aka_gerbil
Rooting for the Underdogs
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They climbed up the ranks very quickly, probably quicker than they were expecting. They went from no expectations to everyone expecting them to medal everywhere they went. Once they came up to 2018 and were expected to get an Olympic medal, they (well, mostly Zhenya) completely flipped out. I think the combination of heartbreaks - - personal and Olympic, zapped their confidence.
When they first moved to seniors, they were touted as the team for 2022. S/K were supposed to be for 2018. Then t/m made that sort of last minute power play in 2016/17 and I don’t think they were mentally ready for it. I also think Mozer and the fed were still trying to push S/K for 2018, which couldn’t have helped.
Now that we know about the leg injury, I wonder if after 2019 worlds and how they seemed at test skates if the confidence they seemed to briefly rediscover would have continued if there hadn’t been an injury.
Hopefully, by the time it’s safe for competitions to resume, she’ll be healed and their confidence back.