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In response to
"Was the Russian far and away better than Wagner or does she have a chance to beat her at some point? -- nm"
by
Krusty
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it's not that straightforward. Evgenia Medvedeva is 16 and Ashley is about 109 years older. -- (edited)
Posted by
Diva (aka Diva)
Apr 4 '16, 07:34
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not really - she's only about 8 or 9 or years older but as you know that's an eternity in sports. Wagner was able to up her technical difficulty (points) some for this season but it will take another Miracle on Ice for her to ever be able to really jump with these Russian girls. Wagner is an emotive stylist and that helped her a lot in going from 4th place to second.
Medvedeva totally beat the pants off the rest of the field in the long program. Everything she did was wonderful. Her main challenge should have been American Gracie Gold who was leading after the short but Gracie has proven time and again that she doesn't have the mental fortitude to consistently put 2 programs together. She spoke vaguely of quitting the sport after what happened on Saturday.
The thing to truly consider when asking your question is not really Medvedeva herself specifically but the entire Russian Ladies program as a whole. It is so deep with tons of girls who can do all of the technical stuff and they are YOUNG. a lot of them are also good stylists as well. Last year's World Champion was Elena Tuktymusheva who won every event she entered last year. Their field is so big and strong Tuktymusheva didn't even make it out of Russian Nationals in order to come to Worlds this year. The reigning Olympic Champion Adelina Sotnikova has literally been nowhere on the scene for the last couple of years. Julia Lipnitskaya who everyone fell in love with at the Olympics placed 10th at Russian nationals 2 years ago. They just keep finding and building these girls. As wonderful as Evgenia Medvedeva was the other night I wouldn't be surprised if another Russian girl was the Star next season. That's how deep the competition is over there and that's what all the other countries - including the US - are up against.
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