#aggressive skating

my favourite skate obsession: sidestance cartwheel 🤸🏻‍♀️

anyways now im thinking of rollerblader barty and figure skater regulus and how i kin both of them and the fact i've already been rollerblading for years

alley oop soul <3

It's decided; Kamila Valieva, Alexandra aka Sasha Trusova and Anna Sherbakova will represent Russia at the 2022 Olympics. They are all under the same coach, the infamous Eteri Tutberidze.

First up: the team event. This event consists of 8 parts, a short and a free program for each discipline. Surprisingly enough, Kamila Valieva, the favourite to win it all, is chosen for BOTH the short and the free program. This is surprising, seeing as both Anna and Sasha missed out on an opportunity to win a gold medal here. To nobodies surprise, Russia wins the team event. However, right before the medal ceremony, the ISU releases a statement saying that the medal ceremony will be postponed. After a while it becomes clear that someone on the Russian team has tested positive for a drug test. This is none other than the 'perfect' Kamila Valieva. While the investigation is ongoing, Kamila will be allowed to practise and compete, but if she ends up on the podium, there will be no ceremony.

With Kamila possibly out of the way for the gold medal, everyone looks at Sasha to win first place. When, on the 15th of February, the short program rolls around, Kamila places first, to nobodies surprise. Anna places second, and on third place we have the Japanese Kaori Sakamoto, and on fourth place, Sasha. Sadly, Sasha fell on her triple axel, which she had not been able to land even a single time in competition that season. This ended up dragging her total score down by a lot.

Next up: the free program. From the three Eteri girls, Sasha is up first. Her performance contains 5 quads and she lands them all, therefore making her the first woman in history to land five quads in the olympics. Sasha is pleased with her performance and thinks she will win the gold medal. This is because Eteri promised her that if she landed those 5 quads, she would win.

After Sasha, it's Anna's turn, she delivers a near perfect performance, landing all her jumps including two quads. At the kiss&cry, when Anna receives her scores and Sasha realises that Anna has more points than her, she breaks down crying and screaming "YOU ALL KNEW ". While this is all happening, it's Kamila's turn.

Everyone expects Kamila to deliver another perfect performance, but to everyones surprise, she delivers the worst performance of her life. She falls on most jumps, and the ones she does land are wobbly. As soon as the gets off, Eteri starts scolding her for her performance. When Kamila receives her scores at the kiss&cry, and realises she is off the podium, she says 'at least the medal ceremony won't be cancelled now' and breaks down in tears.

Anna Sherbakova is the new olympic champion, with Sasha Trusova second, Kaori Sakamoto third and Kamila Valieva in fourth.

Anna, who has just won the competition that she worked for her entire life, isn't celebrating. Her coach and all of her other trainers are busy trying to comfort either Sasha, who is still crying and saying she never wants to skate again, or Kamila, who broke down under all the pressure from the public. Anna later said that the first feeling she had when finding out she won, was empty.

Sasha, who hasn't won a major competition in three years, thought that this would be her moment, especially because Eteri promised her that win if she landed 5 quads. Some of the things Sasha said are: "Everyone has a gold medal, everyone, but not me. I hate skating. I hate it. I hate this sport. I will never skate again. Never," and "I haven't been winning major events for three years. I always try to reach a goal, I always add more quads,". This entire situation is even more heartbreaking when you add that Anna and Sasha used to be best friends, and they share their room at the olympics. Since the olympics, there have been no signs of them still being friends.

Anna, Sasha and Kamila have all endured years and years of abuse at Eteri's camp, from skating while injured to not being allowed to gain any weight. All of this just leads me to wonder, was it worth it?

Links:

Anna Sherbakova: short program, free program

Alexandra/Sasha Trusova: short program, free program

Hello yes hi hello, it has been a while since my last skate update and I've purchased a bunch of things since then. The above pic for instance shows off the Oysi frames I bought to accommodate a flat setup with my Roces M12s. Unfortunately while they rolled fast and well, there was a constant pain on the underside of my foot since I first started skating the M12s. I changed out the stock liners for the liners from my Roces X35 liners, and they helped a bit but it was still ultimately there and would keep my sessions short. I even bought Intuition liners at the request of friends, but that actually made it worse. Unable to figure out the cause, I eventually decided to move onto new skates.

The USD Aeon Sam Crofts II, a flat setup skate with built-in frame. They're very light and as a result, very fast. Clean, skinned look that makes me wish I had some sneakers just like them. Best of all I haven't encountered any foot pain since using them! Liking the Aeons so much, I even bought a new pair in a new color.

The USD Aeon Mery Muñoz are very similar to the Crofts, and are light, fast, and sport a similarly striking color palette. I don't see a lot of skates for guys that I'd call fashionable (though the last couple years of M12 pro skates are starting to change that), so I purchased these in spite of the slightly unreasonable price point ($400 compared to the Crofts' $300, though as I understand it Mery herself gets a good cut of the profits on these which I can appreciate).

Ultimately I still wear the Crofts more unless I just feel like wearing turquoise some days, but with both of these I think I finally have a solid foundation for improving my aggressive game. Meanwhile the X35s are still holding up as street skates, though I'm finding that there's a familiar bit of underside foot pain when I try them out on ramps and jumps. A replacement down the line might be in order.