2017 GPF Ladies FS

[madison]

I agree that today Alina's free wasn't the best she could skate but I prefer her anytime over Medvedeva.
She's much more expressive than Med and has better musicality.

 

[MaiKatze]

Satoko is Satoko. That's the problem. She has good days when tech panel neglects the low quality of her jumps. That's how she got ahead of perfect Pogo during the last year GPF. She has bad days when tech people suddenly come to senses and give her carrots. It's unfair to Satoko and to her competitors I would think.


underwhelming event for me. As they say, miss Evgeniya.

And I miss Anna. Gosh, I can't believe how much I miss Anna. She actually almost had the exact same score as Maria here at last years GPF, and to me that's just wrong. I know comparisons shouldn't be made, but these scores are from last year, and not from the high time of Yuna Kim. That's the Olympic season for you, and of course that must be the season when Anna is off form.

 

[madison]

About Sotskova and Kostner, I do think that their styles look similar, but the quality is different.
While Kostner lives the music and the movements come from interior, Sotskova doesn't have (yet?) the same freedom, she only replicates what was taught.
And I don't even know if this style suits Sotskova. I don't think it's for everyone and it can be easily perceived as boring. I really liked Sotskova skating on Santana for example, during her junior years. I hope she'll try something different next season.

 

[[email protected]]

And I miss Anna. Gosh, I can't believe how much I miss Anna. She actually almost had the exact same score as Maria here at last years GPF, and to me that's just wrong. I know comparisons shouldn't be made, but these scores are from last year, and not from the high time of Yuna Kim. That's the Olympic season for you, and of course that must be the season when Anna is off form.

Yes, I miss her too. Her free program at CoR last year was the highlight of the season for me. I had real shivers watching her skate from the front row at Megasport.

 

[David21]

Yup, I think most of us here appreciate Satako's artistry/skating skills and while she needs to get the UR calls more consistently, her PCS should be Caro-level IMO.

You cannot compare Satoko's speed and ice coverage with Caro's IMO.

 

[snd]

i wanted the podium to look like this: wakaba, maria, satoko (random order). maybe carolina edging one of them out provided she truly brought the house down (she had mistakes, though, even though her performance was special, indeed).

wakaba because of her buttery edges, speed, great abandon, fantastic musicality, whole body movements and the best choreo in all disciplines this season, period.

maria because she's the most regal and dignified skater out there at the moment. her sp is better than her lp though both are lovely. her sp is queenly. her tech content is respectable.

satoko because wow that sp and wow those nuances and musicality and the best spins in the business.

the REALITY, though....

well maria was lovely but a bit tentative compared to her amazing sp and she needs more transitions. wakaba had her worst performance of the season. satoko's lp is not as good as her sp and even though it was a good performance, her pcs got lowballed (unfairly) and her tech issues were way too obvious this time.

so it think that the eventual podium was... just about right. congrats to maria for her first gpf medal!

alina could have easily been destroyed by pressure - she was not. that deserves respect. kaetlyn had mistakes but what she DID get right (the well-executed jumps) was absolutely great. so, they got the podium right - something that doesn't happen very often, now does it..?

 

[evasorange]

Just caught up and I'm SHOCKED that Satoko actually got some ur calls. She would struggle to get on any podium any where if she was judged fairly like this every time. Let's hope they keep it up. I feel bad for Katelyn but I had a feeling she wouldn't go clean...as for Alina I seriously do not get the hype. Putting aside the jumps when she performs it reminds me of like a kid at a beauty pageant on stage following their parents miming in the audience...just zero personal artistic interpretation and connection to the movements. I think Wakaba is a much stronger skater and I'm sad about what happened to her here.

 

[matcha]

Comparing juniors to seniors is pretty wild. Statistically they're smaller so are more prone to technically superior skates. The pressures and circumstances of skating as a senior and junior (this year in particular) are drastically different. Don't put down the senior ladies in comparison. As a look, it's just not good. Both of their accomplishments should be appreciated.

 

[j00mla]

...If I were a Japanese fan, I'd be seriously pissed off, esp since it's their country's fans that fund most of figure skating anyway. The fact that Caro is getting huge PCS for her imperfect programs...

Totally agree!!! Japanese girls deserve much more points in PCS and some others vice versa.

 

[randomfan]

Late but here are my thoughts. Brace youself for a super long read .

Zagitova: With this program, I usually really enjoy the choreo sequence in the beginning, roll my eyes during the off-sync step sequence, and pay attention again from the 3F-2T-2Lo. Because from there, she lands all the jumps on the beat which somewhat stands out from the otherwise overcrowded choreo. But not this time. The jumps were not done in time with the music, and a small thing like that actually seemed to make a big difference with most of us. I have no words about TES obviously. Alina’s PCS has always been wildly inflated, but it baffles me that she scored even higher here when she executed this program much better in the past. Congrats for the win, but I hope she’s aware that she needs to improve her artistic side.

Sotskova: A very nice surprise! I just need to point out that I called it! In the GPF discussion thread, I said that people are probably underestimating Maria and that she could place a lot higher than what people expected. And I was right! All gloating aside though, I really enjoyed both of Maria’s programs here. This was an impressive result and will gain her even more momentum towards the Olympic spots.

Osmond: Something seemed off with Kaetlyn in this whole competition, IMO. Even in the SP, when she got a PB PCS, I felt that she wasn’t as confident or expressive as in the past. Anyways, I think despite the fall and the 2Lo, this FS looks much better than it did before. The few tweaks that she and Buttle put in proved to really enhance the overall perception of the program. Of course, I still don’t know how this turned out to be a PB PCS, but still, congrats for a well-earned bronze.

Kostner: So ever since she debuted this FS in the CS competitions, I’ve kept watching the program numerous times to understand it. I even watched her 2010-11 FS multiple times, which was the same music and what this new program was based on. Well...I still don’t get it. The choreography was more on the classy and elegant side back in 2010-11 so it was still enjoyable, but this new version still makes zero sense to me. Is she portraying a faun? What’s happening in that middle choreo section in front of the judges? The ending pose? It’s this confusion that prevents me from enjoying the program at all. I’m a fan of her and I appreciate her gorgeous presentation skills, but I can’t tell what exactly she is presenting. As for the TES side, it was good but not good enough. I actually don’t think she needs the 3F-3T contrary to many others’ thoughts, but the lutz is truly important.

Miyahara: I watched the competition not live but in order without spoilers. I thought that Satoko would be boosted up to take silver overall, so 5th was a major shock to me. At least now that her URs were called, the many haters and nitpickers in the SP thread have reduced their criticisms and insults . Also, just like with Kaetlyn, the small changes to the programs were very effective. I really enjoyed the performance aspect here even more than before. Though she placed 5th, it was extremely close and she still should be secure for Nationals.

Higuchi: Poor Wakaba, she started so well! I think the audience response after the first spin might’ve spooked her. Too bad about the pop and double, and a somewhat distant 6th here. But she does still look good for an Olympic spot. I hope that she can enter Nationals with guns biggrin blazing!

Speaking of which, where exactly is the choreo sequence here? I’ve always thought it was between the combo spin and the 3S, which is how they marked it during the GP. But at this competition and Lombardia, the spiral she did between the step sequence and the layback was marked as the choreo sequence.

 

[anyanka]

So, Shin Amano got the note to call Satoko for URs / PRs, then ... ?

 

[ks777]

Totally agree!!! Japanese girls deserve much more points in PCS and some others vice versa.

That's why I get mad when I hear the Japanese Federation use it's power to manipulate the results. It's clearly so not true.

I am a fan of Satoko but her jumps today were correctly called. Her jumps looked totally underrotated so that was fair.
As for Kostner... Am I the only one think she is grossly over scored?

 

[Alex D]

Very true. I think the judges have a meeting after events, don't they? Because this is something that they need to talk about. After Satoko finished, I'm pretty sure most of us, and her and her team included, thought she got a medal. She was even close to Alina in the TES box, the thought of her winning it even crossed my mind. And then she ends up fifth! I don't disagree with that result personally, but the fact that one could not see it coming is worrying. And it is something that has been weaving itself throughout Satoko's career. Rika Hongo is a japanese skater that has been treated extremely harshly in that regard. There was never the benefit of doubt for her. Why? This 'will they, won't they' is just unfair to Satoko. Depending on the judging panel she can almost challenge Medvedeva for Gold or be 8th, if she's lucky.

There are quite a few skaters that don´t get the score they deserve. Rika with her Riverdance, I will never forget how she skated the best program of all at Cup of China and yet, didn´t win. The scores were way too low... I also felt that Wakaba should have won at one of the GP events, but she lost to Alina (I believe). Wakaba did what Rika did, perfection and yet, no gold.

Satoko puts a lot into her programs as well, I believe she is a very smart skater and knows that this is an artistic sport. Almost all the time, she looks super sad when the scores come up. (

I do not know why things are as they are

 

[Ares]

You cannot compare Satoko's speed and ice coverage with Caro's IMO.

Well it's true but people forget that Carolina's ice coverage & striking speed (bands behind used to be like complete blur) decreased vs how she was skating years ago.

 

[russianfan]

Consider me a hater of Carolina, but i just don't understand how a two-foot skating almost without any transitions and jump content from 80's (which can be easily beaten by any junior from JGPF by the way) can make a 214 score...

 

[bara1968]

Haha nice surprise to see Carolina! She really, really stands out in terms of presentation skills. That is what I want to see from future OGM, the effort to interpret every beat of music!

I simply don't understand some of you guys' comments on her PCS. If someone like Alina deserves 70+ PCS, Kostner here definitely deserves 78 mark. It is not 80 only because of lack of transitions.

While I agree with Alina's very high TES, I cannot agree with her PCS especially in this competition. Yes, she deserved high transition mark, but what about her skating skills? Did she show superior edge control? Was ice coverage and the speed exceptional? (especially compared to someone like Kostner?) What about her choreography? interpretation? presentation? She looked really tight today, and there was really not much happening in the first half, while she maintained one facial expression throughout the whole program. Yes, Alina was a clear winner, I am not denying that. But her score should have been lower, especially her PCS, compared to someone like Kostner or even to Satoko. Before Sochi, someone like her would probably get something like 62-63 mark, or 65 tops, compared to Kostner's 72-74. (Also note that Mao could not break 70 at the time.) While Kostner is still getting 74 mark, Alina is getting 70+ now. IMO, the difference is too small.

I see Alina may get that Olympic Gold medal in 2 months. But pls, not like this. Nobody will remember this sort of performance even if she has that OGM. I hope that she puts more effort on the first half of the program to make it more lively, and engaging. Btw, don't get me wrong. I like Alina and will be happy to see her winning, but I don't think this high PCS is helping anybody; She and her team will not feel any necessity to improve. Too bad for such a talented skater.

 

[demarinis5]

Caught up with the Ladies. Congrats to Alina, Maria and Kaetlyn!

I have a lot of thoughts about the Ladies but I think I will keep them to myself.

 

[combinationspin]

Yes, I don't understand this. People have said the JSF doesn't politick for their skaters, but I don't understand why they wouldn't. If I were a Japanese fan, I'd be seriously pissed off, esp since it's their country's fans that fund most of figure skating anyway. The fact that Caro is getting huge PCS for her imperfect programs, and Mao never got that PCS boost from the judges, just makes me mad, and I don't even consider myself a Mao fan.

Mao was never scored like a ‘legend’ GOE- and PCS-wise after her comeback except at the Japan Open. Made me wonder how she felt getting PCS like 8 pts lower than youngster Evgenia. I don’t completely agree with the way judges scored their PCS, but I think Caro has much better speed, attack and presence than Mao.

 

[Shayuki]

Aah, watching Finnish commentary for this. It's some former coach whose always saying really technical stuff and all and on Osmond's lutz she said along the lines of "Another really nice, difficult jump - a flip".

When commentators make mistakes like that you start to wonder if these perhaps should be marked as e instead of !...

 

[kevinVchicago]

I watched this with a friend from the theater who doesn't watch a lot of figure skating. She said that Kostner's FS looked stale, like something from a bygone era. She was also baffled by her high PCS score. She preferred Sotskova's performance.