Russian Test Skates - free segments (2)
Pairs
Artemeva/Nazarychev - modestly trainwrecky at the end there, but the lift issue wasn't scary, which is good.
Akopova/Rakhmanin -
amazing height on the twist and distance on the throws.
Fun program (Piper & Paul really spread disco far and wide throughout skating), albeit some weird pauses in the choreo where it almost looks like they forgot what's next.
Kadyrova/Balchenko - whole lotta Disney at this event, though this program doesn't use any of the more famous tracks until the very end (the one line of dialogue from Will Smith needs to be ditched, or at a minimum replaced with Robin Williams).
Boikova/Kozlovskii - these two have such a classic Russian profile that I really don't think the Spanish music fits them. Boikova continues to misfire technically way more than she used to.
Moskvina's Champions - hmm, not sure about Moskvina's packaging choices this season, this really doesn't play to Mishina's best qualities at all. But technically looking on solid ground (except for Mishina making exactly the same jump mistake Boikova did).
Tarasova/Morozov - guys, when Bourne & Kraatz were fourth at two consecutive Olympics they could at least complain that the judges were against them...
Ladies
Usacheva - that she's skating this early kind of says it all. Which is sad, because she's great to watch. "Never Enough", indeed.
Sinitsyna - weird to just ignore
The Queen's Gambit's very famous aesthetics entirely in the costuming.
Nugu - needs to see the sea witch (Eteri) about acquiring jumping legs. PCS is beautiful, as ever.
Samodurova - Kaiya did it better.
Khromykh - I feel like if anybody is going to upset the apple cart and make the Olympic team by surprise, it will be her.
Kostornaia - the jumps are coming back, hopefully the confidence will follow.
Shcherbakova - she's been written off and come back so many times already that I won't do that here, but I don't think it's a good sign that she's marking her quads. Musicality is nice, as you'd expect.
Valieva - that triple Axel really is remarkable. Quads all went awry today, which is why people shouldn't just assume she's going to win the Olympics. Consistency with triples was the staple of Sambo-70 skaters in the previous quad, but once you bring in actual quads there's only so much consistency that can be expected from anybody.
Liza - is Liza, what you see is what you get. There's a reason she's on the train despite not fitting the criteria.
Cruella - the vibe of the program fits her really well, even if there is expectedly little choreo. If you're going to do jump drill, the jumps had better be impressive, and with her they are.
My female has been faking a paw injury. When I want her to do something, she holds up her paw and acts like she's dying. I couldn't find anything wrong and was ready to haul her to the vet when I went in the kitchen and lifted the lid on their treat jar and very quietly took one out. She was standing beside me in about two seconds. No limp. I was 
and she remembered she was injured, but held up the wrong paw.
The chaos agent in me hopes that RusFed decides to live dangerously and send him to Nebelhorn.
and start 
