Russian figure skating news & updates in 2022

[BittyBug]

@Bigbird you have some nerve dropping that huge turd of a post and then pleading that the topic return to skating. Blaming the fact that Ukraine is being brutally assaulted by Russia on Zelenskyy and “the West”? SMH.

 

[Yehudi]

So please can we migrate these comments to an appropriate thread and get on with discussing Russian Figure Skating?

My how quickly one‘s opinion changes when their beloved skater shows their true colors (and I’m not talking about V/T).

Something tells me if Ilinykh started reposting Trump quotes (and it’s not beyond the realm of possibility given her husband’s previous statements), you’d be buying up a bunch of red hats.

 

[Lilia A]

This probably means nothing, but not too long ago I saw a post on Instagram featuring an Edea poster outside one of their stores in Italy. The poster showcased a few well known skaters, and right in the center was none other than Trusova. Not sure if this means anything, but the Edea website also features several Russian skaters, but then they also still feature Alysa Liu, whom we know no longer skates.

 

[TAHbKA]

With all due respect your anger is misplaced. Tanya and Max are not responsible for this war. You may as well rant about every Russian. Your anger should be placed on your own President Z. He it appears to me is being used as a pawn of the USA and the rest of the West. It was in his power years ago when he weighed the pros and cons of this action to avoid this war. Anyone who goes to war with a mad man is just as responsible for what we now have. Who deliberately pokes a bear?

you're absolutely insane. And 100% stupid.

 

[Bigbird]

My how quickly one‘s opinion changes when their beloved skater shows their true colors (and I’m not talking about V/T).

Something tells me if Ilinykh started reposting Trump quotes (and it’s not beyond the realm of possibility given her husband’s previous statements), you’d be buying up a bunch of red hats.

Actually not only. It comes from conversations with Europeans whom I actually work with who've given me a more balanced view of things. Neither Ukranians or Russians are blameless here. And yes, Russia should have thought twice about retaliating as it did. But are they really fighting against Ukraine only? So in the eyes of others its not so black and white.

And, less we forget Putin is who he is, but wasn't that already common knowledge? He's been chomping at the bit to start this war for years and so here we have it.

Dictators all eventually fall, but why take down a whole country as the same time?

I have always said regarding athletes, that they are simply pawns in this situation.

I previously also congratulated SinKats on their wedding and defended their participation in certain rallies. So please lets not make this about EI or VT.

If anything the collective response to this war on both sides is what had me thinking twice.

My apologies but if I see persons dumping on athletes for their personal choices with respect to something as catastrophic as a war I will comment especially when it feels unbalanced.

 

[Bigbird]

you're absolutely insane. And 100% stupid.

ROFL. I thought we were above childish rants.

EDIT: I think I'll ignore this thread untill it gets back to skating. Sigh.

 

[On My Own]

Imagine liking figure skating and coming to a forum to discuss it. Can't be me.

 

[BlueRidge]

ROFL. I thought we were above childish rants.

EDIT: I think I'll ignore this thread untill it gets back to skating. Sigh.

Can I get fries with that?

 

[Theatregirl1122]

It’s interesting how some people try to play rational and reasonable until they can’t resist showing their true colors, isn’t it.

 

[Hedwig]

Being an "European" I can safely vouchsafe that I was not one of the people this person was talking not any of the people I know.

Sure, blame the woman who was raped for not submitting to the man who assaulted her. If she had not called for help or defended herself but participated in the rape she might even had had pleasure, right?

 

[TAHbKA]

Ok, we have a list for the first fakeGP
Akatieva, Valieva, Karina Askarova, Alina Gorbacheva Maria Grechihina, Sofia Zakharova, Anastasia Zinina, Margarita Kovaleva, Anastasia Molchanova, Polina Sviridenko. Anastasia Hahyrtdinova, Valeria Shulskaya
Aliev, Kolyada, Samarin, Samsonov, Luftfullin, Ivan Popov, Kirill Kelmanov, Evgenii Zenkin, Ivan Sobolev, Stepan Tartygin
Pavluchenko/Khodykin, TarMor, Svinitskaya/Sled, Boyarintsiva/Pleshkov, Vasilieva/Zaporozhets, Habibulina/Knyazhuk
Morozov/Narizhny, Kaganovskaya/Angelopol, Kirillova/Chegodaev, Matveishina/Subbotin, Proopets/Vaskovich

 

[clairecloutier]

FSGossips has an interview with Anna Sayutina, a skater who used to skate in the same group with Anna Pogorilaya and then switched to speed skating. Her comments about Pogorilaya's coach, Tsareva, will probably surprise no one who remembers them from the kiss-n-crys in the mid-2010s. (Is Tsareva still coaching?)

“Anna Pogorilaya was preparing for the Olympics, she had back problems and coach used to take it out on us. I was tired of all this toxic environment.” Speed skater Alexandra Sayutina about quitting figure skating

Speed skater Alexandra Sayutina told why she quit figure skating at the age of 16 and switched to speed skating.

fs-gossips.com

When I went to rest for a week in July, I thought that after returning it would be better, but on the contrary, everything got only worse. Someone began to fall out – someone has back problems, someone has knee problems. It was already becoming difficult to endure both mentally and physically. And that day I was making a run-throughs of the program, failed the jump and heard: “Either three more run-throughs in a row with the music, or get out of training.” By that time, the situation was such that at every training session I thought about leaving.

 

[Dobre]

Well, I think it's interesting because the North American commentators always used to claim that the Russian skaters never did full run-throughs. Seems we can officially retire that commentary now.

 

[TAHbKA]

Well, I think it's interesting because the North American commentators always used to claim that the Russian skaters never did full run-throughs. Seems we can officially retire that commentary now.

I think it was a correct thing in the past. Can't recall now who was the skater claiming they hardly did any run throughs - Kulik? Yagudin? If you watched the skating for long enough am sure there was time the claim was correct

 

[On My Own]

Well, I think it's interesting because the North American commentators always used to claim that the Russian skaters never did full run-throughs. Seems we can officially retire that commentary now.

Men. Eteri girls always did full run throughs IIRC?

 

[Vagabond]

Is Tsareva still coaching?

Yes, and her daughter, Anna Zakharova, was a top Junior last season.

 

[Karen-W]

Ok, we have a list for the first fakeGP
Akatieva, Valieva, Karina Askarova, Alina Gorbacheva Maria Grechihina, Sofia Zakharova, Anastasia Zinina, Margarita Kovaleva, Anastasia Molchanova, Polina Sviridenko. Anastasia Hahyrtdinova, Valeria Shulskaya
Aliev, Kolyada, Samarin, Samsonov, Luftfullin, Ivan Popov, Kirill Kelmanov, Evgenii Zenkin, Ivan Sobolev, Stepan Tartygin
Pavluchenko/Khodykin, TarMor, Svinitskaya/Sled, Boyarintsiva/Pleshkov, Vasilieva/Zaporozhets, Habibulina/Knyazhuk
Morozov/Narizhny, Kaganovskaya/Angelopol, Kirillova/Chegodaev, Matveishina/Subbotin, Proopets/Vaskovich

So, fakeGP has 12 women, 10 men, 6 pairs, and 5 dance teams. Presuming each fakeGP has the same number of participants in each discipline and everyone gets 2 assignments, that translates to 36 women, 30 men, 18 pairs, and 15 dance teams.

I doubt any other country could field a slate of that many pairs teams across 6 events of a fakeGP series. The US, Canada, & Japan would certainly have at least 36 women, and Japan would have 30 men too, the US and Canada wouldn't have a problem with 15 dance teams.

There aren't 30 senior men even competing in the NQS in the US, unless you added in the top junior men who are senior age-eligible, but have chosen to compete junior this season. Same with pairs - you could probably scrabble together 18 pairs teams if you took all the senior & junior teams competing in the NQS. Of course, we have more dance teams, so I could see an argument to flip those numbers and have 6 dance teams and just 5 pairs teams per event.

So, from that point of view, it is rather impressive that Russia is able to fill as many spots as it is for its fakeGP Series.

Please report back on the level and quality of skating! I'll be busy watching the realGP as well as, hopefully, (praying for a stream or at least a results page, lol) the Trophee Metropole Nice Cote d'Azur pairs (and Bradie!).

 

[taf2002]

I cannot imagine how tortured the thinking must be of an individual who equates the aggressor & the victim. In what way is Ukraine responsible for this war unsolicited attack @Bigbird?

 

[zebraswan]

I am sure Bigbird is just parroting talking points from Tucker Carlson. It reminds one of an abusive partner: "Why did you make me hit you?"

As far as Ice Age is concerned...the show has been on for years with mostly the same people. I don't think those involved see it as a "propaganda show," no matter how it looks from the outside. They may see it as just dumb fluff and a means to a paycheck, as it always was in the past. People are very good at compartmentalizing and creating their own reality where they can just ignore certain unpleasant truths.

I think if you live in a country so steeped with propaganda for so long, you either give in to the brainwashing or you just become numb and try to carry on pretending like everything is still normal. Yes, there is also the noble option of trying to protest, but there are very, very few people willing to become martyrs in Russia. Things will have to deteriorate a lot more before we see that happen.

 

[Prancer]

Can we move on from the political talk, please? Either take it to PM, take it to PI, or drop it.

 

[Willin]

Heh. My question was not about the ballet - that's not something I care much about. My question is whether it will be the same for the figure skaters who get their boots/blades provided by the RusFed. On the other hand it sounds from the article there are Russia produced pointe shoes, but I haven't heard of any Russia produced ice skates/blades, so perhaps the skaters can go on and get their boots/blades.
Would Edea/Wilson/Rispot/Graf/Jackson work with RFSF through?

I would assume they are given that Russian skaters still have skates... I'm glad I don't use any of those skate brands and won't need new blades for many years. No way am I supporting those companies since they seem to have no qualms about the situation. I'm surprised more skaters aren't speaking out about that elephant in the closet.

Men. Eteri girls always did full run throughs IIRC?

Yes. They're actually known for doing excessive amounts of runthroughs.

 

[TAHbKA]

So, fakeGP has 12 women, 10 men, 6 pairs, and 5 dance teams. Presuming each fakeGP has the same number of participants in each discipline and everyone gets 2 assignments, that translates to 36 women, 30 men, 18 pairs, and 15 dance teams.

I doubt any other country could field a slate of that many pairs teams across 6 events of a fakeGP series. The US, Canada, & Japan would certainly have at least 36 women, and Japan would have 30 men too, the US and Canada wouldn't have a problem with 15 dance teams.

There aren't 30 senior men even competing in the NQS in the US, unless you added in the top junior men who are senior age-eligible, but have chosen to compete junior this season. Same with pairs - you could probably scrabble together 18 pairs teams if you took all the senior & junior teams competing in the NQS. Of course, we have more dance teams, so I could see an argument to flip those numbers and have 6 dance teams and just 5 pairs teams per event.

So, from that point of view, it is rather impressive that Russia is able to fill as many spots as it is for its fakeGP Series.

Please report back on the level and quality of skating! I'll be busy watching the realGP as well as, hopefully, (praying for a stream or at least a results page, lol) the Trophee Metropole Nice Cote d'Azur pairs (and Bradie!).

Afraid I'll be attending most of the real GP rather than watching the fake.

Am not sure whether the ladies are seniors. If am not mistaken Gorbacheva, Zakharova and Zinina participated the junior test skates. The other names (minus Valieva/Akatieva/Shulskaya mean nothing to me, so assume they might or might not be juniors. Shulskaya is a senior)

 

[Karen-W]

Afraid I'll be attending most of the real GP rather than watching the fake.

Am not sure whether the ladies are seniors. If am not mistaken Gorbacheva, Zakharova and Zinina participated the junior test skates. The other names (minus Valieva/Akatieva/Shulskaya mean nothing to me, so assume they might or might not be juniors. Shulskaya is a senior)

Right, I recognized Gorbacheva, Zakharova and Zinina as juniors. It's an interesting thought, though, of who would each country put in their own fakeGP Series. I'd take some of our US juniors over many of our US seniors, even if they're too young to compete senior internationally. I guess that's the one nice thing about a fakeGP Series that doesn't include athletes from any other countries - you don't have to worry about those pesky age requirements.

 

[TAHbKA]

Right, I recognized Gorbacheva, Zakharova and Zinina as juniors. It's an interesting thought, though, of who would each country put in their own fakeGP Series. I'd take some of our US juniors over many of our US seniors, even if they're too young to compete senior internationally. I guess that's the one nice thing about a fakeGP Series that doesn't include athletes from any other countries - you don't have to worry about those pesky age requirements.

They could exclude Tuktamysheva and call it a junior GP.

 

[Rob]

I think it was a correct thing in the past. Can't recall now who was the skater claiming they hardly did any run throughs - Kulik? Yagudin? If you watched the skating for long enough am sure there was time the claim was correct

Sasha Cohen said that too when she was with Tarasova. in a TV interview, she said they trained jumps only some days then everything but jumps other days. Perhaps it was a Tarasova thing or an old style thing and Eteri does not do that. I never understood it. They used to run out of gas all the time back then. Stamina (but not overtraining) is important.

 

[Bouffantrex]

Butyrskaya was another who was "famous" for not doing run-throughs, skipping practices, and lacking stamina.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

 

[Vagabond]

Well, I think it's interesting because the North American commentators always used to claim that the Russian skaters never did full run-throughs. Seems we can officially retire that commentary now.

You must have never watched Makar Ignatov do a Free Skate in competition.

 

[Rukia]

Sasha Cohen said that too when she was with Tarasova. in a TV interview, she said they trained jumps only some days then everything but jumps other days. Perhaps it was a Tarasova thing or an old style thing and Eteri does not do that. I never understood it. They used to run out of gas all the time back then. Stamina (but not overtraining) is important.

I heard a story about someone being flown out for like 24 hours to do harness training with Sasha only to be told when they got there, "Oh, Sasha doesn't jump on Mondays." She apparently did not make exceptions for special occasions either, because they just had to extend their trip by a day.

Anyway feel free to adopt that with your own coaches as needed.

 

[On My Own]

Sasha Cohen said that too when she was with Tarasova. in a TV interview, she said they trained jumps only some days then everything but jumps other days. Perhaps it was a Tarasova thing or an old style thing and Eteri does not do that. I never understood it. They used to run out of gas all the time back then. Stamina (but not overtraining) is important.

Sasha never really ran out of gas, IMO, she was just a giant headcase. I'd also say that the quality of positions in 6.0 was far greater, and probably much more taxing to do with the jumps, than it is in the jumpfests we see now.

 

[Holy Headband]

This is exactly where you're wrong. If Volosozhar, and Averbukh, and Mironov (just random name of famous ru actor), and X, Y, Z, all decent people who live there (still hoping not most of the country are orcs but smaller part of it) were actually "shouting in public" about all the evil their country is doing, if hundreds of celebrities would have done that, situation would have been very different right now. When every single one, including people with actual influence, say "I'm a small person, what can I do", then the situation is like you see it in russia.
Ukraine in winning on many levels - not only in the battlefield - because every single person there said "I'll do my best, I'll do even more than that, indeed I am a small person, but I'll do my small contribution" (well, it's a bit idealistic and it's not every single one and there are some "bad" stories three too, but you know what I mean). There are literally legends about things Ukrainian volunteers were able to do.

Specifically Volosozhar had multiple ways to behave differently in this situation and multiple solutions. I'm sure Lambiel would have accepted them all in his chalet for unlimited amount of time + would have given them work in his school. But, yeah, it's a bit different than living in a huge house near Moscow with the pond in their garden, I know. But there were examples of decent people in russia, who lost a lot, but still chose a different way. Unfortunately only very few of them.

They didn't even lose that much. The Bolshoi prima ballerina Olga Smirnova said she couldn't live with the invasion the moment it happened & had a job lined up at the Dutch National Ballet (which is not the Bolshoi, but it's still one of the best ballet companies in the world, probably pays better and is based in Amsterdam, where police officers are unlikely to beat her up for protesting or to serve her husband mobilisation papers on the street) the next day.

There's not a lot of money in figure skating, but a person with Volosozhar's credentials could have found a job outside of Russia without issue. Standing pat while her country of choice ravaged her country of birth and continuing to make a living in a figure skating community deeply entangled with the state, a figure skating community that would obviously and inevitably be drawn further and further into the war propaganda machine the longer the war went on because of that entanglement and because of Russian skating's isolation from the international community, was a deliberate choice. But would Trankov have agreed to anything else if Volosozhar wanted to choose differently?

Anyway, sorry to derail the thread.