From Russia With Love [#39]: Into Winter 2021

[Perky Shae Lynn]

I am in utter shock over Tinami news. She said a while ago she was having health issues, but I was hoping it was nothing serious. She was so passionate about skating. She was too much for me, and after enjoying annoying the heck out of her a few years ago, I blocked her. I didn't even realize she hasn't been posting. Ugh, I feel pain!!!!!!

 

[Eislauffan]

Pair skaters Yasmina Kadyrova/Ivan Balchenko have switched coaches and moved from Perm to Tamara Moskvina's school. They had their first official practice in St. Petersburg today.
Except for Anastasia Mishina, the two top teamsMishina/Galliamov and Boikova/Kozlovskii are not back on the ice yet, but will be in the next few days.
There are now three senior and three junior teams (Petushkova/Malikov, Storublevceva/Gricaenko, Tumanova/Kunitsa) training in the club.

 

[mjb52]

Any news about Panfilova/Rylov? They had so many struggles this year.

 

[Marco]

I would say 90% chance in ladies, and in dance and pairs only 40% chance. In pairs they have a chance only if Sui/Han make mistake, otherwise if everyone went clean, the gold would go to Sui/Han. The same in ice dance - France definitely has a better chance to get the gold than Russia.The fact that these champions didn’t compete for two years will not hurt them; it didn’t hurt Virtue/Moir when they came back.

S&H lost Worlds this season and P&C lost Euros last season, both to RUS teams.

We don't know whether we can have a full season before the Olympics with internationals, GPs and GPF and then Euros / 4CCs, if yes we will be able to see how they stack up against each other. But if not, I guess it's matter of accompishments vs momentum. I agree S&H will be very heavily politicised into winning at home, but aside from their consistency I am also interested in whether the 2 (or T&M as well) will have new tricks for the season.

 

[Karen-W]

S&H lost Worlds this season and P&C lost Euros last season, both to RUS teams.

We don't know whether we can have a full season before the Olympics with internationals, GPs and GPF and then Euros / 4CCs, if yes we will be able to see how they stack up against each other. But if not, I guess it's matter of accompishments vs momentum. I agree S&H will be very heavily politicised into winning at home, but aside from their consistency I am also interested in whether the 2 (or T&M as well) will have new tricks for the season.

Whyever would you question whether or not we can have a full season before the Olympics with internationals? Western Europe and the US seem to be opening up - just last week Eurovision had a full arena for the semi-finals and grand finale. The NBA playoffs are happening with, minimum, 50% crowds in all the arenas (Portland/Multnomah County is the last city to have fans in arena and they're on track to be approved tomorrow to open Moda Center up to 50% capacity for their playoff game on Thursday). Even Japan is holding events with fans in the arenas as they fight the most recent surge and, I'm sure, like Canada, as they increase their vaccination efforts, things will only improve. Even if fans can't necessarily travel to other countries freely yet, athletes are certainly moving around and many are receiving vaccinations already.

I would agree that S/H are more vulnerable than P/C for the gold medal in Beijing, but I don't see any reason to think that either team won't be able to reestablish their momentum this fall with a full slate of internationals, GPs, the GPF, and Euros/4CCs. They're both experienced competitors and know how to pace themselves accordingly.

 

[hanca]

S&H lost Worlds this season and P&C lost Euros last season, both to RUS teams.

Sure, but S&H lost worlds through their own mistakes, and P&C lost Euros also through their own lack of preparation and problems with motivation. In both cases, their gave it away themselves, rather than being beaten. Do you think they will give away so willingly the olympic gold medal?

 

[starrynight]

Stuff happens though. Sui/Han were so close to the 2018 Olympic gold too.

 

[hanca]

Stuff happens though. Sui/Han were so close to the 2018 Olympic gold too.

Of course stuff happens. The ice is slippery and anyone can make a mistake. But if you have clean S/H, and clean Boikova/Kozlovski, and clean Mishina/Galliamov, to whom do you think the judges are likely to give the medals?

 

[Ka3sha]

There was a story about Ivan Samodelkin, a fellow skater and ballet on the ice artist, who lost his leg in an accident back in 2018:

A second can change your life forever. Nine days after his wedding, Russian figure skater Ivan Samodelkin, 22, was doing some excavation work in the garden of his family’s summer house near St. Petersburg when he lost control over the machine, it turned against him and lacerated his right leg. “I couldn’t stop it.”, Ivan said about the horrible accident. He was taken to hospital and doctors stitched up his leg. “It was a bad injury, but I still had a chance to keep my leg,” the skater recalled. But then he developed gas gangrene. When he was taken to a hospital in St. Petersburg, it was too late to save the leg. “The gas gangrene was getting close to my hip. There was no choice, the doctors had to amputate my leg.” The leg was amputated above the knee.

(from @Eislauffan 's article for ISU: https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/...-hopes-to-be-back-on-the-ice?templateParam=15 )

Here's a recent video of Ivan skating at the rink for the first time since the accident

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[Sylvia]

ICYMI this interview earlier this month:

Olga Ermolina/Tatjana Flade's interview with Alexandr Zhulin for fsrussia.ru
...

E/F: ... Tell us about your group.
AZ: The new team - Abachkina/Drozd. Pavel's previous partner [Ksenia] Konkina was severely ill and her health did not allow her continuing the sport career. Pavel remained partnerless. Then there was an option skating with Angelica. She used to represent France, but she was finally released and will be representing Russia. We have certain hopes up with this team. But you have to take into an account Angelica did not skate for 2 years, she was coaching in Switzerland. When she came over she immediately got an injury because of the amount of work she had to do. But think things will work out for the guys. Of course Pavel matured a lot as a skater. It will be tough for Angelica to follow his lead. But their programmes are really successful. We want them to compete soon. We'll try to rush it. They are very hard working.

Full translation by @TAHbKA here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/ermolina-flades-interview-with-zhulin.108327/

 

[TAHbKA]

Konov's interview with Rodnina
On Kwan and Cohen:
Q: Did you know they were very talented when you saw them the first
Rodnina: Sasha - yes. She is so gifted naturally, it was obvious. But boy does she have a character. Michelle - no, she is wooden, her jumps were small and fast, emotionally she is not there, she was not very flexible but she is amazingly hard working

On Tarasova/Morozov: They have been changing things every year since 2018: Mozer/Trankov/Zueva/Tutberidze....

On TAT: I haven't spoken or greeted her for a while. A lot of years. I deleted her from my life a lot of years ago and always someone tries to get her back - once people were trying to get us back, once it was to make peace between us. Enough. What for? I am out of figure skating for a while now

Q: When was the last time you were skating for fun?
Rodnina: In 1980. I retired completely happy with my results - I have done and won everything I wanted in figure skating. Not a lot of athletes can say so. Perhaps I wanted to be more creative in the programmes - which was a reason I chose TAT.

 

[kwanfan1818]

This is Irina Rodnina? The Irina Rodnina whose picture is in the dictionary next to "emotionally she is not there" except after she was dumped by her first partner?

 

[Cherub721]

On Kwan and Cohen:
Q: Did you know they were very talented when you saw them the first
Rodnina: Sasha - yes. She is so gifted naturally, it was obviously. But boy does she have a character. Michelle - no, she is wooden, the jump was small and fast, emotionally she is not there, she was not very flexible but she is amazingly hard working

So much this!

 

[Maximillian]

I love, 'But boy does she have a character'! So many places to go with that!

 

[Vash01]

Konov's interview with Rodnina
On Kwan and Cohen:
Q: Did you know they were very talented when you saw them the first
Rodnina: Sasha - yes. She is so gifted naturally, it was obvious. But boy does she have a character. Michelle - no, she is wooden, her jumps were small and fast, emotionally she is not there, she was not very flexible but she is amazingly hard working

On Tarasova/Morozov: They have been changing things every year since 2018: Mozer/Trankov/Zueva/Tutberidze....

It is not like Tarasova Morozov had a choice. They stuck with Mozer even though she was doing nothing for them. Zoueva was a good choice when they switched to her, but the logistical difficulties of travel and finding an ice rink when in Russia made them go to Tuberidze. They have stuck with Trankov. Rodnina's criticism of them is unfair.

I find her criticism of Michelle very unfair too. Kwan had no talent? I guess landing jumps consistently under pressure is not talent according to Rodnina.
When I first saw Michelle, she was a 12 year old who beat all the older skaters to win a small competition in San San Antonio. She was naturally talented, just not as flexible as Sasha.

Anyone who has watched Michelle skate, was touched by her emotion. It was Rodnina who had no emotion but she was very consistent. It almost sounds like she was criticizing herself.

 

[zebraswan]

Matvei Vetlugin is training with Team Mishin now. If the Professor has hope for him then so do I.

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[Sylvia]

Egor Murashov will represent Switzerland, according to his coach, Viktoria (Volchkova) Butsaeva (he "will train both in Switzerland and in Moscow, as he has a great desire to continue working with me"):

Фигурист Егор Мурашов будет выступать за Швейцарию

Российский фигурист Егор Мурашов будет выступать за Швейцарию, сообщила РИА Новости тренер спортсмена Виктория Буцаева. РИА Новости Спорт, 27.05.2021

rsport.ria.ru

His ISU bio: http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00014874.htm
From her recent interview published on May 3rd:

Marina Chernysheva-Melniks' interview with Viktoria Volchkova for matchTV.ru
...
MCM: How is Egor Murashov doing? He is not very visible recently.
VV: He has now decide whether he retires or continues. He is a very creative person, he wants to study abroad. Hence the last season was a deciding one: either we keep working or he starts something new.

Full translation: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/volchkovas-interview.108295/

ETA that her other student, Vladimir Samoilov, intends to represent Poland (re-posting here from the OES news thread):

https://tass.ru/sport/11404429

MOSCOW, May 18. / TASS /. The Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FFKKR) received a statement from Vladimir Samoilov about his intention to play for the Polish national team. This was announced to TASS by the general director of the FFKKR Alexander Kogan.

"We received a statement from Samoilov about his desire to join the Polish team. The application will be considered in accordance with the regulations that exist in the federation. So far, no decision has been made on this athlete," Kogan said.

22-year-old Samoilov is the winner and medalist of the Russian Cup and Junior Grand Prix stages. His best achievement at the Russian championships was the sixth place in 2018. The last season he trained under the guidance of Victoria [Volchkova] Butsayeva.

Samilov's ISU bio (last updated in 2019-20 season): http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00034438.htm

 

[Jeschke]

Best news of the day.
Samoilov, now Murashov

 

[Wyliefan]

Russia has about ninety million girls fighting to get to the top, so of course it's the boys that start switching countries.

 

[Jeschke]

Russia has about ninety million girls fighting to get to the top, so of course it's the boys that start switching countries

On a fair note, RUS men’s field is quite packed too, Top10 at least.

Murashov was close to final flight this season, I wonder if fed will give him free so shortly after.

 

[Vagabond]

I don't look at this thread very often, but I am heartened that it is still all about Kwan.

 

[TAHbKA]

I don't look at this thread very often, but I am heartened that it is still all about Kwan.

I beg your pardon?! It was about Cohen

 

[Sylvia]

Any news about Panfilova/Rylov? They had so many struggles this year.

May 28th article:

Слюсаренко рассказал, когда Панфилова и Рылов вернутся к тренировкам

Чемпионы мира 2020 года среди юниоров в парном катании Аполлинария Панфилова и Дмитрий Рылов пока не приступили к тренировкам из-за восстановления партнера... РИА Новости Спорт, 28.05.2021

rsport.ria.ru

Polina Panfilova and Dmitry Rylov are not training yet. Dima is recovering from an injury. We hope that the recovery will be quick and they will start training in the near future," [Pavel] Sliusarenko said.

 

[mjb52]

Argh, I hope next year goes are smoothly for them.

 

[Wyliefan]

Wait, Polina? Is that short for Apollinaria?

 

[Vash01]

Wait, Polina? Is that short for Apollinaria?

The article says Apolinaria.

 

[Ka3sha]

(Betina) Popova and (Denis) Khodykin revealed that they were married last August – something they had kept private until now.

Pavliuchenko and Khodykin aim to fly high as 'Black Swans'

While Russia’s Daria Pavliuchenko and Denis Khodykin were not selected for Worlds in Stockholm this past season, they are still considered a very strong team, both technically and artistically, and […]

www.goldenskate.com

 

[rfisher]

I'm at the anticipation of Betina helping with new costumes.

 

[Jeschke]

Now Vislobokova is skating with Bezborodko, any insights if Ialin has found a girl?

 

[Amy L]

Now Vislobokova is skating with Bezborodko, any insights if Ialin has found a girl?

So there is gonna be a pair called Belly and Beardless? Do I have my translations right FSU Russkies????

eta: no, Brukhanov was the Belly name, right? But doesn't Vislobokova also mean something funny?