2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Jontor]

I'm saying it was (flip was clean) and you could see it had stung Anna's heart.
The question is, if she got broken or motivated by it. :think:

I don't think it broke her at all. On the contrary, I think Anna is a hard worker and it might spark her fighting sprit even more. We'll see.

 

[Scott512]

You don't know that any more than anyone else.

Body type.

How can you be so sure of that? Yes, her mother is tiny but she could still gain weight.

Body type. By the way it's not a criticism at all. This is why I call her Anna ballerina.

Yeah, only that it won‘t. Or at least I hope it won‘t. I know you mean no harm but you’re hoping for something very, very unrealistic and unhealthy in your statement. Girls go through puberty, their bodies change, as does their weight. This is natural. A 17-18 year old should not look the same as a 15 year old. If Anna stays at the same weight she is now, I will worry for her health. Maybe Anna is lucky with her body type. But she will still go through at least some changes. Everyone marveled at how Zhenya went through puberty seemingly unaffected in terms of weight and performance stability. Now we know how she did that and it wasn‘t all her genetics or her mental strength. Sure, that played a part but so did a diet that consisted of “living half starved“ (this is an actual quote). I hope this won‘t happen to Anna. I would prefer if she took half a season to adjust to her new body, relearn some of her technique and performed inconsistently for a while than have her risk her health.

What Sasha, Anna and Aliona are doing now is simply amazing. But they will all go through puberty sooner or later and will need help on how to adjust their technique after they‘ve gone through these changes. I hope they will get it because really, puberty shouldn‘t be something scary anymore. It‘s just a period you have to go through, it means growing up, and it means adjusting to that, both mentally as well as in terms of technique. If it was handled like that, instead of fearing it, maybe our sport would be a healthier one.

I hope her weight won't be the same in a couple years too. We will see.

I don't know... Kostornaia seems affected already, but her technique is pretty reliable so I think she's going to fare alright. I don't think Sasha will be too affected. Her body is really toned naturally... If anything I would guess Anna would be most affected by puberty because she has such tiny hips. The second her hips develop, she is going to struggle with fully rotating her jumps.

She has the best skating skills and great technique so that can save Aliona even if she puts on a couple pounds.

 

[Amei]

My observations agree with your statements.

We'll see in Montreal who is in peak form, both physically and mentally.

I will not be surprised at all if Anna Shcherbakova proves to be the best again.

I wouldn't be surprised if any of the 3 win gold. Based on the season results if Shcherbakova's clean with no under-rotations or falls then she most likely wins; if Shcherbakova has a mistake and Kostornaia is clean then Kostornaia will win. Trusova is the wild card of the 3, if she does a 4-5 clean quad program then she should win but based on her season so far in competition she hasn't done the 4-5 quad program clean and she's a few points behind her teammates in the PCS mark.

 

[PyeongChang2018]

I wouldn't be surprised if any of the 3 win gold. Based on the season results if Shcherbakova's clean with no under-rotations or falls then she most likely wins; if Shcherbakova has a mistake and Kostornaia is clean then Kostornaia will win. Trusova is the wild card of the 3, if she does a 4-5 clean quad program then she should win but based on her season so far in competition she hasn't done the 4-5 quad program clean and she's a few points behind her teammates in the PCS mark.

RusFed is pushing for Anna, but international judges are into Alena more. Kostornaia will win Worlds, barring Trusova's performance.

 

[Fried]

Body type.

There is a big difference between increased probability and certainty.

 

[Fried]

The number of diviners appears to be increasing as the days to worlds decrease. Both in terms of weight and gold. But that's probably the way it is in a world full of universal experts. : D

 

[colormyworld240]

I would love for Anna to win Worlds, she's my favourite. But Sasha has had the worst season of the 3A and she's really due for a clean skate especially since we've seen her nail it in practice. And with a clean 5 quad FS and potentially 3A in the short, she would deserve to win over both Anna and Alena regardless of how they skate based on their current layouts.

I actually don't think Anna is very lucky with her body type. She doesn't have the ability to build muscle like other skaters. I would imagine that if she could, she would. She trains with Alina, Sasha, Alena, and Kamila so it's not like there is some secret diet/workout routine that Sasha is doing that she doesn't know about. Probably doing the same workouts but have drastically different bodies. Just like how Sasha will never have Anna's flexibility. But jumps are by far the most highly scored elements in the sport and if you can be as strong as Sasha that's definitely the advantage. Anna's 4Lz is massive but you can get tell a lot of this comes from the hammer toe. Where as Sasha has easy lift in all her quads from the strength in her legs, even if the 4Lz is slightly smaller. Same with Kamila. Anna has a similar body type to Evgenia, but even skinnier. And we saw with Evgenia that her body didn't have drastic changes in puberty, but she also never had the ability to build more muscular legs like Alina even now that she's well past puberty, training with a difference coach, etc. There is a big genetic component in the sport as with everything else and some people are just luckier. If Anna is lucky, she will remain slim but build more muscle in her legs. I don't think it's likely though given how her hips are set; she have very narrow hips and overall very small bone structure. And looking at the bone structure of her mother and father, luck is not on her side.

 

[Good Vibes Only]

I didn't say Anna was significantly worse at Euros than at GPF. All three of them were a bit off at Euros than usual (probably due to the new year break based on their interviews). I just think it's weird to say one is on the downward curve and another is stable when the drop for two was more or less ... the same? or slightly worse for the latter if we are being picky? Alyona did make one big extra mistake (fall) and Anna did two small extra mistakes (URs on easier jumps (only to Anna's standard ).

Anyway, all these talks are meaningless indeed. They (and Sasha) just had one not-the-best competition, but it was understandable. I think at worlds the girls will show up more prepared than ever.

I completely agree with you. You also can’t really make accurate predictions about the upward/downward curve on a skater throughout the season because each competition is different. Its not like a skaters performance at Euros or 4CC is going to impact their performance at worlds. At each competition skaters go into it on a clean slate. Also these curves aren’t good tools for predictions. For example, Alina’s skates at Euros and RusNats last season were well below her standards and many predicted that she would not perform well at worlds because of that. However, she skated two clean programs and ended up winning. I could point out more examples too but that would be redundant.

 

[Tolstoj]

For me the trajectory is:

Anna is still the most musical and most flexible of the three, she knows how to keep a spiral and how to make a moment like the beginning of her steps sequence in the short, those little things very effective for performance, and of the three to me she is the most enjoyable to watch even though her edges aren't as deep as Kostornaya.

They are maybe pushing it too hard with the quads, and as of result consistency even on the 3-3 combos isn't always a given (that's my main takeaway with this new quad era, in the past Eteri skaters used to go for consistent skates every single time, now they do allow more mistakes because of the technical gap with the others).

Alyona is still the same skater she was last season (with the 3a now), just slightly less consistent. International judges pretty much said loud and clear that they prefer her clean quadless program, over quad programs with mistakes.

Sasha is perhaps the most problematic cause i think they were expecting her to be the best of the group (because she used to be stronger technically and arguargbly still is) but clearly the inconsistency is starting to weak her confidence a bit, i'm not sure training more difficult elements like the 3a is a solution, but i guess that's also her personal goal, as we read from interview she basically started figure skating only for jumping.

To this day i still believe a clean Trusova could beat the other two but i hope we'll see that clean short and clean long back to back at some point.

 

[colormyworld240]

I also don't think Alena or any of the other 3A are on a downward spiral. Some skaters have been early/late season skaters historically. The most recent example that comes to mind is Sotskova who I always saw as peaking in the first half; good on GPs, good in GPF, then loses momentum at Euros/Worlds/Olympics being beaten by skaters that she had beaten earlier in the season. Then we had skaters who were super consistent for the entire season like Evgenia. And then there was Alina who always had unpredictable dramatic ups and downs since juniors which went on until she announced her break.

Alena had her worst skate so far at Euros but this is not new, she also had problems last season on a JGP, and another mistake the season before at JWs. Anna has had 1 big mistake every competition this season, a disastrous for her standards JGPF last season, and a bad nationals the year before that. With Sasha it is expected that she will have more mistakes as she has more quads. She had mistakes through last season, and also the season before. What's amazing though is that I don't think Sasha has ever fallen on a triple at any international competition. And it's been 3 seasons. Correct me if I'm wrong but has any other skater done this? I don't see any trend with the 3A so far, I think if there is any we would have to wait until Worlds is over at least, and also next season.

 

[Amei]

For me the trajectory is:

Anna is still the most musical and most flexible of the three, she knows how to keep a spiral and how to make a moment like the beginning of her steps sequence in the short, those little things very effective for performance, and of the three to me she is the most enjoyable to watch even though her edges aren't as deep as Kostornaya.

They are maybe pushing it too hard with the quads, and as of result consistency even on the 3-3 combos isn't always a given (that's my main takeaway with this new quad era, in the past Eteri skaters used to go for consistent skates every single time, now they do allow more mistakes because of the technical gap with the others).

Alyona is still the same skater she was last season (with the 3a now), just slightly less consistent. International judges pretty much said loud and clear that they prefer her clean quadless program, over quad programs with mistakes.

Sasha is perhaps the most problematic cause i think they were expecting her to be the best of the group (because she used to be stronger technically and arguargbly still is) but clearly the inconsistency is starting to weak her confidence a bit, i'm not sure training more difficult elements like the 3a is a solution, but i guess that's also her personal goal, as we read from interview she basically started figure skating only for jumping.

To this day i still believe a clean Trusova could beat the other two but i hope we'll see that clean short and clean long back to back at some point.

Agree with most everything you said, except a bit about the judges liking a clean quadless program vs. a quad program with mistakes - if Anna's mistakes were only a under-rotation or a step-out like at Nationals, it would be 1 thing but so far at the GPF and Europeans she had a fall on a quad which has mandatory deductions -5 GOE and -1 for a fall. And Anna has won the FS portion of both of those competitions the only reason Kostornaia won the overall event was because she can do her triple axel in the SP.

To this day i still believe a clean Trusova could beat the other two but i hope we'll see that clean short and clean long back to back at some point.

What kind of 'clean Trusova' do you think beats the other 2? Do you think she can beat the other 2 if she's clean doing the layouts she had at Europeans or do you think she has to have at least 4 cleanly landed quads to do it?

 

[Arbitrary]

Trusova needs 3Ax in SP.
That will bring her some self-assured.

If so, four quads in just enough to jump out of the league. Five? Five clean quads means a podium among European men. Maybe among all...

 

[colormyworld240]

I just rewatched Sasha's new program and I actually really like it. The first half is stronger than the second. She has some really pretty lines and extensions in the opening and beautiful soft arms which I haven't seen from her. I think it's a good vehicle for world's, actually. And I think the judges would like it more. I'm not a huge fan of the step sequence, but the biggest issue is with the spins. Especially the camel into half Biellmann. It's placed where the music speeds up, but this spin is quite slow and it doesn't match, highlighting how slow the spin is. I think it'd be more effective to have her jump during the crescendos and spin duding the more muted parts of the music.

 

[Elucidus]

https://tass.ru/sport/7874845
Sotnikova ended her career officially. Who's next? Radionova? Pogorilaya? Sotskova?

 

[Arbitrary]

One by one, eventually

 

[KOBOT37]

Now that Adelina is retired, isn't it high time for certain youtube Figure skating celebrities to retire too ?

On a serious note, I wish Adelina a quick recovery and happy life out of sports.

 

[Edwin]

FFKKR preview of Junior World Championships, highlighting the medal contenders: https://fsrussia.ru/news/4946-v-tallinne-startuet-chempionat-mira-sredi-yuniorov.html

 

[macy]

i think all 3 girls are tired, that was made evident at Euros, and it wouldn't surprise me to see less than stellar skates from all of them at worlds. this is their first senior season and it's very different from previous years...the pressure, caliber of competition, being on tv, all 3 wanting to have a solid breakout on the scene combined with still growing and dealing with puberty. this has been a long season for all of them. i still am hoping they all have solid skates to end their season because they have worked so hard, but at the same time i can't imagine it's not catching up to them.

 

[Blacknight]

Sasha as we read from interview basically started figure skating only for jumping.

In what interview I can find such funny things?

 

[Blacknight]

I can understand her (or her team) wanting to try something new, given that she lags behind on PCS compared with the top women. Maybe the judges will find a program like this more palatable.

I cant understand what you can understand when speak so about most PCS girl of last 2 seasons from this trio.