From Russia with Love [#35]: Winter 2019

[Jonas]

I definitely saw a coaching change coming for Mishina & Galliamov -- just not to the same coach as Boikova & Kozlovskii.

Mishina & Galliamov, IMO, are very much on par technically w/the Russian Champions (and truly and honestly with Sui & Han as well!!). I don't think they're (M&G) skate slowly, but I do agree that they don't project as well or have the impact of the other top teams in terms of presence on the ice. I think that's why M&G don't score as well on PCS as their Russian teammates or the Chinese apirs. M&G definitely need better conceptualized and choreographed programs and I do think Team Moskvina can help greatly here. Plus and as already mentioned, having two rival teams training under the same roof has its benefits. Moskvina having two of her pairs on the podium in Beijing is not a crazy statement.

Your thoughts...

 

[Ka3sha]

Arthur Minchuk about Boikova/Kozlovskii plans. For now they are training like always, although there are rumors that the rinks will be closed soon. It’s good that the guys had already choreographed new SP with Aleksandr Zhulin. They also had an agreement to start working on the free program with Nikolai Morozov in April, but things are uncertain now due to the current covid outbreak.

Тренер Бойковой и Козловского: поработать с Морозовым мешает вирус

Чемпионы России и Европы в парном катании Александра Бойкова и Дмитрий Козловский должны были заняться постановкой произвольной программы следующего сезона с... РИА Новости Спорт, 18.03.2020

rsport.ria.ru

 

[Cherub721]

IMO M&G have everything they need. The only thing missing was choreography. Carrying over programs year to year hasn't helped them. Those junior programs aren't holding up; they've improved faster than the programs. And the new SP at Bavarian Open wasn't good either. Their skating is world class, and Moskvina putting the finishing touches is perfect for them.

TV Show "Ice Age" status for 2020.

Alina Zagitova was offered a role in the show. She declined. Tuktamysheva and Sotskova were also offered the roles, and it is said that Tuktamysheva also declined once learned that Zagitova declined. It is also said that now 2020 edition of the show is in question, may not run this year.

The show producers decided to change format, instead of skating celebrities from all 4 disciplines pairing up with non-skating celebrities, it was to be single ladies skaters pairing up with male pairs skaters and skating pairs routines.

Here is one of the links about it, in Russian.

Загитовой предложили участие в «Ледниковом периоде». Она отказалась

Как стало известно «СЭ», традиционное шоу «Ледниковый период» с участием звезд фигурного катания на Первом канале испытывает проблемы с перезапуском в новом формате.

m.sport-express.ru

Too bad, I think it's a great concept. I've been thinking for a long time how great it would be one of the Russian women OGMs switched to pairs to try to win an OGM in a second discipline. Obviously, Russian pairs is stacked too, but not as insane as ladies, and the ingredients are there... imagine being a girl who has all the solo jumps and 3-3s, who has practiced quads and 3a in harness (and maybe could do it as a throw); is artistic, small, and flexible; can create interesting positions and images on the ice with complex choregraphy; already knows how to deal with the greatest pressure of all, but is now stuck and needs a new challenge. They could be formidable! And 16 or 17 is certainly young enough to learn pairs.

 

[hanca]

Mishina & Galliamov, IMO, are very much on par technically w/the Russian Champions (and truly and honestly with Sui & Han as well!!). I don't think they're (M&G) skate slowly, but I do agree that they don't project as well or have the impact of the other top teams in terms of presence on the ice. I think that's why M&G don't score as well on PCS as their Russian teammates or the Chinese apirs. M&G definitely need better conceptualized and choreographed programs and I do think Team Moskvina can help greatly here. Plus and as already mentioned, having two rival teams training under the same roof has its benefits. Moskvina having two of her pairs on the podium in Beijing is not a crazy statement.

Your thoughts...

My thoughts... opening a different account, @love_skate2011 , and writing the same thing you have been writing the past six months will not make it miraculously true. Mishina/Galliamov still have a long way to go before you can start comparing them to Sui/Han. A good start would be to become Russian #1. They are not quite there yet, as they have shown just a few months ago at the nationals.

 

[mjb52]

There are way too many capital letters and appropriately formatted sentences in that post for that to be the love skate person!

 

[zebraswan]

@love_skate2011 does not think M&G need to improve in any way. They are perfect in her eyes. Definitely not the same poster

 

[Tinami Amori]

I am a bit disappointed in Tamara Moskvina... She bluntly poached another top coach's skaters. Moskvina and Velikovs have a long history of trading skaters to "make a pair", but it was usually coordinated with everyone's consent...

 

[hanca]

I am a bit disappointed in Tamara Moskvina... She bluntly poached another top coach's skaters. Moskvina and Velikovs have a long history of trading skaters to "make a pair", but it was usually coordinated with everyone's consent...

Well, you don’t know that. It depends how exactly her invitation started. It could have been M/G mentioning to her that they needed a change and are looking for a new rink and a coach, and she asked them why don’t they come to her rink and see if they like it there...and here you have an invite. Yes, they have been invited by Moskvina, but have they made some steps towards getting invite, or did Moskvina just came and ‘poached them’? From my experience at our rink, happy skaters usually don’t want to change a coach, no matter who ‘invites’ them. Of course, it would be harder to decline someone like Moskvina, but it is not as if Velikovs are nobodies. In fact, I am wondering what exactly is going on at their rink at the moment. So Kostiukovich/Ialin have split up. That’s not very surprising. But then there were reports on the Russian forum that Ialin was skating with Akhanteva. Then suddenly Akhanteva is still with Kolesov. Did Ialin had a tryout with Akhanteva or not? And if he did, how does Kolesov feels about it? (If it wasn’t a tryout, why was Ialin skating with Akhanteva? Pairs usually don’t swap partners for a few sessions just for fun.) And then you have the top pair from that rink who is changing coaches. Looking at each event separately, it may give you impression that Moskvina poached M/G, but looking at the whole picture, God knows what’s going on there and maybe M/G just needed to get out of there.

 

[Eislauffan]

Well, you don’t know that. It depends how exactly her invitation started. It could have been M/G mentioning to her that they needed a change and are looking for a new rink and a coach, and she asked them why don’t they come to her rink and see if they like it there...and here you have an invite. Yes, they have been invited by Moskvina, but have they made some steps towards getting invite, or did Moskvina just came and ‘poached them’? From my experience at our rink, happy skaters usually don’t want to change a coach, no matter who ‘invites’ them. Of course, it would be harder to decline someone like Moskvina, but it is not as if Velikovs are nobodies. In fact, I am wondering what exactly is going on at their rink at the moment. So Kostiukovich/Ialin have split up. That’s not very surprising. But then there were reports on the Russian forum that Ialin was skating with Akhanteva. Then suddenly Akhanteva is still with Kolesov. Did Ialin had a tryout with Akhanteva or not? And if he did, how does Kolesov feels about it? (If it wasn’t a tryout, why was Ialin skating with Akhanteva? Pairs usually don’t swap partners for a few sessions just for fun.) And then you have the top pair from that rink who is changing coaches. Looking at each event separately, it may give you impression that Moskvina poached M/G, but looking at the whole picture, God knows what’s going on there and maybe M/G just needed to get out of there.

Actually, the Velikovs sometimes complained about other coaches taking "their" skaters. However, I agree that a skater will usually only switch if he feels he needs a change. Sometimes this might be the right choice, sometimes not. Sometimes the other coach "lures" a skater away making big promises that then don't come true. But certainly that is not the case for Tamara Moskvina. She has a lot to offer - a very nice training facility, good coaches, her huge experience, another top team as "sparring partners". You would think Tamara Moskvina doesn't have to "steal" skaters, they usually would come to her. If she invited Mishina/Galliamov it was probably that she sees a lot of potential in them and feels she can help them to realize it.
I feel sorry for the Velikovs, though. They built up this amazing group and had three teams in the Junior Final in Vancouver and this year two teams in the GP Final - one in juniors, one in seniors. Unfortunately, Kostiukovich/Ialin were struggeling and now have split up.
I don't really see why Ksenia Akhanteva would skate with Dmitri Ialin. He aged out of juniors and in seniors it will be tough to get anywhere. With Panfilova/Rylova most likely moving up to seniors, Akhanteva/Kolesov are the Russian top junior team.
There are a few other pairs in the Velikov's group, so who knows with whom Dmitri Ialin tried out or is trying out. Maybe it is not even a girl from the group. He might also have helped Akhanteva/Kolesov by practising some elements with her to show them. Bruno Massot told me how he was showing a lift to Aljona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy when he was with his previous partner training at the rink in Chemnitz for some time. At the time he wasn't planning to skate with Aljona, that happened only a few years later.

 

[hanca]

I don't really see why Ksenia Akhanteva would skate with Dmitri Ialin. He aged out of juniors and in seniors it will be tough to get anywhere. With Panfilova/Rylova most likely moving up to seniors, Akhanteva/Kolesov are the Russian top junior team.
There are a few other pairs in the Velikov's group, so who knows with whom Dmitri Ialin tried out or is trying out. Maybe it is not even a girl from the group. He might also have helped Akhanteva/Kolesov by practising some elements with her to show them. Bruno Massot told me how he was showing a lift to Aljona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy when he was with his previous partner training at the rink in Chemnitz for some time. At the time he wasn't planning to skate with Aljona, that happened only a few years later.

I don’t see why Akhanteva would skate with Ialin, but several people posted that they have seen it. Why...God knows. It wasn’t that he was showing something to Kolesov, e.g. teaching them new things, because Kolesov wasn’t skating with them. When Massot was showing things to Szolkowy, I would think Szolkowy was around.

 

[mjb52]

The gossip on the Russian forum says that she already skates with Kolesov. That would mean that Akhanteva/Kolesov split up...I hope it is not true.

This was re: Kostiukovich. So, and taking all this with lots of grains of salt, if that was indeed true then maybe it makes sense for Ialin and Akhanteva to skate together at the moment.

 

[hanca]

This was re: Kostiukovich. So, and taking all this with lots of grains of salt, if that was indeed true then maybe it makes sense for Ialin and Akhanteva to skate together at the moment.

I am not saying that Akhanteva should not skate with Ialin if Kostiukovich skates with Kolesov. My point was, there were two junior pairs, one of them struggled this season and one was pretty successful this season. It is understandable that one would split up, if perhaps Ialin’s patience run out and he decided not wait for Kostiukovich to regain her jumps. But why split up both pairs? I am not surprised that M/G wanted to get out of there, if the coaches started playing musical chairs with the pairs. If the coaches were happy to split up Akhanteva and Kolesov, who could guarantee that they would not split Mishina/Galliamov? Yes, it doesn’t make sense to split up M/G, but it doesn’t make sense to even consider splitting up A/K.

(Fortunately now we know that A/K are not splitting. But I can imagine how it felt for M/G, if even a successful pair was considered to split to give Kostiukovich and Ialin a partner.)

 

[NAOTMAA]

It would be interesting to know just when the ball started rolling on this and just how fast it moved.

-They won gold in France, a bronze at NHK and a bronze at the GPF (Dec. 6). That's pretty impressive for a team's senior debut. I doubt they were thinking about coaching changes at this moment.
-Then nationals (Dec. 26 & 28) happened and they finished 4th because of the poor SP (their worst performance of the season).
-A little over a month after that (Feb. 6-7) the debuted a new SP at the Bavarian Open. The competition wasn't that great. They scored only 71 in the SP and 130 in the FS (with a deduction) and 202 overall. Those type of marks won't be getting them on any world or Olympic podium.
-A little over a month after that (March 16) they announced the coaching change.

Perhaps M/G might have expressed some concerns after nationals to their coaches and the new SP (I honestly can't believe the first, which was a total misfire, lasted as long as it did) was the Velikovs attempt to satisfy them. And because the competition didn't go so hot they accessed their standing and they decided they had to make a move. Perhaps Tamara made some encouraging remarks (it didn't have to be the "come to me wink wink" type) to them after the GPF or nationals. And with B/K's success at nationals/Euros and their lackluster nationals/Bavarian they tentatively reached out to her because of her past kind remarks, she made them an offer because of their talent and potential and they accepted. This of course being the kind theory where she didn't "steal" them. Either way I'm not sure why she would purposely poach them anyway. She already has said countless times these past two seasons her age prevents her from doing a lot of things and that's why B/K need another coach in Artur Minchuk. So why take on another top caliber, energy draining, team like M/G who will need just as much of her personal attention as B/K? Or may be that's just all PR on her part

 

[TAHbKA]

I have no idea what are the training conditions on either of the rinks, but I would question the facilities more than the coaches - there is a very good chance Moskvina can offer more ice time/more off ice time/ a higher salary etc.

 

[Ka3sha]

The Velikovs coach at the Academy of figure skating, but they are not alone there. It's also the home ice for Rukavitsin's and Chebotareva's groups, St Petersburg ice dance teams and synchro teams.. If I remember correctly, Academy has two ice rinks but it's still not that much for that many high level athletes/coaches.

Moskvina, on the other hand, has her own school just for herself, Artur Minchuk, Oleg Vasiliev and Viktoria Daineko (who coaches single skaters). Here's a video interview with Moskvina filmed in her school.

МОСКВИНА - о скандале в Солт-Лейк-Сити, будущем Загитовой и отношениях с Тутберидзе

Подписывайтесь на наш канал https://www.youtube.com/c/SportsdailyTV78«Спорт День за Днем» в сети:http://www.sportsdaily.ru/http://vk.com/sportsdailyruhttps:/...

www.youtube.com

 

[elenok]

Kolesov answered some questions on his Instagram stories last Friday and he said there was no truth to any rumours about him and Akhanteva splitting or doing tryouts with anyone else.

He said that since they came back from junior world they had done the Tuktamysheva show and then been given the rest of the week off serious training- they were planning on starting working on their new short program at the beginning of this week (i.e) Mon 16.

In another answer he said that he and Ksenia had been skating together since 2014 when they were 11 and 13 years old.

That being said it is possible that people did see either Kolesov or Akhanteva doing elements with other skaters. I personally saw a clip on Instagram a while ago of Kolesov doing a death spiral with Kostiukovich for fun whilst Ialin was in Ekaterinburg for the winter break (Akhanteva was skating nearby during the clip and laughing so it probably wasn’t a stealth tryout), maybe they were messing around at the rink whilst neither team were seriously training.

It is also possible that the Velikovs put Ialin with Akhanteva for certain elements to assess how tall a partner he can potentially cope with (she’s about 7-8 cm taller than Kostiukovich). However at least according to Kolesov there was never any talk/idea of splitting him and Akhanteva up.

 

[Eislauffan]

I am not saying that Akhanteva should not skate with Ialin if Kostiukovich skates with Kolesov. My point was, there were two junior pairs, one of them struggled this season and one was pretty successful this season. It is understandable that one would split up, if perhaps Ialin’s patience run out and he decided not wait for Kostiukovich to regain her jumps. But why split up both pairs? I am not surprised that M/G wanted to get out of there, if the coaches started playing musical chairs with the pairs. If the coaches were happy to split up Akhanteva and Kolesov, who could guarantee that they would not split Mishina/Galliamov? Yes, it doesn’t make sense to split up M/G, but it doesn’t make sense to even consider splitting up A/K.

(Fortunately now we know that A/K are not splitting. But I can imagine how it felt for M/G, if even a successful pair was considered to split to give Kostiukovich and Ialin a partner.)

I cannot really believe that Mishina/Galliamov would have been afraid of being "split up" against their will nor that the coaches would consider that seriously. That would not make sense at all. Split up to skate with whom? Anastasia Mishina is too tall for Dmitri Ialin. Anastasia and Alexander are both consistent jumpers. Why would either of them need another partner - unless they are not getting along anymore? But they seem to get along just fine. Polina Kostiukovich and Ksenia Akhanteva are less consistent than Anastasia. To split up Akhanteva/Kolesov and switch partners with Kostiukovich/Ialin would have made sense only if Polina was a better jumper than Ksenia (to guarantee success in juniors) or, again, if they personally don't get along anymore and it doesn't look that way.
Polina has a lot of personality, she's a great pair skater, but she needs to overcome her growth spurt otherwise she won't get a good partner. She has been training on extra sessions to work on her jumps, I've seen that and she told me, so she is determined. Dmitri is a strong partner, too, but he is not too tall. I hope everyone finds a new and suitable partner.

 

[rfisher]

I cannot really believe that Mishina/Galliamov would have been afraid of being "split up" against their will nor that the coaches would consider that seriously. That would not make sense at all. Split up to skate with whom? Anastasia Mishina is too tall for Dmitri Ialin. Anastasia and Alexander are both consistent jumpers. Why would either of them need another partner - unless they are not getting along anymore? But they seem to get along just fine. Polina Kostiukovich and Ksenia Akhanteva are less consistent than Anastasia. To split up Akhanteva/Kolesov and switch partners with Kostiukovich/Ialin would have made sense only if Polina was a better jumper than Ksenia (to guarantee success in juniors) or, again, if they personally don't get along anymore and it doesn't look that way.
Polina has a lot of personality, she's a great pair skater, but she needs to overcome her growth spurt otherwise she won't get a good partner. She has been training on extra sessions to work on her jumps, I've seen that and she told me, so she is determined. Dmitri is a strong partner, too, but he is not too tall. I hope everyone finds a new and suitable partner.

I hope so too. I hate the thought of Polina not being able to continue past this inevitable growth spurt. She has all the other pair girl skills. It also illustrates the problem in junior pairs when the male partner is a few years older and ages out of juniors before the girl. It doesn't have to be a big difference in years, but in teenagers it can be a huge difference in growth and development. Polina and Dimitri just hit both at the wrong times.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

I definitely saw a coaching change coming for Mishina & Galliamov -- just not to the same coach as Boikova & Kozlovskii.

Mishina & Galliamov, IMO, are very much on par technically w/the Russian Champions (and truly and honestly with Sui & Han as well!!). I don't think they're (M&G) skate slowly, but I do agree that they don't project as well or have the impact of the other top teams in terms of presence on the ice. I think that's why M&G don't score as well on PCS as their Russian teammates or the Chinese apirs. M&G definitely need better conceptualized and choreographed programs and I do think Team Moskvina can help greatly here. Plus and as already mentioned, having two rival teams training under the same roof has its benefits. Moskvina having two of her pairs on the podium in Beijing is not a crazy statement.

Your thoughts...

Mishina &Galliamov don't have "it". They just don't. Style can be developed over time, charisma can't. Doesn't mean they can't win if they hit their elements.

 

[Wyliefan]

Just making her keep her hair down, or at least in a ponytail, would be a good start. A bun is too severe a look for her. A small point, but I thought of it every time she skated with her hair up this season!

 

[hanca]

Mishina &Galliamov don't have "it". They just don't. Style can be developed over time, charisma can't. Doesn't mean they can't win if they hit their elements.

I agree that they are missing something at this moment, but I disagree that it can’t be developed. I thought exactly the same about Boikova/Kozlovski in their first season together. They were like two single skaters and I just couldn’t see it working. I had the same opinion even at the end of the season, but then they came back after holiday and looked like a completely different pair. The same way I think Mishina/Galliamov can suddenly get the polish and charisma.

Every pair is developing in different areas. Some pairs have the charisma and may not have the technical skills, other pairs are great technically but there is something missing and their PCS are not great either. For example, one season Pavliuschenko/Khodykhin were easily beating Boikova/Kozlovski (it was their last junior season). Season ended, both pairs disappeared for a few months and came back at the begging of the next season, improved. It was visible that P/K were concentrating on technical side, and can do sbs flips and lutzes. B/K concentrated on their basic skating and their PCS increased a lot. It seems that their strategy was better than P/K’s strategy, but one never knows ahead what will work better. And we don’t know what Mishina/Galliamov will do in October.

By the way, I have seen Stolbova/Klimov in their first few years together and they also didn’t have the charisma.

 

[zebraswan]

I think M/G have more charisma than P/K or than Z/E ever had. They definitely just need better programs and packaging. B/K are my favorites and they are really in a league of their own (imo), but I think M/G have a lot of untapped potential.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I think M/G have spark, and I'm glad they'll get better packaging. I think they're terrific.

And I loved Z/E, who were different, but, for me, always appealing.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

I think spark is a good word to describe M&G. I certainly would like to see them develop. My Russian pairs expectations are tempered by T&M's failure to launch (fully). B&K are different. Boikova has a natural appeal, and with Kozlovskiy I can see them being quiet sexy as they get older. M&G do have a lot to offer, they just need to figure out who they are. But that's what we've being saying about T&M for years.



ps. I really need to go to therapy over T&M, based on this post alone.

 

[Cherub721]

It would be interesting to know just when the ball started rolling on this and just how fast it moved.

-They won gold in France, a bronze at NHK and a bronze at the GPF (Dec. 6). That's pretty impressive for a team's senior debut. I doubt they were thinking about coaching changes at this moment.
-Then nationals (Dec. 26 & 28) happened and they finished 4th because of the poor SP (their worst performance of the season).
-A little over a month after that (Feb. 6-7) the debuted a new SP at the Bavarian Open. The competition wasn't that great. They scored only 71 in the SP and 130 in the FS (with a deduction) and 202 overall. Those type of marks won't be getting them on any world or Olympic podium.
-A little over a month after that (March 16) they announced the coaching change.

Perhaps M/G might have expressed some concerns after nationals to their coaches and the new SP (I honestly can't believe the first, which was a total misfire, lasted as long as it did) was the Velikovs attempt to satisfy them. And because the competition didn't go so hot they accessed their standing and they decided they had to make a move. Perhaps Tamara made some encouraging remarks (it didn't have to be the "come to me wink wink" type) to them after the GPF or nationals. And with B/K's success at nationals/Euros and their lackluster nationals/Bavarian they tentatively reached out to her because of her past kind remarks, she made them an offer because of their talent and potential and they accepted. This of course being the kind theory where she didn't "steal" them. Either way I'm not sure why she would purposely poach them anyway. She already has said countless times these past two seasons her age prevents her from doing a lot of things and that's why B/K need another coach in Artur Minchuk. So why take on another top caliber, energy draining, team like M/G who will need just as much of her personal attention as B/K? Or may be that's just all PR on her part

When you put it this way, I realized the entire coaching change probably comes down to the one throw they missed in the SP at Nationals. They had a great season to that point, and finished 3rd in the free... had they just skated a clean short, they surely would have gone on to medal at Europeans, and would be counting this season as a huge success. But that one mistake may have changed the course of their pair forever, and for the better.

 

[hanca]

When you put it this way, I realized the entire coaching change probably comes down to the one throw they missed in the SP at Nationals. They had a great season to that point, and finished 3rd in the free... had they just skated a clean short, they surely would have gone on to medal at Europeans, and would be counting this season as a huge success. But that one mistake may have changed the course of their pair forever, and for the better.

I doubt it. They were considered the weaker pair in comparison with P/K. They just still look a bit juniorish, their skating skills are not quite there.

 

[Ananas Astra]

The depth in Russian pairs is crazy. I, for one, wouldn't have minded a team of B/K, P/K and M/G

 

[hanca]

The depth in Russian pairs is crazy. I, for one, wouldn't have minded a team of B/K, P/K and M/G

From Moskvina’s point of view, I bet she wouldn’t mind. From P/K’s point of view, if they were changing coaches, I can’t imagine wanting to move somewhere where is B/K and M/G. Training with one of those pairs, maybe, but with both of them, that’s getting a bit crowded.

In my view, quite a good move would be to move to Perm. Perm school skaters usually have a very high level of all pair elements and were struggling with jumps. (That’s not true with the newer Perm pairs, who already have jumps). P/K have jumps, and it wouldn’t hurt to get the rest of their elements to absolute maximum. Also, the programs in Perm school are done by Morozov, and he is pretty good at hiding skaters weaknesses and showing off their strengths. So if P/K wants to fight with B/K and M/G, this would be one way how to do it.

 

[NAOTMAA]

P/K have to get consistent in the free skate if they want to be competitive.

If you look at the marks from this season it's clear the judges liked them, and judged them superior to M/G, but were losing to them because of their own sloppiness and errors. They got a gift at nationals (which makes the cancellation of world's really hard to take if you're a fan of theirs) but they can't always depend on that. They had the advantage of being in their second senior season while M/G being in their first. Now with M/G moving to Moskvina the quality of their programs and elements will only get better next season. If P/K don't gain consistency, and keep improving themselves, they risk permanently finishing 4th (or 3rd when T/M retire. and that only happens if they don't get surpassed by another younger team). That potentially means no Euros, world's or Olympics next two seasons.

 

[Frau Muller]

The depth in Russian pairs is crazy. I, for one, wouldn't have minded a team of B/K, P/K and M/G

What a change in Russia’s Pairs situation! Remember when, not so long ago, Russia’s top pair included a Japanese national (who later obtained Russian citizenship...and changed her name to sound more Slavic)? In general terms, Russian Figure Skating rebounded incredibly between 2010 and now (Ladies & Pairs most notably...Dance very recently...and Men “getting there”...).