From Russia With Love (No 32): Spring to Summer 2019

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oleada said:
You're right. :duh: I think I looked at the wrong protocol. I agree with your assessment too. It's the hardest element (for them) in their programs, and she tends to make an error on it whenever she's slightly off. But it's a very hard element for pairs and it will hopefully get more consistent. They are very consistent with the 3T, and she's very consistent on the throws. Aside from the 3S+eu+3S, they also upgraded the 3LoTh to a 3FTh this year so it's all part of the development process. I look forward to seeing them develop in seniors next year.

I would love to know if Kostiukovich/Yalin are moving up. I don't think it will necessarily hurt them to stay juniors another season - they are still quite inconsistent. I can see a case for moving up/staying juniors.

With Tarasova/Morozov, Zabijako/Enbert, Boikova/Kozlovski, Mishina/Galliamov, Efimova/Korovin and Pavlyuchenko/Khodykin all in the GP and all with likely 2 spots, plus maybe Kostiukovich/Yalin; the internal competition will be very interesting. Russian Nationals next year will be :fragile: for some teams and us pairs fans.
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Kostyukovich/Yalin are staying in juniors as far as I understand. Considering that Velikova was for even M/G staying in juniors unless they win Junior Worlds (M/G themselves were very much against it), she seems to have a real phobia about letting her pairs moving up, and Polina's growth period, she'll leave them in juniors for one more year, after which they'll age out.
 
Darkverse said:
Kostyukovich/Yalin are staying in juniors as far as I understand. Considering that Velikova was for even M/G staying in juniors unless they win Junior Worlds (M/G themselves were very much against it), she seems to have a real phobia about letting her pairs moving up, and Polina's growth period, she'll leave them in juniors for one more year, after which they'll age out.
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I think that's a good strategy for them anyway. It's easier for them to get good assignments at the junior level.
 
Things I'm curious about:
1. Who will Russia send to the WTT?
2. Will Zagitova continue on now that she has the full compliment of gold medals?
3. Will we ever get to see Stolbova's SP that TAT says is amazing?
4. Will Gubanova be passed over again and break another piece of my heart?
5. What really happened to Kovtun for the sudden departure and rumor of retirement?

:watch:
 
A super long but interesting interview with TAT (she talks about everything, including Eteri):

https://meduza.io/feature/2019/03/22/esli-ty-vsegda-byl-pervym-kak-ty-mozhesh-byt-vtorym

- Somehow, at the very beginning, my brilliant dad told me: “Work, daughter, there will be money”. And I worked. And I did nothing more. This was my favorite activity - to work. Exactly where I worked: on the ice.

I worked for 14 hours, across the country, I sat in each city for forty days, I enjoyed it, I raised champions. When it was possible, then it worked at night: here in America - it worked at night, set. But, see, this is no guarantee from anything. And, as it turned out, no merit. I worked, it was, and now - emptiness.

- What do you have in mind?

- I still have no school or a skating rink. I have nowhere to go to work. It's like I'm being punished for something. And I do not have the happiness that I only dream of: to work, to work as a coach at the rink.

- All you dream about is to work?

- A person, Katya, who has 52 years of experience behind their back, I would say positive, should have the right to get up in the morning and go to work, go to the rink. I do not have it. No matter how much I asked or shouted: give a skating rink, give a school, a palace, whatever, I could pass on knowledge to others, teach others while I'm alive - no, nobody needs it. I don't have my job.
 
They need to do scientific testing on the ladies to figure out why they can do it but the men can't and give some of it over :lol:

The men redeemed themselves brilliantly but considering the way the long played out they could have kept the 3 spots had they performed the short as they were capable of. And they don't need the help if they do! Always next year though ?
 
zebraswan said:
A super long but interesting interview with TAT (she talks about everything, including Eteri):
https://meduza.io/feature/2019/03/22/esli-ty-vsegda-byl-pervym-kak-ty-mozhesh-byt-vtorym
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:rofl: it's a good interview, but Tarasova has been repeating "her story" for over 10 years now, and each year she becomes more and more a "victim".... One change this year! now she praises Eteri to the moon.. "She is not praised often enough! She has the skating world on her finger and she turns it.."..:drama:

- Somehow, at the very beginning, my brilliant dad told me: “Work, daughter, there will be money”. And I worked. And I did nothing more. This was my favorite activity - to work.
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:rofl: Every parent, with an IQ over 70, in the communist USSR, yelled at their child "work! and make money!"... and then quietly whispered "socialism will not last forever.... but don't repeat it in school".

- I still have no school or a skating rink. I have nowhere to go to work. It's like I'm being punished for something. And I do not have the happiness that I only dream of: to work, to work as a coach at the rink.
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and part of the reason she has "no place to work" is because she is overwhelming, pushy and bossy, and younger coaches do not like to be imposed on. When they don't let her "into the inner circle of their rink" she turns her fury on them and starts playing politics against them.

Then she finds one or two who will work with her, and starts favoring them and their skating to the Federation, without merit, just because "they give her projects to work on". If one kisses up to her, she'll not only take their side, but will turn against their competitors, manipulating their students to switch to the ones she favors... and it does not always turn out well for the students.

TAT had great accomplishments in figure skating, nobody will take that away, but her behavior last few years is not doing her own self any favors.
 
Moka-Ananas said:
There is a reason why Mishin and Moskvina still have their rink and workplace after 50 years and their pupils have decent results, and Tarasova hasn't.
Just sayin'.
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;) more than one reason, not just her personality... but the fact that she wants to come in at will, as a Big Star, and only consult and put on the polishing touches on skaters developed for years by other coaches.

If she wanted to really coach, and not be a "Start Consultant", she could EASILY gather a new group of younger pupils and would be given space and ice time... but she is not willing to do that, she wants stardom.

---
There is Junior Universade Championship going on in Russia. If anyone wants to watch, it is on now, and one can "roll back" to see it from the start. It will stay on line for about 1 hour after the end.

(Trusova, Shcherbakova, Kadyrova are in it - FS - their warm-up group starts @ - 1:10-25 if you roll back. look of "-" minus mark, because it is going backwards)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP55UEbTgys
 
Moka-Ananas said:
There is a reason why Mishin and Moskvina still have their rink and workplace after 50 years and their pupils have decent results, and Tarasova hasn't.
Just sayin'.
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Mishin and Moskvina are like the skating version of Yoda. Quiet and wise yet tough and forceful :D

You would think with it's history of dominance Russian Ice dancing would have an equal of a Moskvina around today but they don't. It seems to have suffered from the collapse of the Soviet Union more so then pairs (they suffered too but held on together tighter). The coaches went west and never came back. Too much back stage drama kept them away I guess. The closest is Zhulin but he's a mixed bag of inconsistency himself.
 
The interview is by Journalist Katerina Gordeeva. Is that the skater Ekaterina Alexandrovna or someone else? thanks!
 
Darkverse said:
Kostyukovich/Yalin are staying in juniors as far as I understand. Considering that Velikova was for even M/G staying in juniors unless they win Junior Worlds (M/G themselves were very much against it), she seems to have a real phobia about letting her pairs moving up, and Polina's growth period, she'll leave them in juniors for one more year, after which they'll age out.
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I don’t think it is phobia to let her pairs move up. I agree with her that it is better to be excellent junior than average/under-average senior. As an excellent junior they would at least earn some points towards their ranking and get their name known among the judges. As underaverage seniors wouldn’t get many points and their name also wouldn’t get as known. Besides, if a pair stays junior (meaning getting medals at JGP, JGPF and junior worlds), there is nothing to prevent them doing senior B competitions. Whereas if they move to seniors, the amount of their competitions will be reduced to one GP event (2 if they are very lucky) and some B competitions, but no GPF, no Europeans or worlds (that’s based on the fact that Russia has now more senior pairs and I don’t think Kostiukovich/Yalin would have a chance to get to top three to be sent to Europeans or worlds, or have such results at their GP events that they would get to GPF)

From Velikova/Velikov’s pairs I think Mishina/Galliamov are ready, but Kostiukovich/Yalin or Akhanteva/Kolesov are not, in my view.
 
The other advantage for the junior skaters is they can compete at Russian senior nationals where they can see exactly how they compare to the senior teams. If you win against the seniors, such as the Triple As, move up. If you don't, stay in the junior GP series, do senior Bs and then move up when you are really competitive. Hopefully, you'll get show offers to help fund training.
 
So what's the reactions of the press and federation at world's results?

5 medals is certainly more then what I expected. I was fearing there potentially might be none :shuffle:
 
Amantide said:
I'm thrilled for Zagitova. After such a difficult season, it couldn't ended better for her. Brava!



Wait a minute, who said what, how, where?:sekret: Are we talking about DA QUEEN?:saint:
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I’m happy for Zagitova too. I wasn’t a big fan of her last year, but after all the hate and rough season she’s gotten, it makes me happy to see her delivering the solid performance she’s capable of. Same for Medvedeva.

Yes, from what I heard, TAT says Stolbova/Novoselov have an amazing new SP we will see soon. Of course, seeing is believing with this couple lol
 
Ksenia posted a very brief clip in her stories today of them on the ice with Exogenesis Symphony Pt 3 (sigh) playing. I don't know if that's one of their programs, but I don't know why else she would have posted it.

She answered a few questions from people and one was about whether they will represent Russia - she said yes. I guess we'll see...
 
hanca said:
I don’t think it is phobia to let her pairs move up. I agree with her that it is better to be excellent junior than average/under-average senior. As an excellent junior they would at least earn some points towards their ranking and get their name known among the judges. As underaverage seniors wouldn’t get many points and their name also wouldn’t get as known. Besides, if a pair stays junior (meaning getting medals at JGP, JGPF and junior worlds), there is nothing to prevent them doing senior B competitions. Whereas if they move to seniors, the amount of their competitions will be reduced to one GP event (2 if they are very lucky) and some B competitions, but no GPF, no Europeans or worlds (that’s based on the fact that Russia has now more senior pairs and I don’t think Kostiukovich/Yalin would have a chance to get to top three to be sent to Europeans or worlds, or have such results at their GP events that they would get to GPF)

From Velikova/Velikov’s pairs I think Mishina/Galliamov are ready, but Kostiukovich/Yalin or Akhanteva/Kolesov are not, in my view.
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I am calling it a phobia because she herself has said that she is afraid - that M/G will be "eaten up" in seniors and she feels safer with them in juniors. And she seriously suggested that they should stay for another year if they don't win Junior Worlds and have another try (they themselves said "no" and then won Junior Worlds anyway). At least she can't keep K/Y in juniors till they win JW since they are aging out in 2020/2021.
 
Darkverse said:
I am calling it a phobia because she herself has said that she is afraid - that M/G will be "eaten up" in seniors and she feels safer with them in juniors. And she seriously suggested that they should stay for another year if they don't win Junior Worlds and have another try (they themselves said "no" and then won Junior Worlds anyway). At least she can't keep K/Y in juniors till they win JW since they are aging out in 2020/2021.
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But I do think they would have been ‘eaten’ if they moved before this current season. So I think her concerns were based on a realistic assessment of their ability. Which means it is not a phobia. Phobia is irrational fear of something, whereas hers was based on rational reasons. Mishina/Galliamov were not consistent enough for a new senior pair to build up second mark through consistency, they don’t have any better technical skills than other seniors so they wouldn’t exactly stand out on technical marks, and their skating skills are not that great. I don’t think they would do better than for example Alexandrovskaya/Windsor in their first senior season. So what’s the point moving before they are ready, if they are still able to compete in juniors?
 
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hanca said:
But I do think they would have been ‘eaten’ if they moved before this current season. So I think her concerns were based on a realistic assessment of their ability. Which means it is not phobia. Phobia is irrational fear of something, whereas hers was based on rational reasons.
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It was right to keep them in juniors this season. But another season like she had a serious desire to?.. I also agree that keeping K/Y in juniors this season is correct
 
Darkverse said:
It was right to keep them in juniors this season. But another season like she had a serious desire to?.. I also agree that keeping K/Y in juniors this season is correct
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I guess she wasn’t sure that they win the junior worlds. If they didn’t, I would understand why she would think they were not ready. If, let’s say Panfilova/Rylov managed to beat them without doing any triples, it would not be a good sign for them competing with seniors. And they wouldn’t want to end up like Alexandrovskaya/Windsor, who wanted to move to seniors, and despite being junior world champions, they didn’t get two GP events, so ended doing JGP while doing also senior events.
 
Red Hot Chili Keegan said:
Are you her coach or something? Why do you think you know better than them?
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Everyone is opinionated around here. I loved her original SP. I didn't find it cutesy but sophisticated and full of stylistic nuances that she pulled off wonderfully, though at the expense of her jumps. I was sorry to see it go. Natalie and Nat King Cole cutesy, really?
 
hanca said:
I guess she wasn’t sure that they win the junior worlds. If they didn’t, I would understand why she would think they were not ready. If, let’s say Panfilova/Rylov managed to beat them without doing any triples, it would not be a good sign for them competing with seniors. And they wouldn’t want to end up like Alexandrovskaya/Windsor, who wanted to move to seniors, and despite being junior world champions, they didn’t get two GP events, so ended doing JGP while doing also senior events.
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B/K managed to lose to three other pairs at Junior Nationals, including the very same pair with no triples, and they still moved to seniors. And M/G would have got two GP events regardless from their SB, just like B/K did.
 
Darkverse said:
B/K managed to lose to three other pairs at Junior Nationals, including the very same pair with no triples, and they still moved to seniors. And M/G would have got two GP events regardless from their SB, just like B/K did.
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I’m not entirely sure that it would have been clear at the GP selection how depleted the pairs would be. B/K had 2 full seasons as juniors and a world junior medal. I think an extra season in juniors was the right choice for M/G: they’re a relatively new team; they can get a higher WS; they can gain confidence and grow in a lower pressure environment.

Now, they are definitely ready for the senior level.
 
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