From Russia With Love - Winter 2012/13

[Sylvia]

I guess Evgenia Medvedeva is/was injured and couldn't qualify?

Belated answer (in case you're still wondering)... Medvedeva didn't compete as a senior in the Russian Cup qualifying competitions so it appears she is only qualified to compete at Junior Nationals this season. This question came up again in the Russian Nationals Ladies SP thread in Kiss and Cry today and was answered by hanca here: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...=1#post3779498

[Sylvia]

Evgeni Plushenko scored 91.68 (SP) and 174.26 (FS), 265.94 total, to win Russian Nationals for the 10th time.
SP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5KHRGyPAWA
FS (Saint-Saens' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso/The Swan/Danse Macabre): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGHW6D8tOcw

Sergei Voronov finished 2nd overall, 254.06, and had the highest TES in the FS (82.31), 166.37: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmNIEsL8wLw

[Kasey]

Voronov had a higher TES in the short program as well, by a little less than a point I think. Well done, Sergei!

[rfisher]

Plushenko is a legend. He may not be as artistic as Takahashi or Chan, but his confidence and command of the ice is superior to both. I think it would be one of those olympic moments if he won a 4th olympic medal. I know that happens in some other sports, but not in skating. I hope he stays healthy and has two performances of his life next winter.

[julieann]

Plushenko is a legend. He may not be as artistic as Takahashi or Chan, but his confidence and command of the ice is superior to both. I think it would be one of those olympic moments if he won a 4th olympic medal. I know that happens in some other sports, but not in skating. I hope he stays healthy and has two performances of his life next winter.

^ ITA!

In this day and age 4 Olympic medals would be amazing! S/Z have 3 in 4 tries and that was amazing enough; I can't wait until Sochi!

[lulu]

Plushenko is a legend. He may not be as artistic as Takahashi or Chan, but his confidence and command of the ice is superior to both. I think it would be one of those olympic moments if he won a 4th olympic medal. I know that happens in some other sports, but not in skating. I hope he stays healthy and has two performances of his life next winter.

Well said. Even without a 4th olympic medal, he's already a legend in the sport, but if he wins a medal in Sochi in 2014 that would be one for the ages.

[Macassar88]

Yay! Tuktamisheva decides to skate in spite of her illness and walks away with her first national championship!

[Vash01]

Plushenko is a legend. He may not be as artistic as Takahashi or Chan, but his confidence and command of the ice is superior to both. I think it would be one of those olympic moments if he won a 4th olympic medal. I know that happens in some other sports, but not in skating. I hope he stays healthy and has two performances of his life next winter.

Nobody can match his presence/command on the ice- not even Takahashi, IMHO. Every time he takes the ice, he has the audience in the palm of his hand. Yes, he is a legend, and if he wins even a bronze in Sochi, it will be a phenomenal achievement to an already phenomenal career. What I really want for him is to stay healthy enough to skate well in both SP & LP in Sochi. If he wins the gold in Sochi (extremely low probability of this, with Chan, Takahashi, Fernandez skating at their peak), I would call him the greatest figure skater ever.

[Sylvia]

Top 8 Ladies at Russian Nationals:
1 Елизавета ТУКТАМЫШЕВА SPG 196.57 1 1 Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
2 Елена РАДИОНОВА MSK 191.26 3 2 Elena Radionova (not age-eligible for 2013 Euros/Worlds)
3 Аделина СОТНИКОВА MSK 190.75 2 3 Adelina Sotnikova
4 Серафима САХАНОВИЧ SPB 177.37 9 4 Serafima Sakhanovich (not age-eligible for 2013 Euros/Worlds, born Feb. 9, 2000: http://www.fskate.ru/skaters/1839.html )
5 Анна ПОГОРИЛАЯ MSK 176.58 5 5 Anna Pogorilaya (not age-eligible for 2013 Euros/Worlds)
6 Николь ГОСВИЯНИ SPB 170.67 8 6 Nikol Gosviani (doesn't have TES minimum scores for Euros since she hasn't competed internationally since the fall of 2010 according to her ISU bio: http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00010707.htm )
7 Алёна ЛЕОНОВА MSP 169.64 6 8 Alena Leonova
8 Ксения МАКАРОВА SPB 163.83 12 7 Ksenia Makarova

[Sylvia]

yep, she will perform a new FP tomorrow

Leonova's new FS is a depressing version of Concierto de Aranjuez, unfortunately.

[Macassar88]

Leonova's new FS is a depressing version of Concierto de Aranjuez, unfortunately.

No it's not. Her skate is a series of poorly executed elements that happen to be going on at the same time as Aranjuez is in the background.

[Moka-Ananas]

Leonova's new FS is a depressing version of Concierto de Aranjuez, unfortunately.

Graveyard Aranjuez. At least it (probably) fits to her career nowadays.

[hanca]

I am just curious which Russian pairs are eligible for juniors next season and which will age out. And from those who age out, who can compete in seniors and who is too young.

Tarasova-Morozov - his DOB is 01.11.1992, will he be too old to compete internationally for juniors? (If he is, she is old enough to go to seniors, but I am not sure if they would get any GP event )

Davankova- Deputat - his DOB is 20.12.1992, will he be too old to compete internationally for juniors? Her DOB is 02.05.1998 so she would be too young for seniors.

Antipova- Maisuradze - her DOB is 18.12.1997, so she will be too young next season to compete internationally in seniors, isn't she? (and he is too old for juniors).

[Sylvia]

Davankova/Deputat and Tarasova/Morozov both are still ISU junior age-eligible in 2013-14 (Davankova will be 15 by July 1st and old enough for ISU senior championships). The male pair/dancer's maximum age won't be lowered by one year until the 2014-15 season.
ETA: Also still ISU Junior age-eligible next season are Fedorova/Miroshkin, Vigalova/Zakroev, Gainetdinova/Bich, Tudvaseva/Lisiev.

Antipova/Maisuradze can do Senior Bs/GP (host pick)/ISU Championships next season since she turned 15 this month. The female pair/dancer's minimum age for all ISU senior events won't be raised to 15 until the 2014-15 season.

[hanca]

Thank you Sylvia. I wasn't thinking about B competitions, I was curious about GP events and JGP events.

So Antipova-Maisuradze are not out of running for Sochi as she is old enough. (not that they would have a huge chance, because first three teams are obviously V-T, K-S and B-L, but you never know who gets injured and if either of those teams couldn't attend, it would be between S-K, M-R who are inconsistent, and G-E who missed whole season. I think Antipova-Maisuradze would have a chance if someone from the first three teams got injured.)

I am glad that Davankova/Deputat and Tarasova/Morozov both are still ISU junior age-eligible in 2013-14. The JGP are good for getting some points towards world standings. It would be a shame if the male partners were too old for juniors and the female partners too young for seniors.

[sk8indel]

Does anyone have a preliminary roster for Russian Junior Nationals? If there are kids born in '00 in seniors, I wonder how young the juniors will be 0_o

[Sylvia]

Re-posting from Russian Nationals Ladies FS thread in Kiss and Cry:

Looks like Gosviani and Kovtun go to Euro (twitter rsportru)

Here's the article: http://rsport.ru/figure_skating/20121228/637444380.html
Via Google Translate: http://translate.google.com/translat...637444380.html

Bazarova and Larionov won't compete at nationals because Larionov is having trouble breaking in his new skates. Their coach said that the fed will decide if they are going to Euros I can't imaging they will say no.

Bazarova/Larionov were also nominated for Euros by the Coaching Council, according to the article.

Russian Nationals Men top 5:
1 Evgeni Plushenko 265.94 1 1
2 Sergei Voronov 254.06 2 2
3 Konstantin Menshov 228.88 6 3
4 Artur GachinskiSPB 227.46 4 4
5 Maxim Kovtun 225.02 3 5

The article ends as follows:
"Coaching Council decision is a recommendation. FFKKR executive committee, which must approve the composition of the Russian national team, will meet at 9 am Friday."

ETA:

The National team for Euros will be announced Friday at a press conference at 13.15 [Sochi time].

[alchemy void]

Major kudos to Russian federation if they send Gosviani to Euros (and get her a quick senior B). I'm still willing to bet Leonova is sent, unfortunately. The thing is, Leonova just didn't bomb nationals, she has been skating worse and worse with each competition...also her new LP is a dreadful downgrade from what she had before. I actually love Leonova but clearly she needs to re-evaluate where she is at right now. (New coach please!)

Remember, in 1999, Slutskaya was the reigning world silver medalist and lost her Worlds spot so there is precedent. It also served as a nice wake up call as Irina's career got back on track the following season.

[kwanfan1818]

It would be pretty awful for Gosviani to be nominated and have that be known publicly, were the executive committee to ignore the recommendation and choose otherwise. According to the article, the coaches at the meeting included Mishin, Kudryatsev, and Morozov.

[SamuraiK]

There are only two senior B before Euros (New Year Cup and Volvo Open) and both's deadlines for entries have already closed, so I think is a moot point for Gosviani sadly.