Are Evgenia & Alina the "Michelle & Tara" of 2018?

pETEs (Sasha Fan)

pETEs (Sasha Fan)

Member
Messages
76
Just wondering about this National rivalry revival. The young and powerful vs. the younger and (even more) powerful. The ratified vs. the "up-and-coming". Would Alina winning over Evgenia be considered an Olympic upset? Just as the Tara win over Michelle is to many?
 
Last edited:
Oh - so not the same. Michelle relied on her artistic score, and Tara on her Tech score to make the difference. Both Med and Zag are totally tech skaters.
 
What a finessed SP from Alina, has she been training ballet since she could walk?? Why bother going to the Bolshoi to see Swan Lake after her CAPTIVATING SP? And not even 39+ for PCS, stingy judges. :eek:

In all seriousness, I observe that during the Olympic year, judges sometimes like to judge the favorite from previous years a bit less generously and close the margin between the favorite and another underdog. Perhaps to keep things interesting, and not necessarily because the underdog has improved so much. This was my observation with Chan and Hanyu in 2014. I in fact that both improved equally that season, so it did not make sense to me that Hanyu made such a huge score leap.

In the Kwan vs. Lipinski case, I think the score margin between Michelle and Tara had been larger throughout the year than between Evgenia and Alina this year. Only at Nagano did things shift.
 
pETEs (Sasha Fan) said:
Would Alina winning over Evgenia be considered an Olympic upset? Just as the Tara win over Michelle is to many?
Click to expand...

I think it would. I have never been a fan of Evgenia. I much prefer Zagitova, but I would feel for Evgenia if she doesn't win. She dominated the scene the last 4 years. Winning everything and breaking records. She managed to stay fit and healthy all these years, and it's really unfortunate that she had this injury so late in the Oly season.
I still think she can win this. If she skates clean as she used to.
 
Last edited:
shady82 said:
What a finessed SP from Alina, has she been training ballet since she could walk?? Why bother going to the Bolshoi to see Swan Lake after her CAPTIVATING SP? And not even 39+ for PCS, stingy judges. :eek:
Click to expand...
Was this meant to be sarcasm? I seriously cannot tell.
 
This thread should have had a poll. Now, if your answer to the OP's question is yes, raise your hand. :sneaky:
 
Zagitova definitely has momentum on her side.

Especially, with significant wins at the Grand Prix Final and her national championships.

It was good to see Medvedeva back on the ice, after her absence from both of the above events. However, she seemed very tentative (for her) during the short program.

Does anyone know how recently she returned to the ice after her cast was removed?
 
Last edited:
They'll have to finish a close 1,2 like Kwan and lipinski did. I never see anyone rehashing sotnikova over litniskaya (sorry for the misspellings) much. But already it has none of the 98 drama: Tara winning 97 nats and worlds, then Michelle winning 97 SA and 98 nats plus Tara losing Lalique to Hubert. It's telling that decades later we're still regularly rehashing 90s skating.
 
shine said:
Was this meant to be sarcasm? I seriously cannot tell.
Click to expand...

Of course I was serious, I would give Alina perfect 10 in skating skills! :blah:

I do consider Evgenia to be an artist, even if her style isn't everyone's cup of tea. Relative to Alina, she is certainly an artist. Her programs this year are a bit more generic, but her 2015-16 programs were lyrical in her own wistful, quirky way. Evgenia's main weakness is skating skills, but I thought she had some lovely programs.
 
essence_of_soy said:
Evgenia and Alina are nice technical skaters.
Click to expand...

I am not sure whether it can be applied to Evgenia. Almost all her jumps are fundamentally flawed yet she gets super extra points like free candies as they always turn their blind eye to her because she's their poster girl that represents Russia. And don't even get me started on badly executed helicopter tano and questionable components.
 
Areski said:
I am not sure whether it can be applied to Evgenia. Almost all her jumps are fundamentally flawed yet she gets super extra points like free candies as they always turn their blind eye to her because she's their poster girl that represents Russia. And don't even get me started on badly executed helicopter tano and questionable components.
Click to expand...

I think Evgenia developed favor over time because in 2016, she was a better skater than Radio, maintained her consistency in the following season, and generally doesn't get URs from judges. It would be satisfying to see her win gold though, to cap off a very successful quad.

With that said, there is probably less reason for judges to keep scoring her so well if the rising Russians stay consistent. Many of them (Trusova, Kostornaya) already do everything she and Zagitova do, and then some. Triple axels and quads might become more important in future programs. I’m already looking forward to the next quad because I literally like all the top junior girls, while I feel lukewarm about half the current top ladies. Looking forward to Kihira, Eunsoo Lim, Gubanova, and Konstantinova (not really a junior but has been competing on the JGP) next season. And then the Tutberidze juniors and Young You after that.
 
shady82 said:
I think Evgenia developed favor over time because in 2016, she was a better skater than Radio, maintained her consistency in the following season, and generally doesn't get URs from judges. It would be satisfying to see her win gold though, to cap off a very successful quad.

With that said, there is probably less reason for judges to keep scoring her so well if the rising Russians stay consistent. Many of them (Trusova, Kostornaya) already do everything she and Zagitova do, and then some. Triple axels and quads might become more important in future programs. I’m already looking forward to the next quad because I literally like all the top junior girls, while I feel lukewarm about half the current top ladies. Looking forward to Kihira, Eunsoo Lim, Gubanova, and Konstantinova (not really a junior but has been competing on the JGP) next season. And then the Tutberidze juniors and Young You after that.
Click to expand...

Also to Evgenia's credit - she literally never pops any jump :eek:
 
Last edited:
Oh, you mean like how Kaetlyn Osmond is better than Med/Zag and Lu Chen was better than Kwan/Lip? Now that you mention it....
 
Can we just stop pretending Med’s been around for an entire quad please. In that respect, she’s more like Lipinski than Kwan was, either time.
 
In terms of artistic grace I think I'd rather talk about Michelle and Carolina together over and above Med/Zag.
 
Cachoo said:
In terms of artistic grace I think I'd rather talk about Michelle and Carolina together over and above Med/Zag.
Click to expand...

If you compare Michelle and Evgenia at same age, they both are artistic, and complete packages.

If you compare either one with Carolina, it's no contest. Michelle and Evgenia beat her by a mile upto age 24.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Similar threads

skateboy
Body of Work history
Replies
6
Views
1K
kwanette
K
B
Donation to USOC to fund "retirement" benefit for USA Team members (beginning next Olympics)
Replies
9
Views
1K
kwanfan1818
kwanfan1818
AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)
Current season is well underway, what are your favorite programs, costumes and surprises thus far?
2
Replies
33
Views
6K
Dobre
D
Sylvia
2025 Art on Ice tour in SUI, Feb. 6-15, to include G. Papadakis/M. Hubbell
Replies
27
Views
6K
kwanfan1818
kwanfan1818
Sylvia
1964 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Sjoukje Dijkstra (NED) dies at 82
Replies
13
Views
3K
Frau Muller
Frau Muller
Back
Top
Do Not Sell My Personal Information