From Russia With Love [#39]: Into Winter 2021

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Ka3sha

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GoldenSkate article on Mark Kondratyuk:
“I do think about this possibility (to get the second spot), but I just need to work and skate well at the Russian Cup Final,” noted Kondratiuk. “Then whatever happens, happens.” Before saying this, the skater had just turned in a career-best performance in the team competition, reeling off three quads – one toe and two Salchows. “This was the best I’ve ever done, score-wise and element-wise,” he said. “My performance at Russian Nationals has given me confidence and I focused on this event as I always do, like for an important competition and not for a show.”
Kondratiuk needed his optimism when he lost more or less two complete seasons due to injury problems. When he was 13, the skater was diagnosed with Osgood–Schlatter disease, a painful inflammation of the patellar ligament in the knee that affects mostly boys when they are growing.

“I missed one season completely,” he recalled. “I wasn’t even skating, and in the second season, I was just trying a little bit. I thought about quitting. I thought, if it is that painful, I probably can’t do it (skating). But I felt it would be stupid to stop because I was told that this will go away with time. So, I decided to wait, to heal and see how it goes.”
Last summer Kondratiuk had a personal exhibition and has also participated in about seven collective exhibitions.

“The most memorable one was held by an organization that is supporting homeless people,” he revealed. “I gave a performance there that was about humanity and help for people.”

He is also collaborating with musicians and has created covers for singles and albums. “Once I did the cover of a single for a rapper in the USA and another album had like half a million listenings. That was nice!”
 

Eislauffan

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Stepanova/Bukin do not plan to participate in the Russian Cup Finals. (not an injury or sickness. the team is already guaranteed a place on the World Team after their win @ the Russian Nationals.)

Samarin also will not skate in the RCF. Not an injury, just taking time to recover and regain his athletic form.

Tarasova/Morozov also will not participate in the Russian Cup Finals.

Tarasova/Morozov will go to the Challenge Cup in The Hague that takes place at the same time, probably to get the feeling of an international competition.

Alexander Samarin probably realized that he has no chance of getting the second spot on the World team and instead of having another poor performance he'd rather takes a rest and starts fresh for next season.
 

Tinami Amori

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Russian Pairs skater, Nika Osipova, will now skate for Holland, in a team with Dmitrii Epstein. Nika is 20, Dmitrii is 27.
They will make their first appearance in Challenge Cup in The Hague at the end of February.


Nika skated in earlier years (2017) with Gallyamov

... and then had another partner (i don't know his name)
 

hanca

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Russian Pairs skater, Nika Osipova, will now skate for Holland, in a team with Dmitrii Epstein. Nika is 20, Dmitrii is 27.
They will make their first appearance in Challenge Cup in The Hague at the end of February.


Nika skated in earlier years (2017) with Gallyamov

... and then had another partner (i don't know his name)
Tarasenko is his name. He used to be in Tutberidze’s group. He switched to pairs, stayed one season but didn’t enjoy it. He is now Lipnitskaya’s husband now.

ETA:
And after Galliamov and then Tarasenko Nika Osipova also skated one season with Bushlanov (after Bushlanov split up with Koshevaya). The guy in the video will be likely Bushlanov, because it is from last season.
 
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Tinami Amori

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Earlier a poster was asking about a schedule and info for Russian Cup Finals. Some info is becoming available.

Info page from Russian Feds (translatable)

Schedule (in Russia, text is not blocked, can be copied and moved to Google.translate).

Practice schedule (in Russia, text is not blocked, can be copied and moved to Google.translate)
 

Tinami Amori

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"Ice Age - LIVE" is performing in Megasport Arena, on March 7th.
Hosts are: Zagitova/Yagudin.
Exhibition numbers: Zagitova/Medvedeva.

The show will consist of the most popular programmes originally performed for TV audience, except this time it will be "live".
 

Ka3sha

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Great and very honest interview with Ekaterina Bobrova about Sochi experience, meldonium ban, injuries, feelings at her lows and highs, and first steps on the ice
 

Tinami Amori

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Zagorsky & Guerreiro @ "Firgurka" interview - questions from the audience session.
 
J

Jeschke

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Someone knows what happened to Egor Murashov?
Based on his IG he is/was in Switzerland and had some surgery.
 

mjb52

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Great and very honest interview with Ekaterina Bobrova about Sochi experience, meldonium ban, injuries, feelings at her lows and highs, and first steps on the ice

Very honest and interesting. A lot of self-awareness and self-reflection. Reading the part about I/K and Sochi is so interesting, in a way it almost feels like it gives second-hand insight into some of what Medvedeva might have experienced in Pyeongchang.
 

hanca

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Russian forum says that Mukhametzianova/Mironov have split up! :wuzrobbed
She already skates with Antonyshev (not sure if it is just a tryout or if it is a new partnership). No news with whom Mironov skates, if he has a new partner.
 
J

Jeschke

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If Mukhametzianova/Mironov are done, I am in a million depressions (with @Hanna ) :wuzrobbed
They really had the it-factor.
I know they had a harsh season but Mironov still seemed very supportive on ice and in knc always so I did not give up hope for them to last :drama:
 

Tinami Amori

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Alexandr Volkov @ Angels of Plushenko makes a strange comment to the press.

Figure skater Artem Kovalev has not fully recovered from an ankle injury, but is ready to compete in the Russian Cup Final, the athlete's coach Alexander Volkov told RIA Novosti.ev

 

Karen-W

Checking Senior Bs for TES mins...
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mjb52

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Hate hearing of a top contender having a new physical issue, hope it resolves well and quickly! I wonder if Kolyada will keep this program for the Olympics, given how much praise it has received. It's a little different from Zagitova/Valieva, since they were repeating a program but not at the seniors level, but the program is just so strong it might be worth it.
 

BittyBug

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It's a beautiful and inspired program with music that is new to the skating world and I am not yet tired of it, so at this stage I'd love for him to keep it. But maybe Averbukh could come up with a new program that was equally impressive.

I'd rank the White Crow program up there with Ksenia Makarova's Maria and Violin String as the best of Averbukh.
 

Ka3sha

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Channel 1 interview with Victoria Butsaeva and her students (Ilya Yablokov, Egor Murashov, Vladimir Samoilov, Aleksei Erokhov)
 

Perky Shae Lynn

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The recent events with Artemi Panarin (long story for those that don't know) got me thinking about how Medvedeva was treated as a "traitor" during her time in Canada. Her departure was viewed as an insult to Russia by some. She became persona non grata in a way, a skater people weren't supposed to root for. Must have been hugely stressful.

ps. mixing sports and politics (even sports-level politics) is not unique to Russia; which doesn't make it any less unfortunate.
 

mjb52

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That reminds me of the Turkish basketball player (Enes Kanter?) who faced a lot of issues because of his activism about Turkey. Not the same situation at all, but a reminder of how sports and politics can intertwine.

In Medvedeva/Zagitova discussions, there is definitely a crowd who seems to prefer Zagitova because of Medvedeva's Canada sojourn.
 

hanca

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That reminds me of the Turkish basketball player (Enes Kanter?) who faced a lot of issues because of his activism about Turkey. Not the same situation at all, but a reminder of how sports and politics can intertwine.

In Medvedeva/Zagitova discussions, there is definitely a crowd who seems to prefer Zagitova because of Medvedeva's Canada sojourn.
Or prefer Zagitova because they got bored with Medvedeva... It doesn’t always have to be because of her stay in Canada. I found Medvedeva a bit same-ish. The first and second senior season - great. But then it was getting all the time the same things, nothing new... so it came to liking more Zagitova because she was different, but now I prefer 3As and Valieva because they all have different styles. That may be reason I will like them longer than I did Medvedeva and Zagitova, because they are 4, each of them with completely different style so it doesn’t become so same again and again.
 

Bigbird

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Definitely not saying all fans, just a subset. For sure there are valid reasons to prefer Zagitova. I was rooting for Medvedeva in 2018 but Zagitova has grown on me a ton.
I honestly believed Medvedeva beat Zagitova. Zagitova's jumps were more impressive but in terms of the total package that was Med.

To this day I find Zagitova jarring. Her posture alone. Oh well to each their own.
 

tony

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I still stand by the idea that the judges on the 2018 panel did everything they could to try and give Medvedeva the win, and even in doing so, they still came up short. That solidifies for me that Zagitova really was the best. I know there are people that want to be meticulous about Alina's rotation on the 3S or whatever else, but I promise that those people need to go back and apply that eye to some of Medvedeva's jumps, including the scores she got for that 'Lutz'. If you're giving Evgenia a +3 for the 3+3 that always had that slight awkwardness between the jumps and questionable rotation, then Zagitova's 3Lz+3Lo deserved the +5 before it even existed. I get that the Olympics tends to see the highest GOEs thrown out to the top skaters, but there were several instances of Evgenia really getting outrageous GOEs as to where I thought Zagitova was wonderful with her jumps.

In my world, I still question whether Osmond should've been 2nd in the long and potentially overall. There's just no comparing Evgenia's jumps to that of either Alina or Kaetlyn IMO, and I don't think her PCS, as a whole, was better than them either.
 
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