Rostelecom Cup 2013

I have never seen such blatant overscoring than in Cup of Russia now. We can expect skaters get a little love when skating at home but this is just too much. In no way did their skaters "improve" by 4+ pts worth of PCS in just a couple of weeks when other skaters (Olympic and World medalists including) took how many seasons to earn them and we saw their improvements along the way.

It's nice that Kovtun landed his jumps like in CoC but the Jeremy Abbott look-alike doesn't have the PCS skills of a Jeremy Abbott to justify that 4+ increase. So if Plushy keeps on getting injured they now have a "medal contender" backup. Patrick Chan has to take note of that coz if Kovtun goes to Sochi instead of Plushy and lands all his jumps I bet his PCS will suddenly get to Chan level.

This is not to hate on the skaters, though, but on Russia's obvious politicking ahead of the games.

zarinaballerina wrote:

Caro has a twitter account?!   Where the heck have I been.  

This will sound mean, but Caro has been generously marked so many times in the past, that it's good to see the judges giving her lower, IMO, more deserved scores.

She does have Twitter acc, but she mostly tweets in Italian: msKOSTNER

Iceriver wrote:

shar wrote:

Is it too late for Caro to go back to her last season SP? And do you guys think if she does, her scores will top 70+ if skated clean. Because I think she deserves a chance to medal at Sochi waaaaaay more the Julia, who will still be a teenager in 2018, and will still have a good chance of winning gold at the next Olympic.

I think she should, that was the best SP of last season for me (or one of the best, at least). And I was thinking...Julia is really lucky to have been born in the exact time for Sochi. Imagine, she will only be 19 when the next Olympics take place, same age as Mao and Yuna in Vancouver...

I sincerely hope that Kostner would get a medal this time. She's been working hard throughout her entire career, and this is her last chance. Being an Olympian is also about timing and parents should take note. Julia will be only 19 in 2018, and she may even have another chance at the next Olympics when she's 23. If only Mao had been born 2 months earlier

Well, I've just watched Julia's SP and I was surprised to see all of the comments praising her on Youtube, and some even said that she's better than Sasha. No one questions her score. I really enjoy her performance, but like Sasha, her incredible flexibility and extension distracts people from her weaknesses in other elements. If she were Mao, she would be torn into pieces

I just saw Julia's SP....wow, I take back what I said about her having another chance in 2018. Did you guys see how low her jumps are? There's no way in hell this girl will make it another 4 years with those low jumps. One thing I notice from senior skaters as they get older, is that their jumps starts big when they are teens and haven't quite developed into women, and gets lower when they get older, due to the weight added from puberty. So if Julia's jumps are this small now, can you imagine how much smaller it will be once she's 18 and no longer has a little girl's body anymore?

I guess she knows that, and which is why she's fighting for a podium finish now, since she has her country backing her this go around. Because that performance is not a 72+ score performance.

shar wrote:

I just saw Julia's SP....wow, I take back what I said about her having another chance in 2018. Did you guys see how low her jumps are? There's no way in hell this girl will make it another 4 years with those low jumps. One thing I notice from senior skaters as they get older, is that their jumps starts big when they are teens and haven't quite developed into women, and gets lower when they get older, due to the weight added from puberty. So if Julia's jumps are this small now, can you imagine how much smaller it will be once she's 18 and no longer has a little girl's body anymore?

I guess she knows that, and which is why she's fighting for a podium finish now, since she has her country backing her this go around. Because that performance is not a 72+ score performance.

She's lucky to be age eligible for Olympics this time. Skaters who are able to survive growth spurt are those with big jumps and good techniques. I don't know if there's any exception.

pearlyriver wrote:

shar wrote:

I just saw Julia's SP....wow, I take back what I said about her having another chance in 2018. Did you guys see how low her jumps are? There's no way in hell this girl will make it another 4 years with those low jumps. One thing I notice from senior skaters as they get older, is that their jumps starts big when they are teens and haven't quite developed into women, and gets lower when they get older, due to the weight added from puberty. So if Julia's jumps are this small now, can you imagine how much smaller it will be once she's 18 and no longer has a little girl's body anymore?

I guess she knows that, and which is why she's fighting for a podium finish now, since she has her country backing her this go around. Because that performance is not a 72+ score performance.

She's lucky to be age eligible for Olympics this time. Skaters who are able to survive growth spurt are those with big jumps and good techniques. I don't know if there's any exception.

She reminds me of Tara back in 98' when she was rivaled with Kwan. While Michelle had better overall technique and quality in her skating, Tara was more consistent with her jumps, even though they weren't high, or had a wow factor.

shar wrote:

pearlyriver wrote:

shar wrote:

I just saw Julia's SP....wow, I take back what I said about her having another chance in 2018. Did you guys see how low her jumps are? There's no way in hell this girl will make it another 4 years with those low jumps. One thing I notice from senior skaters as they get older, is that their jumps starts big when they are teens and haven't quite developed into women, and gets lower when they get older, due to the weight added from puberty. So if Julia's jumps are this small now, can you imagine how much smaller it will be once she's 18 and no longer has a little girl's body anymore?

I guess she knows that, and which is why she's fighting for a podium finish now, since she has her country backing her this go around. Because that performance is not a 72+ score performance.

She's lucky to be age eligible for Olympics this time. Skaters who are able to survive growth spurt are those with big jumps and good techniques. I don't know if there's any exception.

She reminds me of Tara back in 98' when she was rivaled with Kwan. While Michelle had better overall technique and quality in her skating, Tara was more consistent with her jumps, even though they weren't high, or had a wow factor.

Tara deserved her gold that time but if she had hit the growth spurt earlier or had thicker hip, she woudn't have won. I think she often had a lutz  Oh, but the rest is just history  

I am not that worried with the scores: sure, they are ridiculous, but I don't think it will be as bad in Sochi. Figure skating doesn't need another huge scandal, like Salt Lake City. I was expecting the worse when Russia held 2011 Worlds, and yet the judging was very good in all the disciplines.
I died a little bit inside when Julia got almost the same score as Carolina on SS. Say what you want about Caro, but she currently has the best SS, with Mao a close second (yes, I think her SS are better than Yuna). If Patrick, V/T, D/W, V/M consistently get 9.5 on, why doesn't Caro at least break 9? Or Mao, for that matter. It's unfair to work hard to improve (Mao's SS suffered drastically in 2009-2010 period but with Sato she improved leaps and bounds) and the reward is close to none, when this 15 year old kid, just because can land the jumps, gets huge PCS for absolutely nothing. Yes, Julia deserved to win the SP yesterday, but not with 72 and not with PCS on par with Carolina.
I don't think however that in Sochi she will win to be honest. It's enough for either Mao or Yuna to hit and I don't think the judges will dare to put a clean Yuna/Mao below Julia. I could say the same thing about Carolina but her content will probably keep her below a clean Julia

Also, I must say I fell in love with Caro's SP. She is a joy to watch, she could do cross overs and I would still watch her all day. Too bad we won't see her in the GPF, as much as I like Radionova, I would much rather take Kostner, since this is probably her last season and I wish to see her skate as much as possible.

I thought Caro doesn't have to win COR to make it to GPF. She can make it if she comes in second... at least that's what the British announcers said during her SP. I hope Caro makes the GPF.

shar wrote:

I thought Caro doesn't have to win COR to make it to GPF. She can make it if she comes in second... at least that's what the British announcers said during her SP. I hope Caro makes the GPF.

She will be battling it with Radionova for the last place and will lose to her on the tie break because of Elena's huge scores.  

Basically, so far, Mao, Ashley, Adelina and Anna made it. Julia will make it, so this leaves Elena and Carolina for the last one.
Elena has a silver and a bronze, with a combined total score of 375.76. Carolina scored on her first GP (where she won bronze) 173.40. This means in order for Caro to go, she needs to
- win Rostelecom Cup
- win a silver with a total score of 203 points to beat Elena on the tie breaker (total score on both GP). She needs to score 135 in the LP for this to happen, since she scored only 67 in the SP

Lady_in_black wrote:

shar wrote:

I thought Caro doesn't have to win COR to make it to GPF. She can make it if she comes in second... at least that's what the British announcers said during her SP. I hope Caro makes the GPF.

She will be battling it with Radionova for the last place and will lose to her on the tie break because of Elena's huge scores.  

Basically, so far, Mao, Ashley, Adelina and Anna made it. Julia will make it, so this leaves Elena and Carolina for the last one.
Elena has a silver and a bronze, with a combined total score of 375.76. Carolina scored on her first GP (where she won bronze) 173.40. This means in order for Caro to go, she needs to
- win Rostelecom Cup
- win a silver with a total score of 203 points to beat Elena on the tie breaker (total score on both GP). She needs to score 135 in the LP for this to happen, since she scored only 67 in the SP

Thanks for the explanation Lady_in_black. I get it now,  although it only made me feel worse. Can Julia mess up her LP so Carolina can win, since she'll make it to the GPF regardless.

If Julia messes up the Lp and takes second place (or even third) and Caro wins, that both Julia and Carolina will go to the GPF and Elena will stay home. I kind of wish for this to happen to be honest. But I doubt it, Julia is fierce and Carolina looked very fragile in China (and here, at practices). Most likely, Carolina will be the first alternate, with Julia and Elena going.
I wish Liza can skate well and win a medal, she is my sentimental favorite from all the Russian girls.
I also wish for Machida do qualify, for MT-M to win second place and for S/S to finish this competition uninjured  

Jesus, what crap PCS Kanako got for her amazing LP. Only 54, and you know Julia will get around 65. This competition is such a waste of time for every skater outside Russia

Lady_in_black wrote:

Jesus, what crap PCS Kanako got for her amazing LP. Only 54, and you know Julia will get around 65. This competition is such a waste of time for every skater outside Russia

Tell me about it!  

At SC she scored 131.34 in LP, TES 70.46, PCS 60.88 It'll be interesting to see how she'll be scored here. Any PCS over 62 is a blatant disrespect to this sport and other skaters, and a huge joke. And even with 62 I'm being generous.

About GPF: I think Elena will make it. I don't see Caro scoring 135+ here.

I feel sad for Carol. I've come to appreciate her skating and personality more over the last few years. She's artistic and understated and her generosity shines through whether it's on ice or off ice. She's the one I wish to do well after Mao, since her time is ticking. It seems like she peaked at the wrong time  As far Liza, I can't believe that just over 1 year ago, the media tipped her as Russia's bid for gold at Sochi

Ok, I love Liza  , but can someone explain to me how does she deserve higher PCS than Kanako?    This is ridiculous.

omg mirai <: now i hope and pray she keeps podium position ahhhh!!!

ohno why do i have a bad feeling that Mirai is going to be 4th ):

^Agnes is selling her program better, so unless she makes mistakes, I think they'll give it to Agnes. I wish Mirai would either start selling Bond LP, or get a new one.

sweetdream wrote:

omg mirai <: now i hope and pray she keeps podium position ahhhh!!!

What is happening  to Mirai? She always bombs when she's in a good position. Her LP leaves a lot of room to attack but she's unable to sell it.

omg mirai's tes is higher than agnes??!! is Mirai going to be on the podium!??!! - so intense-

Mirai did good! Pretty clean, although i think she had some downgrades, her tes was 61 which went down to about 57.9 something! (: and she is in front of liza! o:

oh my god, yes mirai is ON THE PODIUM!!!! so happy i can cry and be happy

Mirai has a medal!  

No Gpf for Carolina. Heartbreaking

122 for that program?!!!!     gag me with a teaspoon.