I think I speak for the entire figure skating community when I say I'm tired of these Russian programs. I pray to the lord that they do not use these programs for the 2021-2022 season.
This past week Russia hosted the Final (finally, for god's sake) stage of their own national cup competitions prior to announcing the World Championship team on Monday. While the three dance team choices were extremely clear, pairs, and particularly the ladies and mens, teams were incomplete going into this competition. For the pairs, Mishina/Galliamov seemed to be the obvious choice for a 3rd team behind Boikova/Kozlovskii and Tarasova/Morozov, and this was solidified with mistakes from Pavliuchenko/Khoydykin. But for the ladies and mens world teams from Russia, the 3rd and 2nd slots (respectively, since Russia is currently only qualified to send 2 men to the World Championships) have remained unclear, what with Alena Kostornaia not competing at nationals and no clear 2nd place mens skater emerging from the fall.
Rather than highlighting my 3 favorite performances from this past weekend, I thought I'd highlight 3 topics of conversation following the weekend's outings.
#3: What the hell is going on with Russia's men?
I was SO excited this past summer when it was clear Mikhail Kolyada would be returning to skating after two years of medical issues. And a large part of me thought the return of Kolyada would, in turn, push Russian men to get their act together. Kolyada did not compete at the Russian Cup Final, instead competing this past weekend at the closed-door Challenge Cup and winning with a large margin over Romain Ponsart of France.
The rest of the Russian male skaters who competed at the Russian cup final must have missed something- maybe they missed the calendar date for this competition? Maybe they forgot there was a spot open on the world team? Maybe they were all too distracted by the COVID that's run rampant throughout Russian skating? I don't know what it was, but this competition was a mess for everyone involved. I woke up to the results of the short program and thought I was looking at a randomized starting order, NOT the rankings going into the free skate. Skaters like Dmitri Aliev and Makar Ignatov, who have national and international medals, were left to the second group of skaters. Mark Kondratiuk, who was so impressive at nationals and the team competition a few weeks ago, acted as if he forgot how to land jumps. It was just a dumpster fire. After everything, Evgeni Semenenko, who had been fairly consistent until the official nationals in December left him in 11th place, came away with the win and a ticket to the World Championships. Since Evgeni is just coming out of the junior ranks, it is a good sign that he could continue to improve over the next few seasons, but it is so utterly disappointing that out of such a large field, no other man could get his act together this season. Hoping for Russia's sake that something gets back on track before the Olympics. And praying for Mikhail Kolyada's back, because he's going to have to carry this team until someone else is able to fall into place.
#2: Russia's Beijing Olympics Ladies Team 2022
Even though the 2022 olympics are a year away, and SO much can change in skating in that amount of time, it's impossible not to consider their ladies olympic team after watching every competition, because it's honestly highly likely that, no matter which 3 Russian ladies go, they will sweep the podium. For me (and for many others), it's clear that Kamila Valieva is a favorite for Olympic Gold. But for the other two olympic spots, there are ~5-6 other ladies who are major contenders. For the majority of this season, I've stuck to my opinion that Anna Shcherbakova and Sasha Trusova would round out the olympic team. As much as I love Kostornaia and respect Tuktamysheva, I don't think they can get the ultra-C elements necessary by December 2021. And I've previously thought that, similarly, Daria Usacheva and Maiia Khromykh would not be able to gain enough artistic respect from the judges or land enough ultra-C elements by the end of the year to step ahead of Anna or Sasha. But this competition....left me with a much different impression. Daria's elements looked bigger and stronger and more confident than they ever have, and she's already getting enormous PCS scores (and somewhat rightfully so, I even like her skating more than Valieva's). She also said in her interviews that she's actively working to get a quad salchow and triple axel. And Maiia came out and WON the free skate AHEAD of Valieva when she landed two quads seemingly out of nowhere. So now I have no idea who'll be on the olympic team. Valieva? Yes? But the other two? It's going to be a bloody battle to see who's able to claw their way to a ticket. Should be fun to watch.
#3 My daughter, Aliona Kostornaia
UGHHHHH. Watching Kostornaia flounder this season after her angelic programs last year has really hurt my soul. She is such a talented skater and artist, and her skating skills are still out of this world, but through injury, coaching changes, and COVID, she was just completely unable to pull herself together, and rightfully so. It's not that I disliked her programs at this competition either. But her speed is completely gone, and so is her jump consistency and the triple axel. Plushenko and Rozanov have seemed unorganized for the entire year. Why in the world would you allow one of your skaters to change programs sooo many times rather than focus regaining skills? And I know that they continue to pass off the narrative that it's Aliona who begs to compete, but she seemed shattered and dangerously out of breath after both performances and it seems silly to me that she would be the one pressuring, rather than coaching team, with this end result. And on Plushenko's end, it's been very clear that he favors Trusova over Kostornaia and one has to wonder what kind of mental toll that takes on a skater who's already struggling to regain a top position that was once hers. And clearly Aliona agreed, because as of today, it's been confirmed that she's left Plushenko and the Angel academy, and is now potentially working to go back to Eteri Tutberidze, even after the toxic truths that she's shared about Sambo 70 over the last few months. And honestly, I don't blame her. It's not clear that Plushenko's team was truly all that much better for her recoveries, and at least with Eteri, the process is organized, even if it's abusive/toxic. I'm not sure whether Plushenko's team is truly any less toxic, but they seem to have zero ducks in a row at this point. So I truly wish her the best, and hope that the outcome for her is 1) a few months of true health recovery following injury and COVID, and 2) a more positive and productive 2021-2022 season (and maybe one with a Triple Axel...).
Let's remember the good times...
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