Other Nationals

Hi! I create this topic to talk about other Nationals that are taking place or are going to take place in the next weeks. I think it's not necessary to create separate topics for them because I don't think that we are going to talk much about each of them separately.

RUSSIAN NATIONALS

I guess some of you have already watched this competition or seen the results. The most relevant outcomes and some thoughts:

- Plushenko placed first after the SP but was beaten by Kovtun overall. What is the Russian Federation going to do? Plushenko has already talked about going to the Team Event and "letting" Kovtun go to the individual competition but this is not allowed. Let's see how they solve this problem.

- Sotnikova placed first after the short and was able to stand first overall over a perfect Lipnitskaya in the LP. This was interesting, I thought they would put Julia into first to make it clear that she's their favourite skater going to the Olympics. Honestly, Julia was spectacular this time, at least technically. I'm still not a fan, though.

I've not been following the whole competition so I cannot say much more.

For Kovtun going to Sochi single event, Plushy would have to withdraw from Oly's due to legitimate injury (that won't be a problem), however, what I don't get is, what does he mean he'll "allow" Kovtun to compete in singles? Maybe it just got lost in translation, but it sounds really arrogant. He was just beaten by Kovtun, therefor, Kovtun should be the one competing in Sochi.

Besides even if Rus Fed does pull this off with Plushy competing in team event and Kovtun in singles, Plushy is so injured, what if he won't be physically able to compete in the LP portion of the team event? Russia has a legitimate chance at the team gold medal, so they need the best skaters to compete. The last thing they need is an injured Plushy not bringing his best. Just IMO.

IMO, they should send both Plushy and Kovtun to Euros and let them battle it out between them.Whoever places better should go to Sochi, though I still believe it should've been Kovtun due to his win at Nationals.

I'm really happy for Adelina. Hopefully this will boost her confidence, and she will finally have mistake free programs at Euros and Sochi.

Ladies competition at Russian Nationals was really strong. Especially I loved Goncharneko girls- Lena and Sasha. For sure my favourites after Mao retires. They have such great musicality and feeling every bit, and great technique too! And finally Adelina skated to her potential, but still I'm worried a bit for her. She usually does well only at Nationals,I hope this won't be the case this time.
Julia still not my cup of tea, though she improved in her skating quite a lot.

Oh and Maksim Kovtum commenting girls FS was really a highlight! I didn't expect him to be such a great commentator)   

I've only watched the top ladies in youtube (I mean, the ones that I know from international competitions). Do you recommend any other performances in particular? I'm quite interested in all these promising skaters from Russia. I would like to follow some of the newcomers from the beginning just like I did with Mao and Yuna 7 or 8 years ago. It's great to see skaters grow and get to see them win something like Worlds or the Olympics after many years of being a fan!   

Iceriver wrote:

I've only watched the top ladies in youtube (I mean, the ones that I know from international competitions). Do you recommend any other performances in particular? I'm quite interested in all these promising skaters from Russia. I would like to follow some of the newcomers from the beginning just like I did with Mao and Yuna 7 or 8 years ago. It's great to see skaters grow and get to see them win something like Worlds or the Olympics after many years of being a fan!   

I recommend you to watch Alexandra Proklova, she has the same coach as Lena Radionova) Also I like Serafima Sakhanovich and Evgenia Medvedeva. But the best FS for me today was Lena's Frida. I find myself dancing to the music in the end of the program, she's so much fun to watch! 

polosatik wrote:

Iceriver wrote:

I've only watched the top ladies in youtube (I mean, the ones that I know from international competitions). Do you recommend any other performances in particular? I'm quite interested in all these promising skaters from Russia. I would like to follow some of the newcomers from the beginning just like I did with Mao and Yuna 7 or 8 years ago. It's great to see skaters grow and get to see them win something like Worlds or the Olympics after many years of being a fan!   

I recommend you to watch Alexandra Proklova, she has the same coach as Lena Radionova) Also I like Serafima Sakhanovich and Evgenia Medvedeva. But the best FS for me today was Lena's Frida. I find myself dancing to the music in the end of the program, she's so much fun to watch! 

Thank you very much! I'll watch all of them now  

Here you go
Alexandra Proklova https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h61snzgk2E
Serafima Sakhanovich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEwHz2Dwvig
Evgenia Medvedeva https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqSBOMqq-qQ
If you remember Inna Goncharenko a coach of lena and Sasha is a fan of Mao. I'm rooting for her as a coach and for her girls to become the best stars in figure skating!   

Thank you again! I was looking for the videos but couldn't find them in good quality...these links are great   . And I think I heard something about Elena's coach praising Mao and talking about how harmonious her movements were   

Iceriver wrote:

Thank you again! I was looking for the videos but couldn't find them in good quality...these links are great   . And I think I heard something about Elena's coach praising Mao and talking about how harmonious her movements were   

I like how she says to her girls before they take the ice" let's go!Work!" I found that really funny   
I also suggest you to look at Sasha's SP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIreGUL0fds So lovely!

polosatik wrote:

Iceriver wrote:

Thank you again! I was looking for the videos but couldn't find them in good quality...these links are great   . And I think I heard something about Elena's coach praising Mao and talking about how harmonious her movements were   

I like how she says to her girls before they take the ice" let's go!Work!" I found that really funny   
I also suggest you to look at Sasha's SP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIreGUL0fds So lovely!

Proklova's SP was the highlight of the ladies event.
I never expected Adelina to hold it together so well considering how important this competition was. She is not Miss Consistency, that's for sure, but she is getting better this season. So far, she has 3 very good SPs (out of 4) and 2 almost clean LPs (out of 4). And I think this is her best total competition (SP+LP) as a Senior  
What I love about her is her attitude. She completely bombed at GPF and yet she completed her LP with a smile and didn't gave up, in contrast to Julia who after missing her opening combo at Cup of Russia was on auto pilot for the rest of the performance. I am getting tired of her grumpy attitude in the Kiss&Cry when she is not satisfied with her scores/placements. No one, not even Mao, Yuna or Caro are that arrogant and obnoxious.

polosatik wrote:

Iceriver wrote:

Thank you again! I was looking for the videos but couldn't find them in good quality...these links are great   . And I think I heard something about Elena's coach praising Mao and talking about how harmonious her movements were   

I like how she says to her girls before they take the ice" let's go!Work!" I found that really funny   
I also suggest you to look at Sasha's SP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIreGUL0fds So lovely!

Thanks Polosatik! I've only had time to watch the short programs today (I also watched some of the men) and looked for all the skaters you mentioned. I loved Proklova's SP, she's so elegant and looks like she's really fast. I'll continue with all the free skates tomorrow   

polosatik wrote:

Here you go
Alexandra Proklova https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h61snzgk2E
Serafima Sakhanovich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEwHz2Dwvig
Evgenia Medvedeva https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqSBOMqq-qQ
If you remember Inna Goncharenko a coach of lena and Sasha is a fan of Mao. I'm rooting for her as a coach and for her girls to become the best stars in figure skating!   

   Polastik for the videos! I really enjoy watching them all, especially Proklova   . I can't wait to see them what they are capable after surviving puberty. Really, they have it all: flexibility, technique and musicality. What they need is to polish them and have more experience in international competition.

Oh my... it looks like I will follow Proklova and Radionova after Mao and Yuna's retirement. I    them.

Thanks aysa!

for Liza though....

And is there anyone younger than me competing?

Thanks Polosatik for your recommendations. I don't know what Sasha and Lena's coach has done to them, but aside from being a complete package, they're such fighters on the ice and adorable cookies off the ice. The ice rink looks like their playground and apparently they love skating. If they can keep grounded and focussed, there's no way they can't become big stars.

Medvedeva's SS looks so laboured and slow and the fall kinda affected her mentally. Sakhanovich is fast but her jumps look so clumsy to me.

polosatik wrote:

I recommend you to watch Alexandra Proklova, she has the same coach as Lena Radionova) Also I like Serafima Sakhanovich and Evgenia Medvedeva. But the best FS for me today was Lena's Frida. I find myself dancing to the music in the end of the program, she's so much fun to watch! 

OMG, Sasha is sooo cute.    I don't know what Goncharenko is doing but she has two of the most charismatic skaters, in her camp.

Lena is looking even more gorgeous (I think she's matured/grown a bit) and I swear all you have to do is look at her expression in the start pose, and you just know something great is about to happen.

Sasha is such a fierce cookie, I hope so much that both of them will survive the monster known as puberty.

How do they get along off the ice?

Lady_in_black wrote:

I am getting tired of her grumpy attitude in the Kiss&Cry when she is not satisfied with her scores/placements. No one, not even Mao, Yuna or Caro are that arrogant and obnoxious.

THIS.
Even her coach is trying to cheer her up a bit. Julia really needs to learn how to deal with unplesant (for her) situations. Right now, she looks like a sore loser, IMO.

So I've been watching videos of Russian nationals. I've also been watching videos of last year's GPF because they were also held in Sochi Iceberg Palace, the venue for Olympics. From the vids I've seen, is this really gonna be the venue for the biggest stage of them all? I mean the arena itself is decent, but I'm talking about the sound system and camerawork. The sound system is pretty crappy; it's not like the sound system in Japanese competitions where they make it feel as if you're in the arena watching live. The sound coming from the audio system in the Sochi venue sounds distant and not clear-cut. The camerawork too; it's not like in Japanese competitions where the close-ups and change of angles are so precise and well-timed. I've noticed this shoddy sound system and camerawork with all competitions that are hosted in Russia.

zarinaballerina wrote:

How do they get along off the ice?

http://cs419927.vk.me/v419927606/514d/VOIy6b8WmxI.jpg Quite well   

I've just finished watching the Ladies free skates. I'm really impressed by Alexandra Proklova, she's great. The programs I enjoyed the most were Radionova's and Proklova's free skates  

polosatik wrote:

zarinaballerina wrote:

How do they get along off the ice?

http://cs419927.vk.me/v419927606/514d/VOIy6b8WmxI.jpg Quite well   

Lena has such long legs 
Sometimes you can love a skater after just 2 notes and Lena and Sasha are definitely the cases here.
The Russian girls's music choices are also very refreshing to me.

Iceriver, considering that you've been following Mao and Yuna since the first time they soared in the international competitions, you should have joined this forum a long time ago. I really appreciate your contribution   

I just realized that Elena and Nikita messed up again. Given their superb talents and attractiveness, it's so frustrating to see them floundering in the international rankings.

pearlyriver wrote:

I just realized that Elena and Nikita messed up again. Given their superb talents and attractiveness, it's so frustrating to see them floundering in the international rankings.

YAASS! ... *raises ma hands like in a ghetto church*
Can we tawk about how delicious Nikita is? .. and dat boy Dmitri Soloviev. I just wanna put some ice cream on them both and...      
Ooo Lawd have mercy..

ilovethai wrote:

pearlyriver wrote:

I just realized that Elena and Nikita messed up again. Given their superb talents and attractiveness, it's so frustrating to see them floundering in the international rankings.

YAASS! ... *raises ma hands like in a ghetto church*
Can we tawk about how delicious Nikita is? .. and dat boy Dmitri Soloviev. I just wanna put some ice cream on them both and...      
Ooo Lawd have mercy..

Ice cream?   Poor guys  

Iceriver wrote:

ilovethai wrote:

pearlyriver wrote:

I just realized that Elena and Nikita messed up again. Given their superb talents and attractiveness, it's so frustrating to see them floundering in the international rankings.

YAASS! ... *raises ma hands like in a ghetto church*
Can we tawk about how delicious Nikita is? .. and dat boy Dmitri Soloviev. I just wanna put some ice cream on them both and...      
Ooo Lawd have mercy..

Ice cream?   Poor guys  

Yaass   preferably with their clothes off hahaha
Sorry... i'm getting off-topic