GP Rostelecom Cup 2017

*Still on the works. More stuff will be added to this post along the week. I hope you can understand that.*

And the senior grand prix events are finally back :)

Skate America traditionally is the 1st event of the ISU GP circuit but this season the order of the events was altered. That said, this season the Rostelecom Cup was the 1st GP to take place. Together with the NHK Trophy, the Rostelecom Cup is my favorite GP because there's always a big crowd supporting the skaters. Usually, the russian tv provides a very good coverage. This year was no exception. Unfortunately, the portuguese fans that rely on Eurosport to watch figure skating on tv were left with almost nothing. Eurosport Portugal hardly broadcasted anything which was a pity.
And before babbling a bit about the actual competition, let me share a fun fact with you: Julia Lipnitskaya and Elena Ilinykh worked as commentators for a russian tv channel. Julia was quite impressive as a commentator. Maybe she'll do this kind of stuff again.

Ladies

Carolina Kostner (Italy), Evgenia Medvedeva (Russia), Wakaba Higuchi (Japan)

Evgenia Medvedeva claimed gold at the ladies event which was hardly a surprise. The two-time world champion made quite a statement right away by scoring 80.75pts in the Short Program. Evgenia almost beat her own record score of 80.85pts that she got at the 2017 World Team Trophy. Her SP was magnificent. Evgenia never stopped working from start to finish and looked comfortable in the program. The russian prodigy looked weightless. It was like everything she did was easy. I was really impressed with her short program and so were the judges who rewarded her with huge component scores, including three perfect 10.00 (one for performance, other for composition and another for interpretation). Technically she was spot on and managed to collect +GOE in every element. All jump passes were done in the second half of the program. Her jump layout consisted of triple flip+triple toe loop combo, triple loop and double axel.
For the Free Program, Evgenia showed up with a new sophisticated black dress to portray Anna Karenina. This is a very good program with good choreo and interpretation but to be honest I much prefered the free she skated at the russian test skates and at the Ondrej Nepela Trophy. Off course that "Anna Karenina" is more accessible to a wider audience and maybe this was the right decision for the Olympic season. However the big surprise of Evgenia's performance wasn't the choreo nor the elements she did right... She fell on the double axel which was the last jump pass of the program. Despite this unusual moment for her, Evgenia seemed unafected by the mistake. In fact her reaction at the end of the program was super cute. It just shows how mentally strong she must be. In what concerns the jump layout she showed in this performance, it's pretty much the same Evgenia did last season. The triple flip+triple toeloop combo and the triple lutz in the first half of the program. In the second half she did the triple flip, triple loop, double axel+double toeloop+double toeloop combo, triple salchow+triple toeloop and the failed double axel. Despite the mistake this was enough to grant her the 4th highest ever score in a free program. By the way, componentes wise, Evgenia got three 10.00 (one for performance, one for composition and another for interpretation).
Carolina Kostner, the 2012 world champion, managed to get the silver medal and melted fans hearts. The italian is in a stage of her career in which she is above competition. Yes she didn't even attempt the lutz but overall her programs looked clean. Artistically she's immaculate. Probably the best of the current field. Just watching her glide is a delight for anyone who loves pure skating. Honestly I would love her to qualify for the Grand Prix Final. In the Short Program, Miss Kostner got two scores of 10.00 - one for composition and another one for interpretation. However judge n.º 5 only marked her 8.75 for composition which left me a bit puzzled. In the free program, judge n.º 7 gifted her a 10.00 for performance.
Wakaba Higuchi got her second senior GP medal and went home with the bronze. She did well in both programs. In the short program Wakaba showed a lot of fire. The opening double axel was very good. Nevertheless, the triple lutz+triple toeloop and the triple flip were dinged with negative GOE. In the combo, the triple toeloop was underrotated. The flip got a not clear edge call. In the free program, there was only one element punished with negative GOE: it was the double axel+double toeloop+double loop combo. There was also another error. She turned a planned triple salchow to a double. Thumbs up for the triple lutz+triple toeloop in the second half of the program and the choreo sequence. As a side note, I wish she could get rid of the black gloves in the free program costume. It cuts the lines and it looks weird. That's my opinion.
Elena Radionova is still wonderful to watch but the technical glitches cannot be ignored. In the short program, where she managed to finished in 5th place, Elena underrotated the toeloop in the triple lutz+triple toeloop combo. In the triple flip there was a call for not having a clear edge. In the free program, there were the exact same problems in the triple lutz+triple toeloop combo and in the triple flip just like in the short. The triple lutz+loop+triple salchow was a nice combo but the execution could have been much better. She had planned a triple loop as element number 9 but she fell right on the entry. Needless to say that she didn't get any points for that. We all know she's a great performer but she needs to fix flip and not look sloopy in the certain jumps.
This was the first time Elena finished out of the podium in a GP since she turned senior.
Final notes: Mirai Nagasu attacked the triple axel in both programs but both were underrotated. Valeria Mikhailova was a pleasant surprise. There are so many talented russian girls coming out of the junior ranks that it is hard to keep up with all of them. Valeria did very well in her début in the senior GP. Very entertaining and full of personality despite the young age and the pressure of skating in front of the home audience.

Short Program Videos

Evgenia Medvedeva