Russian Nationals

Ontd_skating put up a preview of the Russian Nats for the ladies, so I decided to start a thread.

http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_skating/951670.html

So much talent! This is going to be one hell of a competition. But unlike Japanese Nats, I can watch with a relaxed mind since Mao isn't competing here.

Can't wait to see Liza vs Adelina round 2! And I am really interested in seeing the young Yulia Lipnitskaya, who lists Mao as one of her favorite skaters. Plus, the girl has insane flexibility.

Polosatik, do you know if Julia Lipnitskaya will compete at russian nationals? She's amazing!!!

europeanfan wrote:

Polosatik, do you know if Julia Lipnitskaya will compete at russian nationals? She's amazing!!!

Yes, I saw her name in the official list of competitors today. I'm rooting for Liza, Ksusha and Adelina podium!

Oh, I think I've heard about Julia before! I'm excited to see what she's got. It looks like the Russian ladies have a bright future ahead in the sport! This probably makes you happy, right Asya?

PS: I'm rooting for Adelina!

klarification wrote:

Oh, I think I've heard about Julia before! I'm excited to see what she's got. It looks like the Russian ladies have a bright future ahead in the sport! This probably makes you happy, right Asya?

PS: I'm rooting for Adelina!

Right. I always wanted Russia to have good lady skaters, since the beginning the only great skater from Russia was Ira, yeah, there also were Elena, Vika, Maria but their success was periodical. And now I'm looking at official list of competitors and see big potential in every name. That's amazing.
I want Liza to win, since Adelina already had her title in 2008.

The russian nationals can be followed here: http://tvali.ge/gadget.php?channel=70955

Russian Nationals is going on now. It seems both Liza and Adelina made mistakes in the SP. I guess pressure got to them. But little Julia did really well. Clean performance with a 3/3!

Ladies sp results

1 Ksenia Makarova 64.16
2 Adelina Sotnikova 63.79
3 Alena Leonova 60.14
4 Sofia Biryukova 59.49
5 Julia Lipnitskaya 59.13
6 Polina Agafonova 58.42
7 Elizaveta Tuktamisheva 56.30
8 Maria Artemyeva 54.63
9 Polina Shelepen 53.89
10 Polina Korobeinikova 53.62
11 Alexandra Deeva 51.23
12 Anna Afonkina 46.89
13 Rosa Sheveleva 46.33
14 Anna Novichkina 45.84
15 Eugene Pochufarova 39.66
16 Sophia Mishina 39.13

Thank you Lady in black Was Alena clean? What about Sofia? I'm happy for julia, she's an amazing child.

How many ladies can russia send for Euro Champs? 3? I hope Sofia will go

The oldest skater is Leonova, 20, and the next oldest is Makarova, 18. The others are junior and novice skaters!

I saw Lipnitskaia for the first time. Her spins are amazing. She looks like a rhythmic gymnast.

Ksenia being first didn't surprise me, she has some experience and the others didn't put on their A-game.

B-But what happened to Liza???

Anymore updates?

I'll try to make a small summary:

Alena did 3T-3T clean but put her hands down on the 3F. Good 2A
Sofia did 3T-3T with errors on the last jump, 3L and 2A. I loved her arm movements.
Ksenia Makarova was the highlight for me, she was gorgeous. 3T-3T, 3L, 2A all clean
Julia,she had the audience right behind her, amazing flexibility; she also landed 3T-3T, 3F and 2A.
I also loved Polina Agafonova, I felt she was a bit underscored, landed the 3Lz-3T combo and had a clean program.
Adelina looked very tight, she tried 3Lz-3L but fell on the 3L. Landed 3F and 2A, but she was slow and off to me. Gorgeous spins as always though.
Liza also had a bad sp: fell on the 3Lz, made 3L-2L combo but shaky, but landed a gorgeous 2A tano style! Her reaction in the Kiss and Cry was devastating, she looked soo sad, it broke my heart. I hope tomorrow she will do better.
Overall, it was a well skated event, with lots of 3-3!


Btw, you can watch here: http://tvali.ge/gadget.php?channel=70954 and press backwords button, you cand watch the ladies anytime

Lady_in_black wrote:

I'll try to make a small summary:

Alena did 3T-3T clean but put her hands down on the 3F. Good 2A
Sofia did 3T-3T with errors on the last jump, 3L and 2A. I loved her arm movements.
Ksenia Makarova was the highlight for me, she was gorgeous. 3T-3T, 3L, 2A all clean
Julia,she had the audience right behind her, amazing flexibility; she also landed 3T-3T, 3F and 2A.
I also loved Polina Agafonova, I felt she was a bit underscored, landed the 3Lz-3T combo and had a clean program.
Adelina looked very tight, she tried 3Lz-3L but fell on the 3L. Landed 3F and 2A, but she was slow and off to me. Gorgeous spins as always though.
Liza also had a bad sp: fell on the 3Lz, made 3L-2L combo but shaky, but landed a gorgeous 2A tano style! Her reaction in the Kiss and Cry was devastating, she looked soo sad, it broke my heart. I hope tomorrow she will do better.
Overall, it was a well skated event, with lots of 3-3!

Thanks, thanks!
My Russian friend was saying that the ladies looked cautious, so forgive me if your report made me go . Perhaps he was expecting something more entertaining?
He said that people really liked Ksenia. So glad for her, but my heart breaks for Liza.

The favorites faltered, it's true, but there were many girls who went clean and impressed, like Julia, Agafonova, Polina Korobeinikova, Alexandra Deeva. The new faces were entertaining! Plus, overall there were only 3 falls, so I believe it was a well skated event. Maybe people have different expectations Of course with Liza and Adelina not performing well(and they are the stars!) people are not happy with the results. I agree with your friend though, Ksenia was the star today

I'm super happy for my lovely Diva Ksusha!!!!!!!! But Liza...ohhh I hope she will come back in the Free!!!

Some videos of the Ladies SP (Thanks to reynycpr at goldenskate forums)

Ksenia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSn0k_LcSco ( very good performance, though not my style)

Adelina https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9YpmHXwBC4 ( the slip on her 3-3 combo was unexpected but her basics are still the best)

Julia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DlQqRP6jZ4 (Great performance, her flexibility on her spirals and spins )

Polina A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lci3_ZXx1zk ( This is my first time watching her and I am impressed! Her jump technique look a bit iffy too me but her presentation is to die for. I think she may exceed Adelina in that department).


I am so amazed at the depth of Russian ladies skating. I think what sets the Russian juniors apart from the Japanese juniors is that they seem to have command of the ice at an early age. When I was watching the Japanese Nationals, I admittedly was bored with most of the junior/novice skaters, though a few youngsters stood out for like Risa. But some of these Russian skaters are younger but they really grab my attention. Hopefully, puberty won't be too hard on them.

Liza just nailed her Fp! She's in first with the last group to go. She didn't go for the 3-3, but executed: 3Lz-2t-2L, 3Lz, 3F-2T, 3F, 3L, 3S, 2A-1A seq. But man, she attacked the program, she was fierce! Great comeback! Also, Roza Sheveleva had the skate of her life, is now in third place. I'm so proud of her!

Lady_in_black wrote:

Liza just nailed her Fp! She's in first with the last group to go. She didn't go for the 3-3, but executed: 3Lz-2t-2L, 3Lz, 3F-2T, 3F, 3L, 3S, 2A-1A seq. But man, she attacked the program, she was fierce! Great comeback! Also, Roza Sheveleva had the skate of her life, is now in third place. I'm so proud of her!

Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear that Liza made a great comeback.

And Adelina responded with a great performance! First place by a big margin. Liza still second, with 4 skaters to go.

http://tvali.ge/gadget.php?channel=70954


The ladies are bringing it. Julia with a clean skate, 7 triples, just behind Liza! Now that's a fight

It's over: Adelina won, Alena Leonova second, Liza third, Julia fourth. Ksenia bombed pretty bad .

1 Adelina Sotnikova 197.44
2 Alena Leonova 187.68
3 Elizaveta Tuktamisheva 180.71
4 Julia Lipnitskaya 176.27
5 Ksenia Makarova 173.91
6 Sofia Biryukova 159.14
7 Polina Shelepen 159.03
8 Rosa Sheveleva 156.81
9 Polina Agafonova 154.48
10 Polina Korobeinikova 152.15
11 Alexandra Deeva 144.07
12 Maria Artemyeva 139.35
13 Anna Novichkina 126.90
14 Sophia Mishina 124.22
15 Anna Afonkina 122.24
16 Eugene Pochufarova 109.85

Too bad Ksenia. =/
Isn't Liza trying 3A in competition yet?

Congrats Adelina She's really on a roll this season. And good for Liza to comeback from her SP outing. Little Julia really made an impressive showing here. Poor Polina A it seems she bombed her LP but the girl has a lot of talent.

Oh wow Adelina is fierce!

Some LP videos are up on youtube. (Thanks to Oleada at GS)

Adelina https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScHLHx8AMpw ( Great performance. Btw, does anyone else see a little Mao inspiration in this program? E.g. lavender dress and step sequence. Maybe it's cuz TAT choreographed this program. )

Liza https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6445DcKHp8 (What a comeback! She has some of the best technique in the business. There's hardly any setup in her jumps but I do feel a more lyrical piece may suit her better since she's so light on the ice.)

Julia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEF41tCbP3g (She reminds me of Sasha with much better jumps!)

Polina A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfs7pYlOWwQ (Not a good skate but I like her presentation out of all of the ladies so far. Adelina is good but she appears a bit too stoic at times. Polina really gets into character when she performs. )

Nice tidbit: Three of these ladies (Adelina, Liza, and Julia) have listed Mao as one of the skaters they admire/like.

Whoa. I was surprised to see Ksenia down in 5th. I thought she would win, or at least get top three. I've really been liking her this season, but after watching some of the programs by the other girls, I like them just as much, if not more, and I can see why they did so well. I know that some of the girls who placed ahead of Ksenia are underage for worlds. I don't know which ones though. Anyone know who is going to go to worlds?

I was not happy to see Alena in second. Sorry, she seems like a nice girl, but I'm just not a fan of hers. Julia was my favorite, and that was even before I saw her freakish flexibility. I remember seeing her skate before now (how could I forget?!). How the hell does she get her leg straight up and down in a beilman?! And Andelina got a higher score than Mao did at Japan Nats!