#TeamTrainwreck 22: Every dark cloud has a pewter lining!

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Jeschke

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@Jeschke I was reading The Importance of Being Earnest, as one does, and this quote is so #TTW. After being lied to, the character replies, "I have the gravest doubts upon the subject. But I intend to crush them. This is not the moment for German scepticism." :40beers:
Love it!
 

taz'smum

'Be Kind' - every skater has their own story
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I'm really out of the loop, I didn't realise that Pukey trains with Zhulin now🤷‍♀️
 

Vagabond

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Can Plushenko be admitted to the team in his capacity as a coach? :gallopin1
Nyet! :rolleyes:

Criteria:
1) Skater needs a complete package to potentially be a top skater at Euros/4CC's/Worlds/Olympic level
2) Skater needs to have the ability to absolutely rock one day and splat the day after. Even better: rock and splat during one program
3) Skater is not afraid of breaking one's heart over and over again
4) Skater needs more splat/messy performances than great ones

:COP:
 

rfisher

Let the skating begin
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73,780
Nyet! :rolleyes:

Criteria:
1) Skater needs a complete package to potentially be a top skater at Euros/4CC's/Worlds/Olympic level
2) Skater needs to have the ability to absolutely rock one day and splat the day after. Even better: rock and splat during one program
3) Skater is not afraid of breaking one's heart over and over again
4) Skater needs more splat/messy performances than great ones

:COP:
he still skates! it doesn't say they have to skate competitively.
 
S

SmallFairy

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Oh….

 

Ananas Astra

Get woke, go broke!
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14,803
New sex symbol of RUS fed :smokin:
"Anti-sex symbol" would be a title I could live with for Samarin.

But props to him for scoring a chick like Urushadze. I am glad he is not entirely devoid of talent.
 
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alchemy void

Post-its for the win.
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27,291
Farewell Alena Leonova!
Entry: November 29th, 2015
Exit: May 4, 2021
Career Highlights: 1st 2009 Junior Worlds, 1st 2015 Universiade, 1st 2019 Panin Memorial

Picture it: January 2009. I still had a fabulous bleached (yet rapidly receding) hair, repeatedly listening to my Natasha Bedingfield and Leona Lewis CDs on repeat, and generally living my best mid-20s life. Having been a figure skating fan since the 90s, my interest had steadily waned since the SLC Olympics, with many of my favorites retiring. But I was still a fan and tried to least catch Euros each season (if a stream was available), because who doesn't love seeing Finnish ladies land 3 clean triples and splat twice en route to a European medal? :shuffle:

But as I watched the choppy stream, sipping coffee, still somewhat intoxicated/hungover at 7 in the morning, things were about to change. In the middle of an epic splatfest--Tugba Karademir landed 2 clean triples in the LP, scoring 84 points, and finished top 10!--a skater with Julia Soldatova's old music (that was dated in 1999), a deceptively classy black dress, and arms and hands all over quickly got my attention. She was landing shit! Triples! A flip and a flutz no less! Who cares if her face did most of the work during her footwork sequence--she radiated so much energy, and was such a breath of fresh air. Little did I know she'd be my favorite skater for over the next decade.

My fandom was cemented the next season. We upgraded from old Soldatova music to old Sokolova music, and as soon as I saw this iconic spiral sequence, I realized I had found a new favorite skater. Who else could pull those spirals or this ending pose or this o face pose so effortlessly? It all seemed so genuine and not put on. In a world full of pretty princesses and serious artists and athletes, she was being her authentic self on the ice and it was tremendously endearing.

Her 2010-11 programs are arguably her best ever. The iconic Worlds perm (TM) tends to get all the glory, but revisiting this program for the firs time in a while, this is a fantastic piece of voidy choreography, only matched by again, by her sheer dedication to the performance. The LP is equally as entertaining, and I'd challenge any of today's top ladies to wear 1" purple fingernails attached to their gloves. 2012 brought the iconic, World Championship winning, criticially acclaimed, universally celebrated, well-balanced Pirates of the Caribbean short program. If your step sequence is going to take up 55 seconds, you better make it drunk and fun! This program also gives us the very best-executed ending pose of all time. It's all about the face, folks! I'm retroactively giving this MEEPOTS 2012 right now. Leonova went on to win silver at these Worlds, which in early years of was seen by some as disqualifying to TTW membership, but thanks to consistently semi-bombing at Euros, and her general fabulousness, she quickly cemented her place on the team.

The next few seasons were a struggle, but if there's one quality that embodies TTW, it's rising like a phoenix from the ashes, and our girl did that at 2014 Nationals, coming out of nowhere after 1.5 shit seasons, and securing her final berth (to date) at Europeans, and again just missing out on a medal. After missing out on the Sochi Olympics, Leonova joined official TTW coach Rukavicin (sorry, Tsareva) and again saw a creative resurgence--her Chaplin program is the best Chaplin program ever (yes, better than B/S or Keegan), and stands amongst my favorite programs ever.

More fun programs followed--her 2015-2016 jukebox program is an underrated favorite. And her 2016-2017 Harley Quinn SP is iconic, mostly thanks to the hair, makeup, and face. I've always wondered what the story/theme was behind her Vivaldi program--childhood/motherhood? An homage to Hitchcock's The Birds? Skating that program at 2016 Trophee de France, of course, is the TTW performance of the decade: -9.00 in deductions, last place, and chased around the rink by a pigeon while bird voiceovers played in her music. :respec: But in true TTW fashion, she rallied back with a medal at Golden Spin a few weeks later and then achieved career best scores at age 27, with two clean Grand Prix events. 💪 Her most recent Grand Prix event to date was 2018 NHK Trophy, and at age 28, she debuted her stunning Separation SP--totally subdued, longing, and melancholy--unlike anything else she had ever done--but instantly my favorite Leonova program.

There are so many things that have made Leonova unique or noteworthy over the years: the hair is guaranteed to be totally different each season/competition. :glamor: There's the record-breaking NHK appearances, second only to Midori Ito. And of course the ability to repeatedly come back and rise from the ashes, while still delivering perk, performance, and face. At the end of the day, I think what I appreciate the most is that this is someone who clearly loves the sport and has shared that love with us for well over a decade, which is becoming increasingly scarce in the sport today.

More than 12 years after her Europeans debut and 6 years after being admitted to #TTW, the time is right to bid farewell to Alena Leonova on TTW. But the good news is that her skating and spirit lives on everywhere: she coaches and choreographs for #intruder Maria Talalaikina, a worthy successor, and her fantastic Maleficent program references Leonova's own Witches of Eastwick. She's still in the news for her well-attended birthday parties. ;) And of course she's married to Shulepov, who is going to contend for an Olympics spot. Hell, I wouldn't even put it past her to show up at the Panin Memorial next season with a new, fabulous program. And if that does happen, you can bet she'll be reinstated without question. Спасибо!

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J

Jeschke

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New thread will open November 10th in Perkovas honour.

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Season End Members List

:gallopin1 -Patron-Saint:
Pogorilaya, Anna

Ladies:
Glenn, Amber
Honda, Marin
Konstantinova, Stanislava
Leonova, Alena REMOVED
Lim, Eunsoo
Nugumanova, Elizaveta
Peltonen, Emmi
Schott, Nicole
Tuktamysheva, Elizaveta

Men:
Aymoz, Kévin
Březina, Michal
Ignatov, Makar
Litvintsev, Vladimir REMOVED
Nadeau, Nicolas
Pulkinen, Camden
Sadovsky, Roman
Samohin, Daniel
Yan, Han

Ice Dance:
Khudaiberdieva, Elizaveta / Bazin, Egor
Shpilevaya, Anastasia / Smirnov, Grigory REMOVED
 
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