Tilda: You're In the Loop! We're here to discuss the ups, downs, and sideways of the sport of figure skating, and maybe give you +5 GOE along the way. This is Tilda (@tequilda) and Kat (@kattwts).
Kat: Hello guys!
Tilda: Reporting from the last day of the decade.
Kat: Yes, it’s New Years Eve. Happy New Year - you’re definitely listening to this in the New Year so yes, Happy New Year. The last holiday present of the year, I guess, is our recap of Russian Nationals.
Tilda: I’m not sure how much of a gift it’s going to be because it was quite messy at times but...
Kat: Yeah but you know what, last major figure skating event of the year and you know, it just had to go out with a bang. What did you think, overall though?
Tilda: I actually didn’t watch any of it live, so the experience for me was quite relaxing!
Kat: It’s actually really funny you mention that too because usually Russian Nationals is somewhere in Moscow and I always assume it means a 7-8hr time difference which is actually manageable from the East Coast. I can just wake up early and watch it usually, but this one was basically in Siberia which is a 12hr time difference from the East Coast of North America, which is very not conducive to a proper sleep schedule, let’s say. And right after Japanese Nationals, where I basically messed up my sleep schedule, I was like...hm, how much do I want to do that for Russian Nationals, just a few days after for Christmas? I did watch a couple of things live, like I think a couple of the Ladies I could watch live but that was basically it. It was also really interesting to watch Russian Nationals from an official livestream because we usually have to rely on some sketchy Russian streamer on Youtube or something like that.
Tilda: Yes, we really appreciate having Ted as well as a commentator because we’ve talked about him before on the podcast that we really like his positive upbeat commentary.
Kat: His energy is very lovely to have sometimes in figure skating and it was really great to have his commentary I think, during Russian Nationals, although it is really curious why they decided to invite Ted, I’m not really sure why.
Tilda: Yeah but also I think it’s curious that - as far as I know - this is the first time a country is aiming for the international audience with their national championships.
Kat: It definitely made for recapping this episode a lot easier because every single program I could find easily without having to ask someone to send me a program from Dailymotion. And another thing for this Russian Nationals is that I felt there were definitely a lot of very noticeable gaps in basically every discipline except maybe Ice Dance because every single discipline had some pretty high profile withdrawals, especially in the Ladies, there were a couple of pretty big ones. Like Alina [Zagitova] and [Evgenia Medvedeva] haven’t not competed at Nats for a couple of years. Their [absence] was definitely a big one. Zabiiako and Enbert in Pairs and of course, Mikhail Kolyada in Men.
Tilda: You know I miss him so much. You know I’m his biggest fan.
Kat: It’s just so sad getting sidelined by sinusitis and surgery and all that.
Tilda: And then there’s [Maria] Sotskova as well.
Kat: Yes and also Polina Tsurskaya retired this year sadly, definitely feeling her loss as well, although technically she wasn’t a withdrawal, she was just a noticeable absence I guess. Shall we start with recapping then?
Tilda: Yes, with Pairs?
Kat: Yes, so for Pairs, our podium, in gold were Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii, in silver, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov and in bronze, Daria Pavliuchenko and Denis Khodykin. I feel like for the most part, this Pairs event went as expected, in that it was going to be Boikovaand Kozlovskii or Tarasova and Morozov in gold and silver.
Tilda: It was a really good event as well.
Kat: Yeah, in general, it was just really quality skating and obviously this is something we expect from Russian Pairs, they obviously exhibit so much quality. I remember last year in Russian Nationals, Pairs was basically the best event, everyone was so clean. But in general, I felt like this was a lot of redemptive skates too, especially for the podium. I was really glad that - starting with Pavliuchenko and Khodykin, they made it to Grand Prix Final again but they were last. To be fair, Grand Prix Final was a very messy event all around, especially the Free Skate and they were last in the Grand Prix Final because of some pretty flukey mistakes so it was really nice to see them shine, and they seemed really pleased with their performances, like Denis looked so excited and relieved after the Free Skate like ‘oh thank god, we actually...we made the podium’.
Tilda: It did feel like they kind of lost steam throughout their Free and making small mistakes here and there so I think by the end, it felt like they were just relieved they managed to get through to the end and keep it together.
Kat: Yeah, I love their dynamic so much because Daria doesn’t show as much emotion, he’s definitely a lot more out there with his emotions and a little bit more expressive, I always love that kind of dynamic. They have some really, really great elements, I’m always so impressed by their side-by-side triple flips, always so in sync and solid. Like I remember in GPF, they landed those side-by-side triple flips after her random fluke fall in their transitions. And you know, such beautiful lifts and creative exits like that one out of the Axel lift in the Short Program where she basically somersaults under his legs was insane.
Tilda: And they have such a good Short as well, I was so impressed!
Kat: Yes, but going along with redemptive skates, we, of course, have to talk about Boikova and Kozlovskii’s incredible competition here, especially after the Grand Prix Final. I know it must have been a really really crushing experience being one of the favorites and even a possible - everyone was saying it was going to be Sui/Han or Boikova and Kozlovskii in one and two - and you know, they definitely felt so nervy in the Grand Prix Final. They made some really uncharacteristic mistakes there and ended up off the podium and that was definitely one of the roughest Free Skates I’ve ever seen from them but they really shined through here. I absolutely am in awe of them basically [Tilda: Right, right!] That Free Skate is incredible, I am so in love with that Free Skate, it is the perfect vehicle for them like I cannot even stress this enough. It’s the perfect blend of dramatic and fun which allows them to show off their performance ability while also bringing out their really unique personality as well. I’m just so obsessed with it, it works incredible live. I think James Bond is always really good for bringing out the drama and fun at the same time so I’m so excited I get to see it at Worlds again because I saw it at Skate Canada and I’m obsessed.
Tilda: I mean, that throw triple flip, that’s the wow moment for me. I didn’t know the results when I started watching even though I didn’t watch live, but I definitely thought Tarasova and Morozov had it after they finished their Free Skate. And I mean Boikova and Kozlovskii were behind as well after the Short, and then just to see them have that great skate and actually managing to overtake? That was exciting, that was excitement!
Kat: Yes and you can tell they were not sure - they wanted to be totally sure because the reaction in the Kiss and Cry was - well, his reaction in the Kiss and Cry was like ‘wait, we gotta make sure we actually won first before we celebrate’ because at Rostelecom Cup, he started standing up and waving prematurely and Sasha [Boikova] had to be like ‘dude chill, sit down, they haven’t even announced our scores yet, don’t get up right now, it looks bad!’ But honestly in terms of performances, I think the top two really did just so well and it was a performance both of them kind of needed to boost their confidence again a little bit, especially Tarasova and Morozov, they needed to skate well here. They’d been pretty rough through the GP, they didn’t even qualify for the Grand Prix Final and even having [Natalia] Zabiiako and [Alexander] Enbert sitting out and three other Russian teams at GPF and not having T/M there, it felt really weird you know?
Tilda: You know when I saw them here at the Russian Nationals, I was like ‘oh, so glad they’re bad, it’s so great to see them come back’ and you know, they haven’t really been absent, it’s just that they didn’t qualify and that was so strange to me.
Kat: I did say in my Rostelecom/NHK recap that I feel like missing out on the GPF can be a blessing in disguise, especially because they clearly needed the time to make adjustments so it looks like that time actually did pay off for them. I’m really glad that they skated so solid. This is the most solid pair of skates I’ve seen put together since Worlds and they actually would have won, now that I think about it, had Evgenia [Tarasova] not doubled the combo in the Free Program because everything else was pretty solid.
Tilda: And after they finished the Free, I was ready to just give them the world title, basically. That’s how good I thought they were, you know they’re one of my favorite teams, I just think they’re such a complete package, the most complete package of any pair except Sui and Han, obviously.
Kat: [Laughs] Well. Such beautiful lines, beautiful skating skills, they’re very well matched. Tilda: And everything is so polished!
Kat: And they’re just really classic Russian pair aesthetic.
Tilda: Watching them is like meditative, almost.
Kat: Although it does seem like after this season, Boikova and Kozlovskii have kind of solidified their position as Russia’s number one pair because they seem willing to back Boikova and Kozlovskii on the PCS front given their gap was pretty minimal. And you know, I’m fine with that because I think Tarasova and Morosov have beautiful skating skills but I think that something about Boikova and Kozlovskii’s performance just speaks to me too.
Tilda: I mean, you’re not wrong, but I still think that Tarasova and Morozov have the edge.
Kat: They have a little bit more maturity. They have a different energy to them. Like Boikova and Kozlovskii give off a very youthful, energetic vibe and that is invigorating to watch whereas Tarasova and Morozov kind of have a more refined maturity to their skating, which I feel like would be better showcased if they had had better programs throughout their career.
Tilda: I like “Bolero.” This is the hill I’ll die on Kat, I love Bolero.
Kat: Listen, I will accept these differences in musical opinion considering you don’t like “Phantom of the Opera,” I will allow you to like “Bolero” because I do not, I just think it’s too monotonous for skating, music should have more layers to it. But I do actually very much like their “Bolero.” They do a lot of interesting things choreographically and I was very interested and engaged in their performance when I saw it live at Skate Canada as well. I will accept this “Bolero.” [Laughs]
Kat: So now that we’ve gotten through the happy of the Pairs, we have to talk about some Sads as well. It was definitely very sad to see Mishina/Galiamov make such uncharacteristic mistakes in their Short Program. You know, first the fall on the throw and even shocking was Nastya [Anastasia Mishina] messing up their side by side spins
Tilda: I think after the fall they were clearly rattled and that’s why they made really small, silly mistakes and it’s just...once they’ve gotten into that mindset, I just think nothing else was really working for them.
Kat: Yeah it was just really heartwarming too though, to see Aleksandr comfort Nastya after she looked so down on herself but he was really supportive and just tried to be there for her and they really did bounce back well in the Free Skate. I think they were a little outclassed just because-
Tilda: Everyone else was so clean.
Kat: Yeah, they were pretty clean and they were just so behind after the Short Program, there’s nothing you can really do about that.
Tilda: I have to say that I love their “The Master and Margarita” [Free Skate.] I think that was a great choice for them because that music has a great tension and it really lets them play off that energy, you know?
Kat: Yeah I think that this style of program is perfect for them, especially when you contrast it with their Short Program, which is kind of this overwrought dramaticism, like mushy dramatism that I don’t think works with them particularly like “Je Suis Malade” is not quite there.
Kat: It's not quite there yet. They're dynamic. It's not meant for them, so it doesn't work nearly as well as "The Master and Margarita." I think that their side by side jumps are incredible too. That triple Salchow-euler-triple Salchow is always, it just always blows my mind how they nail it, basically every single time, and it's beautiful and in sync.
Tilda: Moving onto a different set, Apollinariia Panfilova and Dmitry Rylov.
Kat: Yeah, they did really well in the Short Program.
Tilda: Yeah, and I mean, they are so crazy polished. When you see juniors competing in seniors, you can really tell the difference in the quality of skating skills, but they really belong in seniors.
Kat: They are so fast. That is the first thing I ever noticed about them while I was watching them on the Junior Grand Prix last year. They are so fast to everything. They're fast in their crossovers, so fluid. Their lifts are incredible. I just want to point out that they have this incredible lift, it's their group three lift. They had it in last year's Free Skate too, in their Free Skate right before the death spiral. He hoists her straight into the air, and he just flies across the ice, spinning her and flips her position so beautifully. Just go back and watch the one from Russian Nationals because the camera angle that they had while he was bringing her into the lift is perfect for showing off just how fast they were, how fast he flies across the ice while doing that. It's amazing. They have one of the best triple twists in the world. She just flies above him, and the way that her dress twirls in the air is just so beautiful and the landings for their throws, I don't know how she manages to make her landings look so light. That's the thing that impresses me so much. It's like she floats onto the ice when she lands those throws. It's amazing. Of course, her landings when she lands them.
Tilda: They are still young and they have Junior Worlds, so they can move on to seniors next season and take the world by storm. I believe it.
Kat: They won the Junior Grand Prix Final, but not as decisively as they wanted with her fall. They need to learn how to deal with skating under pressure. They're so young and they were a little bit more of an underdog chasing from behind last season, but now they have to deal with being the front runner and being chased and while they aren't the front runner here, it's still a lot. Competing at senior nationals is not an easy thing when you're so young.
Tilda: But now they have the experience, so that's really good for next season.
Kat: Exactly, and I think that just goes true for a lot of these Russian Pairs. A lot of these Russian Pairs are crazy young.
Tilda: So many Ladies are really young, and then their partners are so much older. I don't know how to feel about the age gap.
Kat: Yeah. And sometimes the size gap too, although the size gap works in their favor usually, because so many of them are so small.
Tilda: I mean, watching this, Russia has the deepest Paris field in the world, undoubtedly. I'm not even familiar with a lot of these skaters here, but they still have have everything necessary to compete. When you look at all of the three groups after the Short Program, all of them were around 60 to 80 points in the Short Program. I'm just like, where do they find all of these skaters who can compete at this high level?
Kat: I think, honestly, it's just that Russia has had a Pairs program to fall back on. You know, there is a legacy in the Russian Pairs program that just does not exist in any other country, except the US and China. Well in the US, it's not quite necessarily a legacy of dominance, but there is in Russia in particular, because there are skaters that actually go into skating going to be a pair, not as a fallback option. There is a chance for them to grow rather than just kind of falling into Pairs because they couldn't make it in singles, which is really sad because Pairs is wonderful in its own right, and we just serve to have a very fruitful Pairs discipline all around.
-end segment-
START: Men
Kat: The Men of our podium, we have in gold, Dmitri Aliev. We have in silver, Artur Danielian and in bronze, Alexander Samarin.
Tilda: So that was strange.
Kat: Oh man, these ordinals were whack.
Tilda: I mean the Russian Fed just threw out all of those close scores.
Kat: The margins for the Short Program were a pretty regular thing, like the top 10 were all within 10 points of each other. Literally the top three were in the 88 range and [Dmitri Aliev] was fourth after the Short where it was just in the 87 range, so knowing how volatile the Men get, it's no question that the potential for shakeups were very, very high. I remember waking up to the standings from the ITL Twitter and being like, huh?
Tilda: Even worse for me, because I was watching it without knowing the placements, and I only paid attention to the actual skating and not the scores or anything. After finishing watching it, and then I looked at the placements and I was like, wait. Did that happen?
Kat: I know! It's so funny because no one in the top three ended up staying in the top three at all, and the winner won with two falls.
Tilda: Oh man. I wanted to do like a success rate for the quads in the Men's event, give me a percentage because it felt like it was below 50% success rate here.
Kat: Yeah. It was such a mess from top to bottom. First of all, I don't think anyone was clean in the Short Program.
Tilda: And when you check the protocols and see all of the carrots, I mean, the tech panel was not messing around.
Kat: Good. We want tech panels to be like this. Tilda: But it was still depressing.
Kat: I was very excited and happy that [Dmitri] won. He is my favorite Russian man, even if he did kind of splat twice in the Free Skate, but that opening quad lutz in the Free Skate was the best I think I've ever seen from him. It was like the Olympics.
Tilda: The poor thing really has an Axel curse.
Kat: Listen, a lot of my faves have Axel curses.
Tilda: I think if only he could get his consistency, he could be a real threat to the top Men in the world.
Kat: Yeah, for sure. I saw that the score box broke for him in the kiss and cry in the Free Skate.
Tilda: Yeah, it did during Men.
Kat: So I can't imagine what it was like to be like, where did he actually place? I feel like there's always a score box issue at Russian nationals, and this year in particular, I can't remember in past years if it was this bad, but the score box was so tiny.
Tilda: I couldn't see anything.
Kat: I literally thought that so many threes were ones. (Tilda: Yes!) Which is a big issue when you think that someone who has like a single toe and it's actually a triple toe, or especially in Ice Dance and in Pairs when you're looking at levels. And I'm like, I don't think that was a level one, that definitely did not look like a level one. Oh, it's a level three actually, nevermind.
Tilda: Do you want to move on to Artur [Danielian]?
Kat: Yes. I think he's the biggest story, going from 13th in the Short Program, he was skating first in the Short Program and in his first senior nationals. It's very natural for people to be very nervous in that situation. So for him to go from 13th in the Short Program to a silver medalist at senior Russian Nationals and winning the Free Skate, especially since he didn't qualify for the Junior Grand Prix final, and he really killed it here.
Tilda: He's 16. I mean, the kids were really bringing it here. Out with the old, in with the new, that's just what I'm saying.
Kat: Yeah. I do think that there is a performance quality to him. You can definitely still see that he is a junior, but he is a very performative junior. He's really giving the performance, like a lot of juniors are very - they concentrate very much on just getting their elements and making sure those are solid and then kind of slipping into the performance once those are done. But he really does have a great performance quality to him that I appreciate.
Tilda: I was really impressed by his clean quad Salchow-euler-triple Salchow.
Kat: He absolutely deserved to win the Free Skate. He looked really happy with himself. I'm sure that it was a shock to see him leading for so many groups because he was skating very early. He definitely stuck around there for awhile. But also speaking of bounce back performances, it was great to see Samarin was able to bounce back from being eighth in the Short Program to third overall. Right now, Samarin has been the most consistent Russian man in terms of landing those big jumps and so that's probably why they're pushing for the PCS a little bit, even though I do not understand it. He's a very blank face, you know, like I appreciate Men that gives the facial expressions that can really bring themselves into the performance through their face.
Tilda: And I feel like he knew that the Russian Federation was looking for the next big thing, and I think that kind of messed with his head a little bit. I think that might have been why he didn't do so well in the Short.
Kat: I think that there definitely is an added level of pressure for all of these Russian skaters. Russian Nationals is the big competition for them where they get their assignments for the second half of the season, and so there's a lot of pressure coming in during Russian Nationals. But I do think though that considering he and [Dmitri] were some of the most solid performances here, like it's still going to be these two that they ended up going with probably with politicking. That is to say, I did feel really bad for Makar [Ignatov] though, considering he did win the Short Program and he didn't actually make any significant errors in the grand scheme of things. He just had some shaky landings on his quad salchow and his triple axel. He didn't even have any under rotations or anything. His free program protocol was fairly clean actually, considering that the two guys ahead of him fell twice. He just had a couple of shaking landings. I honestly could have made the argument that he should have been on the podium over Samarin considering overall, he lost by three points to Samarin and I could have argued also that Samarin PCS should've been way lower considering he fell twice versus Makar who had just the two shaky landings, and they were onto two of his hardest jumps.
Tilda: Actually, Makar has some real emotion in his skating as well as nice and controlled jumps. I feel like he's still noticeably junior, but coming into the next season, I think he has every possibility to properly make a place for himself.
Kat: For sure, and I think that he's kind of gathering momentum right now, because he was off due to injury for a season, so it takes a little bit of time to get your engines running with getting the judges, the international judges, familiar with you.
Tilda: But one theme that I think is interesting this nationals is so many promising junior skaters competing here at senior Nationals and doing actually really well. I think it's clear that Russia isn't lacking a young talent. You have like Artur, you also have Ilia Yablokov, who's 16. He has these terrifying, huge jumps. You have Gleb Lutfullin, Petr Gumenik as well, and they are so good. Also, Ilia skated to “Notre Dame de Paris,” so a big thumbs up for that.
Kat: Yeah, definitely. Russia has the deepest field of basically every single discipline in their juniors especially.
Tilda: Watching Daniil Samsonov, who is 14, skating after [Sergei Voronov] made me laugh because it is so obvious that he is a literal child.
Kat: He is so, so small. Oh my God. He looks like a baby, like a baby Yulia [Lipnitskaya].
Tilda: That's true!
-end segment-
START: Ice Dance
Tilda: So, let's move onto Ice Dance. For the podium, we have in gold, Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov. In silver, we have Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. Then in bronze, we have Tiffany Zahorski and Jonathan Guerreiro.
Kat: So it actually felt like, you know, Ice Dance went pretty much as expected. It was very clearly going to be Sinitsina/Katsalapov and Stepanova/Bukin in the top two, and it's very much those two. And then it's Zahorski/Guerreiro, and then everyone else.
Tilda: It's not quite as deep as Pairs. There were a lot of skilled skaters as well, but in Dance, it was quite noticeable that those were the top of the field.
Kat: Everyone knows that I am in love with Stepanova/Bukin. I thought that this Rhythm Dance is the best that I've seen them skate. It just looked so much sharper, and the expression was just more on point.
Tilda: Can you tell me Kat, why do they end the Rhythm Dance with a kiss? Like we know they're not a couple.
Kat: I mean, yeah, it is what it is. I would be fine with or without it, but you know, it's drama and Ice Dance and, Russian Ice Dancers like drama.
Tilda: Oh yeah, we know that.
Kat: I hoped that Stepanova and Bukin might have the possibility of winning just because Sinitsina and Katsalapov were - I think they were the third team to skate and Stepanova and Bukin were second to last, which I never understand. I never understand why Russian Nationals start order for the Short Program is always completely random. There's absolutely no seeding involved whatsoever, so I guess it's good for keeping the audience in their place, I guess, and not just filtering in towards the end.
Tilda: Honestly, I would have put [Stepanova/Bukin] first in the Rhythm Dance. I mean, they weren't flawless but it's not like the others were flawless either.
Kat: Drill those skating skills, guys. Please! That's literally it. Had they gotten a level 4 on their midline step, they actually would have won the Rhythm Dance because it was the difference in Base Value that cost them. Because they did actually narrowly edge out Sinitsina and Katsalapov on PCS.
Tilda: What did you think about them then?
Kat: Honestly, these programs are just not for me.
Tilda: I think, in general, in Ice Dance, I always expected musical theatre to be a really fun theme. But so many couples have gone with really boring music choices.
Kat: Especially compared to their Rhythm Dance from last year, which I was in love with. Their Tango Romantica was so perfect for them, it showed off their sharpness and their drama and I feel like that vibe just works really well for them. I really love [Victoria's] improvement in her skating, just incredible. She had all of her levels on the one-foot step sequences - and she hit the levels on the twizzles in the Rhythm Dance, when Nikita didn't. He usually gets credit for being the better skater because he's had an impressive career with a different partner but she really holds her own now. I think that in general though, the judges are sending a clear message that their Free Dance is holding them back. Don't forget, they were beaten in the Free Dance at Cup of China too and they lost the Free Dance here to Stepanova and Bukin. So, go a different route, maybe? I just think that they need something that shows off their sharpness again. Something a little bit more edgy, maybe.
Tilda: And what about our bronze medallists?
Kat: I honestly was just feeling them. They just looked really happy with themselves that they actually made it through Nats because, if anyone remembers or tries to forget, last year's tragic Free Dance with their boot issues. I think Jonathan's laces became undone in the middle of the Free Dance and it sent them in a downward spiral and they were off the podium and off the Worlds and Euros teams. Especially after the Free Dance here, they just looked really happy and excited with themselves, they were just relieved like "Thank god, we made it!"
Tilda: I feel like Tiffany's always rocking some questionable fashion choices and then she has her unusual hair color, so it's really distinct - the mix of a distinct team. And that's why I can forgive them for doing "The Greatest Showman" when I wouldn't forgive anyone else for that.
Kat: Yeah, I very much enjoy watching them as a team. I saw them at Skate America and at Grand Prix Final last year and they do have a little bit of tacky taste, they're doing "Greatest Showman" and- I do not understand the Russian obsession with the Tomb Raider "Survivor." I feel like I've seen every Russian skate to it. I remember at Skate America being like "Did they skate to this before or am I thinking of another Russian team?" Because there are definitely other Russian teams who have skated to it as a program and as an exhibition, so I'm getting them all mixed up in my head. But what is the obsession with the Tomb Raider "Survivor?" It's not even the original! [Laughs]
Tilda: It's a good song, Kat! Kat: I can deal with it.
Tilda: If I have to mention one thing I love about [Zagorski/Guerreiro] - their lift positions are so cool.
Kat: I do really like their lifts as well. You know, with their Rhythm Dance, I would have been able to tolerate it more if they had just chosen two cuts of music. I think the fact that they picked three or four cuts of music and they also went in and out of one song too, the cuts of music just didn't make any sense to me. So that's why it didn't feel as coherent to me. I actually don't "The Greatest Showman" soundtrack as much as everyone else does, I think because I try to avoid them when they come up in skating programs. [Tilda: Confession!] But I honestly don't think it's as annoying as everyone else thinks it is. It's just that people can't cut the music properly. It's the same problem with "La La Land," I also don't think that "La La Land's" music is that offensive either, I just think that no one can cut the music properly. I did want to talk briefly about [Sofia] Shevchenko and [Igor] Eremenko just because I really love them. Their Free Dance is so funky. It's so weird!
Tilda: It's so great! So dynamic!
Kat: I love that because they have the same coaching team as Stepanova and Bukin, that group over there, they always know how to make weird stuff work. They have teams that can pull off weird stuff and make them stand out, and that's what I appreciate most about these baby Russians. It's just fun and quirky and it brings out their personalities.
Tilda: Speaking of quirky, I want to give a shout out to [Elizaveta] Pasechnik and [Egor] Kolosovskii for their "Jungle Book" Rhythm Dance. That was a lot of fun! I have to admit, I went "Jungle Book!?!" when Ted announced it.
Kat: Yeah, it was really fun and they skated it really well too! And honestly, I am here for teams that go a little bit out of the box with the musical theme style.
Tilda: In The Loop approves. If you choose something weird, we will make it a shout out.
Kat: Yes! For sure.
-end segment-
START: Ladies
Tilda: So, now going over to Ladies. Our podium was, in gold, Anna Shcherbakova, in silver, Alena Kostornaia, and in bronze, Alexandra Trusova. What did you think, Kat?
Kat: There were a lot of really good skates, honestly. The Ladies were solid. Tilda: Compared to the Men, especially.
Kat: Especially in the Short Program, wow. The Short Program was so impressive. The Ladies were fairly clean.
Tilda: So we had the same medallists as last year, the triple A's - is that we're calling them? Kat: Yeah, the 3A's. [Laughter]
Tilda: Alright. I mean, first of all, Anna. I'm so surprised that she managed to defend her title because I feel bad saying it, but I kind of thought that last year was a fluke and even though we have said to never to discount her, even so, we have kind of a tendency to do it. I feel like it might be because she doesn't have a signature thing like the other two. Like Alena is famous for her skating skills and Sasha is famous for starting the quad craze - and then Anna is sort of in-between.
Kat: Yeah, it's kind of like the Goldilocks effect of how one is more in one direction and one's in the other extreme and Anna kind of brings in a little bit of both. She's got some great tech content and she's also very musical and I love the way that she performs as well. She's got a really beautiful gliding lightness to her skating that I really enjoy. Definitely don't count her out because I agree that last year I was just mostly really worried about her at Nats because she looked so sad at Junior Grand Prix Final where she was super nervy and I was just really sad watching her, she looked so upset the entire time. But then she just came out, killed it and peaked at Nats. Personally, I am really not mad at all at how the podium shook out, because the scores themselves were all bonkers.
Tilda: Oh, totally.
Kat: I literally felt like I was dissociating when I saw the 180 - what was it, 183 Free Skate? Anna literally won the Men's Free Skate, and she also won the Men's overall total score too. Like, that's crazy. And with a tech disadvantage because she can't do quads in the Short Program. And with the PCS factoring as well. So that's crazy. Does that speak more to the Ladies or the Men?
Tilda: I guess one thing these high-risk, high-reward skates these Ladies are bringing is that the results are getting really unpredictable, because do you remember when we could always rely on Evgenia to win, and then Alina to win? I mean, these days it's like, wonder if they'll land their quads, and maybe that's who's going to win. I really hope this quad revolution in Ladies isn't going to lead to Ladies becoming as messy as Men because we don't need that.
Kat: We don't need chaos in more than one discipline, honestly. Sometimes it can be fun, chaos can be fun, but not at the expense of bad skates. But honestly, I'm really impressed that Anna's jumps, especially her quads, definitely feel like they have more flow out of them compared to earlier in the season. I always felt like - the biggest issue that I had with her quads was that she would jump, land them with a thud, and not have any speed out of them, but her quad lutzes have been getting so much speed out of them lately, I'm really really impressed by that. But as with a lot of Russian Ladies she has a very very noticeable flutz, so I don't know what the chances of her fixing that are considering she doesn't seem to be dinged on it at all, and you know RusFed made a big stink about her lutz edge earlier in the season. But yeah, I'm really proud of her for going through and proving to everyone, "Hey, don't count me out."
Tilda: And Alena? Did you have anything to say about her?
Kat: She is just, I am in awe of her quality at such a young age. Every single time I watch her skate. And I have been impressed by the consistency as well of that triple axel, considering that usually when a skater debuts a new jump, they kind of go through some growing pains. You know, when you introduce a jump, it's not unusual for there to be a couple of falls and shaky landings and stuff, but right out of the gate, Alena has been landing her triple axel with beautiful flow and distance, with crazy transitions, with a pretty high success rate, which has just been mindblowing to me, because it really does at least give her that technical push so that she can compete with the other two quadsters, considering she has not landed a quad yet or hasn't competed a quad yet.
Tilda: Speaking of that, I don't want to see her doing quads because she doesn't need them, but I always figured that it was a matter of time before her team felt the need [for her] to catch up to the others, which is obviously ridiculous because she should be miles ahead in PCS and everything, but I'm worried if she starts training quads she's not ready for, that everything else about her skating will suffer.
Kat: I think that Alena was really nervous for her Free Skate. I do think it didn't have the same kind of joyful spark and energy that it usually does, especially when that second half of the program hits, but she went right after Anya scored that crazy insane score, and she still managed to - I was really nervous for her, I was kind of thinking that the pressure of hearing that score might go to her head a little bit, but she pulled through, she did her job, and I think that a couple of her landings were a bit shaky and maybe if she was a little bit more solid in a couple of her landings and wasn't as nervous in her performance she could have pulled off - I don't know if it would be an upset, considering she was leading after the Short Program with like an 89 - weirder things have happened at Russian Nationals.
Tilda: Did she win the Men's Short Program?
Kat: Yes. She did win the Men's Short Program. She got an 89, and all of the Men were in the 88's, in the top three. Again, this is with the PCS deficit as well, and the fact that she's not doing a quad, either.
Tilda: Oh, she would be up there in the hundreds if she was a man.
Kat: Yeah, she should be.
Tilda: What did you think about Sasha [Trusova] then?
Kat: I was really, really sad about Sasha, though. She's still a child at heart, and honestly, I was really upset for both Alena and Sasha, I think, because both of them gave interviews after the event, they were both really distraught. I mean, Sasha was crying in the kiss and cry, and clearly very distraught and upset, and I heard that Alena was close to tears giving some interviews, and both of them were giving really negative feedback about their performances. I mean obviously, it's very natural to feel like you could have done better, or you didn't win, but I gotta wonder what it's like, that kind of really high-pressure environment with the three of them together, competing against one another consistently because putting aside all of the wack scoring, I feel like they did give great performances. With Alena in particular, she landed everything. By any other standard, that would have been a really amazing performance, but to her, it wasn't good enough. I think for me it's hard to get into that mindset of, I don't know exactly how it could be healthy to see a performance like the one she gave at Nationals and think that she failed, you know? But with Sasha, obviously, I totally feel her on being distraught and upset after giving a performance that is just not up to par with what she has ever given, really, in her career. But I just hope that her team decides to rethink the five quad layout approach, because the plan was clearly to go in guns blazing, because she ended up not going for the triple axel in the Short Program, which was a smart move, and just going all out for the free, with all the five quads, but she clearly was not ready for it.
Tilda: I just think it's an interesting choice for her to play it safe in the Short Program and then go all in for the Free Skate. I'm just wondering if that benefit her or not.
Kat: I think it was probably in response to Grand Prix Final, because going in guns blazing with the triple axel when it was clearly wasn't ready to pay off well at all, I think that was her being like okay, time to go in with a different strategy and go guns blazing with the quads because I'm more comfortable doing the quads than the triple Axel right now.
Tilda: Right, it really says something that she thinks five quads is less of a risk than a triple Axel.
Kat: I don't know what that team - I really do admire the drive and the ambition but this was just way too soon and not worth risking in my opinion. It's so funny though because my computer froze, I actually did watch this live, and my computer froze after the opening fall and just spared me the rest of the program. I actually don't remember Sasha popping anything before the Free Skate. I said in the recap of Cup of Russia that I admire that she really goes for every single jump, even if there's no chance of her landing it, she just goes for it, and that's a really admirable mentality to have, but she definitely looked exhausted and not ready for that.
Tilda: I mean, her Free Skate was unfortunate all around. I understand because the risks have worked for her so far, and so I understand the instinct to pack in more considering Anna and Alena, but I feel like she could get more points if she skated clean-ish, and taking so many risks is not helping her consistency as all. I mean, if she had been a guy, I would sort of understand, but the quad rise in Ladies is just barely beginning, and even in Men I don't think anyone needs four to five quads. I mean, if you're looking at [Yuzuru] Hanyu, winning the Olympics with two types of quads. I just, really don't understand why you'd risk it. Mostly I just think that improving her consistency would do much more for her than frankly putting in more quads.
Kat: Yeah, for sure. Consistency and PCS, working on the PCS front, but who knows what would have happened if Zhenya [Medvedeva] would have ended up skating well in the Free Skate, too. Anything could have happened.
Tilda: Or if Liza [Tuktamysheva] had landed her quad toe.
Kat: Oh yeah, for sure. Man, that was really sad, that was really one of the roughest Free Skates I'd seen from Liza also for a really long time. I was really excited to see the quad toe, because the practice footage of her quad toe just looked incredible.
Tilda: I'm just so impressed that she actually went for it, even if she didn't succeed, because while it is a big risk, she doesn't need it, so it's weird that she's willing to try it. And she didn't have anything to lose here. So, great that she went for it. It didn't really look ready, though.
Kat: Yeah, yeah. Hopefully Liza keeps competing, because I do really admire how long she's been in the game for, and how she's been competing in the senior level for so many years now, and she's still upping her tech content, and even her triple axel this season has been looking so much more effortless, and she also has transitions into them now. She's constantly looking for ways to make herself better.
Tilda: I mean, personally I have an invested interest in seeing someone older showing that they can keep up with young kids, so it's not just teenagers dominating Ladies.
Kat: No, I totally agree. And she's kind of, I guess, our poster child for that, considering that Alina's taking a break and she's only 17-18 years old, and Liza's only 23, but like, in Russian skating that's considered quote-unquote old, so...
Tilda: Do we want to give a shoutout to Zhenya, as well?
Kat: Yes, definitely want to give a shoutout quickly to Zhenya, for honestly, I was just really proud of her for making a really tough call, but it was the correct call, to withdraw, given her boot situation, because that is probably a skater's worst nightmare. Absolute worst circumstance. It was just like every little piece was designed to thwart her. The bad luck of having a relatively new pair of boots that have been recently broken in and they broke the day before competing, and considering she was competing in like, Siberia, she couldn't get any new pairs, and also it was Christmas, so shipping boots would not have worked, and I think there was also something about her going to the skate shop locally and not having boots that were sturdy enough for her jumps, even if she tried the best ones they had, the blades wouldn't fit, that's just... I can't imagine what a nightmare that must be. I am really, honestly good on her team for encouraging her to make this call, it would have been so dangerous for her to skate with those broken boots, especially in the Free Skate. I'm honestly shocked she made it through the Short Program somehow, with, what did she do? She tied laces around her boot or something? That's crazy.
Tilda: This really hits home how dependent the skaters are on their equipment, because in this situation there was really nothing to be done, this was just completely out of her control, and I only hope that her not performing well at Nationals two seasons in a row isn't going to damage her reputation.
Kat: Right, and I also think that - I saw a lot of discussion on Twitter, too, about skaters and kind of empathizing with her situation like, you don't have time to break in more than one pair of boots at a time, really, especially with Zhenya's boots being fairly new, from what I'm hearing, there's no way you could have anticipated that.
Tilda: In this case it's just completely out of her control.
Kat: Given how little time she had them, I would be really upset too, and it seems like it was a calm, rational decision that was talked through, and everyone understood the ramifications. Good on her, she was like don't forget about me, I'm still gonna be here at Russian test skates, by the way, this is my Free Skate music. And just dropped that.
Tilda: Ending on this note, happy new year, guys!
Kat: Thank you for listening, we hope to see you again for our next episode.
Tilda: Thank you to our transcribing and quality control team, Evie for editing, and Gabb for graphic design.
Kat: If you want to get in touch with us, then please feel free to contact us via our website, inthelopodcast.com, or on Twitter. You can find our episodes on YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify.
Tilda: If you enjoyed the show and want to help support the team, then please consider making a donation to us on our ko-fi page, oooor buy our merch!
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Kat: Kat!
Tilda: And Tilda! Happy new year!
Kat: Happy new year!