From Russia with Love [#30]: If There Are Test Skate Videos, It Must Be Fall 2018

[kwanfan1818]

Thread #29 is closing in on 1800 posts, so, here's a new one.

For reference, the links to the test skate videos in the last thread start here:
https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...29-spring-2018-and-beyond.103656/post-5407316

 

[Ka3sha]

@DobrinFan put all links together in that post in Programs/Choregraphers thread


I have already shared my thoughts on Ice dancers and men in the previous thread, time for pairs and ladies now.
Pairs:
- I actually enjoyed T/M’s free skate, especially the first part of it. But I have to say that music seems to be too monotonous and kind of goes nowhere. It should and hopefully will work better with time. As always, their twist is just gorgeous.
- Can’t say anything about Z/E as they skated only a part of their program. In the interview that said that they are going to Lombardía Trophy in a week, so it would be hard for them to skate full program here
Don’t like this Stolbova look on Zabiyako.
- Boikova/Kozlovsky are also going to Lombardía next weekend , but did 2 triples and skated a clean program here nonetheless. First throw was just gorgeous. From what I heart, they also were clean in the short.
In comparison with last season, they are now skating with more speed and power, but that’s probably because they are keeping their program.
I’ll definetely root for them to get that third or spot on the team!
- Pavluchenko/Khodykin’s LP is just
Moulin Rouge, 50 shades of grey, the Great Gatsby - and all in one program. Gleikhengauz must be jealous.

 

[starrynight]

What is the minimum age for Russian ladies to compete in seniors at Russian nationals?

 

[Ka3sha]

What is the minimum age for Russian ladies to compete in seniors at Russian nationals?

14

 

[Moka-Ananas]

14

But this should be taken with a grain of salt. Didn't Sotnikova win her first Russian Nats at the age of 12? And Tuktamysheva competed in her first Russian Nats at 11 IIRC.

 

[oleada]

I think that rule was only added in the last year or two

 

[Ka3sha]

Ladies
- Liza.
Her jumps are just . Texbook lutz, textbook axels, just beautiful. Her program is nor unique, nor very innovative, but she enjoys it, so it works for her perfectly.
When she is ‘on’, she just has that ‘lt’ factor. You might not like her skating or programs, but you are captivated by her performances and jumps. And it looks like she is finally ‘on’ again this season.
Megasport was almost full, but most people came there to see Alina and Evgenia. Some of them started watching skating only after Olympics (just my observation based on some questions and comments), but they started clapping right from the first minute.
- Evgenia
Am not sure about the program yet, but it has lots of potential and it’s a very different and difficult style for her.
I like how the music sounds at the arena. Her axel is definetely better and has more height.
What really struck me - she is not in her best shape, performing for the first time after her move, in front of the big crowd, Eteri and others, but she came on the ice and didn’t look nervous or frightened at all. She said later in the interview that she had forgotten part of the program and had to improvise, but the audience didn’t notice it at all.
- Alina
I liked the music cuts, the program is better than her POTO, but OGM deserves better material and choreography. She is a beautiful girl, but I don’t thing that she is ready and mature enough to skate to Carmen.
Also, the program is pretty empty (by Eteri’s group standarts) too.
I got some Julia-2014/15 vibes from her here, but hopefully am wrong and it was just one bad skate.
- Polina
Her jumps (when landed) are spectacular. Am in awe every time I see her lutz-tie combo. She also has the best SS and most powerful skating among Russian ladies.
Liked the part to Leningrad, but don’t think that all three musics cuts work well together
- Maria
They have worked on her SS a lot this off season, it is evident in the short and in the first half of her free. Not all the jumps are there yet, but she is a fighter.

 

[levineismine]

Confirmation that Stolbova is skating with Novoselov
link (in russian)

 

[SamuraiK]

But this should be taken with a grain of salt. Didn't Sotnikova win her first Russian Nats at the age of 12? And Tuktamysheva competed in her first Russian Nats at 11 IIRC.

That was before a Minimun Age rule was implemented.

 

[zoe111]

Ladies
-
Megasport was almost full, but most people came there to see Alina and Evgenia. Some of them started watching skating only after Olympics (just my observation based on some questions and comments), but they started clapping right from the first minute.
- Evgenia
Am not sure about the program yet, but it has lots of potential and it’s a very different and difficult style for her.
I like how the music sounds at the arena. Her axel is definetely better and has more height.
What really struck me - she is not in her best shape, performing for the first time after her move, in front of the big crowd, Eteri and others, but she came on the ice and didn’t look nervous or frightened at all. She said later in the interview that she had forgotten part of the program and had to improvise, but the audience didn’t notice it at .

I also noticed that her triple toes in combination are much better as well- a lot more flow between the jumps

 

[MarieM]

I watched all the FDs. What a mess. Oh boy.

 

[Sylvia]

Copying over the Grand Prix skaters/teams from the previous thread...

The composition of Russian figure skaters - participants of the Grand Prix series of the 2018/2019 season (June 29, 2018) - listed by event: http://fsrussia.ru/news/3756-sostav...v-etapov-serii-gran-pri-sezona-2018-2019.html

Ladies (received the maximum of 18 spots):
Alina Zagitova - Finland & Russia
Evgenia Medvedeva - Skate Canada & France
Maria Sotskova - Japan & France
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva - Skate Canada & Japan
Elena Radionova - Skate America & Japan
Polina Tsurskaya - Skate America & Russia
Stanislava Konstantinova (debut) - Finland & France
Daria Panenkova (debut) - Skate Canada & Finland
Sofia Samodurova (debut) - Skate America
*3rd spot in Russia is TBD as of Sept. 10.

Men (12 spots):
Mikhail Kolyada - Finland & Russia
Dmitri Aliev - Japan & France
Sergei Voronov - Skate America & Japan
Alexander Samarin - Skate Canada & France
Alexey Erokhov (debut) - Finland & Russia
Andrei Lazukin - Finland (his GP debut was at 2017 Rostelecom Cup)
Artur Dmitriev - Russia (he debuted on GP in 2016 - Moscow & Paris)

Pairs (10 spots):
Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov - Skate America & Russia
Natalia Zabiiako / Alexander Enbert - Finland & Japan
Daria Pavliuchenko / Denis Khodykin (debut) - Finland & Russia
Aleksandra Boikova / Dmitrii Kozlovskii (debut) - Skate Canada & France
Alisa Efimova / Alexander Korovin - Skate America & Russia (their GP debut was at 2016 Rostelecom Cup)

Dance (12 spots):
Alexandra Stepanova / Ivan Bukin - Finland & Russia
Tiffani Zagorski / Jonathan Guerreiro - Skate America & Japan
Victoria Sinitsina / Nikita Katsalapov - Skate Canada & France
Anastasia Skoptcova / Kirill Aleshin (debut) - Skate Canada & Japan
Betina Popova / Sergey Mozgov - Finland & France (their GP debut was at 2017 Rostelecom Cup)
Sofia Evdokimova / Egor Bazin - Russia (their GP debut was at 2016 Rostelecom Cup)
*3rd spot in Russia is TBD as of Sept. 10.

 

[starrynight]

14

Hmmm well that will make Russian nationals interesting then to see how Eteri's juniors go and what the judges will do with them.

Alina will probably be feeling the bite of 'The Circle of Life' of Eteri's group sooner rather than later perhaps. Or maybe the judges will ensure the senior eligible skaters retain the podium by the way they judge PCS (presuming obviously that the current trend of the way the girls are skating continues).

 

[Eislauffan]

Olga Ermolina has done a lot of video interviews for the website of the Russian Figure Skating Federation. I will try to add English subtitles to some of them.
The first interview was with Mikhail Kolyada, so here is the version with subtitles:
https://youtu.be/uT3Ypv7tfvc

 

[hanca]

Hmmm well that will make Russian nationals interesting then to see how Eteri's juniors go and what the judges will do with them.

Alina will probably be feeling the bite of 'The Circle of Life' of Eteri's group sooner rather than later perhaps. Or maybe the judges will ensure the senior eligible skaters retain the podium by the way they judge PCS (presuming obviously that the current trend of the way the girls are skating continues).

The judges can’t make miracles. If she doesn’t land her jumps, they won’t be able to do much for her. And even if she does land her jumps, those who will land quads or triple axels will have higher TES which the judges may not be able to make up in PCS. Didn’t Tuktamysheva go from being a world champion one season to being eight place at the Russian nationals the next season?

 

[Ka3sha]

Vaitekhovskaya's interview with Mikhail Kolyada, translated by fs-gossips
Mikhail Kolyada: I Don’t Wish Anyone To Experience The Shock That I Experienced In Pyeongchang
Some quotes

At what point did you get have an idea to go to Arutyunyan?
– After the Olympic Games. He offered that.
To you or to your coach?
– To me. One day we were returning from the rink in one bus, and he offered. And I gladly agreed. Valentina Chebotareva also said that this is a good idea for us to go. They say that the unknown scares, but I did not have that feeling. On the contrary, it was very interesting to see how skaters in America work, how they live, how they rest. I understand that it’s very difficult to feel this all in two weeks, but I think I did a little.
...
I know that Rafael Arutyunyan was very pleased with the work with you. What do you think?
– I also really liked everything. We mostly worked on jumps. Changed the entries, and the approach to training in general.
And more specifically?
– We worked very carefully on steps. Outwardly these changes were very small, but they made it possible to achieve different flight trajectory, different acceleration, different landing. We worked very detailed on quad lutz, which I jumped last season in competitions only two times – at the competition in Bratislava and at the Grand Prix in China.

In general, the mistake was that I didn’t have the right direction of the jump. Everything seemed to be visually good. But since quad lutz is quite a powerful element, I sometimes just didn’t have enough physical strength to land it. Pity that I began to understand all this already going to the jump. As we say, when you go on a jump, you must see the landing. And I didn’t see it.

In Russia, athletes usually don’t think at all trainings are worth something. When you realize that every lesson is paid for by a real money, does it make you change attitude to work?
– Honestly, I didn’t think about it. I just have never been in the shoes of those people who pull the money out of their own pocket. But I can say for sure: when you are surrounded by those who pay a certain amount for a specific time on the ice, when you see how people work, you involuntarily begin to experience a similar condition. It is clear that at the any rink there are always those who come just to skate, not chasing any result. But there are those who work hard, knowing exactly what they want. It is always very well seen.
If you had to pay for the work with Lambiel and Arutyunyan from your own pocket, would you go to these specialists?
– Yes. It’s money well spent.

We slowly came to the most painful topic for you – short program at the team event at the Olympics.
– It’s still terrible to think about it. You know, after that skate, I had a feeling that I was standing by the wall, I saw my own projection as in reality and this projection shot me from the machine gun. The whole day after that I didn’t want to eat, sleep or see anyone. I went to my room in the Olympic village, lay down on the bed and didn’t think about anything at all. Only that everything is bad.
For me, those experiences were a tremendous shock. Before coming to Pyeongchang, I thought that I understand approximately what Olympic games are, but I wasn’t even close to what they really are. How much the responsibility for the result presses on the athlete. I realized that the most important thing at the Games was to learn how not to get under such pressure.
I tried to understand, why skating after all the main competitors who made big mistakes, you didn’t simplified your short program? Why didn’t you remove quadruple lutz, a quadruple toe loop? After all, even with triple jumps you had an excellent chance to finish the program if not with the best result, but ahead of Patrick Chan and Nathan Chen. I found only one explanation: you was so psychologically jammed that you didn’t have the ability to make decisions.
– Something similar really happened to me.
How did you get out of this state?
– Friends, relatives, close people helped a lot. After the first shock was over, the next day I stupidly sat with the phone. They called me, I called them. It has never been so hard for me in my life. Physically, I wasn’t even tired, but morally was completely killed, experienced a strong emotional shake. I will not wish anyone to experience the same.

You don’t make any predictions about your own result this season?
– No. I don’t tend to plan my life for more than one season ahead. There are certain plans, of course I think how to implement them, how to solve some issues. But nothing more. I try to live the moment and not to think about what happened and what will happen. In this regard, I began to treat a lot of things in my life, not only sports, a little bit differently than before. It is clear that this is a long process. You can not wake up become another person. It’s possible only in the movies. But the process is on, and I think it’s going fine.

Original article: https://rsport.ria.ru/figure_skating/20180909/1141520478.html

 

[Eislauffan]

New Tea or Coffee video blitz, this time with Tiffany Zahorski (Tiffani Zagorski) and Jonathan Guerreiro, for our website: http://www.figureskating-online.com/tea-or-coffee.html
Stay tuned, more to come.

 

[hanca]

Interview with Stolbova. It seems very interesting what she has got to say!
https://rsport.ria.ru/figure_skating/20180911/1141664497.html

 

[Sylvia]

Interview with Stolbova. It seems very interesting what she has got to say!

Already translated by @TAHbKA here (thanks!): https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/vaytsekhovskayas-interview-with-stolbova.104386/

 

[hanca]

Mozer’s new interview. https://rsport.ria.ru/interview/20180912/1141714989.html
@TAHbKA , would you translate this for us, please.

She has some new senior pair who will be great. Lots of potential. (If I understand correctly, the only tiny problem is that they don’t skate together yet as a pair.) can anyone translate the bits about this miraculous pair ...or potential pair...or non existent pair... their coach will be Klimov.

And one moment she talks about one pair, and then suddenly two. I wonder if she found Zhuk better partner than Miroshkin and they will be one of those new senior pairs?

 

[kwanatic]

I'd usually do a full post on my blog but I don't have the time/energy, so here it is...

Medvedeva: Love the SP. Fresh and new, something completely different from what she's done in the past. FS is a bit blah. It's not done yet but I wish Wilson had gone for a fiery and fierce tango rather than a quiet one. I'm not really a fan of his tangos. Yuna Kim's Adios Nonino was nice but lacked impact IMO. Hopefully Wilson will spruce this one up. Jumps looked solid for this point in the season. Excited for her.

Zagitova: SP is a dumpster fire. Choppy music edits, loud sound effects, and breaks in the flow...it's awful. Choreo is frenetic and rushed, no interpretation of the music whatsoever. It's garbage and Alina looks like garbage skating to it which is totally unfair to her. With the right vehicle Alina could be beautiful; this program makes her look like a hot mess. FS is better but blah. Warhorse music does all of the work so she just has to land the jumps which did not happen. Pretty rough performance. Lots of pressure on her but hopefully she'll be able to handle it.

Tuktamysheva: Her last post-Olympic season was pretty epic and, judging by how she looked here, she might be gearing up for another good season. Programs are typical Liza T dreck BUT at least they're entertaining and she seems to be having fun. She needs to up the combo in the SP unless she adds the 3A. The jumps look amazing though. If she can be consistent I think she'll work her way back onto the podium and maybe that #3 spot for Russia.

Tsurskaya: Definitely the most impressive skater of the bunch. Speed, flow, ease, huge jumps, SS...she's an incredible talent. The programs are not special, but if she can land the jumps she'll score huge. I hope she works on the spins (slow here). I'm crossing my fingers this is her breakout year.

Sotskova: I really like the SP. They went for something different and entertaining and I think they succeeded. Next to Polina, she looked the second fastest across the ice. Looks like they've been working on her SS. The FS is a bit snoozy; wish they'd gone for something upbeat and energetic here too.

Panenkova: She doesn't stand out much but she's a strong jumper and she's consistent. I feel like she'll be the dark horse pick for her events...

Radionova: Bless her. I still love her but she's fallen waaaay behind in terms of her jumps. Even her spins are slower. I just love her though...

Samodurova: I enjoy her skating. She's not very powerful but she's a fun skater to watch perform. I do not care for her FS though. I love the Burlesque soundtrack but I don't think anyone should skate to it again...ever.

Konstantinova: She reminds me of Adelina circa 2014: lots of energy and performance value but just kinda sloppy and all over the place at times. I like her potential but girlfriend needs a lot of work.

 

[TAHbKA]

Mozer’s new interview. https://rsport.ria.ru/interview/20180912/1141714989.html
@TAHbKA , would you translate this for us, please.

No. Mozer's interviews are a nightmare to translate - she makes no sense and I have a feeling am reading a result of a doctor's appointment summary of a mentally ill person. Am sure google translate would be as useless as me in case of Mozer.

 

[Ka3sha]

Mozer’s new interview.

And one moment she talks about one pair, and then suddenly two. I wonder if she found Zhuk better partner than Miroshkin and they will be one of those new senior pairs?

No, she also mentioned somewhere in the text that Zhuk is skating with Miroshkin

 

[hanca]

No, she also mentioned somewhere in the text that Zhuk is skating with Miroshkin

Yes, I am aware of that, bur considering that they haven’t competed yet, I thought maybe she considers them as one of those two ‘new’ pairs, either with Miroshkin or with someone new (she seems to like mixing people into new pairs).

Maybe Pavlova with someone could be this new pair?

 

[Ka3sha]

Yes, I am aware of that, bur considering that they haven’t competed yet, I thought maybe she considers them as one of those two ‘new’ pairs.

It’s Mozer - you’d never guess what she actually thinks or considers

 

[hanca]

It’s Mozer - you’d never guess what she actually thinks or considers

But I REALLY want to know who this miraculous saviours of Russian pair skating are.

 

[lily]

Watched all the videos of Russian ladies again and - what about Zagitova, it's totally secondary what choreo she has and is it with choppy music edits, frenetic, rushed etc etc. Only question is - does she survive her puberty and the Eteri syndrome that all her girls after big wins and starting puberty go to trash. Medvedeva got to Orser. Zagitova has not that opportunity.

 

[alilou]

OMG Tat shows no mercy:

FS Gossips article -
Tatiana Tarasova: I Don’t See Fire In Zagitova’s Eyes That Was Last Season

https://fs-gossips.com/tatiana-tarasova-i-dont-see-fire-in-zagitovas-eyes-that-was-last-season/

Radionova has no chance to break into the national team?

– Elena is not in a sports shape. She has a good program, but she is experiencing a difficult growing up. Her weight prevents her from working, she can’t cope with this yet, because she eats.

She says that at the test skates she had problems with boots…

– Boots have nothing to do with weight. What she has showed recently it’s actually a decent result of her inactivity.

 

[PRlady]

Crap.

 

[hanca]

Watched all the videos of Russian ladies again and - what about Zagitova, it's totally secondary what choreo she has and is it with choppy music edits, frenetic, rushed etc etc. Only question is - does she survive her puberty and the Eteri syndrome that all her girls after big wins and starting puberty go to trash. Medvedeva got to Orser. Zagitova has not that opportunity.

Zagitova will probably leave before next season, when Trusova, Scherbakova and Kostornaya are due to move to seniors. This season she didn’t have a reason to move out, considering that she is the only Russian senior lady left with Tutberidze, which means she will get plenty of attention. (Tutberidze will want to win over Medvedeva).