There’s another problem though, one that nobody has talked about yet: looking into the future, the stronger girls all come from the same club: Medvedeva, from Tutberidze’s school, Zagitova, who reached almost 220 points in her senior debut, while no one had reached more than 200 in their first competition – Lombardia was inflated and all of that, but 220 points is huge. This girl does two Lutz, obviously talking about triples here, and two Flips in the second half of the program. When have we ever seen something like this? These are the most extreme programs in history, not counting those who had a Triple Axel. But then, even those who had one, didn’t have such extreme programs. Zagitova is, in theory, Tutberidze’s no.2, and the no.3 is Polina Tsurskaya, a possible perfect machine, if she didn’t have health problems. Regarding juniors, we have already talked about these girls who are dominating the grand prix: Trusova. We could call her the “total package”, because there’s everything there. Maybe she isn’t rewarded for it when it comes to PCS, but do you know why she isn’t? Because she is seen as small in the rink, kind of like a “Miyahara syndrome”, who was held back in PCS for years, until they realised that she was a great athlete, and then the judging towards her changed. Maybe it’s the same for Trusova, who is seen as small and tiny…and some say that she doesn’t “fill” the rink – and this is one of the most debatable things I have ever heard – and so she isn’t rewarded in PCS. This is an incredible skater. I invite you to look at Trusova’s programs without jumps, and see all the other things she does, spins and jumps aside. This is the next generation: Trusova, and Shcherbakova. Panenkova, who isn’t one of her best pupils, has won a JGP. Tarakanova, who is the newest in Tutberidze’s school, is amazing. And there are others, besides them.
There’s a risk here, when a single school dominates the entire field, it can’t be good for its balance. I think that, if there had been enough spots for Tutberidze’s girls, she could have had four girls in the Final, because there’s a girl who has only one Grand Prix assignment, in Poland – keep an eye on her – who would have reached the final had she gotten two events. All of this to explain the situation regarding one school. There’s incredible competition. Other schools are struggling more, CSKA included, and SPB is in decline, but that’s because some of these schools didn’t really understand how skating has evolved: it will suffice to look at Tuktamysheva, an incredible athlete… but with empty programs. It’s obvious that she cannot compete with Medvedeva, unless she can do two Triple Axels. If she can’t do that, it’s obvious that she can’t be competitive. So, as I was saying, a lot of domestic competition that might “ruin” some athletes. But to say that the system is twisted…seems wrong to me. It’s a system that offers some great quality, and obviously whoever has the most quality keeps going. If you miss an opportunity you can decline, if you are good you can make up for it throughout your career, why not? But this is part of the game, see swimming in the US, or even athletics.
