This is the second part of a compilation of promising junior skaters that competed in the 2017 Russian Junior Nationals. You can find the first part here. Sofia Samodurova I found Sofia out through her participation in the Junior Grand Prix Series last season. At 14, she is coached by Tatiana Mishina and Oleg Tataurov (from Alexei Mishin’s coaching team). She is another beautiful and delicate skater from Russia, with a great quality to her skating. She was 12th at junior nationals. Her best short program was at the mentioned competition while the best free program was the one she performed at the Grand prix of Japan. Observing her short, you can see she is one of the most beautiful skaters Russia has on the junior ranks. She also has lovely spins. And the opening combination of jumps was amazing. Her free program showed some great jumps as well. I find that she jumps not only vertically but also “horizontally” as she covers a lot of ice in her combinations. She has the potential to be at the top of the junior ladies.
Maria Talalaykina Maria is 14. I have never seen her before but as I was searching her I found out she is a fan of Evgenia Medvedeva, and you can clearly see that in her style of skating. She is coached by Evgeny Rukavitsin. She chose a tango for her short program. She did quite well. She can work on centering her spins more and improve her interpretation skills. Her free program reminded me of weaver & Poje and, of course, Medvedeva. Her jumps were good, but she was really focused on them here. A bit more of interpretation would have made this program more impactful. She finished in 15th.
Anastasia Tarakanova Anastasia Tarakanova was the second youngest skater at Russian Nationals. She is 13 and coached by Svetlana Panova.Being so young entailed no participations on the international scene, which meant I did not know her at all. She had an unfortunate fall right in the beginning, which led her to lose the combination. That mistake ended up giving a small impression of this program. The free program saw her interpreting throughout the step sequence. The jumps were out with the exception of the fall. My main problem with it was the music, which got four cuts and included very different styles. I would have liked to see her do something simpler. She finished in 14th place.
Anna Tarusina Anna Tarusina is 14 and coached by Sergei Davydov. She was supposed to have participated in the Junior Grand Prix Series last season but she had to undergo surgery after a bus accident in the JGP of France. This was the first time I watched her skate. I liked her flamenco short program, which was good overall. The free program was also good, with nice jumps, spins and interpretation. She finished in 10th place.
Alexandra Trusova Alexandra Trusova was a pleasant surprise for me and she is sure to make people talking about her in the junior grand prix this season. She was the youngest skater at junior nationals and finished in fourth, barely missing the spot for Junior Worlds. She is 12 and, no surprise, the coach is Eteri Tutberidze, the same coach of Evgenia Medvedeva. Firstly let’s look at her performances at junior worlds. The short program had a great music choice: a rather used song this year in ice dance, a blues. She did both jumps of her combination with the arms above her head which immediately strikes you. The spins and the remaining jumps were great and let me tell you, so young and interpreting a blues so amazingly! It was the first time I saw her and I thought I would keep an eye on what she accomplishes in a near future. The free program showed all her fierceness. She has so impressive jumps! Not to talk about how good the spins are.
Now the off-season brought her to light for most people because she did a great combination in practice that was never before seen in ladies and that you can see below: yes it is a quad salchow with a triple toe-loop. I won’t be surprised if she attempts a quad in the grand prix next season. Polina Tsurskaya Polina is not an unknown figure at all. She has, however, been struggling with injuries. At 15, she is the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic champion, the 2015–16 JGP Final champion and the 2016 Russian Junior National champion. She is another lady that is coached by Eteri Tutberidze. She finished 3rd at the junior nationals of 2017 and was 10th at the world championships. Her best programs last season were the short program at the Junior Grand Prix of Russia and the free program of the Russian Junior Championships. Starting with her short program, I have to saw: she is skating to the soundtrack of Game of Thrones! So excited! I am hoping people do use it more often. Polina did great. She showed why she was Russia’s number 1 junior lady last season. Really, it has been unfortunate that injuries have been preventing her from fully delivering the programs as we know she can. She has great interpretation/performance skills (which russia’s number 1 now, Alina Zagitova, does not have yet – we can see her below. she gives tremendous height to her jumps and her spins are beautiful. Her free program showed more of those fantastic jumps. Her interpretation is really refined at this point. She is the complete package an another of the Russian ladies you should observe and actually quite soon. Her comeback is close and take notice of her for next year’s Olympics because, yes, she is going to compete as a senior this year, and we will already be able to see her at the Senior Grand Prix.
Victoria Vasilieva Victoria Vasilieva is coached by Viktoria Butsaeva. She is 13 and yet another unknown skater to me. I loved the music choice of her short program. It is really different from what most women bring and is good to see her having so much energy and enjoying it so much. She gave all that she had. I felt bad for the last jump, which she singled, but she was so expressive that people will pay attention to the whole program. The spins were really good. The free program showed she is a fun skater, showing us a fun personality, different that the usual balletic Russian girls. I believe she will go far, as she has nice jumps and spins and an great energy on the ice. She finished in 13th place.
Alina Zagitova She is the new Russian phenomenon and a name to memorize: Alina Zagitova. She is the 2016–17 JGP Final champion, the 2017 Russian national senior silver medalist and the 2017Junior World Champion, all in her junior debut internationally, coached by, yet again, Eteri Tutberidze. At the age of 15, she is going to compete as senior this upcoming season as is considered to be one of the ladies that will represent Russia in the Olympic Winter Games of February. Zagitova is the first junior lady skater to break the total score above the 200 mark, scoring a total of 207.43 points at the 2016-17 JGP Final. She finished 1st in the junior Russian nationals and second in the senior ones last year. You can see her flawless performances at the 2017 Junior World Championships below. She spins well and fast, there is a tremendous consistency on the jumps, not to mention she backloads the programs (she does all her jumps in the second half of the programs in order to get a 10% bonus for every single jump). I liked her free more than the short. I still think she can improve components wise, maybe with more facial expression. And in the case of the free program, as it is a ballet, she could work a little on making those lines really beautiful. These latter piece of advice will actually be important as she is keeping this free program for the Olympic season and she is using Swan Lake for her new short program.
BONUS: These two ladies were the ones that were replaced at nationals because they couldn't compete. However I thought it would be relevant to take a look at them. Alisa Lozko Alisa Lozko is 15 years old. She was coached by Tatiana Mishina and Oleg Tataurov. She is known for her incredible spins and artistry. For that matter, I think the choice she made of changing to ice dance was a good one. Her main problem in singles was the lack of rotation in some jumps. The intense competition in Russia among all these talented girls probably led to this decision, so you can check her programs from the Junior Grand Prix of the Czech Republic and keep in mind that we will be seeing her compete in ice dance.
Anna Shcherbakova Last, but not least, is 13-year-old Anna Shcherbakova, also coached by Eteri Tutberidze. I had never heard of her and she became, by far, one of my favourites. I am rooting for her to be given a grand prix assignment. Why? Well, she is one of the most promising talents to discover in Russia. Those who have seen her can’t stop talking about her (and yes, that includes me). She performs so intensely, the jumps and spins are so well executed and she makes you feel something at such a young age. You can see her performances below, of the short and free programs. Keep in mind she was 12 at the time. Such beauty and commitment to the program. The jumps are incredible. After watching her free I wrote: “better than Medvedeva”. Of course it is a subjective statement, but I like her more. I really can’t wait to see more of her and how she is going to develop. And, alongside Alexandra Trusova (above), she is pulling quite the combinations in this off-season: you can see a quad toe-loop triple toe-loop and, also, a quad toe loop, triple toe-loop, triple loop! Incredible skater!
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For anyone that follows the ladies event in figure skating, every single year we are surprised by young Russian skaters that we have never seen before topping the charts and winning everything. Thus, this year I have decided to watch this event at the Russian junior nationals, not only because last season I started following the junior grand prix and some of the names are already familiar to me, but also to be introduced to potential new stars. Since there are a lot of young Russian skaters that are worth mentioning, this is the first of two posts on these talented young ladies. Most videos and performances that I will talk about occurred at Junior Nationals. However, some exceptions will take place as some of these ladies’ best performances happened either in Junior Worlds on in the Grand Prix circuit. The order in which these girls will appear is alphabetical (by their surname). Alisa Fedichkina I have known Alisa Fedichkina for more than one year. The reason? Her fantastic short program at the Junior Worlds Championships of 2016. She ended up withdrawing from that event due to injury but this season she was back in the scene. In that season she won the bronze medal at Russian Junior nationals and was fourth in the Junior Grand Prix Final. She is currently 15 years old and is coached by Evgeny Rukavitsyn. Let’s take a look at her programs from last season. This is one beautiful skater with very good skating skills. In the short program we saw some amazing jumps and good spins. She is able to get the audience involved with what she is skating. The free program was not as successful as the short. She interprets everything beautifully and is a joy to watch. The fall was a bit unfortunate. This is one of the skaters I would like to see make the Russian team in the forthcoming years. She ended up in 6th place at junior nationals [she did perform at senior nationals and was 9th there].
Anastasiia Gubanova Anastasiia Gubanova is coached by Angelina Turenko. She won two gold medals on the 2016–17 ISU Junior Grand Prix series and silver at the JGP Final, which was where I first saw her and she instantly became my favourite Russian skater (yes, senior skaters included). At 14, she is one of the most beautiful skaters in Russia right now, having absolutely lovely lines and she delivers everything she has on her performances, which are full of emotion. Her best performances this season took place at the Junior Grand Prix in Dresden, Germany, and at the Final of this circuit. Watching her short program one can only think of how delicate she is. I get goosebumps every time I watch her. Her free program was set to Romeo and Juliet and its interpretation and lines were sublime. She was able to bring the drama that the music required. She has a star quality to her. At junior nationals she struggled a bit but I saw her fight through the free program. If she becomes consistent, she will be hard to stop. She was 7th at both junior and senior nationals. Can’t wait to see her again.
Anastasia Gulyakova Anastasia Gulyakova is a 14 year old girl I had had never seen her skate before. Coached by Ilya Klimkin, she attempted a triple axel in practice at the Russian Junior Nationals. She finished 8th at that competition. Her short program has a wow factor: the jumps. She is a really strong jumper. Moreover, she include nice drama throughout her performance. It was a really good program. Her free program brought more jumps with an amazing height. She also does most jumps with one or two hands above the head, which is absolutely fantastic. I truly think people need to keep track of this girl.
Stanislava Konstantinova Stanislava Konstantinova is 17 and is coached by Valentina Chebotareva. She was the 3rd alternate for Europeans (she was already senior-eligible). She was 4th at JGP Germany and 2nd at JGP Russia. Two of her best performances did take place at junior Russian nationals, where she finished second. She went to Junior Worlds and was 6th there. In the short program she executed good spins and jumps. She reminds me a bit of Anna Pogorilaya in the way she skates. The only critique I can make is that she is not memorable. Maybe due to the song choice. I liked the free program more than the short, and she did bring her quality jumps to the performance. This approaching season we will be seeing her as a senior.
Alena Kostornaya Alena is 13 years old and another lady that I never knew about. She was coached by Elena Zhgun but is now training with Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov. She went to junior nationals as a replacement for Alisa Lozko. The short program at junior nationals was quite good, even though I did not get why they were changing the music in the middle of the spin. She fought through that combination but the other jumps were good. In the free I also had issues with the music. The jumps were ok. She was not among the best, ending in 16th out of 18 ladies. However, I am curious to see what the coaching change will due for her. Because in case you don’t know, she changed for the technical team of Evgenia Medvedeva.
Ekaterina Kurakova Ekaterina is 14 and a beautiful skater. I had never seen her before as well. She is very artistic too. She is coached by Natalia Dubinskaya. Her short program showed that she has really good jumps, spins and a great interpretation. She may have a great future ahead of her. Her free program was also really good, showing her performing throughout the step sequence and, yet again, really good jumps and spins. I really want to see that she will do this season. She finished in 9th at junior nationals.
Ekaterina Mitrofanova Ekaterina Mitrofanova is 15. She was 10th at last season nationals and this season was 18th. She is coached by Sergei Davydov and Vladimir Kotin. She entered nationals through the replacement of Anna Shcherbakova. I found her to be a really good skater in the short program. However, the music choice was not the right one to let her shine. In the free program, she struggled in some jumps. I found her to be slow in the spins, needing more precision. And again, how do you interpret a music like that? The coaches should have given her something easier to relate to so that she can perform it.
Elizaveta Nugumanova Elizaveta Nugumanova was coached by Alexei Mishin but has now changed coaches to Veronica Dayneko. In JGP of Russia she won the bronze medal whereas she won the silver at JGP Estonia last season. This skater is already quite well done despite her young age mainly due to her great flexibility and fantastic spins. She finished 11th at Russian junior nationals. However, her best performances of the season took place at the Junior Grand Prix of Estonia. She has spectacular spins and well as interpretation and presence. The jumps are also beautiful. The only downside is that she gets some underrotations. Her lines and performance are really good and she knows which music she should pick to highlight them. Moreover, I really like her soft gliding.
Her best free ended up being the one to Romeo and Juliet. However, she did change it to Swan lake in the middle of the season, which was the one she performed at nationals and that you can see below. It was a good choice as well, with the audience cheering for her. She looked like a ballerina. Overall it was a really nice program, with a lot of attention to detail. This is another of my favourite skaters. She did make her debut at the Junior Grand Prix last season and I can’t wait to see how she will do in the upcoming one. Daria Panenkova Daria Panenkova is coached by Eteri Tutberidze. At 14, her trademarks are her well executed Tano-Rippon-jumps (one or two arms over the head). This is a skater I had never seen before, even though I had already heard her name. Her short program showed her jumps. I took the last spin was a bit too slow. I thought she focused way too much on her jumps. She needs to work on letting go so that people watching can connect more to her skating. In the free program, she reminded me of the senior ladies. She looks a lot like a senior already. I loved this program way more that the short. The jumps here were so impressive! She does almost everything with two arms over the head. She has a lot of potential. She finished in 5th at junior nationals.
Ksenia Pankova Ksenia Pankova is 14 and coached by Ilya Klimkin. I had never seen her before, nor heard of her. She finished 17th at Junior Nationals. The short program was really fun to watch. She was extremely focused on her elements. The combination had a fall on the last jump. It has a risk putting it so close to the end after a program that requires a lot of energy. I thought she needs to work on her spins. In her free program, the spins were much better (at least I thought so). She is showing range since the two programs were really different from each other. All jumps were good. I am curious to see how she will improve in the next season.
The Trophée de France took place between the 11th and 13th of November. In the ladies event, there was no surprise: Evgenia Medvedeva kept her consistency and won the event. I am going to let you just watch the programs, but you can check my comments on them in the highlights of Skate Canada.
Another lady coming from the junior ranks was Wakaba Higuchi, from Japan. She won the bronze medal here due to a great free program. She rallied back from a less successful short to a more consistent free. My favourite program is her short but the free is also quite good. Can’t wait to see how she will do this season.
Lastly, an honorable mention to a lady of the organizing country: Laurine Lecavelier. She had the 4th best short program and gave France a shot at a medal. She is setting herself to be the first French lady this year, after being behind Mae Berenice Meite. I really enjoyed her short program so I leave it here for you. In pairs, Savchenko and Massot went away with gold and the two best programs of the event score-wise. After competing in Rostelecom the previous week, they kept their riskier elements: the throw triple axel in both the short and free, despite ending up succeeding in doing a throw triple salchow instead of a quadruple.
In men, Javier Fernandez was the golden medalist. The programs were not clean but were enough for him. After competing in Russia last week, I liked the short much better now and kept my good impression on the free.
The second best short program was delivered by Nathan Chen. He has a great technical ability for jumps but the quality of the PCS is not quite there yet. If you are following the order of performances here, you will understand, because after watching Adam Rippon’s free, you say that Chen has the jumps but the performance is somewhat missing. He is still quite new to the senior scene, so it is an area he will certainly be working on. He is a great contender for the best placement of the podium if any of his direct competitors fail to deliver the technique, but I am afraid PCS-wise is not quite there yet. Finally, the silver went to Denis Ten, mainly out of consistency among both its programs: he had the third best in both performances. He seems to be getting back to his old form, delivering two good programs. I am waiting to see what he will be able to do this season.
Following the Grand Prix event in Canada came the one in Russia: Rostelecom Cup. I am going to start with what turned out to be, for me, a surprise: Russian pair skaters Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert. Since I had never seen them before and they were a new pair, I wasn’t expecting the way they delivered their programs. In fact, they were first after the short program, and ended second overall after a second place finish in the free program. Their short program was beautiful. Most elements were really well executed (the opening triple twist is something they can still upgrade in quality). This performance sure showed that everyone will have to keep an eye on them in this and further seasons. The free program was quite different from the short. While I liked the short more (I think it suited them more), this was also a really well executed program. The jumps were the clear highlight, particularly the opening combination and the throws. And her dress is stunning.
The gold in pairs went to Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot. In a season where ice dancers are mostly skating to hip hop instead of swing, Savchenko and Massot chose a swing and I absolutely loved it. It is a really entertaining program. The triple twist is as high as always with them. It was unfortunate that they both fell on the individual jump. And what to say about the throw triple axel, which only Duhamel and Radford had also attempted? It is a spectacular element and she held on to it. About the free program? Well, my advice is that you take some minutes and watch it. It is a program that will make you feel something. And if you think it resembles something, then yes, the music is from Patrick Watson, which was also featured in the free dance of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron last season. They attempted the throw triple axel again (it was counted as a double, due to lack of rotation) and they also went for the throw quad salchow right at the end of the program (which, if you ask me, is quite a risk). She ended up falling, but still, they went for it. Maybe as the season progresses they will be able to land them, which could make them quite unstoppable.
Moving on to the men, the story came down to Japanese Shoma Uno who won silver and whose programs we had seen before in Skate America and the gold medalist, Spanish Javier Fernandez.
The debut of Fernandez’s programs at the Grand Prix happened here. He kept the short program from last season, which for me turned out to be underwhelming. I loved it way more last season, but maybe it is just because he is still beginning the season. However, as we had seen the program before, expectations are a bit higher than usual. He held on to the elements but Shoma Uno’s technical base value was much higher. Nothing was lost until the free was not over. And for Fernandez, it was Elvis Presley. And well, I can see what he has been training for. The focus has been this free and not the short and for now, it worked, earning him the gold. He is quite a performer and when the technique is there as well, it is fantastic. That is mainly the reason he is a two-time world champion. He just needs to be able to deliver the technical elements. I really like Elvis Presley and I believe it was a good music choice for him. This is yet another to-watch program.
Last, but not least, being in Russia surely entails that the Russian ladies were going to deliver and that is was they did, going 1-2-3 in the short and ending up with gold and silver. Let’s start with programs to highlight that were not the best but that caused everyone to talk about them. Firstly, Julia Lipnitskaia’s short program. She has been struggling and end up struggling a lot in the free but not on this program. I want to start by saying that the dress is beautiful and that brown is actually a colour that should be more used. She has matured and this program suits her so so well. The jumps were there but the spins are just absolutely spectacular. You can’t take your eyes off her. She has an incredible talent. And on the free skate, the surprise was Courtney Hicks. To the soundtrack of Maleficent, which suited her like a glove. Absolutely fantastic. This program earned her the bronze medal here. She has room for improvement, of course, but things are looking good for her.
But this event was to be about Anna Pogorilaya and Elena Radionova, with Pogorilaya succeeding over her teammate on both programs. Let’s start with Radionova. The short program was really well executed and left things open for her. She performed throughout, which is the main quality associated with this skater: her interpretation. She is struggling a little on completing her jumps lately and while she did not have such problems in this short program, she does not have the same GOE as Anna on the jumps. But performance-wise, she is one of the best Russian ladies. Her free program was more of a so-called “classic”, which she can deliver but I much rather see her in her short program that here. The dress is lovely and her interpretation was there. But here we could see her jump struggles. Nevertheless, it was a good program.
Lastly, the gold medalist, Anna Pogorilaya, seems so much more confident this season. The bronze last season her worlds seems to have done wonders for her. A tango for the short and I have to say that I really liked it. I usually don’t like her programs at all, but this was quite good. She had attitude throughout and sold the program well. The jumps were all there and that step sequence was really good. The free program was more on what she usually performs so it is not a big surprise that I did not like it very much. Regardless, consistency seems to be her motto now, because the jumps were all there and she gave the intensity to the program that it asked. A well-deserved gold medal for her. Can’t wait to see how this season will work out for her.
The second Grand Prix event was Skate Canada, so here is another post concerning the main highlights (for me) of the ladies, pairs and men’s events. Firstly, the ladies event was rather interesting. Concerning the short programs, the best, for me (and that turned out the first and second best programs in terms of marks as well) were delivered by Russian Evgenia Medvedeva and Canadian Kaetlyn Osmond.
The free programs to watch were, yet again, by this two ladies and also the one performed by Japan’s Satoko Miyahara. Medvedeva’s free program this year had a quite dramatic interpretation to it. The jumps show no problems at all, with multiple jumps being performed with an arm over the head. She commits deeply to it. Is one of those programs that you will be watching from beginning to end and that will make you feel something. She is the skater to watch if you follow the ladies event. The question will always be if any lady will be able to beat her this season.
Moving on to the pairs event, world champions Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford delivered two good programs (the best score-wise of the event) and went away with gold.
Finishing up, the men’s event. Two men stood out in this event. Firstly, the winner of the event, Canadian Patrick Chan had a remarkable short program. I will not include the video because the music is removed due to copyright, which is quite unfortunate. The program had a mistake in the triple axel (a fall), but apart from that it was a good performance.
Even though this blog’s focus is on ice dance, there are three other events in figure skating that I can’t leave unnoticed. As a result, every time I consider relevant, I will be making highlights from the ladies, pairs and men events. Here is the one concerning the Progressive Skate America. First of all, let’s start with the best short program of the ladies event. Maybe most of people associate figure skating with classical music. Well, that is not always true, and Ashley Wagner proves that with this program. It is so fresh compared to all the classic tunes and she interprets it so well, which led me to give it the attention it deserves. It is true that the program was not technically perfect (the judges did see that the second jump of the opening combination was underrotated and all her spins and set sequence were given a level 3 instead of the highest, level 4), but she does draw you in the performance.
The surprise performance of this event and, for me, the one I think of when anyone mentions Skate America this season, was the free program of Mariah Bell. She won it, ending up moving from sixth to second place, edging relevant names like Mao Asada, Gracie Gold and newcomer Mai Mihara. In one word, gorgeous, and I would also add delicate. This is a program that I will certainly re-watch several times. She has tremendous potential to make the American World team if she manages to keep up this quality. Moving on to the men’s event, there is little to say about Shoma Uno. He did great and is setting himself up to be a World Medalist after his disappointing seventh place at the last Worlds. Things are looking good for that purpose. I just leave here both his short and free programs, which are a must-watch.
Last but not least, the largest surprise on what concerned the gold medalists here. Maybe it was not such a large surprise if you had watched Seguin and Bilodeau last season. However, this free program was beautiful and clean, which is really hard to accomplish in pairs, particularly if you are relatively new to the senior scene. These two are just amazing to watch and they will likely have a great future ahead of them. |
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