Russian men...

[Katarzyna]

Shubin was fantastic, how could I forget about him, when he won junior worlds he was flying! I saw him at test skates one year, when Klimkin was injured, and we thought he might step up, but it never happened.

I love him and I’ll always be a fan. Not only did he have the technique in every aspect of skating, he seemed to have something very special that put kind of stamp mark of his personality on each of his programmes. I even got this impression on TV, so I guess live he must have been even better.

When he won JW he Evan Lysacek at that event and each time Lysacek won a medal at a major event, I was thinking about Sasha Shubin and felt sad he couldn’t realize his potential. Even today it’s heartbreaking to think about it. I feel so cause I wanted to see so many more of his performances. Btw if anyone has a link to videos of him at JW of TEB please link – I wanted to link some here, but despite trying hard, I couldn’t find any videos of it in the net.

For those interested in Shubin's career: before he started coaching, he skated in shows (on a cruise and he also participated in Ilia Averbukh’s shows back in 2003 or 2004).

Hope he will become a great coach. I think he might be a good choreographer as well.

^ Borodulin no longer has a working 3axel or quad. In other words, he's done

I wish Caro’s strategy would work for men as well: focus on the jump elements you can do with ease in competition and get the necessary points in other areas. I love Borodulin’s skating with or without a quad or a 3-Axel. Still hope he might get his jumps back till Sochi.

Am not sure he has much choice. Who is coaching `top' russian male skaters? Morozov, Urmanov, Mishin, Rukavitsyn, Vodorezova? The first 4 have their top pupil as it is and Borodulin would be n.2 at the best. He can't go back to Vodorezova, I assume. Doublt someone like Sato or Orser woudl take him/federation would support him....

He trains in Moscow, so maybe Victor Kudriavtzev would be a good choice for him? I think he does not coach any male senior top skater at the moment and he’d for sure be the right one to get jumps back in place?

[TAHbKA]

He trains in Moscow, so maybe Victor Kudriavtzev would be a good choice for him? I think he does not coach any male senior top skater at the moment and he’d for sure be the right one to get jumps back in place?

I can't think of anyone coached by Kudriavtsev right now, male or female. As far as I understand he assits (Volchkova, Rukavitsin), but not coaches.

[Eislauffan]

Artem Borodulin skated rather poorly at Nationals last December. It didn't look like he was getting back his jumps. :-( His 3A was always weak, though (I think there was only one season where he landed nice ones, but most of the time he was struggling with underrotations).

I still have some hope for Ivan Bariev. He skated well at Nationals and also had a good SP at the Challenge Cup. He is flamboyant and has lots of personality. After some injuries he got all his triples (inlcuding Axel) back and now wants to work on quads for next season.

Just yesterday I watched a video on Spiegel Online about Russians getting drunk at the aiport and on airplanes, and Alexander Abt's embarrassing video clip was in there, too. :-(

[Jemestone]

I can't think of anyone coached by Kudriavtsev right now, male or female. As far as I understand he assits (Volchkova, Rukavitsin), but not coaches.

I thought Kudriavtsev coaches Kovalev and Shakhmatov??? Not top skaters but still.....

[Moka-Ananas]

Yeah, I'm also getting all nostalgic and when I think of Russian men. There was a whole generation so many people considered to be the next top Russians and it never came true...Griazev, Dobrin, Uspenski, Lutai...

[sus2850]

Does anybody know what was wrong with Gachinski at worlds? His coach said something about boot issues and that there were other issues on which he did not wish to elaborate though.

[Katarzyna]

Yeah, I'm also getting all nostalgic and when I think of Russian men. There was a whole generation so many people considered to be the next top Russians and it never came true...Griazev, Dobrin, Uspenski, Lutai...

And don’t forget Sasha Shubin.
(I noticed the link with two of his programmes didn’t work and have fixed it now in my above post)

Just yesterday I watched a video on Spiegel Online about Russians getting drunk at the aiport and on airplanes, and Alexander Abt's embarrassing video clip was in there, too. :-(

Unfortunately this video is no longer published only in the internet. There was a “Russian night” some months ago on one German TV-channel with one part about heavy drinking in Russia and of course it had been shown as well.

[Vash01]

I can't think of anyone coached by Kudriavtsev right now, male or female. As far as I understand he assits (Volchkova, Rukavitsin), but not coaches.

IIRC Ilia Kulik was coached by Kudriavtsev before he went to Tarasova. Correct me if I am wrong, because I am not 100% sure.

ETA: Just found this about Kudriavtsev. He coached Kulik, Sokolova, Volchkova in the past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Kudriavtsev

[kwanfan1818]

I though Kudriatsev is in semi-retirement and is working with other coaches as a specialist.

He was Kulik's coach before Tarasova.

I think Gachinski is a wonderful skater with loads of potential. His circular footwork sequences this season were among the best in the world, IMO, with wonderful timing and expression.

[Sylvia]

Kudriatsev also coached Evan Lysacek periodically in 2002-2003.

[Katarzyna]

In the past Kudriavtsev also coached Igor Pashkevitch (won a silver at Euros in 1996), and Ilia Klimkin after his former coach had died. And he coached Sergej Volkov, the first Soviet Union World Champion in Men Skating.

Referring to Ladies he also coached Maria Butyrskaja before she switched to Tchaikovskaja.

[Willowway]

IIRC Ilia Kulik was coached by Kudriavtsev before he went to Tarasova

Most definitely. Ilia credits Viktor Kudriavtsev with his jump technique among other great basics. When he went to TT he still didn't have a quad for competition and Viktor kindly continued to advise her on how to work on jumps with Ilia as she readily admitted that she didn't know enough about coaching jumps much less quads. Good for both TT and VK as they collaborated for Ilia's benefit - what good coaches should do.

Ilia and VK have remained close over the years and Ilia said in a Krew interview not that long ago that he was still learning from Viktor, now about how to coach and work with young skaters. Viktor has been his mentor as well as his coach and Ilia is the first person to express his appreciation for all he has learned and continues to learn from him.

[TAHbKA]

IIRC Ilia Kulik was coached by Kudriavtsev before he went to Tarasova. Correct me if I am wrong, because I am not 100% sure.

ETA: Just found this about Kudriavtsev. He coached Kulik, Sokolova, Volchkova in the past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Kudriavtsev

Sorry, verb used in a wrong tense - meant I can't think of anyone who Kudriavtsev coaches now. As for the past amazing pupils - add Butyrskaya

[misskarne]

Does anybody know what was wrong with Gachinski at worlds? His coach said something about boot issues and that there were other issues on which he did not wish to elaborate though.

That's pretty much the information Mishin has given us, and I had also heard that Mishin was ill in the leadup and they couldn't work together as much beforehand.

I'm still concerned about this other issue. Hoping it's not a big one.

I think Gachinski is a wonderful skater with loads of potential. His circular footwork sequences this season were among the best in the world, IMO, with wonderful timing and expression.

Agreed with this - the St Louis Blues steps were particularly wonderful, they make me grin every time I watch. Because they weren't just a collection of movements put together - they matched the music. And that's a huge rarity in IJS footwork.

[Katarzyna]

Most definitely. Ilia credits Viktor Kudriavtsev with his jump technique among other great basics. When he went to TT he still didn't have a quad for competition and Viktor kindly continued to advise her on how to work on jumps with Ilia as she readily admitted that she didn't know enough about coaching jumps much less quads. Good for both TT and VK as they collaborated for Ilia's benefit - what good coaches should do.

Ilia and VK have remained close over the years and Ilia said in a Krew interview not that long ago that he was still learning from Viktor, now about how to coach and work with young skaters. Viktor has been his mentor as well as his coach and Ilia is the first person to express his appreciation for all he has learned and continues to learn from him.

Thank you for the information, Willowway. I didn't know that. Kudriavtzev obviously is a very integer person, who really cares for his students. There are certainly many others, who would not have reacted that generous and classy when students decided to leave.

[Ziggy]

Kudriatsev is an absolutely incredible legendary status coach.

How many coaches still coach with skates on, showing the jumps to their skaters, when past 70-years old!

[Katarzyna]

I too think he is a legend. Just a pity that he was a bit overshadowed so much by other (of course great) coaches like Mishin, Moskwina and Tarassova.

My Russian figure skating coach showed single jumps to her studies till she was in her early 60-ies. But she has stopped a couple of years ago. Doing jumps in your 70-ies is something special. I guess it's proof of real good technique. You probably won't risk a fall at that age and my coach always says everything is easy, if you just do it right.

I would have loved to see Kudriavtzev doing jumps at his age. With the state of Russian male skating I wish he'd come back from semi-retirement.