2020 Russian FS Nationals - Ladies LP Live Blog

Welcome back to the most exciting figure skating event of the year! In the short program, Aliona Kostornaia was absolutely stunning and has a commanding lead of 10 points, but Anna and Sasha's planned technical content could make up for that gap. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva sits not far behind in fourth place, and we will see if she adds in the 4T that she has shown on Instagram.

Word on the street is that Evgenia Medvedeva will be withdrawing due to continuing boot issues, but I really hope this does not end up happening.

Below the top 5, the skaters in 6th-11th place are all just 2 points apart, so anything can happen in this free skate. Best of luck to all of the skaters!

Tag yourself I'm the person in the audience with the giant Alina Zagitova sign.

Oh man I really should have sent an email to Ted so I could get a shout out.

Kseniia Sinitsyna
Big double axel to start. Solid 3F and then 3Lo. Really interesting step sequence. Another nice double axel. We love a weird music change. 3Lz+Eu+3S nice! 3Lz+3T good as well. Wow really nice Ina Bauer. 3F+2T good, she is killing these combos. Lovely beillman to end it off. Yay! I'm glad to see her hit after her short program. Should be interesting to see how much higher in the standings she can go. 143.24, nice!

Ksenia Tsibinova
Someone really needs to help Ted out with the music here. Good first two jumps 3Lo and 3F. Good on the 3Lz  and the 2A too. 3Lz+3T maybe could use more height. 2A+Eu+3S good. Another clean skate from a skater who missed in the short! We stan a comeback. Could work a bit more on the artistry, but she is young. 130.19.

Anastasia Gracheva
Deep landing on 2A, but still adds the 3T. 3F. Holds on to the 3Lz. Good 2A. Guys I am struggling to see the tech box, so I'm really about to confuse flips and lutzes this whole blog. Another deep landing on the 3Lz but keeps going and hands down on the 3S. made the 3F+2T happen. Holds on to the 3Lo. Has some nice spin positions. She fought for every jump there. I found the music and program a bit boring until the end, so something to work on. 112.68.

Maria Talalaikina
I'm sending good vibes her way since she had a really rough short. STOP with the Greatest Showman it triggers me. Good 2A. Nice 3Lo. 3F+2T. Step out on the 3S but holds on. 3Lz+3T good. 2A+2T+2Lo good too. Ends with a 3Lz. Well I'm glad she had a great program, but... I can't with the hairpiece and the face drawing. Everyone is coming out fighting, and that's nice to see. 119.42.

Elizaveta Nugumanova
Ok The Nutcracker triggers me too but not this specific song because I was never good enough to be Sugar Plum. I totally missed her first combo, but I guess it went well. 3F and 2A good too. She flows nicely through the step sequence. Hangs on to the 3Lz. Spins around on the landing of the 2A+3T. Nice 3Lo. 3S+2T a bit slow and low but a hit! She has lovely spiral positions, please hold them longer. Beautiful Y spin and the beillman is great too. She is very lovely. 114.65. ROBBED. We don't stan UR calls on beautiful skaters.

We now have confirmation that Evgenia has withdrawn. Well, this sucks.

Anastasia Gubanova
So I missed basically the first half of this because I went to make another coffee. Whoops. I never claimed to be a professional. Anyways, 3F+3T. Hangs on to the 3F and adds a 2T. Double foot on the 2A. Well I wish I had seen the rest of that. 129.19. She's in 2nd right now.

Sofia Samodurova
Prayer circle for Sofia to rotate her jumps. 3Lz+3T but the toe looked under. 3F+2T+2Lo. Nice 3Lo. This is....an interesting cover of Tango de Roxanne. Good 3F. Big 2A but maybe under again on the 3T. Good 3S. Nice 2A. I'm glad she hit! But if a jump is underrotated bad enough for my untrained eyes to see.... Anyways she's in tears and I love her regardless. 127.70 into 2nd.

Serafima Sakhanovich
Hangs on to the 3F+3T. Good on the 2A and 3Lz. Another 2A. She is just lovely to watch. Deep landing on the 3S and adds 2T.  Hangs on to the 3F. Struggles on the 3Lo too. Well she survived without a fall. 121.98.

Valeria Shulskaia
I think she's my new underrated fave. Great 3Lz+3T. Good 3S and 2A. Great 2A+3T+2T. Another 3Lz. Good 3F+2T. Nice 3Lo. She is just the whole package, could maybe be more expressive, but she listens to her music well, and is well packaged, and has good jumps and spins. Please don't fall apart. We stan no UR calls. 128.72 into 2nd. I noticed she's the only one not from Moscow or Saint-Petersburg.... maybe she needs to move to get the big scores lol.

Stanislava Konstantinova
Ashley Wagner making another appearance here in the long program. Spins around on the 3Lo. Makes the 3F+3T happen. Hangs on to the 3Lz. Pushes through the 2A+Eu+3S. Fall on the second 3Lz. I had a feeling that was coming because she hasn't really had a clean jump yet. Hangs on to the 3F. Spins around on 2A. Ends way after the music does. That was unfortunate. 114.34, in 7th right now.

Anna Frolova
Good 3Lo to start. Solid 3F and then 3Lz. Nice spread eagle into double axel. Good 3Lz+3T. 2A+Eu+3S. 3F+2T. All the jumps were very nice. She is very lovely to watch. Could work on the spin positions a bit, but overall, very nice. 132.84, nice score and into 2nd.

So Medvedeva is done for the whole season? Couldn't she at least go to Russian Cup? This is so depressing. Those skates did her dirty.

Sinitsyna is still in first even though she skated first; impressive.

Alright guys it's time. The final group. Place your bets for how many quads will be landed.

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
Needs 127.22 to move into first, but obviously, she's looking for more than that. Fall on 4T. NO. Ugh. Step out and double foot on 3A.... Liza NO. Great 3Lz+2T. Hand down on 3F ahhhhh. Really nice 2A+3T+2T. Great 3Lz as always and then the 2A. Step out on the 3Lo. :(

128.89, so moves into first, but barely

Well now the 3As just need to go relatively clean, and they'll get the Europeans and Worlds spots.

Anastasia Guliakova
She needs 136.11 to move ahead of Sinitsyna and (presumably) finish in 5th which would be a great result for her. 3F+3T big height. 3Lz, 2A+Eu+3S got a bit tilted but hangs on. Nice 3Lo. Bit off of the landing for 3F. Nice 3Lo+2T. Really nice skater. I really like Swan Lake, fight me. Ends with a nice 2A. Well done, this is a breakout moment for her. 130.14, currently in 4th.

Anna Shcherbakova
Needs 124.70 to take the lead. 4Lz+3T maybe under on the 3T? Step out on the 4F but landed it! Nice spiral into the 2A. Nice 4Lz. I'm kind of over the costume change, it was cool at first. 3Lz+3Lo. 3F+Eu+3S and ends with a 3Lz. That was very good. 2x National Champion Anna Shcherbakova? We'll wait and see. I hate the notion that she's "the forgotten one". 181.94, you know, casually almost 60 points ahead of Tuktamysheva.

Alena Kostornaia
Needs 172.01 to beat Shcherbakova. Come on sis. We know you can get a 200 LP score. Stunning 3A+2T. Another stunning 3A. She is just so good. Not the best landing on the 2A. Good 3Lo. 3F+3T barely hangs on to the 3T ahhhh. 3F+Eu+3S, and ends with a 3Lz. Hold. Your. Spirals. Longer. Great effort, but I think the small errors will be enough to put her behind Shcherbakova. 169.97, still easily in 2nd. We stan the 77 PCS.

Alexandra Trusova
185.41 will win it, needs 183.37 for 2nd. Fall on 4F. Well here we go... Fall on 4Lz too! oh no. Pops 4T to a double. 2A+3T strong. She needs 128.17 to beat Liza, she'll need a clean second half. Strong 4T+Eu+3S, that's more like it. 3Lz+3Lo strong also. 3Lz to finish. This is going to be an interesting score. Could not have gone much worse in the first half, but the second half was great.

149.88, still in third. Well, ok then. She'll still go to Worlds

Final Results

1. Shcherbakova 261.87
2. Kostornaia 259.83
3. Trusova 226.34
4. Tuktamysheva 204.63
5. Sinitsyna 202.96
6. Frolova 199.29
7. Guliakova 196.99
8. Shulskaia 194/89
9. Samodurova 192.08
10. Gubanova 190.06
11. Tsibinova 189.85
12. Sakhanovich 187.40
13. Konstantinova 180.34
14. Nugumanova 174.66
15. Talalaikina 170.33
16. Gracheva 169.15