Alina Zagitova

[Lechat]

She only needs to be reasonably clean tomorrow and she is in the GPF. Her form right now is not so good so the important thing is getting back her consistency before Nationals. TBH I really don't know if going to the GPF would do her any good. It will be a permutation of the 3A in the podium so maybe sitting out that tournament would probably be best right now. I think if she is at least 4th and has a high performance at Nationals then she'll likely be sent over the 3rd placer to Worlds to defend her title.

Right, at GPF, it will be a show for her and not a competition. Her goal is not to compete with the 3A but to enjoy skating.
This is Rika’s task to compete with them as the defending champion.
I think it will be a good training for the nationals.

 

[starbella]

I feel really bad for her but I really do love her programs this season and especially her FS. I hope she does well tomorrow and skates without any stress

 

[BabySloth]

I really hope Alina can relax somehow for the Free Program. The pressure must be insane even though she says it doesn't matter to her anymore.
I believe in her! Just please don't read the comments on the internet and what the negative keyboard warriors have to say. Just skate for yourself! Sending her virtual hugs. :luv17:

 

[Lechat]

Well this is motivation. Like she said, she was too relax, she needs some challenging issues to give her best. Her short was upsetting but she didn’t fall, it’s not like she did major mistakes and we know she’s able to deliver when it counts

 

[Giltedge]

It was unfortunate about the step-out and naturally, Alina would be a little disappointed at today's outcome,
but what a lovely performance of her SP that was by Alina.
As always, hers stands out among the rest as the most difficult and challenging programme.

I am confident that she can achieve a podium place tomorrow. Whatever the end result, we all know, and what she knows inside her, is that she is already golden all the way through, and already a soaring winner in the eyes of fans, supporters, admirers, well-wishers everywhere.

 

[Noreg16]

It honestly doesn’t look good at all. You can ban me etc but Her team did give up on her and only want to keep getting % off of her income such as shows and contracts. They made several mistakes considering her career this year, stsq that is seen as level 3 and both programs having time issues. Plus as i ve said before she has no room to re-do her combos if anything happens coz of unnecessary crazy entries that don’t even help with goe that much. They told her after her skate if she wanted to do her flip combo she should ve switched her entry to some point...but they NEVER trained it with her. How come?
They didn’t send her to compete for a challenger but it would have been good for her to know how she feels during REAL competition now plus all these program mistakes would ve been noticed prior. She had 2sec more than allowed on JO but they didn’t call it btw.
This “my coaches dont make me anymore” thing is NOT good. You cant skate JUST for pleasure not on the show cmon. You need an adrenaline. I hope Alina can bounce back. She said she needed someone to believe in her more than she believes in herself to win...ET is busy with her new students, she is all about their wins. Last interview her choreographer did basically said Alina is smart coz she understands she is too old to compete with new girls and that her time is up....she is not 11-13 anymore he said, meanwhile Alina says stuff that shows she is interested in trying quads....good to know her coaches believe in her. That new year ice show was proposed directly to ET and she pitched it to Alina...right in the middle of the season...having Alena with her on both events IS CRAZY, idk what were they thinking, they took everything from Alina ofc she doesn’t know how to feel, she keeps saying she doesn’t care about placement but it’s not true, ET was raising her as a champion and now Alina can’t be anything else.
There are tapes on her back for whatever reason, I thought Alina looked not as good even in her stsq. Hoping she skates well tomorrow but tbh I don’t think so, emptiness in her eyes during skate made me really worry, its worse than being nervous

 

[Finley]

LOOK! It's finally here! -

https://twitter.com/teamzagitova/status/1197913037514170369

 

[Finley]

My NHK thoughts/coping strategy -

One performance at a time.

Remember last season.

Bronze is beautiful. Maybe Shiseido can add a special bronzer to Alina's signature cosmetic line.

If mistakes are being made now is the time to make them and learn from them. This may end up helping her when she needs it most at some point.

We all survived the Milan Mental Meltdown of 2018 & the 'post GPF downward trend of 2019'; we will get through this too.



Also Welcome Vemvane! It's always so nice to see new Alina fans here!

 

[Vemvane]

LOOK! It's finally here! -

https://twitter.com/teamzagitova/status/1197913037514170369

Alina is so pretty, and that red suits her so well!

Thank you for the welcome as well, Finley!

 

[Finley]

Alina is so pretty, and that red suits her so well!

Thank you for the welcome as well, Finley!

Here's another video -

https://twitter.com/teamzagitova/status/1197917366010691585

We all need a shot of beauty to counteract the sad

 

[Finley]

It honestly doesn’t look good at all. You can ban me etc but Her team did give up on her and only want to keep getting % off of her income such as shows and contracts. They made several mistakes considering her career this year, stsq that is seen as level 3 and both programs having time issues. Plus as i ve said before she has no room to re-do her combos if anything happens coz of unnecessary crazy entries that don’t even help with goe that much. They told her after her skate if she wanted to do her flip combo she should ve switched her entry to some point...but they NEVER trained it with her. How come?
They didn’t send her to compete for a challenger but it would have been good for her to know how she feels during REAL competition now plus all these program mistakes would ve been noticed prior. She had 2sec more than allowed on JO but they didn’t call it btw.
This “my coaches dont make me anymore” thing is NOT good. You cant skate JUST for pleasure not on the show cmon. You need an adrenaline. I hope Alina can bounce back. She said she needed someone to believe in her more than she believes in herself to win...ET is busy with her new students, she is all about their wins. Last interview her choreographer did basically said Alina is smart coz she understands she is too old to compete with new girls and that her time is up....she is not 11-13 anymore he said, meanwhile Alina says stuff that shows she is interested in trying quads....good to know her coaches believe in her. That new year ice show was proposed directly to ET and she pitched it to Alina...right in the middle of the season...having Alena with her on both events IS CRAZY, idk what were they thinking, they took everything from Alina ofc she doesn’t know how to feel, she keeps saying she doesn’t care about placement but it’s not true, ET was raising her as a champion and now Alina can’t be anything else.
There are tapes on her back for whatever reason, I thought Alina looked not as good even in her stsq. Hoping she skates well tomorrow but tbh I don’t think so, emptiness in her eyes during skate made me really worry, its worse than being nervous

Let's see how it plays out. Mistakes are a part of skating. No one can be perfect all the time. She is still learning and her team is still learning. This is just one more experience.

I believe in her team. I believed in them when Alina was winning everything all the time. I believed in them even more after the way they supported her in Milan. It's the failures that reveal you. Anyone can enjoy success and look good winning.

I believed in them last season when people were saying that sending Alina to Worlds would cost Russia their 3 spots. (Remember that?!)

It was really easy to believe in them when Alina won Worlds and killed it at the Test Skates. I'm not going to doubt them now.

If mistakes have been made re: choreo, not sending her to a Challenger, and permitting too many outside activities, then let them be done this season. Better now than later.

 

[Decoder]

It honestly doesn’t look good at all. You can ban me etc but Her team did give up on her and only want to keep getting % off of her income such as shows and contracts. They made several mistakes considering her career this year, stsq that is seen as level 3 and both programs having time issues. Plus as i ve said before she has no room to re-do her combos if anything happens coz of unnecessary crazy entries that don’t even help with goe that much. They told her after her skate if she wanted to do her flip combo she should ve switched her entry to some point...but they NEVER trained it with her. How come?
They didn’t send her to compete for a challenger but it would have been good for her to know how she feels during REAL competition now plus all these program mistakes would ve been noticed prior. She had 2sec more than allowed on JO but they didn’t call it btw.
This “my coaches dont make me anymore” thing is NOT good. You cant skate JUST for pleasure not on the show cmon. You need an adrenaline. I hope Alina can bounce back. She said she needed someone to believe in her more than she believes in herself to win...ET is busy with her new students, she is all about their wins. Last interview her choreographer did basically said Alina is smart coz she understands she is too old to compete with new girls and that her time is up....she is not 11-13 anymore he said, meanwhile Alina says stuff that shows she is interested in trying quads....good to know her coaches believe in her. That new year ice show was proposed directly to ET and she pitched it to Alina...right in the middle of the season...having Alena with her on both events IS CRAZY, idk what were they thinking, they took everything from Alina ofc she doesn’t know how to feel, she keeps saying she doesn’t care about placement but it’s not true, ET was raising her as a champion and now Alina can’t be anything else.
There are tapes on her back for whatever reason, I thought Alina looked not as good even in her stsq. Hoping she skates well tomorrow but tbh I don’t think so, emptiness in her eyes during skate made me really worry, its worse than being nervous

Noreg16, I understand that you are worried about Alina, and wish her the best. But it's not time to panic, yet. Give Alina and the team more time to deal with new issues/problems as they see them. Really, it's a new challenge to the team, because now there is a historical trio training with/competing against Alina, and I am sure the team will find the best way to further her long term success.

 

[Finley]

Noreg16, I understand that you are worried about Alina, and wish her the best. But it's not time to panic, yet. Give Alina and the team more time to deal with new issues/problems as they see them. Really, it's a new challenge to the team, because now there is a historical trio training with/competing against Alina, and I am sure the team will find the best way to further her long term success.

Things that I know to be 100% true -

Alina's team knows more than I/we do.

They care about Alina. That didn't stop just because they now have 3 other senior skaters that can potentially outscore her technically.

They will do their best for her. It might look strange to us but maybe they are doing their best for Alina's long term journey at the expense of 'right now'. The long game may or may not pay off in the way we want it to. It may blow up and go wrong. But I will never believe it was because her team stopped caring about her.

Something that I personally believe to be true -

It is more important for Alina to stay as physically healthy and uninjured as possible right now. Whatever the cost.

 

[Edwin]

Alina Zagitova and Eteri Tutberidze, Great Victories, Motivation
New and long interview with Alina (English Subtitles DONE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FbsjuIMP0c

Really nice interview, Alina at ease and talkative like never before.

Growing up and leaving some childhood angst behind, being older and being able to reflect, being more mature and being able to see cause and effect in your own and other people's words and actions, being both sadder but much wiser, all this clearly showed in Alina's interview.

She is searching for the right balance, searching for the middle ground, and she will find these. By herself, with her family, with her trainers.

 

[esteticlove]

Honestly, I found her skate quite bizarre for a reason I can't really explain because I probably won't find the words. I wasn't really shocked or concerned about her mistakes on the combo because jumps are jumps - hard stuff, they don't always work out. However, she was kind of off from the very beginning, even in the warm-up. As if something was bothering her. Usually, when Alina (or any Eteri girl) does a mistake on her jumps she would still deliver everything else on point but she didn't appear that invested to me this time (although the ending was very emotional!). According to most people she was nervous but at the same time I didn't see the typical nervous Alina who could tremble and breathe fast before the music starts. So, what I'm trying to say is that to me she appeared to be in some kind of a discomfort, either physical (I can't ignore her back tapes) ur psychological (as if she was thinking for something else). I really really hope that she's not injured and that she wasn't skating in pain. Today's competition is over and she's 4th with basically 0 difference to 3rd. I think that even with a decent skate, if not perfect, she'll get on the podium and go to the GPF.

 

[AkikoNana]

There’s something about Alina that worries me since IdF. After the Short she massaged her neck with a strange look; I thought it was because she knew that something had gone wrong in her program but now that I see her so uncomfortable and with tears in her eyes I start to think that there’s something else, maybe...an injury?

 

[Finley]

Honestly, I found her skate quite bizarre for a reason I can't really explain because I probably won't find the words. I wasn't really shocked or concerned about her mistakes on the combo because jumps are jumps - hard stuff, they don't always work out. However, she was kind of off from the very beginning, even in the warm-up. As if something was bothering her. Usually, when Alina (or any Eteri girl) does a mistake on her jumps she would still deliver everything else on point but she didn't appear that invested to me this time (although the ending was very emotional!). According to most people she was nervous but at the same time I didn't see the typical nervous Alina who could tremble and breathe fast before the music starts. So, what I'm trying to say is that to me she appeared to be in some kind of a discomfort, either physical (I can't ignore her back tapes) ur psychological (as if she was thinking for something else). I really really hope that she's not injured and that she wasn't skating in pain. Today's competition is over and she's 4th with basically 0 difference to 3rd. I think that even with a decent skate, if not perfect, she'll get on the podium and go to the GPF.

Today is so weird. I don't even know how to say it. Just yesterday we watched the absolutely adorable interview with Alina being her most precious hamsterlike self! :luv17:

Then to see her today being interviewed after that skate is just gutting beyond all words to tell it. :sad21:

Now Shiseido finally releases the commercial that we have been waiting on forever. Alina has never looked more beautiful. I'm so freaking proud of her - she is an absolute supermodel! I think this is the beginning of an amazing future career for her.

But I'm still sad thinking she might be sad. :scowl:

And weirdly worried mixed with hopeful. :confused2:

I feel like she'll be ok but if she doesn't make it to the GPF then so be it. I'll look for the positives in that as well.

 

[flanker]

I think we are overdramatizing it. One missed combo is costly, but it is not a sign of losing anything of the skills. All levels are still on max and jumping ability as a whole is in morm, considering Alina's completely clean trainings. Of course it is possible that something bothered Alina's mind, but for such conclusion we have only personal impressions, while I would rely on her personal words about being too relaxed (after all, that was probably the reason of the bad result at worlds 2018).

I would guess Alina needs some challenge, apart from the adrenaline mentioned by her (or rather it's maybe the same). First junior season she had to prove herself, after the season before that wasn't good (first season with Eteri). She had to get among the best juniors of that time, just in Russia Gubanova, Nugumanova, Polina Tsurskaya and some others. More than that, she had the most challenging program of that time, DQ, first fully backloaded free program. That drove her forward. Than, first senior season, she had to confirm high status from the junior season, earn the entry for the Olympics etc. And after olympic season, apart from the struggles, she felt the need to support her OGM by winning other top competitions, esp. worlds. Now, something challenging, something hard should (in my view) give her a new impulse. Some could say that competing with other Eteri girls could be it, but I don't think Alina thinks the way "I want to defeat particular name". Maybe, just maybe, learning and mastering a new element (and performing it clean in competition) could be such motivation.

I think Alina does the best when she looks up, not down or horizontal.

 

[esteticlove]

I feel like she'll be ok but if she doesn't make it to the GPF then so be it. I'll look for the positives in that as well.

Yes, totally my thoughts. I don't care about the GPF as long as everything is fine with her physical and mental condition as a person. And I still believe that she'll make it through the competition with a good result.

 

[Finley]

I think we are overdramatizing it. One missed combo is costly, but it is not a sign of losing anything of the skills. All levels are still on max and jumping ability as a whole is in morm, considering Alina's completely clean trainings. Of course it is possible that something bothered Alina's mind, but for such conclusion we have only personal impressions, while I would rely on her personal words about being too relaxed (after all, that was probably the reason of the bad result at worlds 2018).

I would guess Alina needs some challenge, apart from the adrenaline mentioned by her (or rather it's maybe the same). First junior season she had to prove herself, after the season before that wasn't good (first season with Eteri). She had to get among the best juniors of that time, just in Russia Gubanova, Nugumanova, Polina Tsurskaya and some others. More than that, she had the most challenging program of that time, DQ, first fully backloaded free program. That drove her forward. Than, first senior season, she had to confirm high status from the junior season, earn the entry for the Olympics etc. And after olympic season, apart from the struggles, she felt the need to support her OGM by winning other top competitions, esp. worlds. Now, something challenging, something hard should (in my view) give her a new impulse. Some could say that competing with other Eteri girls could be it, but I don't think Alina thinks the way "I want to defeat particular name". Maybe, just maybe, learning and mastering a new element (and performing it clean in competition) could be such motivation.

I think Alina does the best when she looks up, not down or horizontal.

We are an overdramatic bunch at the best of times.