Russian Ladies news & discussion

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Sylvia

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Starting off this new thread with Anatoly Samokhvalov's article in which Anna Shcherbakova's mother is quoted:
Google translated excerpts:
First, how a young woman, exhausted by pneumonia, managed to order her body to become a robot in the right five minutes of a free program. Secondly, as a 16-year-old "little, thin girl" (Tatiana Tarasova's formulation) actually ruled over adult parents, her venerable coaches and, possibly, the leaders of the federation.
"In your family, parents really can't order their children?" - I asked Julia, to which I received an exhaustive answer.

"No! We can't," [Anna's] mother replied. "I know that mistakes are a part of life. And not always the one who is older, smarter and wiser. I do not understand parents who rigidly impose their own on children. I remember many of my mistakes, I do not idealize them, but I am grateful that they taught me a lot. And Anya has either innate or acquired in sports very sharp thinking. She grasps things that do not imply a child's experience."
 
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Sylvia

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Russian Nationals 2021 final standings:

Ladies
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Anna SHCHERBAKOVA MOS 264.10 1 1
2 Kamila VALIEVA MOS 254.01 2 2
3 Alexandra TRUSOVA MOS 246.37 4 3
4 Daria USACHEVA MOS 230.56 3 4
5 Maiia KHROMYKH MOS 211.91 7 5
6 Elizaveta NUGUMANOVA SPB 204.63 6 9
7 Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA SPB 204.25 5 10
8 Ksenia TSIBINOVA MOS 203.56 9 6
9 Maria TALALAIKINA SPB 197.32 11 7
10 Sofia SAMODUROVA SPB 196.28 10 11
11 Anna FROLOVA MOS 187.13 16 8
12 Anastasiia GULIAKOVA SPB 185.75 8 14
13 Stanislava MOLCHANOVA KRA 184.64 12 12
14 Anastasia TARAKANOVA MOS 175.58 15 13
15 Arina ONISHCHENKO SPB 169.17 14 15
16 Stanislava KONSTANTINOVA SPB 168.33 13 17
17 Valeria KOSTINA TUL 161.43 17 16

Who had your favorite performances of the competition?

ETA that @Tobbe posted yesterday in the From Russia With Love #38 thread (now locked):

Maria Talalaykina's magnificent Maleficent program is one of my favourites this year. It's choreographed by Alena Leonova and I think it's brilliant. And Maria sells it well...she IS Maleficent. That evil laugh - +100 PCS!!

It's crazy that this girl never had an international assignment when she would probably medal at any other countries Nationals. But that's the murdering competition that is Russian Ladies...
 
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rfisher

Let the skating begin
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It's hard for me to pick one favorite. Arina Onischenko's short program is adorable and she's a future to look foward to on the JGP next season. I've been a Trusova fan for years and I think Valieva's programs are brilliant. Nugu had a fantastic event and Anna looks so delicate, but has a will of iron. Anna Frolova is underrated and it's too bad she competes for Russia because unless you watch the Russian Cup events, you won't get to see her and so many others.
 

Frau Muller

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My only highly-intellectual comment on the ladies at Russian Nationals:

Thank goodness that Team Eteri asked 14-yr-old Maiia Khromikh to tone down the pancake make-up for the finals!!! Big difference.
 

BittyBug

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In general the Russian ladies have much more interesting exhibitions than other countries. They don't just default to generic female ballads like so many other ladies. I wonder if that's the influence of shows like Ice Age that offer such a range of performance styles.
 

Frau Muller

From Puerto Rico…With Love! Not LatinX!
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In general the Russian ladies have much more interesting exhibitions than other countries. They don't just default to generic female ballads like so many other ladies. I wonder if that's the influence of shows like Ice Age that offer such a range of performance styles.

Families in Russia tend to be more hands-on in exposing kids to different types of music (beyond pop culture). Just speaking in generalities.
 

ЭPiKUilyam

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Besides the top 4, I was really happy for Nugumanova. She clearly loves to skate and despite realistically having no potential for ultra-C, she is still sticking with it. It's so nice to see her smile and happy and thanking her parents. Her parents must be extremely proud of her to skate in the top flight of RUSSIAN LADIES. She's made her mark and she is a beautiful skater and performer.

Talalaikina was my pleasant surprise. I wasn't taken by her last year, she seemed to be all elbows and knees. But the joy she showed throughout both programs was infectious. I loved her Maleficent program too.
 
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Vash01

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Valieva was the star of the free program IMO. Would have given her gold TBH.
She did not have enough technical capital. She did 4t2t and 4t.
Anna did 4Lz, 4f
Sasha did 4Lz3t and 4Lz

Jumps are the biggest difference maker.

PCS wise Anna and Kamila were close but Anna was clearly the winner, all things considered.

I was surprised to see that Kamila’s TES were higher than Sasha’s. How did that happen? Did Sasha get lower levels on spins and footwork? Kamila had 2 points higher on TES (confusing to me) and about 2 points higher on PCS (justified).

All three were fantastic. We watched greatness.
 

muffinplus

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She did not have enough technical capital. She did 4t2t and 4t.
Anna did 4Lz, 4f
Sasha did 4Lz3t and 4Lz

Jumps are the biggest difference maker.

PCS wise Anna and Kamila were close but Anna was clearly the winner, all things considered.

I was surprised to see that Kamila’s TES were higher than Sasha’s. How did that happen? Did Sasha get lower levels on spins and footwork? Kamila had 2 points higher on TES (confusing to me) and about 2 points higher on PCS (justified).

All three were fantastic. We watched greatness.

Anna's quad lutz should have an ! which would reduce the GOE. Her spins were not as good as Kamila's either IMO
 

Vash01

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Anna's quad lutz should have an ! which would reduce the GOE. Her spins were not as good as Kamila's either IMO
Still the difference in base value was big Because of the jumps. As we all know spins or footwork don’t make that big a difference.

I love Anna’s skating. Ethereal yet strong. She was a two time reigning national champion, and it seems she really wanted this third title. She won against big odds, her health being the biggest.
 

muffinplus

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Still the difference in base value was big Because of the jumps. As we all know spins or footwork don’t make that big a difference.

I love Anna’s skating. Ethereal yet strong. She was a two time reigning national champion, and it seems she really wanted this third title. She won against big odds, her health being the biggest.

The difference is the GOE I think combined with the base value of the quads. I haven't really dissected the protocols TBH. Though Kamila did also get a Q on her second combo.

EDIT - I guess the base value difference is higher than I thought but that didn't stop Kamila from getting a similar technical score to Trusova?
 
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kwanfan1818

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tony wrote in the last thread, "If it were an 18 year old in the US or someone that generally wasn’t well-liked, I have no doubt the responsibility would fall 100% on that skater/person in general rather than everyone else."

Zakrajsek got a huge amount of flack for knowingly letting Flatt skate injured, and Flatt is an example of a skater who isn't universally loved.

I think a lot of things are getting conflated. There are lots of examples where it is not legal for people considered in places of authority over someone or in a position to reward that person to date that person, regardless of age. Or it is against the policy of the company or institution, even if legal.

There are also sports and leagues where coaches and federations have the authority to pull an athlete from a competition/choose not to play them, regardless of the age of the athlete and regardless of what that athlete wants.

There are times when, due to age, the athlete is in the care of the coach, who either can make decisions on behalf of the athlete or is responsible, in a chaperone-like role, to escalate to the parent or guardian, if there is a situation where a child is endangered.

And if Scherbakova were 20, many people would still have asked where the adults were, a colloquial way of asking "Where were the people in charge?," which always isn't the athlete.
 

starrynight

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In general the Russian ladies have much more interesting exhibitions than other countries. They don't just default to generic female ballads like so many other ladies. I wonder if that's the influence of shows like Ice Age that offer such a range of performance styles.

Funding structure in Russia probably helps too. Those exhibitions are included in the package of the training and the parents don't need to pay thousands extra for exh choreography like they'd need to elsewhere.

In other parts of the world, the exhibition training time still needs to be paid for by the hour and probably the money is best spent on the competitive programs. Hence why I think simple exh programs that don't require a lot of practice are put together to non-complicated music.
 

tony

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tony wrote in the last thread, "If it were an 18 year old in the US or someone that generally wasn’t well-liked, I have no doubt the responsibility would fall 100% on that skater/person in general rather than everyone else."

Zakrajsek got a huge amount of flack for knowingly letting Flatt skate injured, and Flatt is an example of a skater who isn't universally loved.
Zakrajsek isn't universally loved either and I'm quite sure you know that-- his skaters are some of the most disliked skaters consistently on FSU. So not a good example.

When Yagudin skated at 2001 Worlds with a severe injury or when Kwan competed at 1999 Worlds with a cold, in which she said wasn't even a big deal but people still tried to explain that's why she lost gold, people were not jumping all over whether they should've skated and/or why Tarasova or Carroll allowed them to skate. I'd even venture to say that not one of you even thought twice about it. Yagudin also competed at 1998 Olympics with the flu and/or food poisoning- I forget which one, and he was 17. People were mad at Flatt because of her placement and also because they just didn't like her skating, but she tried just as Yagudin did.

And for at least the first two examples above, it was more 'OMG that's amazing they were able to pull off what they did!' reaction and those are just two examples in a long list in figure skating where skaters have been 'fighting through injury' or 'dealing with [put illness here]'. If this thread continues to circle back to this, I will find plenty of other examples where the coach and/or skater were well-liked and therefore no one had anything to say about questioning the skater's decision.

And if Scherbakova were 20, many people would still have asked where the adults were, a colloquial way of asking "Where were the people in charge?," which always isn't the athlete.
If Shcherbakova were 20, no one should be asking 'where the adults are' in such terminology unless people want to insist figure skaters need to be coddled their entire athletic careers, in turn to have some of FSU's loveliest members point out their lack of social skill/common sense/vocabulary/whatever once retired. It's an individual sport. She's not holding back the 'entire team'. Tennis players try to play through 2-3 hours plus of injury/sickness constantly. Show me one time when any tennis player has played through injury and someone literally asks 'where the adults were' that made that decision, and I'll highlight once again that they are sometimes playing for 2-3 hours. Not 4 minutes.

Anna skated, she delivered one of the all-time great performances, and we should be happy for that rather than trying to shift the focus to Eteri and/or Daniil because, sorry to say, so many people here are revisionists and come up with all these supposed things happening behind the scenes with that group.

Now getting back to the skating, all of the top 3 were just amazing in their own ways. If anything, Trusova could've tacked the +1Eu+3S onto one of her Axels to raise the GOE scale for the element, but it would've been minimal points- maybe not even 1 full point more, anyways.
 

muffinplus

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When Yagudin skated at 2001 Worlds with a severe injury or when Kwan competed at 1999 Worlds with a cold, in which she said wasn't even a big deal but people still tried to explain that's why she lost gold, people were not jumping all over whether they should've skated and/or why Tarasova or Carroll allowed them to skate.

I'm not sure how serious Kwan's cold was? I think partially people are so mad about this is because pneumonia is more serious than a "cold" and how distressed Anna looked after the short, and also we are living in the age of C*OVID... But of course, also, partially, because it's an Eteri student, and people think Eteri is basically a child abuser.

Tennis is an interesting example... it doesn't seem like skating fans think of competing injured the same way in skating.
 

tony

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Tony can you chill? It's fine to disagree about whether Anna should have been allowed to decide whether to skate or not, but recognize people are coming from a place of concern and care, they're not evil or trying to take her medal away.
If all of you would like to just share your opinions and not hear any counter stuff, it may be better to talk to yourself and stay off FSU. No one ever agrees on anything here, you know this, and just because this is a case of you not agreeing doesn't mean there can't be any discussion. Also, please note with your wonderful disposition that I stopped the conversation in one thread and it was dragged into here. Not by me.

Tuktamysheva also skated and I don't see Jackie Wong and/or anyone else really questioning how that happened.
 

rfisher

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I don't recall another event where a skater finishes and you think "that just won! Incredible skate."
Then the next skater tops that and you're ":eek:" Well, that surely won
Then the next skater says hold my beer and blows the roof off the arena.

Three nearly flawless skates in a row. You have to look for nitpicky things to critique. And then poor Daria skates an excellent skate for 4th.
 

PRlady

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I’m quite willing to believe that Anna willed herself into that performance and that she defied her parents and coaches to do so. Russian Nats is how she’s stayed in the picture when Trusova was Quad Queen and Kosternaia oh-so-perfect. She’s a smart and determined girl.

At 23 nobody should be telling Tuk what to do.

LOvED Sasha’s EX and that’s definitely the direction her programs should go in. Hope she has made note of Kaori’s Matrix and Wakaba’s Bond programs as a style that woujd work for her as she matures.
 

tony

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I don't recall another event where a skater finishes and you think "that just won! Incredible skate."
Then the next skater tops that and you're ":eek:" Well, that surely won
Then the next skater says hold my beer and blows the roof off the arena.

Three nearly flawless skates in a row. You have to look for nitpicky things to critique. And then poor Daria skates an excellent skate for 4th.
I think most of us thought Trusova had done enough, then we thought Valieva had done enough, and then Anna went and did that. That’s what I’ll remember, just being amazed for those 20 or so minutes. I said it in the PBP thread that it really is just mind-blowing that she’s the three-time Russian Champ in THE most competitive era of ladies skating ever. Just amazing.
 
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