Which makes her choosing to skate pairs interesting given the high risk that women pair skaters face. You've got to be fearless to skate pairs and that is not a trait I'd ever assign to Kostornaia. Trusova or Scherbakova, yes, but not her, yet there she is. But, I suspect she would still like a chance at the Olympics and it won't happen in singles. It might happen in pairs assuming Russia earns 3 spots in the future, which I suspect they will when they are allowed to return. Getting invited to the test skate implies that the fed is impressed with their progress. She's still struggling with landing the throw jumps, but that's to be expected. I was impressed with the triple twist. It's not comparable to B/K or M/G by any means, but she did a reasonable split triple. It took Vale Marchai two years to learn to do a split triple twist. It was actually funny that she had trouble with the 3F in the SP given how strong her jumps are and he was clean. I'd put that down to nerves. Her lift positions are very nice since posture and arm position have always been a strength of hers. I wouldn't call them Bazarova worthy yet, but certainly Stolbova. But, her SP dress is awful. They really need to fix that. She's in a one piece in the FS and it's much better.
Denis Khodykin and his new partner looked good for another new pairing. Daria is now coaching.