Is it too late for a Russian Nationals recap? Hope not! Here goes...
LADIES... Adelina Sotnikova defeated Julia Gumbyskaia --you may know her as Lipnitskaia-- in the SP (the
latter scuffed up the back end of her 3lz/3T) and while Lipnitskaia skated
clean and won the FS, Sotnikova had enough of a lead to stay on top overall. Kudos
to Alena Leonova, for while she finished 5th, she appears the best
bet for the Olympic alternate since both Elena Radionova (bronze medalist) and
Alexandra Proklova (4th place finisher) are too young for Sochi. I’d
have figured her to finish 6th or 7th at best, given what
we’d seen earlier this season from Anna Pogorilaya and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. But
Pogorilaya appeared to 2-foot the back end of her 3lz/3T in both programs, and
Tuktamysheva wiped out on the 3T part of that jump altogether in the SP (then
fell on another jump and doubled many jumps in her FS). They finished 8th
and 10th, respectively.
MEN... The showdown of showdowns! Indeed, it was Plushy for
the SP victory... but Maxim Kovtun claimed the overall prize with a FS packed with multiple
quads and triple axels (his only notable mistake was a doubled quad salchow
attempt). Plushy, to his credit, got off A quad and A triple axel in the FS
too. But that was about it, and in this case, it wasn’t enough. He lost steam
as the program wore on; there were some triples, but there were a lot more
doubles and other minor mistakes than I’m used to seeing in a Plushy program.
The look on his face at the end said it all: Eh, that wasn’t it. That wasn’t what I came here for. Not a look I
think any of us are used to!
PAIRS... An interesting year for this event, given that the
World Champs Volosohzar/Trankov weren’t here, and two-time World Bronze
Medalists Kavaguti/Smirnov remain out of contention due to Smirnov’s injury and
subsequent surgery. Stolbova/Klimov – the team using Addams’ Family for their FS this season—came away with the win,
edging Bazarova/Larionov (who had trouble with the SBS jumps, as per usual) by
less than a point. The bronze medalists here (Maria Vigalova/Egor Zakroey) are
most likely alternates rather than bona fide Olympians, since Volo/Trank will
round out the team of course. But if you’re up for a reminder of the dangers of
pairs skating, check out the FS of Evgenia Tarasova/Vladmir Morozov, who were
in third up to that point. The very last lift of the program resulted in both
skaters falling but an especially hard slam to the ice for Tarasova, who
avoided hitting her head (thank goodness) but was in obvious, serious pain
despite recovering enough to complete the pairs spin at the very end.
DANCE... Bobrova/Soloviev won the event, but their FD
irritates me so I chose to skip it. Ilinykh/Katsalapov had that glorious,
high-reaching, straight-line lift early in their Swan Lake FD, but in setting up for their second one (an
ice-grazer, just the opposite), I/K took an unfortunate fall that cost them the
entire maneuver—and may have affected their rhythm for the rest of the program,
though I didn’t see any other major flaws. They still finished second, easily
putting them on Russia’s three-spot Olympic team, but they (she) looked
understandably rattled as they did the K’n’C wait. 2013 bronze medalists Riazanova/Tkachenko
looked like they had a little twizzle trouble, as well as problems with their
final lift... those and some other technique issues paved the way for 2012
World Junior champs Sinitsina/Zhiganshin to claim this year’s medal. And the
third Olympic spot too? We’ll see... both S/Z and R/T have been assigned to the
European Championships, which start in Budapest
on January 13.
SPEAKING OF UPCOMING CHAMPIONSHIPS...
U.S. Nationals are already underway in Boston !
The senior (or “championship”) events are scheduled to unfold like this on
IceNetwork (All times Eastern):
THURSDAY 1/9: Pairs SP 4:15
PM ; Ladies SP 7:45 PM
FRIDAY 1/10: Dance SD 1:45
PM ; Men’s SP 8 PM
SATURDAY 1/11: Pairs FS Groups 1 & 2, 11:30 AM ; Dance FD Groups 1 & 2, 12:45 PM ; Ladies FS Group 1, 6:45 PM
SUNDAY 1/12: Men’s FS Groups 1 & 2, 12:50 PM
The remainder of the “live” coverage will be on NBC:
8-11 PM Saturday (later groups in the Ladies Final, but
prepare to see more SP recaps in that 8-9PM hour than anything else)
By the way, the NBC Sports TV page lists Tom Hammond, Sandra Bezic, Scott Hamilton, and Andrea Joyce as the
commentators for all its coverage. Apparently they are saving Tanith Belbin and
Johnny Weir for Sochi ...
And predictions?! Yes, of course there will be predictions!
I predict my predictions will be up for all to see... either late Wednesday or
early Thursday. (By “early”, of course, I mean “sometime before the Pairs SP
starts at 4:15 PM Eastern”)
What are YOUR predictions for the podium and/or U.S. Olympic
Team? Post ‘em in the Comments!
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