2017 GP Cup of China Ladies FS

[skatenewbie]

So we just had gorgeous competition with fair judging, all the ladies did their best and what we have?

"oh, those Russian girls, how can they win, Japanese were better because they are so pretty and interpret the music so I love them all!1111oneoneone11!"
"oh, backloading how can they, not balanced at all and so ugly!"
"lord, those tanos, I can't with them, there should be minus goe for tano jumps, it's so unfair"
"I actually didn't like the 1st part of Mai's skating but she's behind Russian girls so she was robbed!"
"so many transitions look bad, why can't they just do some spirals and smile to the audience, it's much better!"

almost fair, fairer than many competition recently i'd say. but you can clearly see the japanese ladies is held back in PCS. Do you really agree that Zagitova should have highest PCS compared to all other girls?!

 

[Tulipstar]

Ugh, why can't there be more medals - why? This competition was just... sick.

Anyway, congratulations to the medalists - Alina, Wakaba, Elena!

And Mai, Marin, Gabby, Liza - you did yourselves proud, ladies!

Note: I wonder if this means the gents will be falling all over themselves, as one cannot, it seems, have too many good things? Here's hoping the ice rink monster keeps on napping...

Yes, lots of them would deserve a medal. Liza being seventh with a 3A is just brutal.

 

[Leonardo]

Wakaba has a smart free program, but she often doesn't skates on the music and some parts look empty because she focuses to much on the jumps...

No. Maybe you are just too used to watch extremely busy unbalanced rushed programs. Sorry.

 

[3T3T]

Two great days of ladies skating. Hard to believe that Liza T with a 3A is down in 7th place. I enjoyed Zagitova’s performance more than I expected, her transitions are insane, but the 2nd half is so jammed packed even one jump in the first half would break it up a bit. It was close but I think she deserved the victory.

An improved performance from Higuchi, I felt she was more comfortable in the 2nd half. The step sequence was great, not so sur she convinces me as a Bond girl yet. Radionova gave her best sakes in years. I loved it, the jumps were a bit scratchy in places but the performance and choreo for me were the best of the night. Loved the final spin, that’s a great statement of intent for an Olympic spot. Miahara was unlucky but the short cost her.

Daleaman’s performance was disappointing. A strong athletic skater, skating to strong powerful music and they chose a terrible arrangement. Gladiator is good for her just not that current version. I worry for Liza T with a fully rotated 3A she is only7th? Looking at the protocols the judges were not very generous on GOE. I think the Russian Olympic team could be a big ask. Saying that her PCS needs a lot of work, her team do her no favors on that side.

Russian nationals will be insane but so will Japanese nationals. So many talented skaters gunning for 2 spots? Just like in Russia there will be some very disappointed Ladies.

 

[whatif]

I thought Wakaba should've won this. Mighty close. The thing that annoys me the most is that Mai is out of the medals and any chance she had of making GPF is gone now. Strong showing of the Ladies. My theory is that the judges really want a fight between Medvedeva and Zagitova, with perhaps Kaetlyn Osmond with an outside shot. I just don't see anyone else right now who can break in there.

And Wakaba's Skyfall is the best Ladies program of the season. It gives me goosebumps. Absolutely amazing!

i disagree. I think Mihara could contend in Korea (with an outside chance for Higuchi). Despite the fluke here, I think Mai has the most scoring potential out of all Japanese ladies both in TES and PCS.

It is hard to beat Zagitova's monstrous BV and mostly +GOE skating. No matter how much conspiracy fans cry here as simply neither of Japanese ladies have 3-5 point PCS advantage.

 

[Shayuki]

I'd argue Alina's SP worked better for her than this junior FSprogram (literally her JWC program, which was beaten by Honda in PCS then) too.

Yup. While I see many people praising it for reasons unknown, I've always disliked this FS by Zagitova. To me the choreo doesn't have a whole lot to do with the music and just is plain boring and juniorish, just like it was last season. And you also make good points regarding PCS. I don't get what changed to make her suddenly get so, so high PCS on this. Especially when we consider the PCS landscape of this competition...

 

[rollerblade]

So happy for Lena!)))But so saaaaaaaad for Liza...3a not enough these days, it seems. She skates clean - low marks, skates not clean - even lower marks. It's a s if they are giving signals for her to stop trying:angry1:

They aren't signaling her to stop trying. It's clear that she needed more than those jumps. Level 2 layback spin? Nope, not gonna cut it.

 

[FSGMT]

While I do think that her PCS could have been a couple points lower, I do not think that it's ridiculous that she gets high PCS. She has the most difficult program and executes it perfectly: PCS aren't only about intepretation, but also SS, transitions, musicality - and Alina does all her jumps right on the music. Reading a lot of posts here, one would think that she skated averagely to an average program. A couple points less? Sure, maybe, but it's not like she didn't deserve to get good PCS either.

This is what I absolutely disagree about: her movements are not well-executed. They are busy and difficult and frantic, but they are not graceful, not effortless, not natural, she doesn't hold her positions enough to reach full extension, she doesn't complete most of the movements, so that they look rough and unrefined. To me, it looks just busy "running" from one thing to another: this affects both the quality of the movements and the quality of her projection towards the audience and should be reflected in PE, CO and IN

 

[gold12345]

But ugh, why a 3S-2A SEQ? Just do 2A-1Lo-3S instead and skip the 2Lo on the 3 jump combo(She UR'd it anyway). That's much higher TES and surely isn't too difficult.

Has she ever done 2A-1Lo-3S before? She might not be comfortable with that.

 

[moriel]

Plus if you look at the pattern of judges form the past events, Zagitova had always had lower PCS than Higuchi, Mihara, Honda, Radionova including even in the SP. All of a sudden she ends up beating Marin by 4 points?? While Wakaba's PCS shrunk from 68+ Russia cup when she performed better here?

I'd argue Alina's SP worked better for her than this junior FSprogram (literally her JWC program, which was beaten by Honda in PCS then) too.

I think its sheer reputation thing. Judges looked and said, Medvedeva is world #1, Osmond is world #2, and Zagi is a top contender.

 

[Anni234]

I don't find it that hard to believe that Liza with a 3A is down in 7th. I mean 3A gives you the points, but then again 2A+2A combo really doesn't.

 

[qwertyskates]

Composition
An intentionally developed and/or original arrangement of all types of movements according to the principles of musical phrase, space, pattern and structure. In evaluating the Composition, the following must be considered:

Purpose (idea, concept, vision, mood);
Pattern / ice coverage;
Multidimensional use of space and design of movements;
Phrase and form (movements and parts structured to match the musical phrase);
Originality of the composition.

Sorry but packed full of content does not mean there is a purpose or originality, etc. The intentionality I saw was making it to the second half so the jumps and bonus could get started.

Your list PROVES exactly my point.

The choreography of Zagitova's program was PACKED full of DIFFICULT and MEANINGFUL CONTENT arranged perfectly according to music and she skated it with CONVICTION, almost no pause or hesitation.

This is a ballet, the dancers often perform their leaps with hands aloft.

Zagitova is smart to match her tanos and Rippons to a ballet.

All her movements are exactly balletic, amazing she did it on ice.

 

[alvina9894]

Your list PROVES exactly my point.

The choreography of Zagitova's program was PACKED full of DIFFICULT and MEANINGFUL CONTENT arranged perfectly according to music and she skated it with CONVICTION, almost no pause or hesitation.

Go replay the first part of the program and tell me it is packed. Replay the whole program and tell me the content is meaningful.

 

[GGFan]

Your list PROVES exactly my point.

The choreography of Zagitova's program was PACKED full of DIFFICULT and MEANINGFUL CONTENT arranged perfectly according to music and she skated it with CONVICTION, almost no pause or hesitation.

I'm glad you know how to use the shift key. Caps lock is obviously doing all the work here rather than actual analysis. :agree:

 

[Kayyyn]

If Evgenia and Alina face off at the final and both skate clean, I'll give it to Alina.

Evgenia might have the reputation, but I think if you put them side by side Alina may have a better "overall" presentation. She doesn't come across "gawky" when she jump and not all super dramatic on the face like you know it's all acting.

im pretty sure judges will gave it to the 2 time wc

 

[nimi]

Wakaba and Evgenia is going to GPF id say. (probably Alina too) With 2 bronze not sure if its enough for Radionova.

Didn't Radio place 4th in Rostelecom? After Med, Caro and Wakaba? So probably no GPF for her.

But yeah, unless Med & Zag totally bomb their 2nd assignment (not gonna happen lol) they are in. Caro, Osmond and Sotskova are more unpredictable. Still, Wakaba should be in? Unless Satoko comes back and kicks *** and places 2nd (after Med) in NHK & 1st/2nd in SkAm.

 

[Shayuki]

Has she ever done 2A-1Lo-3S before? She might not be comfortable with that.

I don't know but it's really not a difficult combo. It's just a suggestion, the important thing is that she needs to stop doing SEQs because that kills her TES completely unnecessarily. It's only worth 0.2 more BV than just doing 2A+2Lo...

 

[Marius]

i disagree. I think Mihara could contend in Korea (with an outside chance for Higuchi). Despite the fluke here, I think Mai has the most scoring potential out of all Japanese ladies both in TES and PCS.

It is hard to beat Zagitova's monstrous BV and mostly +GOE skating. No matter how much conspiracy fans cry here as simply neither of Japanese ladies have 3-5 point PCS advantage.

I agree with this, though Zagitova today had her second 3 Lz judged as underrotated and in the BV only had 1.5 lead over Higuchi (and less than one point over Mihara), so I quite don't get how she outscored two quality jumpers like them with and under-rotation that should be rewarded with negative GOEs :think: Still, is impressive how with an UR she is the leader in BV

 

[rollerblade]

i disagree. I think Mihara could contend in Korea (with an outside chance for Higuchi). Despite the fluke here, I think Mai has the most scoring potential out of all Japanese ladies both in TES and PCS.

It is hard to beat Zagitova's monstrous BV and mostly +GOE skating. No matter how much conspiracy fans cry here as simply neither of Japanese ladies have 3-5 point PCS advantage.

Mihara's BV today is only 0.41 behind Zagitova. And GOE is 1.23 behind. It's closer than you think!

 

[qwertyskates]

I'm glad you know how to use the shift key. Caps lock is obviously doing all the work here rather than actual analysis. :agree:

You can say what you want but she WON.