Russian Junior Test Skates 2022

[lariko]

Apparently, I don’t find tango tiring, except Soy Maria. Like, I dunno, but maybe not this one in tango year?

Elizaveta Maleina/Grigoriy Rodin and Leontieva/Gorlekin were my favs after the first warm up group.

 

[lariko]

Dancing Anna Scherbakova looked pretty neat, but ouch, her partner seemed to have had some trouble with all the falls. Poor kids

Taisiya Linchevskaya/Andrei Pylin got points for bringing unusual colours but lost points with Yo Soy Maria…

Gorshenina and Makarov were so much fun! Like I know I showed up ready to cheer for them, but they totally going to be this season’s favs in juniors for me!

 

[Mauvedreamer]

I am missing most Russian junior pairs and ladies. When I know that ladies with scores as low as 185 and 188 get a medal at JGP, and I know that there is quite a few of junior ladies in Russia that would score much higher, I really struggle to be excited about those achievements. And pairs, well, without Russians the JGP pairs will be a joke. And this does not mean that I support the war, but I can’t get excited about such average results when I know that there are quite a few skaters (singles and pairs) who are much better, but were prevented to compete for something that is out of their control…

The only thing I can say about the state of the current junior grand prix without the Russians is "Dracerys" .

 

[Flying Feijoa]

Apparently, I don’t find tango tiring, except Soy Maria.

That's a handy trait to have, Maria is just a drop in the ocean of tangos you get to enjoy this season I'm all for it!
Just started catching up... I will take longer since I am nosy about watching what they do in the warmups...

 

[lariko]

That's a handy trait to have, Maria is just a drop in the ocean of tangos you get to enjoy this season I'm all for it!
Just started catching up... I will take longer since I am nosy about watching what they do in the warmups...

Looking forward to your impressions!

@Mauvedreamer

Lol. Dracarys season…

 

[Flying Feijoa]

Alrighty then, first group Though a little note of warning, I'm somewhat hyperfocused on the Argentine now...

• Ovsyankina/Samokhin: oh no, Bolero... They are OK but a bit lightweight, pattern crossrolls look a bit sus.
• Grigorieva/Avtushenko: Not another one... guys, Ravel is French, he doesn't belong here A bit more speed and power than the other Bolero (helps that they are more grown-up), better pattern but crossrolls still iffy.
• Maleina/Rodin: Good general skating skills but pattern is the worst so far. I suspect the boy has a little more experience in ID, girl might be a recent convert from singles? Nice funky music and upper body expression, I like this programme the most so far.
• Churkina/Frolov - the boy is the less-experienced one here, I think.
• Leontieva/Gorelkin - best in this group. I don't know what's happened to all the girls' back-crossrolls, hers is the least egregious but still not crossing properly. Audio quality noticeably affected in the tango section from slowing down the piece (Exilados is usually way faster). The Spanish section worked a lot better for them though. You can also see they've skated longer as a team and match better than some others.

Watching 2nd group warm-up now, they are drilling the Argentine Tango and some girl has a chokehold on the guy in the crossroll section I know there is some freedom of interpretation with the holds but this is a little too creative...

 

[Flying Feijoa]

Igor Eremenko sighted by the boards with Ramil Mekhdiev! Not sure who the lady between them is, but it seems to be Averbukh crew. (Definitely not Zhuk/Svinin, which makes sense if they really forced the partnership to end like how Shevchenko said...)
OMG Anna and Gleb look so grown-up now

• Pilipenko/Drako: Very attention-grabbing start, and those voiceover gasps are fun xD Pattern keypoint issues as always (I sound like a broken record now, maybe I'll only bring it up if they're actually doing it properly...) The two musical styles here mesh quite well. Guys not looking super experienced in ice dance, but well-matched physically.
• Shinkarenko/Mikhailov: Another very dramatic team, quite aggressive skating too (yeah they are the chokehold guys...) And actually the pattern is quite good! For some reason they remind me of Skoptsova/Aleshin, just shorter. Maybe it's his kinda reddish floppy fringe. Both are really expressive, I see Igor's influence possibly If this is a taster of what's to come, Averbukh's school is looking promising.
• Kuzmina/Studenikin: She looks weaker, or at least more tentative, than his previous partner. Overall they are one of the stronger teams but that's not saying much this year, unfortunately...
• Rumak/Goncharov: Cuties Sorry not sorry, I can't hide that they are my sentimental favourites... Well first off, I like that they are going for a more soft, romantic take on tango (more Anissina/Peizerat than Grishuk/Platov) because sharp and aggressive would not work with their baby faces at all. That said it will still be slightly weird until my brain has enough time to get used to the fact they aren't 12 anymore. Pretty accurate pattern, Rubleva's teams are good with that. To be objective, Gleb needs a bit more extension to the free leg. Anna has grown a lot compared to him, but they seem to be handling it pretty well so far. Besides that their expressions match wonderfully as always and there's some nice close skating and complex handhold changing.
• Kolomenskaya/Frolov: Off the top of the programme, nice shot of the crossroll section shows it looking pretty good, and the rest of the pattern is not bad either. Music is a bit hodgepodge, I'm not sure it fits the guidelines (both halves are tango?)

Quick snack break before the last group... I'm kinda missing Grishin's voice (even though I mostly don't understand Russian, it's kinda soothing )

 

[Flying Feijoa]

• Scherbakova/Goncharov: Aww Egor, don't be sad! It's good to see Anna and the coaches looking positive about it. Barring the fall at the end the programme was real nice, lots of little choreographic details scattered everywhere. Nice pattern too. They have soft knees and smooth edges like the other Anna/Goncharov team but the bigger height difference among other things gives them a distinct look. Egor looks dapper in that jacket (really that's the first jacket I've seen so far today, you gents can do better!)
• Linchevskaya/Pylin: Oh wow, I never knew Andrei could be this expressive! Definitely looks more comfortable with Taisiya than Alena, he's actually smiling. Pity about the off-axis twizzle though. They also had a pretty good pattern. Interesting upbeat remix of Yo Soy Maria for the tango, actually the programme feels more like Latin (excluding Argentina) than tango or Spanish...
• Gorshenina/Makarov: Small cuties again I'm not sure how old Ilya is, IIRC he was on Ice Age the same time as Gleb but seems to be a lot shorter. Luckily he is well matched by Arina both height and skating-wise. They also have a good pattern, the XRs look weird again but I'm beginning to wonder if that's just the camera angle. For the programme they went for a classic but age-appropriate take (easier to do when it leans more Spanish than tango), nice stuff.
• Rybakova/Makhnonosov: Hello warhorse my old friend... Hmm, they are pleasant enough and obviously experienced, but it feels a bit paint-by-squares (in terms of performance level, not music choice). His edges could be deeper, even compared to some others in the group.
• Alexova/Vladimirov: I always enjoy watching these guys, they have a nice classic partnering style and they skate close together. At the end of the first Argentine half there was a cheeky quote from Tango Romantica, seems like they're already looking forward to seniors On the spectrum of tangos this is a lighthearted one. I like how the choreo weaves in closed-hold dance steps as transitions (not just in step sequences), e.g. the little partnered turns where they skip around each other down the ice when the rhythm changes, it reminds me of the old original dances.

I'm guessing the warm-up groups may have been seeded; overall I prefer Shinkarenko/Mikhailov, the Anna/Goncharov teams, Alexova/Vladimirov, Linchevskaya/Pylin, Gorshenina/Makarov. But anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now. Bring on the free dance!

 

[lariko]

• Scherbakova/Goncharov: Aww Egor, don't be sad! It's good to see Anna and the coaches looking positive about it. Barring the fall at the end the programme was real nice, lots of little choreographic details scattered everywhere. Nice pattern too. They have soft knees and smooth edges like the other Anna/Goncharov team but the bigger height difference among other things gives them a distinct look. Egor looks dapper in that jacket (really that's the first jacket I've seen so far today, you gents can do better!)
• Linchevskaya/Pylin: Oh wow, I never knew Andrei could be this expressive! Definitely looks more comfortable with Taisiya than Alena, he's actually smiling. Pity about the off-axis twizzle though. They also had a pretty good pattern. Interesting upbeat remix of Yo Soy Maria for the tango, actually the programme feels more like Latin (excluding Argentina) than tango or Spanish...
• Gorshenina/Makarov: Small cuties again I'm not sure how old Ilya is, IIRC he was on Ice Age the same time as Gleb but seems to be a lot shorter. Luckily he is well matched by Arina both height and skating-wise. They also have a good pattern, the XRs look weird again but I'm beginning to wonder if that's just the camera angle. For the programme they went for a classic but age-appropriate take (easier to do when it leans more Spanish than tango), nice stuff.
• Rybakova/Makhnonosov: Hello warhorse my old friend... Hmm, they are pleasant enough and obviously experienced, but it feels a bit paint-by-squares (in terms of performance level, not music choice). His edges could be deeper, even compared to some others in the group.
• Alexova/Vladimirov: I always enjoy watching these guys, they have a nice classic partnering style and they skate close together. At the end of the first Argentine half there was a cheeky quote from Tango Romantica, seems like they're already looking forward to seniors On the spectrum of tangos this is a lighthearted one. I like how the choreo weaves in closed-hold dance steps as transitions (not just in step sequences), e.g. the little partnered turns where they skip around each other down the ice when the rhythm changes, it reminds me of the old original dances.

I'm guessing the warm-up groups may have been seeded; overall I prefer Shinkarenko/Mikhailov, the Anna/Goncharov teams, Alexova/Vladimirov, Linchevskaya/Pylin, Gorshenina/Makarov. But anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now. Bring on the free dance!

Makarov was quoted to be 11 in 2018 on IAK. So he is like 15 max.

 

[IceDancingQueen]

Igor Eremenko sighted by the boards with Ramil Mekhdiev! Not sure who the lady between them is, but it seems to be Averbukh crew. (Definitely not Zhuk/Svinin, which makes sense if they really forced the partnership to end like how Shevchenko said...)

Oh where did Shevchenko say that? That makes me sad as I really liked them together. I was wondering why Eremenko wasn’t on S/Z coaching team, so that would make sense. I’m watching the free dance right now and Lobercheva is with Eremenko and Averbukh but I’m a bit confused as I thought Lobercheva had joined Zhulin’s academy?

 

[IceDancingQueen]

I know it’s early in the season so maybe I’m being too harsh, but I normally really enjoy watching the Russian junior ice dancers but I wasn’t that impressed with majority of the programmes. L/G are my favourites but their FD music was not cohesive at all. Just two random pieces of music with different tempos that have nothing to do with each other. Did not work for me. I really enjoyed their RD though. As for the rest, I found a lot of the routines quite uninspiring - not a lot of innovation and just very samey to pieces of music that have been used time and time again. Maybe the lack of international competition has had an unconscious impact on coaches and choreographers…

 

[Flying Feijoa]

Oh where did Shevchenko say that? That makes me sad as I really liked them together. I was wondering why Eremenko wasn’t on S/Z coaching team, so that would make sense. I’m watching the free dance right now and Lobercheva is with Eremenko and Averbukh but I’m a bit confused as I thought Lobercheva had joined Zhulin’s academy?

“Judges come up after the competitions and said: “Your coaches asked to put you behind this and this pair.” frank interview with ice dancer Sofia Shevchenko

Very frank and open interview with ice dancer Sofia Shevchenko whose duo with Igor Eremenko has ended partnership not so long ago.

fs-gossips.com

Well it's a bit more complicated than how I described it just earlier, basically it seems like the fact they were getting leapfrogged by teams in the same group and the coaches not seeming to care really killed her motivation (also long COVID didn't help). I thought it was quite touching how Igor supported her through the process. Nothing is black and white, I do like Zhuk/Svinin in general, but I don't think they really bother to keep supporting teams that are going through challenging periods or falling behind. I miss Shpilevaya/Smirnov, Shanaeva/Naryzhnyy too

Not sure what the status of Lobacheva is, hope some other ID nerd can help us with the intel...

I know it’s early in the season so maybe I’m being too harsh, but I normally really enjoy watching the Russian junior ice dancers but I wasn’t that impressed with majority of the programmes. L/G are my favourites but their FD music was not cohesive at all. Just two random pieces of music with different tempos that have nothing to do with each other. Did not work for me. I really enjoyed their RD though. As for the rest, I found a lot of the routines quite uninspiring - not a lot of innovation and just very samey to pieces of music that have been used time and time again. Maybe the lack of international competition has had an unconscious impact on coaches and choreographers…

I have yet to catch up on the FD, but that sounds not very promising

I found the RDs serviceable, though nothing as wacky as the French/Irish teams in Courchevel... I mostly watch RDs for the technique so I'm happy with classic programmes if it helps them go clean, but if they manage to be creative on top of that it's a bonus. So guys with warhorse programmes, you have no excuses for those not-crossrolls

 

[lariko]

Wow, that’s really candid. Like, we are not paranoid when we think results are all fixed. Shevchenko/Eremenko were really memorable too. I l didn’t watch ID at the time, but I saw them in the exhibition after some competition, and I thought they were great. Honestly, I am preparing to watch this season as exhibition rather than actual competition and believing the scores reflection of anything fair.

 

[IceDancingQueen]

“Judges come up after the competitions and said: “Your coaches asked to put you behind this and this pair.” frank interview with ice dancer Sofia Shevchenko

Very frank and open interview with ice dancer Sofia Shevchenko whose duo with Igor Eremenko has ended partnership not so long ago.

fs-gossips.com

Well it's a bit more complicated than how I described it just earlier, basically it seems like the fact they were getting leapfrogged by teams in the same group and the coaches not seeming to care really killed her motivation (also long COVID didn't help). I thought it was quite touching how Igor supported her through the process. Nothing is black and white, I do like Zhuk/Svinin in general, but I don't think they really bother to keep supporting teams that are going through challenging periods or falling behind. I miss Shpilevaya/Smirnov, Shanaeva/Naryzhnyy too

Not sure what the status of Lobacheva is, hope some other ID nerd can help us with the intel...

I have yet to catch up on the FD, but that sounds not very promising

I found the RDs serviceable, though nothing as wacky as the French/Irish teams in Courchevel... I mostly watch RDs for the technique so I'm happy with classic programmes if it helps them go clean, but if they manage to be creative on top of that it's a bonus. So guys with warhorse programmes, you have no excuses for those not-crossrolls

Wow really interesting article - so refreshing to have a skater speak so openly. Thanks so much for sharing. I always thought Svnin/Zhuk seemed like the more caring coaches out of Russian coaches. I wish Sofia and Igor could have continued to skate somewhere else but given all the drama and favoritism in Russian skating in general sounds like it was the best decision for her mental health. It’s interesting how she didn’t respond well to coaching through criticism - I suspect a lot of the younger generation will feel this way. So many coaches still come from that old school background of being harsh to get results, which is not the only way to get the best out of ppl and a lot of the new young skaters won’t tolerate. Like Sofia said, athletes are humans not robots!

 

[lariko]

Like Sofia said, athletes are humans not robots!

I hope younger coaches are catching onto this simple truth.

Anyway, I am settling in to watch the free dance from Rus and French JGP because I gave up on ISU managing the sound.

 

[lariko]

Well call me a sucker for drama but Ovsyankina/Samokhin involved me I also liked the lift they had with her jumping into his arms. It was pretty, despite the lacerations hazard.

 

[lariko]

I’d say I like the most Leontyeva/Gorelko and Gorshenina/Makarov. There was another duet who went for drama, but the guy fell, so their patterning with hands kinda smothered after that, but looking forward after it is cleaned up. Also Sherbakova/Goncharov looked lively. And Matrix. Sorry, I have a weakness for Matrix.

Eh, no time for French JGP now. Tomorrow!

 

[Flying Feijoa]

I hope younger coaches are catching onto this simple truth.

Anyway, I am settling in to watch the free dance from Rus and French JGP because I gave up on ISU managing the sound.

I'm in the midst of catching up too! Gonna keep my thoughts briefer this time, looking at yesterday's posts I feel a little self-conscious...

Wow really interesting article - so refreshing to have a skater speak so openly. Thanks so much for sharing. I always thought Svnin/Zhuk seemed like the more caring coaches out of Russian coaches. I wish Sofia and Igor could have continued to skate somewhere else but given all the drama and favoritism in Russian skating in general sounds like it was the best decision for her mental health. It’s interesting how she didn’t respond well to coaching through criticism - I suspect a lot of the younger generation will feel this way. So many coaches still come from that old school background of being harsh to get results, which is not the only way to get the best out of ppl and a lot of the new young skaters won’t tolerate. Like Sofia said, athletes are humans not robots!

Looking on from the outside I'm a bit hesitant to characterise coaches... Given the competitive pressure/politicking in Russian skating maybe they feel they don't have much leeway for being caring. So on one hand I do understand the pragmatism in trying to focus on the most promising students, but in that case I just wish they'd limit the number of students to those they could be properly invested in. Be a dolphin mum not a guppy mum... (sorry, kinda random analogy ) Interestingly I did see that Shpilevaya was with Svinin/Zhuk at the boards today - IIRC the main reason for her retirement was injury/severe long COVID, so I guess she may have parted with them on decent terms unlike Sofia.
Agreed re. coaching methods... As the younger skaters move into coaching I hope they can bring about a natural cultural shift. That said, some old-school coaches seem to have a softer approach too (like Moskvina in pairs).

 

[Flying Feijoa]

Trying to keep it brief and positive, here are my favourite FDs:

• Gorshenina/Makarov: Tiny but speedy and quite precise. Pure classical music is not that popular now especially on 15 year olds (which I guess they are, at max), and Chopin can be unforgiving, but they have enough refinement and good choreo to carry it well.
• Shinkarenko/Mikhailov: Very intense kids, matching well in energy. The first bit (electronic/hiphop) is especially cool, it slows down a bit towards the end so they might need to work on stamina. Also it's neat how they start in the ending pose of their RD, maybe there's a narrative behind it?
• Scherbakova/Goncharov: Drama but of the sweet gentle quirky variety. A bit more accessible than last year's clown FD. They are stronger than before too, lots of flow and power on the ice especially him.

I see what @IceDancingQueen means by lack of innovation though, e.g. Rumak/Goncharov uncharacteristically picked a warhorse (still pleasant to watch though), and I'm not sure if Spanish/Latin FD is a good idea for Alexova/Vladimirov when the RD is already similar. There were also many programmes that look vaguely similar, not sure quite how, maybe in the body language and mood.

There was another duet who went for drama, but the guy fell, so their patterning with hands kinda smothered after that, but looking forward after it is cleaned up.

Was that Rybakova/Makhnonosov or Pilipenko/Drako? Both wore black, looked intense and the guy fell (but with P/D he tripped while lifting her so she came down too). I liked both teams better here than in the RD, the boys especially looked more in their comfort zone. I'm guessing they are not pattern-dance lovers...

 

[lariko]

Pilipenko/Drako?

Those two.