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

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Have to agree on what's best for Med as if she has probs.she will be crucified. If however Zag's complete meltdown is not just a weird blip and she is withdrawn from Euros to fix her for worlds and if Tuk takes the time she needs to recover from an illness that knocks you on your butt Med could end up there (not hoping for this) without the same amount of pressure.

Yes that’s a big risk. She will lose a lot of her remaining stocks if she keeps on making mistakes in competition. Maybe it’s better for her to work in peace.
I think it helped Savchenko/Massot a lot to just put down their heads and work in private while they waited for the French and German federations to sort things out. They needed all that time and put it to good use, so they instantly appeared as a formidable couple when they finally emerged to compete. Medvedeva didn’t get such a chance yet. Now she has a good 9 months to just concentrate on that before the next season.
 
While I, like pretty much everybody else, was assuming that Alina’s technique would eventually meet the same fate as every other Eteri wunderkid, I admit to being kind of astonished at how rapidly the decay is setting in. Her jump technique was better than Evgenia’s, but it’s declining at a much faster pace.
 
Just my two cents, but I don't think it's that Alina's technique has changed. I think it's all about the psychological pressure she's under this year. She just looks plain scared to me. And that is affecting her technique to the point where she even struggled with a spiral position. She's not my favorite ladies skater, but she's breaking my heart. And I can't help but root for her.
 
Description of Osgood-Schlatter disease

Osgood-Schlatter disease can cause a painful, bony bump on the shinbone just below the knee. It usually occurs in children and adolescents experiencing growth spurts during puberty.

Osgood-Schlatter disease occurs most often in children who participate in sports that involve running, jumping and swift changes of direction — such as soccer, basketball, figure skating and ballet.
 
Also just watched a recap video that mentioned Zagitova has Schlatter disease which affects her knees, so it may be as much that than anything else. Who the heck knows anymore, but I tend to lean towards not just a psych thing...
This isn't uncommon among figure skaters. It happens during growth spurts. It usually resolves itself with rest, which she hasn't had for essentially two years. It's very painful. On rare occasions it requires surgery to fix because the tibial plateau can actually separate from the tibia. And it has nothing to do with her training conditions. It has to do with rapid growth spurts in kids who do a lot of physical activity. We used to see this a lot in boys who played little league baseball. If I remember, Vincent Zhou lost a full year of training because of this when he was a junior.
 
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Someone please tell Medvedeva it not all failure. It’s growth, rebuilding and she will succeed. Also, Zagitova not injured. See her nailing jumps in warm ups. It’s not due to injury, all reports and insiders say she fine. It’s nervousness. This group trains to win. Girls nipping so closely mess with heads. Last year no expectations. This year clear favorite has not good effect on her. Let’s see what worlds brings to the poor girl
 
Just my two cents, but I don't think it's that Alina's technique has changed. I think it's all about the psychological pressure she's under this year. She just looks plain scared to me. And that is affecting her technique to the point where she even struggled with a spiral position. She's not my favorite ladies skater, but she's breaking my heart. And I can't help but root for her.

She did appear to be panicked and was not emoting the program and was not into her moves over and above her mistakes. I don't know if it was pressure or if she has some sort of undisclosed injury that she is skating through.She is quite young to have such pressure on her. It looked like she was crying through at least part of the program.
 
what I notice from Zagitova once she makes a mistake, theres no stopping the disaster.
not sure about an injury ? skated fine in the after EX

her technique could also be impacted from her growth and she looks to have filled out from her lower body
 
Someone please tell Medvedeva it not all failure. It’s growth, rebuilding and she will succeed. Also, Zagitova not injured. See her nailing jumps in warm ups. It’s not due to injury, all reports and insiders say she fine. It’s nervousness. This group trains to win. Girls nipping so closely mess with heads. Last year no expectations. This year clear favorite has not good effect on her. Let’s see what worlds brings to the poor girl

what was the skating order, did she skate after Shcherbakova ? she must have been spooked by her score !!
 
Medvedeva's "I’m not a social activist to hold demonstrations with posters “No to negative comments” made me laugh so much. I love her. There's a lot of interesting stuff in that interview.

Damn! :lol:

I'm sad for Tsurskaya and all that potential. Afraid we might not see much more of her.

Tell me about it. Her jumps were a thing of beauty. Now it's falls and Ur.
Have no clue wth is going on with her. :confused::(
 
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An opinion piece from Andrey Simonenko, Russian journalist, about the age limit question in ladies' figure skating and how these Russian Nationals results may play into the debate:

https://rsport.ria.ru/20181223/1548517998.html (Russian)

A couple of interesting quotes:

Oleg Vasilyev

My opinion is that little girls should not be allowed to the championship of Russia. The European Championship is literally in three weeks, and psychological breakdowns of our adult girls will not bring any benefit to anyone. Juniors have enough season starts to keep fit and learn to compete. And the championship of Russia among adults should be the championship of Russia among adults. And the results once again confirm my words: nobody needs it.

Comment from the author

So, there is a suspicion that this “children's mat” for Zagitova and Medvedeva also became a shock for our foreign partners, as is customary to say now, who closely followed the Russian championship. And how do you think the majority will express themselves at the next ISU congress, when the question of raising the age limit for adult tournaments will finally be considered?
Yes, there is a strong young growth in Japanese women's single skating, a young American figure skater is growing, waving at fourfold. But all the same for me the answer to this question is obvious. It may happen that by the results of this championship of Russia we will cut down the branch on which we planned to sit in the coming years.
 
If I remember, Vincent Zhou lost a full year of training because of this when he was a junior.
I don't know about Vincent, but Nathan Chen had it and lost a year of training.

what I notice from Zagitova once she makes a mistake, theres no stopping the disaster.
I don't know if that has always been true. Didn't she botch one of her opening jumps in the free during the Olympics, couldn't do her combo and yet she managed to add it later and skate the rest of her program without any major errors?
 
Thank you @starrynight , :)I was feeling a bit lazy to use google translation. :saint:

Is this the first time that a podium is all junior in a senior championship?
Not hardly and not just in Russia. Sotnikova won her first championship at age 12 and the year the Us podiun was Zhang, Nagusu, and Flatt, they were all juniors. There have been multiple juniors on the Russian podiums. This only becomes an issue when a favorite is knocked off.
 
Not hardly and not just in Russia. Sotnikova won her first championship at age 12 and the year the Us podiun was Zhang, Nagusu, and Flatt, they were all juniors. There have been multiple juniors on the Russian podiums. This only becomes an issue when a favorite is knocked off.

I think if it was known the senior field was especially weak it would be less of a deal.

But it’s the reigning Olympic Gold and Olympic Silver Medalists (of this year!!!) who were knocked off the podium.
 
Of course, w would like you to post it.
Of course.
Ok, i put all the "idioms and figurative forms" of their opinions into something hopefully coherent. This what these two people said about Gubanova and Konstantinova (not my words, just what they said).

Gubanova, as a Junior, appeared to be a promising skater. She attracted attention with her RJ programme in 2017. With TAT’s “help” she was sent a message that in order to “do better” (placements included) she would do better with a more prominent coach, aka Buianova. She “listened” and switched from Turenko to Buianova, and moved to Moscow. She has not yet had a chance to show “all that Buianova has given her” because earlier this season she had a leg injury and boot issues, missed Test Skate. TAT was one of her choreographers this season, and some observers do not think the programmes high light her best qualities.

Her jumps lost a bit of power and stability and she has more UR’s than in 2017. While she has very fluid and gracefully moving arms, hands and shoulders (and everything up from shoulder blades) the lower parts of her body do not move in same fluidity and don’t have the matching limberness as her upper portion of the body. Some of her moves are small, and she does not move often as “one unit” to complete the “one form/shape”. In RJ programme in 2017 all her movements were fluid and coherent, now her programmes look a bit messy and too busy. The opinion is that she lost “fluidity of the blade”, graceful transitions, and beneficial use of her strongest point – arm movements. She lost what Turenko gave her, and has not gained anything better from Buianova (at least not yet). It is possible that next season she maybe start receiving “point gifts” as Buianova’s pupil and TAT’s protégé who did what she wanted, but so far even with the right coach, she has not become better than what she was in 2017 to give any opportunity or room for “point gifts”.

Konstantinova, for unknown or unstated reasons, is also favored by Tarasova and pushed ahead with TAT’s influence, quite obviously and openly, without any demands to leave Chebotareva. Relationship between Chebotareva and TAT is a non issue, there are no bad or good that anyone knows about. TAT does see “something” special in Stasya, praises her during performances with words like “she skates as if she is breathing air”, “her spins are very special”, but points out the issue with 3flip as well.

Outside of TAT’s opinion, Konstantinova gives an over all impression of a “more substantial skater” than some other top girls, with more “stately presence on the ice”, her body movements and positions are “grand, big, and expansive”, she is precise and expressive, hits good positions, her moves “embrace a lot of space and give sense of volume”, she is musical, feels and hits the notes and rhythm changes, skates with music, her jumps are good but could use work (as any skater).

When Konstantinova and Gubanova compared: Gubanova’s skating is now “smaller and more timid and too gentle and with some moves/details that don’t match the movements of other body parts”. Konstantinova’s skating is “more spacious, precise, confident, feels faster and stronger”.
 
I wonder if they will send Alina to Europeans or Worlds after what happened at Nationals? She's looked vulnerable this season and was completely off during nationals..

Alina was certainly stressed by media and “negativity”, but there was an injury too. What has not been said in the open, but is known now (just like with Alina tripping on the cable at GPF and it not being mentioned till after) is that Alina did come to RN with an injury, a bad burn, caused by her own Grand Mother, who decided to administer a “home remedy” to Alina without consulting with the team doctor. Grand-ma was worried that Alina’s ankle is still sore, and applied to it Dimexid Compress, but did not delude the substance properly, and left on for too long. Alina’s skin was burned through and inflamed the day before leaving for Saransk.
https://buffme.ru/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/foimg-ladbc9.jpg


There is still plenty of bias media coverage and people still take sides. The info about who gave gifts is incomplete.

Both, Zagitova and Medvedeva, and other skaters donated their toys to the orphanage. It was all done at once, to the same representatives and children from the orphanage. It is common practice for many skaters every where, they keep few special toys and give away the rest to children’s causes.
https://www.sport-express.ru/figure...eredali-detyam-igrushki-na-novyy-god-1493968/

Alina personally handed out to the orphanage all the hearts she received from fans in the dressing room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXsgJ90PGC0

And thanked her fans for all the support, promising to do better next time.
https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1069993938.html

Medvedeva’s PR machine is in the works. She is all giddy and is giving interviews “Oh, what a great experience it has been and how she changed for the better”.. :D Nobody who is not a die hard fan and some gullible foreigners believes it.. And suddenly Med is trying to make conversation and “play nice” with Alina… :lol:
https://www.sportsdaily.ru/s/preview/27/119046-27.jpg?t=1545571844731362JPG
https://j.gifs.com/KZWrmM.gif

Being friendly is great, but it is too late to recreate “The Dynamic Golden Duo”… Tutberidze has now “Eteri’s Angles”.. :p
https://cdn24.img.ria.ru/images/154...0_80_0_0_54b1c69ed7f1c5dd5067bf69ec2be2fa.jpg

I don’t know what’s the story behind Medvedeva getting a new program last season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave Kostornaya the program on purpose. I don’t believe that the choreographer in her group forgot that they made a program to the same music the previous season.
The story is called “money and savings”… :lol: and it is not uncommon.

So if it's going to be hypothetically Trusova, Kostornaia and Shcherbakova for Montreal worlds team, where does this leave Zag and Med? Out in the cold?

Yes! Where should it leave them if the other girls are better??? They have bunch of Olympic and other Gold and Silver medals. They have other things to do and follow in life as teenagers, like improve their brains instead of muscles.. :lol:

The sport has now moved in a direction where maximum results can be accomplished between ages 14 and 18, so people should plan accordingly, get all medals you can by 18-19, and then do something else.. there is a whole world out there.
 
There is still plenty of bias media coverage and people still take sides. The info about who gave gifts is incomplete.

Both, Zagitova and Medvedeva, and other skaters donated their toys to the orphanage. It was all done at once, to the same representatives and children from the orphanage. It is common practice for many skaters every where, they keep few special toys and give away the rest to children’s causes.
https://www.sport-express.ru/figure...eredali-detyam-igrushki-na-novyy-god-1493968/

Alina personally handed out to the orphanage all the hearts she received from fans in the dressing room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXsgJ90PGC0

Thank you for that!
 
People are worried about the Worlds team for Montreal already? They haven't even named this year's team yet. How can you possibly know who is going to be in good shape and still standing by then? It could be Stasya going instead of one of Eteri's girls if the current trend continues...:yikes:
 
Tell me about it. Her jumps were a thing of beauty. Now it's falls and Ur.
Have no clue wth is going on with her. :confused::(
Polina was unlucky enough to have a series of injuries. She was also diagnosed with osteochonditis dissecans and a herniated disc two seasons ago that seriously affected her training. (Wasn't there also some genetic back condition mentioned?)

She was also an Eteri student until recently, so it's possible she's having the same technique problems Eteri skaters tend to have as adults. She left Eteri this spring, so if this is the problemshe may be able to fix it.

I don't know about Vincent, but Nathan Chen had it and lost a year of training.

I don't know if that has always been true. Didn't she botch one of her opening jumps in the free during the Olympics, couldn't do her combo and yet she managed to add it later and skate the rest of her program without any major errors?
Vincent took two seasons off, at which time people thought he had actually retired due to the radio silence from his team. It turns out he actually has an injury (injuries?) that kept him off the ice for two whole seasons, but it wasn't O-S.
 
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