azagitova: Bye bye 2020! It was a very complicated and unpredictable year that forced everyone to change plans and dreams due to global pandemic.
With all international competitions cancelled, Tokyo Olympics-2020 postponed, borders, stadiums, universities, supermarkets closed, everything went online even sports trainings.. I could not even imagine this before .
And this was the year when I turned 18.
So, I am happy that in such hard times I was lucky to finish school, enter university, obtain my diving licence, continue my figure skating trainings ♀️, take part in a series of ice-shows ⛸ and finally work as a host at the most popular Russian TV-show .
I want to say big thanks to my family, best coaches @teamtutberidze_official , @s_70rus and all my fans .
Happy New Year!!!❄☃️. All the best and Be Healthy!
My Alina Zagitova pictures - an appreciation post - Alina is some sort of sentimental favorite of mine. It hits me everytime I just see how many pictures of her I have taken over the last years. I really like her a lot. And I wish she will show us some more.
I’m just going to say now a significant portion of this will be me talking about Wakaba…
Entering the LP I thought “wow, the most nail-biting part of this will be seeing if South Korea can keep their two next spots for next year.”
I thought.
But I’m just going to say it now: South Korean ladies figure skating is on fire and only having one spot for next year… I mean? Will it go to Dabin? To Eun-soo? To someone else?! Ugh, stupid boots…
This is odd, but I was kind of rooting for Mariah Bell to pull through. I wasn’t expecting her to be one of the top two US ladies skaters, but… idk it’s super obvious that her coach has a lot of other skaters NathanAdamAshley and she’s just… there, meekly reminding USFS that she still exists.
Elizabet won my heart and it’s about 40% her skating to Celine Dion.
I raised an eyebrow at Viveca’s “Cinderella” LP partly because it showed me that it is possible to have a really good Cinderella music edit. (Side eyes Bradie Tennell’s choreographer/sound editor.)
So… I think Bradie’s uncharacteristic jump flubs at OG were a blessing because it felt like she got a bit more space to make her mark on her own terms. She’s beaten the other US ladies at OG and here and I’m excited about the opportunities she’s going to get firmly as US Senior Ladies’ Number One fingers crossed a better choreographer.
I hear Mirai isn’t retiring? Which, good, I want to see her pull out a 3A again in international competition.
WAKABOND.
I LOVE THIS PROGRAM SO MUCH. So this is the quick gush: it’s so well composed and the use of “Skyfall” was perfect. I love how the choreography constantly makes Wakaba go through several vertical planes and how it matches up with the music and the theme. That section in the step sequence where she’s spinning with her hands raised in finger guns and she then immediately drops down to her knees as Adele sings “when the sky falls”. “We will stand tall” as she collapses to one knee right in front of the judges. fucking genius.
And yes some of it is rather unimaginative. “Put your hand in my hand” while Wakaba throws out her hands and then clasps them together, but she fucking emotes, you can see the story there, this is not filler, she is truly a spy trying to get someone (JSU) out of a bad situation (only having two spots).
And that spiral position during “As the sky falls”? I swear it felt like I was seeing imaginary debris.
True star here was her jawline though. Wakaba acting like there were villains she was fending off and those sharp facial turns. THIS IS HOW YOU SELL CHOREOGRAPHY.
Honestly, the high was high.
Alina falling three times on her signature jumps was heartbreaking. The title was hers to lose and I feel like this is just going to be unnecessary fire for the Alina Haters/Evgenia Stans… when… Alina has been sick? With a cold? She’s exhausted? Let her enjoy her dog in peace!
I truly did think that Carolina would get the gold with how ready the judges seemed to reward her for… being 31, skating against these preteen phenoms, and holding her own. And when Alina fell… I didmessage a friend saying that Carolina Kostner could be the 2018 World Champion and we did have a minute just gushing about the possibility.
Oh well, her SP was fucking gorgeous.
Kaetlyn’s peak “Black Swan” was at the Olympics but I’m happy she finally has a world title.
Ugh Satoko. Her peak was also at the Olympics. I just want her to go home and rest and remember that she is a World Bronze Medallist.
It honestly never escapes me how many more titles and medals Kaetlyn and Satoko would have had their bodies not betrayed them and had Eteri not brought in her girls and absolutely exploited the system.
Tbqh I’m happy ISU is going to figure out how to tweak scoring this summer.
