From Russia With Love - Autumn 2012

[martyross]

Well Cup of Russia is this weekend - let's see if IK can get their 70+ SD and 100+ FD!

i wonder if seeing how well BobSoloviev are doing, the Russian fed will change tune and go for them instead of I-K. after all B-S are much more mature, experienced and show a strong will to work and improve. they are on the rise. on a minor side, they have beautiful programs that capture the audience and are well received by the judges, who place them higher than WP on PCS. i kind of doubt that IK programs will have the same impact.

[caseyedwards]

It all depends on the worlds of b/s. If they flop there a third time no way!

[DaiKozOda]

Sorry but I don't resist asking this: Wasn't Dmitry Soloviev married and with a child?
If you look at his FB it seems he's together with Ksenia Stolbova.

Anyway, B&S FD is growing on me but I'm still not to convinced with the Tosca music mixed with Ennio Morricone.
Hope Ilinykh & Katsalapov show good programs at the Cup of Russia and I'm super curious about their scores

[Jemestone]

^Was is the key word there. He and Stolbova are together now

[DaiKozOda]

Ok. I had missed that one lool. They make a really cute couple

[babayaga]

^Was is the key word there. He and Stolbova are together now

Wow, is that really true? When did this happen?

[Jemestone]

^Don't know but everywhere you look there are photos of the two of them, twitter, instagram, facebook. On their formspring they said the other person makes them happy. Cute

[Marco]

I am sort of glad for Lipnitskaya's loss in China. She still has so much to work on. Her flow was horrible and is in my opinion one of the major issues she will have to address if she is to have any shot at Sochi. Another issue is the very visible lack of maturity and musicality. Everyone is drawing Cohen analogies but for me the more immediate analogy is Zhang really (and that's not a good thing).

[caseyedwards]

I don't think there's any need to lose to learn! I think the 64 PCS for Mao and 57 for Lipnitskaia clearly indicated huge and severe problems Lipnitskaia has.

[pinky166]

The icenetwork videos from Skate Canada are up, and I must say, watching the ladies programs again, I am feeling more optimistic about Tuk and as for Shelepen, she has regressed a lot, seemed very sloppy, but it was very noticeable that she was skating very slowly and gingerly, kind of limping, as she got off the ice for both programs, so I'm thinking she's probably battling some kind of injury and that was likely why she didn't care about her scores being so low. Hopefully she will improve later in the season, but I noticed particularly how slow her spins are, some of her positions she hits in them are nice/flexible, but they just all seemed so slow and labored, as did her overall skating. To me she definitely looks to have grown taller, though perhaps she's just filled out and the costumes with the long skirts and white boots give the illusion of her being taller than before. I admire her gutsiness going for all those 3-3s but she has a lot of work to do ATM.

As for Tuk I didn't realize how strong of a FS she had, it was really quite good. The fall on the 2nd lutz was nasty, but the first lutz was a beauty, and even though some of the other triples looked small/tight, the 2a-3t in the 2nd half of the program looked really good. Plus on that video, it seems like her puberty issues/growth spurt is maybe a couple inches in height and then some weight gained in her lower body - mostly the legs, which could just be due to increased strength training as it looks like muscle weight and not really a drastic change to her physique as some seemed to think. So I think she is still very much in the mix to shake things up at Nationals and go to Euros and Worlds this season, maybe even medal there. Time will tell but considering her injury I thought she was skating pretty well. And comparing her to Julia even with the injury and puberty struggles her jumps are still better technique wise and at least a little bigger (the 2a in particular). The thing I noticed the most about Julia watching that FS where she "struggled" is that her jumps are sort of at a standstill, not a lot of flow coming out. She does a good job making her jump exits neat and tidy (when the jumps are straight in the air), but she doesn't get a good running edge out and doesn't carry a lot of speed into the jump, which makes me worry about what will happen when puberty hits. The technique is solid enough but right now she's relying on quick rotation to get around and is really muscling those jumps, which also makes me worry about injuries.

[love_skate2011]

Sorry but I don't resist asking this: Wasn't Dmitry Soloviev married and with a child?
If you look at his FB it seems he's together with Ksenia Stolbova.

Soloviev has divorced and is now with Ksenia Stolbova

[martyross]

well, is it really a shocking news that a 14 years old has no artistry and musicality yet? or do we expect her to skate like a mature 25 year older? i hope people know how difficult is to emote while doing all sort of technical difficulties. it takes years of training before mastering everyting.

[kwanfan1818]

There are 14-year-olds who might not be fully formed, but have the signs of the artist they'll become as young as that. Sasha Cohen, for example, was one who showed it quite early, even if she never had the technical facility that Lipnitskaia has now. Ice dancers often show signs of that spark at a very young age.

[Marco]

Her capabity already far exceeds her age. However, I feel it's way too pre-mature to hype her up as a potential Sochi contender like many have. Once she learns to gain more power, musicality and maturity, she will likely be able to dominate (or co-dominate) the ladies in the next quad, probably along with Sotnikova, Tuk, Polina K and Radionova.

(and what kwanfan said - phenoms like Kwan, Lipinski, Kim, Asada already showed much star quality at 14)

[love_skate2011]

well, is it really a shocking news that a 14 years old has no artistry and musicality yet? or do we expect her to skate like a mature 25 year older? i hope people know how difficult is to emote while doing all sort of technical difficulties. it takes years of training before mastering everyting.

agree, people are hammering her like all she has is flexibility which is completely false because Julia is very talented, I was impressed by her drive and how she was pissed off and unhappy at K&C, she wants to Win !, people are not giving her credit that Julia has handled the senior and pressure really well for a 14 year old

[Marco]

I was impressed by her drive and how she was pissed off and unhappy at K&C, she wants to Win !

She must be psychic because the mistakes she made on her first 2 jumping passes were JUST enough to bump her down from gold to silver.

[martyross]

yea to me she's not boring to watch at all! i like the strong spirit she shows in her skating, something i've always loved in Ashley. i enjoy seeing skaters with strong personality. i also find she's improved a lot from last year. the SP reminded me of Irina S. pure power is enjoyable as opposed to lyricism and gracefulness that is a more common route for ladies. i like her, she's tough!

[babayaga]

I/K free dance from Crystal Skate competition last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfOiZRQOh6Q

[Macassar88]

I/K free dance from Crystal Skate competition last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfOiZRQOh6Q

Lol they kept the voiceovers
Although I have to say that, even without the voiceovers, it feels lacking in transitions and non-element choreography.

[Karpenko]

It has a nice buildup emotionally but it really is god-awful. I expect their scores to go up though because their skating does look improved. They have a lot more flow and speed over the ice. But yeah... pass.

But on the flip side, after viewing this program I instantly liked Fusar-Poli/Margaglio's 2001 FD a lot more and am now at peace with that program winning a world title.