Amazing from Tuktamysheva to lay down a two triple axel skate! This barnstorming comeback is giving me life. I spent years rooting for her when she was in the wilderness, so I feel like my fan loyalty is being rewarded here. What a feeling hahaha.
Med made a brilliant move and is learning how to compete with the kids a la Kostner. She'd be retired by now otherwise.
I have no idea these days how anyone could sincerely criticise that move. It was obviously the correct choice.
Alina really looks like a different skater in that sense that she looks so happy on the ice!
I do wonder in a funny kind of way if its a combination of the satisfaction of the world title coupled with the pressure being off due to the focus being all on the three juniors entering seniors? It's funny to think that two seasons ago, Alina was in the same position as them, but is now almost the veteran with the wisdom of how these things work.
For Zagitova, with those results under her belt, she has the opportunity now to do shows and have a nice career regardless of the results. If the season ends for her in December, well, pack the schedule full of shows in Japan and media appearances.
The thing will be not letting the inevitable pressure cooker of the training environment at Sambo 70 negatively affect her. Although who knows, maybe like Tukt, the key will just be to hold on and wait to see what happens.
But again, the frustrating thing about Russian ladies is that by the time they get enough wisdom and experience to be interesting to follow as people and athletes, there's a new wave of young ones.
Very young athletes don't understand pressure like the older ones. When you're very young, you've done a program hundreds of times in practice and then you just go do the same thing at competition. Your cup is easier to fill, there's no competing factors in your own life or mind outside of the sport.
As you become an adult, the responsibility and pressure becomes apparent to you, you develop interests in life outside of sport that you need to balance to reach success. And you start to ask ‘why?’ and you have to provide a compelling answer to yourself. It's these things I find very interesting in athletes. Medvedeva's huge leap of faith to train in Canada, Tuktamysheva battling through the wilderness for years, Zagitova's mental comeback to win worlds and whatever mental process she's been working through since dealing with the younger competition at the rink -- that's all interesting to me.
She was my favorite, together with Irina. I loved both girls for different reason.
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Injuries, puberty, new skaters with even greater technical skills, all of the above could happen. People projected Medvedeva to win the Olympics until she didn't. However, Trusova has the highest potential TES of any senior lady this season. If she's clean, she wins. Next season could well be another story. A lot of ladies are attempting to learn the 3A and various quads. They and their coaches are well aware that genie is out of the bottle and is going to be necessary. She's just the first to have the arsenal she has. There will be others.
. I barely made it through to the end, the poor judges. Ughh....
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