Here's the video from Match featuring Ustimkina/Rogonov
https://youtu.be/fkWfZQhhz6w
Thanks for sharing. I'm happy for Alexei finding a new partner. I think Alexei and Alina look good together, and they both seem to be enthusiastic about their partnership. I wish I could understand Russian. I tried to get an English translation in the closed caption subtitles but it was perfectly awful, so I only have a faint gist of what they might have been saying about working together. Alina apparently spoke sweetly about Alexei calling her and that she listened to him happily. I think that's what she was saying.
I took a look back at both of their previous partnerships before checking out the clip of them working together.
Ustimkina/Volodin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mv7kfxNug4 World Juniors sp 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bmZvRXP2FQ JGP Dresden fp 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHsWD9gdqFY Russian Junior Nationals fp 2017
Ashtakova/Rogonov
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr1ShLOgdNg NHK sp 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Alsrh-Edc City of Stars fp 2017-18 -- I loved this program on them!
Alina and Volodin were okay together as juniors but somewhat lackluster and not that well-matched. Volodin is a nice skater, but he doesn't seem to have great flexibility. Alina's jumps are not very high, but she seems to be fairly consistent. She obviously has a lot of work to do with refining and polishing her skills, as well as improving her mechanics. She does seem to have decent basics. Since Alexei is an excellent partner and he's got so much more experience, perhaps he can guide her to improve, along with the help of their coach Artur Dmitriev.
Alina has nice lines and lovely long legs, so working together with Alexei, they will need to define their style as a team. And as with any team, they need to work on rhythm and timing as well as focusing dedicated attention on the necessary training involved in improving their overall weaknesses and building on their strengths. Alina has good lift positions and very nice air position on her throws, but she doesn't appear to have much power, speed or snap to her skating. She definitely needs to improve height and velocity on her throw twist. Still they are both very attractive, and there is some potential. Alina has a lot to work on though, and they will need to choose music and choreo wisely. Alexei is clearly very passionate and he has a lot of flair and charisma, so I hope he will be able to make this partnership work and bring Alina up to his level and beyond.
It might be nice if Alina were a tad shorter, but I don't see a problem with the smaller height difference between them. Alexei appears to be shorter than he actually is, perhaps because he does not have a long, lean body structure. But I think they can work with what they've got together and build on their strengths. Alexei also looks younger than his 30 years, so that is an effect in his favor.
I know they aren't thinking about packaging at this point, but it is something they need to reflect on with creative diligence in order to stand out. For example, they appear to both be dirty blondes.* At first, I thought Alina is more of a strawberry blonde, so it might work for her if she added reddish highlights to her hair. I'm not talking about dying her hair a harsh red, as that wouldn't work, but simply adding a bit of a soft reddish sheen. And Alexei could either go lighter or darker blonde, and lengthen his hair a tad, or do something different with his hair-styling. Perhaps lighter blonde highlights would work for him, I'm not sure. Maybe longer locks in a starving artist kind of way for Alexei, or perhaps shorter hair with edgy flair and dash in a more upswept style? They should really experiment with this and come out with a complete style makeover. And also work on upping their fitness and strength levels, and work on increasing Alina's speed and power.
*Remember how well contrasting hair color and styling worked for Meryl Davis & Charlie White. They were both dirty blondes with straight hair. Meryl went dark auburn red, and it did wonders for her face. It brought out her beautiful eye color. And Charlie lightened his hair, and rocked a curly perm with longer locks. It worked fabulously for the two of them. Of course, they had boffo talent too, which has to come first. Also, Marina Annissina & Gwendal Peizarat looked striking together with their deliberately contrasting hair colors.
Evgeniya's new boyfriend, well few months "new"..
Or at least, what is his nickname? He looks like a very promising dynamo on the ice.
I wouldn't worry, even the best skaters need time to relax, and it's not like he has a partner right now.
