wants to see Yellowstone, Arches, and Monument valley. Yellowstone is in the middle of the trip and is open only since May 10. As we have small kids, I have another constraint not to drive more than 5 hours a day, etc. I finished it at 4:30 a.m. and sent the itinerary to my wife for the approval.

Today I woke up at half past noon and realized that I shall hurry in order not to miss the beginning of the competition at 2 p.m. As I had said, I decided to walk. It looked quite straightforward on the map: turn left, turn right, walk through the park and you are there. I thought I did exactly that but soon I realized that I had no idea where I was going. Thanks god we have google maps – the right way was found and I arrived exactly on time to see it all.

My first thought was: “not again: they brought the same sound guy who was at Rostelecom”. I thought that because David Guetta’s “all the crazy s… I did tonight” was playing. This tune terrorized the public in Moscow as he played it during every intermission. But this time it did not repeat – well, the song is not bad after all.

Saransk ice arena is smaller than usual venues. It is quite cozy. Unlike Moscow they don’t have an array of fast food joints. Instead, there is a Soviet style “stolovaya” – a cafeteria where you first stand in line for a good half an hour, then take a tray, put stuff on it and go to a cashier. So I had my late breakfast/lunch there. And, boy, they have bread to die for. I remember this taste from my childhood. I cannot find it in Moscow let alone abroad. And they also have compote from my childhood. After I finished lunch I went to cashier again just to buy 2 compotes with 3 pieces of bread to relish the taste….delicious….

This time I had a perfect place to watch.

View attachment 337

The seats are quite comfortable. But the leg space is very small. And, as most of the people were sitting in their winter jackets it must be quite tight. I had my wife’s extra seat so that it was more or less OK.

Men

Petrov was first. He still has his charm. He is still a nice skater. I liked his steps, I liked his performance. If it were 4 years ago I would say that the guy has a very bright future. But it is now and his jumps are nowhere near where they should be. May be he still believes that one day he will wake up and his jumps will be with him now and forever. If it is the case, let’s hope – he can be a good skater once he learns the landings.

Kovtun – at first, I did not recognize him. There is something different in how he looks now. I don’t know if Chan ever wore suspenders but there was something Chan like in Kovtun’s outfit. Well, he did not skate like Chan but if there is a usual array of mockery in a competition thread I am not with them. Kovtun skated well – speaking about current guys, it is not Hanyu, Shoma, Kolyada, Brown level of skating. But it was still quite good. His step sequence was creative and he delivered it nicely. What I especially liked was the cat like softness of his quad landings. Whoever says that Kovtun and Lord Samarin are the same – I don’t want to use bad words here. He was very tired towards the end – his last spin was not good. Overscored? I think so. Internationally he would hardly get above 90 for such performance. It does not matter. He is back – people were shouting: “welcome back!” And I hope he follows the upward trajectory. Will he have stamina for the free program? We shall see soon.

Kolyada is a terrific skater. His blade work, his spins. He lost to Brown recently. He can always win – he just has to deliver 1 clean quad per program and all triple axels. He was close to that today and, hence, to 100 score. He just missed the axel. People around me were arguing if he had to be ahead of Kovtun. May be, but not by a lot. And they are so close anyway that the free program will decide everything.

A few words about others. Lazukin was meh after Mikha. I expected that Aliev would fall – I did not expect a total disaster like missing the axel. After that all his expression and skating skills were futile. Samarin had a huge quad lutz – it was one big monster. Sad that he could not control the landing. The rest of his skating was usual meh.

Not seeing familiar names I went for lunch after the second group. Only while eating did I realize that someone named Milyukov was very impressive to climb to the third place. Well, I shall see him tomorrow….

….to be continued

P.S. my sister called and said that she saw me on TV. Well, that is what I would name success.

Thank you so much for your live impressions! :thumbsup:

 

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Pairs SP

First of all, this was a terrific competition. The level of skating was overall astonishing – a striking contrast to men. I would say it was as good as it can be. Add three-four top non-Russian pairs – I could imagine myself watching Olympic level competition: parallel SBS jumps with no falls, no falls on throws and even high quality parallel spins. I just hope they could keep this through the free program.

Tarasova and Morozov opened the competition. They are the headliners. And they were in general good. If you compare them with the rest of pairs are they the best? May be …. But, there are always buts. They were not much better than many others – not to justify such score differences. On the positive side, this program suits them better than the one last year although the style is similar, they skate quite connected, their elements are of good quality. On the areas for improvement side. Specifically during this competition the red dress choice of Evgeniya was not good. There is a lot of red on the boards, she is much smaller than the partner – she was kind of lost on ice. I remember they were faster before, their twist was higher….May be I am just bit…ing here – they were very good. Just the score seems political.

Poluyanova/Sopot had one of weaker performances: a fall, early finish of death spiral, out of sync. Still I think they were judged too harshly. Sopot has sort of “wooden style” – it looks more different than bad – reminds me “the daddy” from China.

Pavlyuchenko/Khodykin impressed me skating like a true pair. Especially good was their step sequence with a lot of twizzles. They were out of sync in spins but the rest was close to perfect. As T/M made a mistake on spins that was my first surprise: how P/K could lose 9 points to T/M?

Kostykovich/Yalin – cannot say much other than I liked what I saw especially their creative lift and how they finished it. I thought their score was too low as well.

Boykova/Kozlovskiy had the best skate in their career. They jumped a perfect SBS 3S. I remember that everything else was of high quality as well so that I was proud for Tamara Moskvina – so big improvement….however, they are still very behind T/M score wise who surely did not have the skate of their life.

Kudryavtseva/Spiridonov – never heard of them before and at first thought that they would be a “filler”. Not at all. They were terrific. Especially I liked the partner – he has some special style in his skating. Hope they will develop further – I am a bit worried because he looks small relative to usual pair partners. But we have examples among Chinese couples – they will be fine. Their score was too low, again.

Labazina/Rakhmanin – never heard of them as well and at this time I was already tired of being surprised by high quality performances and relatively low scores for them.

And then there was the last group. And again very high quality skating from all the pairs. And only Z/E were scored appropriately vs. T/M. My favorite performance from the group was from Mishina/Galyamov. She lost nothing with a new partner, moreover they are growing together.

Good, it was very good. The depth in Russian pairs can be rivaled only by ladies.

Overall a nice day. Hope that tomorrow will be even better (men aside – sad but they look hopeless)

 

[DSQ]

You’re a very expressive writer. You make me want to go to that soviet style cafeteria and have breakfast! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on today’s competition, three hours to go!

 

[Tutto]

Day 1.

Many thanks for your report - you are a marvel. Could you send a compote with bread to Ireland please

 

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Day 2

One reason why I like figure skating is that it brings emotions. Various emotions. It could be joy, the sense of pride and in five minutes there will be nothing but sadness. Today is a good example how conflicting emotions fell like a waterfall on me….

I walked again to the rink. Nice weather, almost no people in the park. I think that on Sunday we shall leave the hotel a couple of hours before the gala starts. There are nice ice chutes there – the boys will have a lot of fun. I already called my wife so that she does not dress them in fancy winter jackets – a couple of ice chute rides and they will be gone….

I ate no less than a kilo of bread today in the rink’s cafeteria. I already said that it felt like Soviet times there. Both good and bad. As for the latter, when I went there for the second time right before men’s Zamboni break the door was closed. I went in anyway and the lady told me: “there are too many of you today, we are tired and need half an hour break”. I could have replied: “You must be kidding – this is the only food place here and the time is right for the competition intermission, come to your senses”. But I did not. May be it’s my 15 years of experience of working in HR, may be it’s my appreciation of traditions preservations here in Saransk. I said instead: “I appreciate that you may be quite tired by now. But you are doing a terrific job here. Cheer up – it will be over soon”. The door of the cafeteria stayed open….

My seat today was near the press center. Tatyana Flade was going back and forth by me carrying a lot of stuff on her. Once she had difficulties – I even offered my help. But she handled it herself….

Ladies short program

What can I say? This was one hell of event, both intense and emotional. Well, I could add “nervous” but it was not except for three skaters: Zagitova, Medvedeva, and Trusova. Those three were nervous. In the end, Zagitova and Trusova delivered and Medvedeva did not.

There was something in Alina’s performance that usually is referred to as “mature skating”. Last time I saw her live was not long time ago – Rostelecom. Somehow, my impression was very different. It is subtle but it is there. And, of course, I felt that she was nervous. This nervousness transferred to me: “will she get the jumps or not?” Thank god, she nailed them. Her spins were not as confident as I know them – she travelled. But the job is done, at least for the short. There was huge relief for everyone, which converted into the big ovation: “this is our Olympic champion”.

I did not recognize Sasha Trusova as well. She was committed to elements but not to the program. Not only was her performance reserved – she was shaky at times. May be the hype: “super quad juniors are coming” had the toll on her. May be her self-confidence was shaken after she lost to Kostornaya. I don’t know. She was reserved. She nailed her jumps, though.

Zhenya started fiercely. Those first moves were impressive. My immediate thoughts were: “Zhenya is genius, Misha Ge is genius”. Then the failed combo, then the fall. After that I could not rationally assess what was going on. I just saw that she was trying but I could not connect to her skating. It had to be good because 62 with a fall and no combo is a hefty score. I said in the beginning about emotions – I was full of joy. The competition was more than terrific until Zhenya. And then it was just drama and sadness. Quod licet Jovi, non licet bovi. I don’t know if anyone but TAT could show up at K&C and sit there for good 10 minutes. At first, there were 3 of them: TAT, Zhenya, and Borser. I already posted a picture in the competition thread. Then Zhenya left and TAT continued with Borser.

May be she shared some secret wisdom and we shall see a different Medvedeva tomorrow – I don’t know. Let’s wait.

As for other skaters. One more time: this was an outstanding event – one of the best I have ever seen. If I start to tell all my thoughts about every skater it will be too long: you will be tired to read. Hence, just the highlights.

Alena Leonova. Kudos, respect – what can I say? She defies all the naysayers: “Russia is only for kids”. This season she skates like I did not see her skating over the last several years. Her gliding is soft, interpretation is powerful. I would give her more pcs than she got. Alas, international judges give even less. And her reaction after she skates well is precious.

Sofia Samodurova. She is trying. She is good. Her problem (in my eyes) is that despite she is outspoken and even flirty she still lacks the “it” factor. Her counterparty in Japan in this sense would be Mai Mihara although I like Sofia much better.

Anna Tarusina. She was very good. I don’t know if she uses the same short program as a year ago. I remember that I had similar feelings – you just watch her skate and forget about everything else. Last year she was mercilessly lowballed. This year it is not that bad but I would still give her higher pcs.

Neither I nor people around me could understand Daria Panenkova’score. She had a good combo, then one jump mistake. Why was she destroyed by judges/tech? She skated not superb but quite solid.

Anna Scherbakova. I was mesmerized and hypnotized (if you remember, there were 2 albums by System of a down: “Mesmerized” and “Hypnotized”). Watching her on TV does not serve her well. She is a jewel. I did not understand the hype before – I do now. I would give her much higher pcs than to cautious Trusova but “it’s Russia”. She brings emotions to you, stirs them….I was close to cry.

Alena Kostornaya who came right after Anna is very different (so much for “Eteri’s conveyor belt). Even now I could name her “a perfect skater”. Hence, she deserves the highest pcs of them all and I am sure she will get them next year as she goes senior. The only small thing – and may be this is just my personal thing – I felt that her skating was “cold” – a contrast to what came from Anna. Last year I did not feel it. I need to give it another try. She is perfect otherwise, shame on this stumble.

Stasya Konstantinova has “it” factor no matter what critics say. And today she was on. Unlike some others she does not feel the pressure. I think, that after the last WC disaster the message to her was clear: “not again”. And without the pressure I saw Stasya in all her glory: cosmic speed: she is surely the fastest skater here and I think in general not only among the Russians. She has very big presence: she is not a small girl – it helps to be present especially when you are so fast. She fine tuned her Anna Karenina since last year and if she delivers tomorrow, I don’t know what to say about the team now.

Nastya Gubanova was very very good. As usual, she was lowballed on pcs but not by a lot. Her “big problem” is that her main competition is Kostornaya who is also: “a full package with outstanding skating skills and without quads and 3A”. And Kostornaya overplays her so far. Let’s see how it unfolds. I am glad that Nastya has found motivation to go on. She is precious….and although my eyes are not as sharp as they used to be but it looks like she is turning into a stunning beauty.

Another former prodigy Liza Nugumanova looks a bit similar to Alena Leonova now. And she even skates to “Smile”. Hope that she has as long career as Alena does….

To be continued….

 

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Men free program

What can I say? Kovtun won. That’s basically it. A depressing event. Still some thoughts in random order.

Artur Dmitriev Jr. keeps entertaining the public with what he names “4A attempts”. One word “scary” describes it best. He fell far from me but they showed a slow-mo: he landed forward and fell – scary, I don’t have another word for that. He ended up with 1A – the price to pay. There is a poem in Russian which is translated: “The insanity of the brave is the wisdom of life – we sing a song to the insanity of the brave”. I think that this poem made a strong impression on him some time ago.

Lord Samarin came there to fight. I felt his dedication sitting no less than 20 meters from him. And it paid in the end – he made European team. His 4Lz was once again enormous and he delivered it nicely. I think that aside Kolyada’s only successful 4Lz attempt this is the biggest lutz among them all. A monster. One strange thing is that his costume that looks like 19th century Russian sentinel’s booth does not fit the music he skates to.

Aliev had an amazing opening out of the blue flip. He nailed one quad. And, where he is now, “mission was accomplished”. Not enough to be competitive internationally despite his many good qualities.

Kovtun’s free program is not as good as his short. But he earned the title fair and square. Simply because no one could challenge him including Mikha who kept trying 4Lz every now and then last season and now falls on 3Lz.

Petrov was skating to some tragic music. And he himself looked very tragic. Still he managed many more jumps today than during the short program. And he gained some places. The fall on his only quad was expected. If Sasha by chance nailed it he could come ahead of Milyukov who did not impress me at all.

When Kovtun’s Phoenix routine is completed so that he can deliver 2 clean programs with the total 5 quads in them he will be competitive again internationally. Men fall. 5 landed quads plus 3 3As may bring you very far. And Maxim is not a terrible skater after all. So, my hopes are with him – there is no one else in Russia now. I have “disconnected myself” from Mikha for the time being.

 

[Seruleane]

whole post.

Completely agree re: Anna Scherbakova and Alena Kostornaya. Alena has seemingly perfect skating (big jumps, sublime posture, elegant positions, smooth transitions) - it is beautiful but leaves me cold. Anna is less perfect, but there is this warmth and fragility in her skating that has won me over. I didn't see this until recently either.

 

[Elucidus]

Terrific story, as always! :agree:

Day 2
I did not recognize Sasha Trusova as well. She was committed to elements but not to the program. Not only was her performance reserved – she was shaky at times. May be the hype: “super quad juniors are coming” had the toll on her. May be her self-confidence was shaken after she lost to Kostornaya. I don’t know. She was reserved. She nailed her jumps, though.

Are you sure you didn't miss something? I mean I watched her today's skate couple of times already - and I didn't notice anything close to nervousness there I admit though that watching it live have its own advantages - through tv screen however you still can see the skater much closer, including facial features and every body movement in detail etc. She always has poker face in the beginning and she is tremendously confident and calm in all her events (especially SP) as far as I can remember. Maybe she was a little bit slower today than usual - but that's it. On other hand she seemed more crisp and clear with her movements (especially in step sequence) - which can be perceived as being cautious by some viewers maybe :confused2:

 

[atsumiri]

Are you sure you didn't miss something? I mean I watched her today's skate couple of times already - and I didn't notice anything close to nervousness there

+100000000000

 

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That's just my perception - I may be wrong. I watched closely and it seemed to me that couple of times she was out of balance. Also I felt that she was preparing for jumps rather than go with no hesitation.

 

[DSQ]

Sofia Samodurova. She is trying. She is good. Her problem (in my eyes) is that despite she is outspoken and even flirty she still lacks the “it” factor. Her counterparty in Japan in this sense would be Mai Mihara although I like Sofia much better.

I agree. Except I think Sofia when she gets about 2/3’s into her program comes alive and training with Liza will certainly help her performance skills. Mai on the other hand only comes alive once she finishes and can react to her performance. Both girls are young and have a chance to improve.