And what will happen if one of Trusova/Scherbakova/Kostornaia gets injured? Or starts going through puberty?
If ISU considers it a real competition, then it is a real competition
I really don’t believe the PR spin Medvedeva’s team is pulling, she really wants the gold medal at Olympics and hence she is skating. They hope they will be in frame for the Olympics as well. Highly unlikely that she will make the team considering how weak she is technical considered to the Eteri trio that she unleashed this year, and also Valieva, who will turn senior was the Olympics year.
I am sorry, what PR spin? My personal impression is that Med is skating for herself, whatever that means. What does her team have to do with it? I've been around long enough to have my own opinions. Color me confused about your post.
I am talking about in general and i was stating my opinion on her team.
Why Zagitova must be done and can not skate for herself? She too has the right to challenge herself.
I don't think it's an issue of must, but the opportunities for her are there if she chooses to step away from competitive skating, and if the major events in the sport - Europeans, Worlds, & Olympics - are out of reach it may be that she looks to new challenges in a different area of skating.
She has not shown any wish or plan to do so. Just like Medvedeva. They probably have some plan B+ what we don't understand yet.
It's difficult for Alina to stick around because there are three girls ready to take over. Which would push Zagitova out of the national team for the Euros and the Worlds. So it's not a matter of having the right, it's a matter of having the opportunity. Medvedeva may have been dethroned by Zagitova in 2018, but she still had a chance to make the national team for major events. Things have accelerated since then, and Zagitova is experiencing the same situation as Medvedeva, times three.
Medvedeva did not outscore Zagitova or Tuktamysheva with her Skate Canada score. She got 209 there. The score that put her higher on the list is from some September competition.
Zagitova has never really deserved her sky high PCS. I didn’t think the judges were ever going to let those PCS deflate as long as she was still landing her jumps. I thought RusFed was protecting her by pairing her with Kostornaia. But actually maybe this pairing was the only one that could’ve made her PCS come down to earth. Kostornaia is so much better both technically and artistically. The contrast is really obvious. With the other two A’s, Zagitova would’ve looked to be most deserving of her PCS against their 8’s.
Yes, she most certainly is. Her GOE and components are still very high even when she is not skating clean.
I think the point is she outscored them both solidly in the free even with a lutz edge call and two of three spins with pretty low GOE and an average 2a . In watching Zag this weekend I could actually appreciate how much Med has improved this past year. She’s faster, smoother skating, sal/loop combo. The lutz is a problem but really it’s the spins that she’s losing points to others on. Apparently her back is still a problem and they are careful but hopefully they progress
That was not the point that I was responding to. You are making a different point, to which I can say that Zagitova got not one, but two edge calls, four underrotation calls, nearly fell on one of her jumps and still only lost 5 points in the free to clean Medvedeva. You can look at it both ways.
As I said, Med was not ‘clean’- one edge call, 1 dodgy flip landing, 2 marginal 2a, 2 not great spins. The point being that clean to clean they are both still competitive
Speaking of Scherbakova, to me her quad lutz (and triple lutz) always looked like a flutz.
