From Russia with Love [#31]: Winter to Spring 2019

[Spun Silver]

Just watched Boikova & Kozlovskiy exhibition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YATRDQ3rqHk&feature=youtu.be

They are the real deal. And different from most Russian pairs we've seen. The classical lines are there; but they are also sunshine, rainbows and unicorns types of personalities. Cute and funny. Very easy on the eyes. And they seem to adore each other. I am not going to fall in love... I refuse to fall in love with a Russian pair.... At least I will try to stay strong.

I am not as strong-willed as you. I am head over heels. The Sunshine Kids - who wouldn't love watching them? How lucky we are to look forward to their skating over the coming years!

 

[oleada]

Ok but what are they skating to

They seem to have personality... but I don't like that they are skating to very traditional pairs music programs

It’s only their first senior season, and what their 3rd or so season together? They’ve had to deal with growth spurts during that time too. They have time to stretch themselves artistically later on.

 

[muffinplus]

It’s only their first senior season, and what their 3rd or so seaso together? They’ve had to deal with growth spurts during that time too. They have time to stretch themselves artistically later on.

I hope so... Have any Moskvina teams had interesting music choices lately?

 

[Vash01]

I hope so... Have any Moskvina teams had interesting music choices lately?

The music choices don’t need to be ‘interesting ‘. It is what they do with the music.

 

[PRlady]

That death spiral move!!!! And their throw jumps are just so airy! I love this team! Thank you for sharing the Ex vid!

Wow thanks from me as well. T/M are going to have some pressure from below, very soon. They’re adorable.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

The music choices don’t need to be ‘interesting ‘. It is what they do with the music.

I personally can't wait to see what they can do with Carmen .

 

[mjb52]

I'm excited about Worlds but weirdly almost more excited for the off-season music suggestion thread. The year after Olympics Worlds is where we get the slightest inkling of who will be the big teams for the next quad but next year is when teams need to really come up with the perfect program to consolidate. I'm dying to see everyone's ideas for some of these teams!

 

[Frau Muller]

I hope so... Have any Moskvina teams had interesting music choices lately?

If by “interesting” you mean Western pop tunes, rap, Moulin Rouge or Blues for Klook, no...thank goodness.

 

[muffinplus]

If by “interesting” you mean Western pop tunes, rap, Moulin Rouge or Blues for Klook, no...thank goodness.

Nope. Just something more innovative than what her teams usually have or have had. That said I actually don't know what kind of music her pairs have had recently, because I've followed pairs quite sporadically

 

[Mad for Skating]

(And last season, a Carmen FS didn't seem to bring luck to Stolbova/Klimov, so if you're superstitious type...)

DO NOT MAKE ME CRY.

This is your last warning!

 

[kwanfan1818]

Have you never watched Buianova and Kovtun?

When we were in Moscow for 2005 Worlds, the most common sight was a well-dressed *middle-aged or older woman walking up to any man 40 and under and ripping him a new one.

*Since it was winter and there was snow, by well-dressed I mean a neat, well-fitted coat and looked-after boots.

I still send regular virtual thanks to the such-dressed woman who navigated us to Shostakovich's grave in the Novodevichy cemetery.

 

[Tinami Amori]

When we were in Moscow for 2005 Worlds, the most common sight was a well-dressed *middle-aged or older woman walking up to any man 40 and under and ripping him a new one.

... next time visit in the summer time...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJkUY9lX98E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVAkL45Rn1k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJc60iUNR1Y

 

[Marco]

Just saw the World Team is yet to be announced for the men and the ladies. I hope the following happens:

I suppose ladies selection is down to three out of Zagitova, Medvedeva, Tuktamysheva, Samodurova and Konstantinova. The fairest is probably Zag, Tuk and Sam. Unless something crazy happens at Russian Cup, these three have been the best, highest scoring and most consistent this season.

For the men, I hope it is Kolyada and Kovtun. However, how that Samarin is the highest placed man at Euros (by some margin) and has the most consistent 4lutz out of all Russian men, I think he will have to bomb quite poorly at the Russian Cup to NOT be chosen. Sucks for Kovtun.

 

[DobrinFan]

Apologies for being out of the loop. Has the World team been named yet for the men and ladies?

No. It will be named next month after the Cup Final (Feb 18th-22nd).

 

[Deleted member 40371]

Just saw the World Team is yet to be announced for the men and the ladies. I hope the following happens:

I suppose ladies selection is down to three out of Zagitova, Medvedeva, Tuktamysheva, Samodurova and Konstantinova. The fairest is probably Zag, Tuk and Sam. Unless something crazy happens at Russian Cup, these three have been the best, highest scoring and most consistent this season.

For the men, I hope it is Kolyada and Kovtun. However, how that Samarin is the highest placed man at Euros (by some margin) and has the most consistent 4lutz out of all Russian men, I think he will have to bomb quite poorly at the Russian Cup to NOT be chosen. Sucks for Kovtun.

I believe some of the spots to world team are set in stone, Samadurova being one. I am puzzled why you think Samarin being selected would mean Kovtun won’t make it?, especially since Russia has 3 spots for the world team.

Ladies: I believe if Liza Tuktamysheva does well at the universaide, she will be selected. Then the final spot will be between Med, Zag and Konstantinova. Zag should be slight favorite thanks to GPF silver medal. If Tuktamysheva fails at winter universaide then it will be a 4 way battle at the Russia cup.

Men: Samarin should be safe; he may be boring but is the most reliable among these men. Russia cup should be an interesting completion between Kovtun, Kolyada, Vornonv and Aliev.

Pairs: T/M and B/K should be safe. Third spot will come down to M/G ( especially if they do well at Jr worlds, they have not qualified for the event yet, still), E/K, Z/E ( if they are healthy) and P/K. This should be a wide open event.

Ice dance : Stepanova/Bukin and Sinitsina/Katasalapov should be safe. Which means Russia cup event may not be a deciding factor. Irrespective of what I think of Nikita, they should go to the worlds. This year is the best chance of Russia to regain 3 spots.

Also, I will be surprised if Russian Federation ask teams like T/M to compete again at Russia cup, I believe it is going to put unnecessary pressure on these teams.

 

[Tinami Amori]

About the Russian Cup Final to determine the world team.

http://www.fskate.ru/info/competitions/202/
- Допуск спортсменов (пар) к участию в Чемпионате России, Первенствах России и Финале Кубка определяется по результатам участия в двух этапах Кубка России.

(Translating only the part concerning Russian Cup Finals participation) "Russian Cup Finals participation is based on results from skaters'/pairs' participation in 2 (out of 5 available) segments of the Russian Cup events".

That means, afaik, that only the skaters/pairs who already participated in 2 out of 5 Russian Cup events, are eligible to skate in the Final.

None of the top Senior Ladies participated this year (Zag, Tuk, Sam, Konst, Med) in the Russian Cup. The Sr Ladies who did, are not up for consideration.

Of the top Senior Men, it's only Kovtun, Voronov and Samoilov participated in 2 events.
Kovtun - Silver/248 pts, Gold/251 pts.
Voronov -Silver/228 pts, 4th pl/230 pts.
Samoilov - 4th pl/234 pts, Silver/242 pts

Samarin (afaik) skated only 1 event. Miluokov skated 2 events but with low results.

To me this means that only "men's team" will/can be affected by Russian Cup Final results.
(if anyone has different info, pls post).

Dance and Pairs selection for Worlds are not in question.

 

[hanca]

About the Russian Cup Final to determine the world team.

http://www.fskate.ru/info/competitions/202/
- Допуск спортсменов (пар) к участию в Чемпионате России, Первенствах России и Финале Кубка определяется по результатам участия в двух этапах Кубка России.

(Translating only the part concerning Russian Cup Finals participation) "Russian Cup Finals participation is based on results from skaters'/pairs' participation in 2 (out of 5 available) segments of the Russian Cup events".

That means, afaik, that only the skaters/pairs who already participated in 2 out of 5 Russian Cup events, are eligible to skate in the Final.

None of the top Senior Ladies participated this year (Zag, Tuk, Sam, Konst, Med) in the Russian Cup. The Sr Ladies who did, are not up for consideration.

Of the top Senior Men, it's only Kovtun, Voronov and Samoilov participated in 2 events.
Kovtun - Silver/248 pts, Gold/251 pts.
Voronov -Silver/228 pts, 4th pl/230 pts.
Samoilov - 4th pl/234 pts, Silver/242 pts

Samarin (afaik) skated only 1 event. Miluokov skated 2 events but with low results.

To me this means that only "men's team" will/can be affected by Russian Cup Final results.
(if anyone has different info, pls post).

Dance and Pairs selection for Worlds are not in question.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t think the Russian federation is very strict with reinforcing the rule that only whoever attended two Russian cup events can compete in the final. It may be true for the lower ranking skaters, but they definitely don’t limit the higher ranked skaters. For example: Didn’t Zahorski/Gurreiro skate one year in the cup final even though they didn’t attend any Russian cup at all? And there are more skaters who did, not only Z/G.

And even if on this occasion the federation wanted to reinforce that rule, I noticed a few times in the past they let skaters skate in a competition, marked them but then did not count them into the official results of the competition. So let’s say they wanted to do skate out between three or four ladies, they could invite them, mark them like anyone else and then not include them in the official results because they would not be considered as competing in the competition, they would just be marked for the selection for worlds.

 

[Marco]

@Domshabfan Thanks. I keep thinking Russia only had 2 spots for men. If there are 3, I think all of Samarin, Kolyada and Kovtun should be safe.

For ladies, I will be very surprised if Konstantinova makes it. She bombed last year and placed last amongst the 3 Russian ladies. Tuktamysheva and Samodurova are the most consistent. Although Zagitova bombed a few times, she still managed to win her GPs and medal at GPF / Europeans. I am afraid leaving Medvedeva behind is most logical.

 

[Rina RUS]

Plushenko said about Kovtun and Kolyada: if this trend continues, i'll get together with Yagudin, we'll reinstate our 3X and Quads, and we'll go to the next season's competitions instead of these two.. (He also insists Kol and Kov should go to Mishin) https://tass.ru/sport/6044876

Yagudin agrees: "If Zhenya and me will have some practice, if he will recover after the surgery he had not long ago, if I will have healed an enormous cyst in my knee and oiled my metal hip joint, we can have at least the 16th place after the free skate."
https://www.gazeta.ru/sport/news/2019/01/26/n_12565411.shtml?updated

 

[Rina RUS]

There are plenty of people with something to say about TAT in the comments though, so she is not universally adored. The Fed needs to limit her power.

What else should they do to Tarasova? Tarasova tells they were passing by her without saying "hello" after those years when she had been bringing medal after medal to the country. They didn't give her any job, even though she was ready to work "even in Odintsovo".
Tarasova thinks she hasn't been working as a coach for many years: "Only Lena Vodorezova took pity on me two years later. /.../ Only Lena Vodorezova said to me: "You can come to help me." I said: "I can come to help you. Don't worry, I never will take your athlete from you.""
What else should the federation do to Tarasova? Eat her?

(Yagudin's interview with Tatiana Tarasova - with subtitles)
part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_575oSvfBQ
part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifY-XnQyhlM

 

[snoopy]

Pml yagudin

 

[mjb52]

Perhaps Yags could do a program as the tin man from the Wizard of Oz

 

[Wyliefan]

Just for kicks, I've been looking at season's best scores for a lot of the ladies. They fall into definite tiers, with significant gaps between most of them.

Top tier: Alina, Rika
Second tier: Liza, Satoko
Third tier: Sofia, Kaori
Fourth tier: Evgenia, Bradie, Eunsoo, Loena
Fifth tier: Mariah, Elizabet, Stanislava

Plus, Alina, Liza, and Sofia have all either medaled at or won major competitions this season. Evgenia has an ACI medal and a GP medal. Stanislava has a GP medal.

So yes, given the scoring potential everyone has been showing, I would think that it would take quite a lot to knock Alina, Liza, or Sofia off the Worlds team now. Even though Alina earned a 5th-tier score at Europeans, they know what she can do if she has a chance to pull herself together and start hitting her jumps again. As I said somewhere else, she's high-risk, high-reward. Very high reward.

 

[mjb52]

Catching up with photos and videos - Russia team jackets for Euros are awesome. Sort of a Grease look imo.

 

[Rina RUS]

Perhaps Yags could do a program as the tin man from the Wizard of Oz

The Tin Man? He is The Magician. He is a fantastically graceful creature - even on his iron leg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V0UMJwZdaY&t=26s

 

[Ka3sha]

Stanislava has not medaled anywhere.

Not that I disagree with you, but Stanislava was second at GP of Helsinki

 

[Wyliefan]

Not that I disagree with you, but Stanislava was second at GP of Helsinki

I stand corrected! I'll fix the post.

 

[Stephanie]

Per his Twitter, Aliev will be at the Russian Cup final so hopefully he still has a shot at Worlds

 

[rfisher]

Per his Twitter, Aliev will be at the Russian Cup final so hopefully he still has a shot at Worlds

I expect it will be essentially a skate off between he and Kovtun for the 3rd spot assuming Koylada and Samarin are in (and I expect they are). Given Dima's skates this season, this is a toss-up.

 

[znhurston]

I wonder if Mishin would be a good coach for Kolyada.

He might have been 10 years ago

Russia is going to go down to 1 Entry in both men’s and ladies for 2020. Incredible.

In the mens maybe but the ladies??? I doubt it.