2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Tolstoj]

Well all 3 performed well enough. But I have to say, the scores were a bit....generous. Especially for Sasha, and Alena too.
But whatever, we know how scoring works.

Agreed on Trusova.

She still skated a great program but giving her the SB considering the extra turn on the axel, the wobbly biellmann and the weird exit of the flying camel felt a bit too generous to me.

Watching it on Rai Sport, Franca Bianconi also mentioned Alena's 3A while still beautiful and huge, she loses speed and flow on the landing which is not ideal.

 

[Tolstoj]

what if they are all squeaky clean?

Depends on the judging panel, and how much they value the fact that Kostornaya and Shcherbakova are better than Trusova artistically.

Looking at the score in the SP, probably Trusova would win in that case, cause components seem more or less on the same level, 1 point difference is irrelevant when you have 4-5 quads.

 

[SkatingFan9]

Depends on the judging panel, and how much they value the fact that Kostornaya and Shcherbakova are better than Trusova artistically.

Something that can never be objectively proven can’t ever be a fact; it can only be an opinion.

Many people actually prefer Sasha’s artistry over the other two. If I were to say Sasha’s artistry is better than, say, Anna’s, you wouldn’t be able to prove it wrong because there is no right or wrong answer.

It’s all subjective.

 

[Edwin]

Depends on the judging panel, and how much they value the fact that Kostornaya and Shcherbakova are better than Trusova artistically.

Looking at the score in the SP, probably Trusova would win in that case, cause components seem more or less on the same level, 1 point difference is irrelevant when you have 4-5 quads.

And Aleksandra is again at 10 points behind the leader, so has to jump her maximum quintuple quads program probably. I so wish she'd have her triksel solid and could ease up a little on the quads.

So my guess at the Gold medalist is Kostornaya, but one mistake, and Shcherbakova will win Gold. When Trusova lands five quads cleanly, she will be Golden. It is going to be so exciting, tomorrow's final flight in the free skating. A real fight for the medals again, where anything can happen between those Awesomely Amazing Aces from #TeamTutberidzeForProgress.

 

[sk8kirsty]

Please cam someone send me a link to where I can watch Aleksandra Golovkina SP?? for some reason it's been cut off the ladies SP video, please this is really important

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Strong performances by the top 3!

Has to be said though - shame on the judges for giving Trusova a personal best (PCS and SP score) with an error. Not to mention, the program and performance were not worthy of that score. Good on her though to recover. Even Kostornaia's GOE were a bit high on the step sequence and the 3-3 combo IMO. Anna's scores were pretty fairly earned but 35 is still a bit high for her, but not egregious. There's obviously no doubt those three were the class of the field.

Alexia Paganini and Maé Meité were also super fun to watch too!

 

[Decoder]

I thought I wouldn't be able to watch live, but I ended up watching during my class (apologies to my professor )

I think my favorite part of watching the 3A compete against each other is that you literally never know who is going to win. It could be any one of them on any given day! Sure, there's quite a gap between them now, but the competition is far from over. I cannot wait to see who walks away European Champion tomorrow, it's going to be so exciting!

The new semester just got started, so you could relax a little bit.

 

[DenissVFan]

Please cam someone send me a link to where I can watch Aleksandra Golovkina SP?? for some reason it's been cut off the ladies SP video, please this is really important

PMed you.

 

[SkatingFan9]

Strong performances by the top 3!

Has to be said though - shame on the judges for giving Trusova a personal best (PCS and SP score) with an error. Not to mention, the program and performance were not worthy of that score. Even Kostornaia's GOE were a bit high on the step sequence and the 3-3 combo, IMO, but there's no doubt those three were the class of the field.

Alexia Paganini and Maé Meité were also super fun to watch too!

Sasha received a personal best because she deserved it. She was lowballed on PCS earlier in the season - particularly at the Grand Prix final - and she’s been making a serious effort to improve her components. She knows she can destroy everyone technically; now her PCS is starting to catch up with Anna’s.

 

[Jontor]

what if they are all squeaky clean?

It depends on how many quads Trusova has. In training she has only three. Which is good imo, I think five is too much.
But if everyone is squeaky clean and Sasha only has 3 quads, Anna wins.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Sasha received a personal best because she deserved it. She was lowballed on PCS earlier in the season - particularly at the Grand Prix final - and she’s been making a serious effort to improve her components. She knows she can destroy everyone technically; now her PCS is starting to catch up with Anna’s.

We'll agree to disagree. But I don't think she (currently) deserves 34.42 for PCS, even for a clean performance. Certainly not for a performance with an error.

She is the most juniorish of the 3 A's, and her skating still shows it, for the moment. I have huge admiration for her technical prowess but she still skates rather awkwardly and doesn't have as deep edges as Anna/Alena, and certainly not the same level of finesse and expression. She's still a bit of a scrappy skater that comes across as mechanically doing her programs, even if the jumps are impressive to watch.

 

[Mishaminion]

Sasha received a personal best because she deserved it. She was lowballed on PCS earlier in the season - particularly at the Grand Prix final - and she’s been making a serious effort to improve her components. She knows she can destroy everyone technically; now her PCS is starting to catch up with Anna’s.

Sasha has continued to improve her performance, it is getting better and better each competition, at least in the SP anyway, where she isn't jumping a bunch of quads.

I feel like this is the accepted narrarive that Sasha is just a jumping bean who only cares about jumps, when it it totally isn't true. Her performance today was beautiful.

She fell at GPF attempting the triple axel, but the error today was far less serious and she really performed.

 

[Alex65]

We'll agree to disagree. But I don't think she (currently) deserves 34.42 for PCS, even for a clean performance. Certainly not for a performance with an error.

She is the most juniorish of the 3 A's, and her skating still shows it, for the moment. I have huge admiration for her technical prowess but she still skates rather awkwardly and doesn't have as deep edges as Anna/Alena, and certainly not the same level of finesse and expression. She's still a bit of a scrappy skater that comes across as mechanically doing her programs, even if the jumps are impressive to watch.

This is a controversial statement.
subjective assessment of the quality of the skater. Nevertheless, Sasha’s energy and immediacy are less appreciated by the judges than the elegance of her friends.

 

[Mishaminion]

Grace and elegance are not PCS categories so what does it matter anyway, neither is
a preconceived level of what constitutes "maturity" either come to think of it

 

[Tolstoj]

Something that can never be objectively proven can’t ever be a fact; it can only be an opinion.

Many people actually prefer Sasha’s artistry over the other two. If I were to say Sasha’s artistry is better than, say, Anna’s, you wouldn’t be able to prove it wrong because there is no right or wrong answer.

It’s all subjective.

Some of it is subjective, certain weaknesses are clear.

She is sloppy during crossovers, that is not an opinion.

The lack of flow in the steps sequence also evident, and even outside some of the elements like her exit to the 3ltz-3t she is very stiff and the choreographers should change the transition out in my opinion. (Shcherbakova and Kostornaya also have some stiffness here and there)

I also don't always love the use of transitions: Sasha has some very cool moves like her cantilever but it's like 2 seconds and then onto the next jump. Let it sink! We know she could do it for other 2 seconds easily and the audience would respond way more if she holds it longer.

Then in the free skate performance and interpretation are usually weakpoints for Sasha, cause it's literally ALL about the jumps, at no point you can sense that she is trying to sell you the routine, the complete lack of facial expressions doesn't help, but that there is some criticism to address on the lack of choreography. 3/4 of the program is crossovers setting the next quad.

It all may look fine enough now cause she is still tiny and cute, but as the body grows all those issues will become more and more noticeable if they don't get fixed, she still has time to develop.

 

[Jontor]

The draw for last flight tomorrow

Ryabova
Peltonen
Paganini
Shcherbakova
Trusova
Kostornaia

I know Sasha hates to skate last, so I guess this is good news for her?

 

[Fluture]

Kostornaya last. My nerves won‘t survive this.

I‘ll write my thoughts after the pairs FS. But the girls were generally great to watch today.

 

[Mishaminion]

Sasha has scaled back on her planned quads so that is clearly false.
I think the "all she cares about is jumps" narrative is doing her a massive disservice as a skater, because it is clearly not true. She IS improving so she obviously is working on the rest of her skating and her performance and is even playing it safer with the jumps it seems which will help her PCS and performance developing skills even more

 

[Jontor]

Kostornaya last. My nerves won‘t survive this.

I‘ll write my thoughts after the pairs FS. But the girls were generally great to watch today.

Yay! Looking forward to hear your experience.

 

[LenaRadiFan]

Okay so my thoughts on the sp:

Aliona: spledid, there is nothing else to say she is just always amazing. But at the end you could see she was dissatisfied with her two shaky landings(axel and combo), I think the goe should've been a tad bit smaller but besides that? Amazing as always.

Anna: Yall know me, I have a soft spot for Anya and I just find her magnificent to watch always, she just pours her heart and soul out on that ice and it'd just amazing, some of her spins traveled a bit but it was barely noticeable.

Sasha: Honestly I am so impressed with the lil pocket rocket. This was her best short thus far of the season. It was much improved and she certainly performed it well. I watched it with my mom and she raised a great point about how she performs the fast part well, which she deems more difficult that slow and classical. I love that Sasha is clearly improving on her second mark and it's working(only teeny lil thing, I wouldn't have her with that much of a gap to Alexia but that's just my opinion)