Where is she now?
It is not updated yet. Lots of junior pairs are there still with their partners from the past season, Ustimkina still has her coach Sokolov, Astakhova is still listed skating with Rogonov...
Oh no. Between this and the rumors about Ksenia and Nikolai Morozov, I’m honestly terrified.Alina Ustimkina, who just turned 18 this month, seems to be dating Nodari Maisuradze (30) who is helping to coach U/R, according to a recent interview with Rogonov. I'm sure it will work out brilliantly...
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoLvmNnAy9g/?taken-by=alina.ustimkina
that's their mad fans' score.... Med and Zag have a whole bunch of other girls to compete against.
Very realistic... but who knows. If media keeps hyping Zag and Med, Eteri/Orser, and every one "in skating" (TAT, etc.), then the publicity alone may push both girls into staying longer for a challenge..
They obviously have plenty of skaters to compete against, but for each of them winning over the other one has bigger meaning than beating anyone else. Zagitova is strongly motivated to beat Medvedeva because at this moment she is still loyal to Tutberidze and Tutberidze was hurt by Medvedeva leaving. She would also want to prove to everyone that the Olympics were not just a fluke and that she is better than Medvedeva. Medvedeva should be motivated to show Tutberidze that she can do better without her, because otherwise what would be the point of leaving if she was going to be worse off. It is natural that it would feel really great to beat your excoach’s biggest star.
That's your scenario, by all means.. Based on social media and discussions (in Russian) for both girls and "everyone around", both Zag/Med are MOST OF ALL concerned keeping their last year's shape/form/content and improving. Their biggest issues are "new bodies", for example officially Zagitova grew 7 cm, and Med went up 1 dress size.
I am sure that they are most concerned how to keep their close relationship going. In fact, they are so close to each other that they don’t really want to hurt the other one by winning and beating the other one. Actually, it may be the reason why Medvedeva didn’t skate that well at this last competition. The night before she made a short trip by plane to pop in to Russia to have a dinner with Zagitova.
if you're bored reading english-language sources, then imagine what it is like to read the Russian, Ukrainina, and German-Russian-immigrant chats... . At least they were both "ethnically Russian".... In case of Zag-Med, it's "Tatars" vs. "Armenias", and some think "they must be part Jewish" because "they're are both too clever in one way or another"....
Have they been in more than three senior competitions together: 2017 Nationals (Medvedeva), 2018 Euros (Zagitova), 2018 (Zagitova, FS to Medvedeva on a tiebreak)?
T/M with Trankov say the SP music has been changed.......
Zwei Seiten einer Medaille
http://www.long-program.com/2018/09/30/zwei-seiten-einer-medaille/
Wer hat die Musik fur die Programme ausgewahlt?
Maxim: hier verrate ich Ihnen ein Geheimnis. Wir haben das Kurzprogramm nach dem Testlaufen gewechselt.
- Which one of you selects the music in the programmes?
- I have a Secret for you. We replaced the music in the SP after the Test Skate.
And... to add the drama, the "new music" is the same one Med used in her show number in Japan this summer (choreo Averbukh). Maxim asked Med if she does not mind T/M using that music and she said that since Singles and Pairs don't overlap so it is ok.
Maxim: Jenia Medwedeva hatte eine Shownummer im Sommer zu dieser Musik. Und als sie daran mit Ilya Averbukh gearbeitet hat, habe ich sie angesprochen und sagte, dass wir die Kür zu dieser Musik gestaltet haben. Sie antwortete, es sei kein Problem, ihr seid Paarläufer und ich bin Einzelläuferin und ich mag diese Musik und ich werde sie nehmen.
It's now official in the Russian press too (full change of SP)
https://tass.ru/sport/5624184
