This past weekend the Russian test skates took place. In this showing we were able to take a first look at the short dance and free dance of most Russian teams. I will be giving my opinion solely based on how the programs are looking and not so much on whether the teams are achieving great technical results by now. Some programs will have two videos, just in case you want to watch it in different perspectives. Let’s start with the short dance.
I really like the music that Bobrova and Soloviev chose for the rhumba, but they need to be smoother during this portion. They do the pattern to a samba which I don’t think was the best choice. Also, I don’t particularly like the steps they are going. The lift is to show they are good acrobats but I don’t particularly like how it looks. I am going to keep watching this program, as I hated their blues in the beginning of last season but it eventually got better. For now, I don’t think they are in their element and it is showing. Still, it is a good program.
I was really excited to see what Stepanova and Bukin had to show us. I really liked the start. They showed good attitude. But then, I hate Chandelier as a rhumba. Sorry, but it doesn’t work. The lift was great though. And they it gets worse in the third music, which does not fit with the previous ones. I read somewhere that it was “too much posing and not much dancing” and they are right. That’s what I think as well, particularly if you are looking at Alexandra. If you just pay attention to Ivan, it does not look as bad. Stepanova’s problem of not fully extending her arms, for instance, also gives the impression that the movements are not finished. They have a lot of work to do. My expectations were high and maybe that is why I was really unimpressed, but they still have time to develop the program.
Here, I had no expectations at all. Elena and Anton have been skating together for 3 months, so I did not know what I was going to see at all. They start with Daniela Mercury. Good choice! They have speed on the rhumba pattern! And the twizzles were quite in sync, which is good. “Besame Mucho” for the rhumba. Love it! The lift was gorgeous. Maybe what I did not like was the execution of the no-touch midline step sequence, in which it was more visible that he can’t keep up with her. She is a star, and is doing great. He has little experience and alongside her, it shows. But quite a nice program for a team that is together for so little time. Choreographically, I think I like this program more than the previous two. Simplicity is sometimes the key, and for them I think it worked beautifully.
Another team that I was looking forward to seeing was Tiffany and Jonathan. Hip Hip Chin Chin. Loved the twizzles. I don’t remember so many teams doing the twizzles they are doing on the second set. Only Delobel and Schoenfelder. And I know that because I absolutely loved them, so this Russian team just scored some points with me. On to the rhumba pattern: the best I have seen so far. Good job! She is a natural at this style, but he is quite good himself! Maybe the better matched team in my opinion. Really liked the finishing samba. I really hope they challenge the top teams this season. They are looking good for that. Some imprecisions which are part of being early season, but they are one of my favourite Russian teams so far.
Evdokimova and Bazin’s rhumba pattern was something that lead me to beg for it to finish as it started. Just work on that please. The lift was great, maybe a little slow. I don’t know what to say. They skated well, but I kept thinking about stopping it to watch another team. And that is not good.
World Junior Silver medalists, Alla Loboda and Pavel Drozd are moving up to seniors and showed their short dance. Great twizzles! I don’t like the placement of the pattern dance where it is. He is great on latin movements and then she is way over the top and a bit clumsy. So, I liked to watch him, but not her. Regardless, this is one of my least favourites programs. Don’t particularly like the music or the layout of the elements. I was expecting so much more.
Betina Popova and Sergey Mozgov were a question mark for me. They start with the same music that Smart and Diaz of Spain have. The twizzles were quite good. The lift is great! Latin-wise this is one of the best teams. I really liked their program. She even gives hip action occasionally. Great job! One of the teams to keep an eye on this season.
Lastly, Sinitsina and Katsalapov. This team was doing poorly last season, but they have a good ability, so another question mark team for me. First impression: get rid of that dress Victoria, please. Something with color, fringe, sparkles and not just some piece of cloth. About their short dance: it is quite different from the other teams and they did their twizzles! The music cut was a bit strange. Performance-wise I liked their interpretation. They missing some steps and the lift is weird. The program is ok. I think I will have to watch it again to form and opinion. Is not one of my favourites but it is not one of the worst either. Let’s move on to the free dance, which unfortunately did not have the presence of Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. Bobrova and Soloviev’s free dance: she is not in black! I was so tired of seeing her in black that this is a nice change. They have nice ideas for lifts but I was not completely sold. They still need some work. I like their music choice. They kept their rotational lift, which was my least favourite. It may be hard to do it, but it does not mean it fits what you are skating to. It did remind me of some programs from Montreal, but with the gestures it gives a nod to Medvedeva. I don’t know. I liked it, in opposition to the one they had last season that I absolutely hated. However, I don’t see them winning with this. Still, it is early in the season and I want to watch this through the Challengers and the Grand Prix Series to form a more concise opinion.
Oh wow that stationary lift at the beginning. She is new to ice dance but he was the one that made a slight mistake on the twizzles. Honestly, she has personality and looks like a dancer. I also liked their spin. I loved the program. It is really nice. It was a great interpretation from Annabelle and Andrei (she is fantastic on that!). This is one of the teams I want to see throughout the season, as they have a lot of potential.
It is Carmen for Popova and Mozgov. The spin is great, the twizzles look good, and the lifts make sense on the music. Interpretation and commitment are there. This was probably my favourite free dance of these tests. I hope they get a grand prix assignment, they sure deserve it. I mean it is not easy when the last great Carmen was done by Virtue and Moir and you are able to give it your interpretation and succeed in having a great program yourselves. Good job! I will for sure keep an eye on this team this season. The twizzles look good. The coaching change was good in that department! What a lovely stationary lift. I also liked some of the choreographic elements. The straight line lift was also good, even though it felt a bit unpolished. This program suits them well. And I like the costumes. Much better than in the short dance. One can see where their focus has been. My only critique for Victoria & Nikita at this point is that they need to work on two things: step sequences and connection with the audience.
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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!
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.
Russian Junior Nationals took place between the 1st and 5th of February. After the European Championships and while people await for the Four Continents, all eyes were on Saint Petersburg particularly for the ladies event, which is always of remarkable quality in Russia. Nevertheless, ice dance was also an interesting competition especially because of the closeness of some teams that could have made the team for Junior Worlds. Here are the results of the competition: On what concerns the review of the competition, I will comment on what went down with the main teams and will highlight the couples that I really liked. I will be talking about them by the order in which they started the short dance, with the exception of the first couple which only competed the short dance. Ekaterina Andreeva / Ivan Desyatov
Yana Buga / Georgiy Pokhilyuk
Evgeniia Lopareva / Alexey Karpushov
Eva Kuts / Dmitrii Mikhailov
Sofia Shevchenko / Igor Eremenko
Daria Rumyantseva / Dmitry Ryabchenko
Sofia Polishchuk / Alexander Vakhnov
Angelina Lazareva / Maxim Prokofiev
Elizaveta Khudaberdieva / Nikita Nazarov
Anastasia Skoptsova / Kirill Aleshini
Arina Ushakova / Maxim Nekrasov
Polina Ivanenko / Daniil Karpov
Anastasia Shpilevaya / Grigory Smirnov
Alla Loboda / Pavel Drozd
Ksenia Konkina / Grigory Yakushev
Overall, this competition was quite exciting and I think the judging was better than in the senior competition (there was not a large inflation of marks). Moreover, the fact that Shpilevaya/Smirnov earned the title with strong performances may be an indication of what will happen at Junior Worlds. One thing is certain: this is a team that next year will be on the podium. Another couple standing out was Polishchuk/Vakhnov, as they were quite close at making the team for Junior Worlds. With Lodoba/Drozd moving to the senior ranks next season, this team will be given more opportunities to gain experience.
Finally, one thing than concerns figure skating fans is which teams will probably be present at the Junior Grand Prix circuit next season. Based on the results, the teams that will make it may be: Shpilevaya/Smirnov; Skoptsova/Aleshin (I think their best bet would be to move to seniors this year, just like Pogrebinsky/Benoit of the USA did last season, but I don’t think it is going to happen); Polishchuk/Vakhnov; Konkina/Yakushev; Shevchenko/Eremenko; Khudaberdieva/Nazarov and Ushakova/Nekrasov (this couple has not been showing that great results, so maybe Lopareva/Karpushov may have a chance, while I would prefer Kuts/Mikhailov). One team I would love to see would be Ivanenko/Karpov. I guess the last spot will be decided in Test Skates between them, Lopareva/Karpushov, Ushakova/Nekrasov and Kuts/Mikhailov. Moreover, Andreeva/Desyatov may also have a say, because they did well in the short dance and did not perform the free, so if they show they are reliable they may be assigned a Grand Prix. Between the 20th and 26th of December all eyes were in Russia due to nationals. In this case, however, only senior teams competed, as the junior nationals would take place from the 1st to the 5th of February. Here are the results: Right now I will be commenting on what went down. Short Dance:
Free Dance:
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