From Russia with Love [#33]: Summer 2019

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firstflight

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Yup. Kwan used it too, Baiul as pro and others too I can't remember. Who's the skater you're ref. to? lol
Kwan. I thought she’s generally a persona non grata in the Russia thread lol.
But yes, N/K had a program to it. P/B used it when they won bronze in 2012. Trenary used it in a pro comp. And many more...
 
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starrynight

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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.
 
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C

casken

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I liked the last second Maleguena program Konstantinova threw together at the Aurora games waaaaaay more than this Moulin Rouge retread.
 

Amantide

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Kwan. I thought she’s generally a persona non grata in the Russia thread lol.
But yes, N/K had a program to it. P/B used it when they won bronze in 2012. Trenary used it in a pro comp. And many more...

Ah, I knew a dance team used it too. I thought it might've been Denkova&Stavisky, but it's P&B.
I didn't know Kwan was a persona non grata in the Russia thread. :D She was my favorite, together with Irina. I loved both girls for different reason.
 

Amantide

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By the way, who used to make the choreo. for Péchalat&Bourzat, when they were training with Zhulin. They had some really good programs.
 

Polaris

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I’m not sold on Trusova winning it all. Maybe she will sweep this season, but I have my doubts as to her longevity.

Happy to eat crow if I’m wrong.
 

Amantide

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Please Doll, cut me some slack. I like what I see. But December it is :).

Fine. :rofl:

Seriously though, she is one of the most reliable Pair skaters when it comes to jumps and throws. And she jumps like a single skater, with height and speed. The times she hasn't been doing well were when she was injured. So, the only thing that I might worry about is her health. She isn't getting any younger and I don't know if she solved that problem she had with her foot also. But if she manages to stay injury free, this pair is going to work really good.
 

rfisher

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I’m not sold on Trusova winning it all. Maybe she will sweep this season, but I have my doubts as to her longevity.

Happy to eat crow if I’m wrong.
I don't think anybody is saying she'll win everything through 2022. :lol: 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.
 

Bigbird

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Nobody can tell me that Queen Sui and Prince Han are not rolling on the floor laughing on seeing that, whatever that was from T/M. Is it so hard to pick two good pieces of music? Why waste all that talent? Exasperated, very. :wall::scream:. I barely made it through to the end, the poor judges. Ughh....
 

Amantide

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Nobody can tell me that Queen Sui and Prince Han are not rolling on the floor laughing on seeing that, whatever that was from T/M. Is it so hard to pick two good pieces of music? Why waste all that talent? Exasperated, very. :wall::scream:. I barely made it through to the end, the poor judges. Ughh....

At this point, I believe it's them choosing and maybe insisting on these kind of choices. I just can't believe that's Zueva's choice, but wth knows.
 
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starrynight

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I don't think anybody is saying she'll win everything through 2022. :lol: 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.

Interestingly Trusova is on the same schedule as Medvedeva was last quad in terms of age and seasons out from the Olympics.

And I must say, bravo to all the Russian skaters for having the guts to do the testing of their new programs so early in the season in front of an audience for the whole world to pick apart.

Lots of other skaters wouldn’t want to do this. It’s easy to pick apart programs, but unlike other skaters, they don’t have the luxury of doing this testing behind locked doors and incorporating feedback before the world sees the programs.
 

rfisher

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Interestingly Trusova is on the same schedule as Medvedeva was last quad in terms of age and seasons out from the Olympics.

And I must say, bravo to all the Russian skaters for having the guts to do the testing of their new programs so early in the season in front of an audience for the whole world to pick apart.

Lots of other skaters wouldn’t want to do this. It’s easy to pick apart programs, but unlike other skaters, they don’t have the luxury of doing this testing behind locked doors and incorporating feedback before the world sees the programs.
And, timing can be a bitch. If the Olympics were this year, I'd say she would likely be the next OGM. Three years away....problematic. Lots of things can happen, but let her enjoy this season and then she'll take it from there. No skater is guaranteed a long career. Too many things can happen.
 

muffinplus

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Trusova's amazing, but she still only won 2 out of the 4 major showdowns last season with a comparable base value advantage. It guarantees nothing, which she knows. She still has to go out and land those quads.

That was last season and her quads seemed to have gotten very stable (the quad toe at least)
 

Polaris

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Med made a brilliant move and is learning how to compete with the kids a la Kostner. She'd be retired by now otherwise.

Did she? I hate to say this but she is really playing catch-up at this point, and the improvements that she's making at TCC is not fast enough to close the gap. She also has nerves issues, which is going to be difficult to manage as she goes into this season.
 

starrynight

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With the girls it’s more of a question of how growing up will interact with the stability of the jumps.

There’s 7 months through to worlds. Although it usually seems to be the case that the young ones do their growing in the off seasons when the body has time to recover when the intensity of the training lessens.

I do appreciate with with Trusova that she doesn’t look like Bambi on ice skating on toothpicks. There’s something so much better (in my opinion) about skating from girls who are very strong in the legs.
 

Vash01

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Kwan. I thought she’s generally a persona non grata in the Russia thread lol.
But yes, N/K had a program to it. P/B used it when they won bronze in 2012. Trenary used it in a pro comp. And many more...

The best performance skated to TFB was by Grishchuk and Platov at the 1997 Europeans,

I also loved Oksana’s pro performance.

All others were good (Kwan) to ok (everyone else)
 

Perky Shae Lynn

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Did she? I hate to say this but she is really playing catch-up at this point, and the improvements that she's making at TCC is not fast enough to close the gap. She also has nerves issues, which is going to be difficult to manage as she goes into this season.
But where would she be has she stayed with Tutberidze? Eaten alive by Zagitova, and now Trusova. Not in a good place mentally. By moving away, she started a new life. As a skater and as a person. It's not all about winning medals. Med has so much new exciting stuff going on, skating is a cherry on top.
 

Finsta

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Medvedeva will be fine. Look at Zagitova last season with her mental health and nerve issues. She seems to have moved past them and I’m certain Medvedeva will also. Medvedeva was always tough as nails. Last season she had all of Russia against her. Look at the crowd in their feet for her this year. She will be fine
 

firstflight

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The best performance skated to TFB was by Grishchuk and Platov at the 1997 Europeans,

I also loved Oksana’s pro performance.

All others were good (Kwan) to ok (everyone else)

I totally get why G/P’s version is so revered and I enjoy aspects of it. I find their and Baiul’s programs too literal. The hand and head thing that G/P do actually induced laughter when my friends and I watched it originally. But that’s not to take away from the electricity of the performance. It’s just not my favorite rendition of the music.
 

starrynight

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But where would she be has she stayed with Tutberidze? Eaten alive by Zagitova, and now Trusova. Not in a good place mentally. By moving away, she started a new life. As a skater and as a person. It's not all about winning medals. Med has so much new exciting stuff going on, skating is a cherry on top.

And so much of standing out now is about creating a brand for yourself. If you can’t win, you need to have something else different about you to add interest. And the situation with Orser and Canada gives Medvedeva something different.

She’d have been lost in the crowd at Sambo 70 by now.

Just look at the way all the girls there are just referred to collectively as ‘4A’.
 

Amantide

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I think Medvedeva did the right thing to move. It was the best decision she could take post Oly.
Having said that, I'm not impressed at all, so far. But this is still work in progress. I get the impression that she and her team are still getting to know each other, so only time will tell.
 

Tinami Amori

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Audience at the Megasport Arena during Test Skate gave a long "a clap and praise" tribute to Eteri Tutberidze, yelling out to her "Eteri! Eteri! Eteri - you're awesome!". On both days...


These two days are another success for Team Tutberidze. Her 4 ladies ahead of the rest.

Ted Barton waited for her and i think they were talking about going to dinner... :lol:

Alina Zagitova practicing "cleopatra" moves.

Alena Kostornaya making fun of Alina's "cleopatra" moves.

I am very happy with "TeamTutberidze" Fans so far. They are giving equal "love and attention" to all 4 Girls - Alina, Alexandra, Anya and Alena. Many people seem to have a favorite of the 4, but it has not become a rivalry, just a preference while others are supported as well. I hope it stays this way, but most likely it will. Each girl has something unique, and strength over another, and they all know it - the one who skates the best that day, wins.

Alena Leonova could not pick a favorite either, she said "My favorites were all the girls from Tutberidze group".

In the recent two interviews Alina Zagitova said two things "I make sure not to concentrate on my placements" and "I feel like i now have to take care of the 3 younger ones (3A), be their role model".
 

Tinami Amori

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Why does Med get so many dislike ratio is it Korean stalkers or vapid russians ?
Since you brought it, and without going into "old details".... In short, it's because smart people under that this is what happened. And people don't appreciated such behavior. It's that old "knock down the board game if you're losing".

On north-american sites people chose to believe "the PR-version" why "she left" - self-searching, improving, trying new things.... it flatters their egos and etc... but that is not what happened and why she left. some day the truth will come out.
 
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