Ladies SP

[R.D.]

Not if she skates a blinder. Then she'll deserve it.

I suppose I have no choice but to agree here, given the circumstances she'd have to overcome to achieve such a thing. Then worlds may not be such a longshot for her after all.

And seriously, other than Rachael, who else would you send? No one else has really stepped up.

Good point. Flatt is the only consistent, steady competitor we have, and goodness knows whether that will hold up (reminds me of a certain Kimmie Meissner four years ago)

 

[R.D.]

I don't understand why everyone is so apprehensive about sending Alissa to Worlds.

She was sent in 2007 (as the bronze medalist) and placed 15th (?) there. Quite simply, she is a Jekyll/Hyde (sp?) skater. You don't know which Alyssa you're going to get at a given event. If I were a betting man, I would not put my chips on her...too risky.

Although it is understandable for U.S. fans to want to recover that third ladies spot for the Olympics, the truth of the matter is that it is very unlikely that any combination of skaters we send will be able to do so.

Sadly, you may be right.

 

[luvsasha]

Alissa's been pretty good this season.... no COCs or CORs, which i think is a step in the right direction.

And i concur to whoever said don't judge her untill you see her live. I was lucky enough to see her at 05 Skate America, and she was absolutely amazing. beautiful skater!

 

[Tinymavy15]

Has Czisny EVER been the leader after the short? This will be very interesting. She usually seems to do well skating first. But the last thing she needs is the pressure of being the current leader.

In general, I don't think this is going to be a well-skated free program at all.

She has a 5 point lead... that is big. Even with a few mistakes she can still win. Even if she places 2nd, she still makes the world team.

 

[R.D.]

She has a 5 point lead... that is big. Even with a few mistakes she can still win. Even if she places 2nd, she still makes the world team.

It is not small but it's not insurmountable, either. If Bad Alyssa shows up tomorrow, and both Flatt and Zhang do their best, some ground could be made up. I guess an advantage to Alyssa going last is that she knows exactly what she needs to do, or score, to win. If it is a so-called "splat-fest" she probably can mess up and still win. If not, the pressure's on!

 

[Lissy]

Ugg. Icenetwork STILL hasn't put up the Ladies short program and they finally put up the Junior Ladies long but it only shows a few of the skaters. The video is only 37 mins

 

[feraina]

They have the senior SP on-demand now, but it's loading sooooo slowly. Good news: the video and audio are in sync. Yay!

And here are the detailed protocols:
http://www.icenetwork.com/documents/2009/01/22/59600/1/09Nationa_ChampionshipLadies_SP_Scores.pdf

Caroline had no downgrades, but ! on the 3F. Really?! So now she both lips and flutzes? Oh, man! Maybe her re-working the lutz take-off edge has affected her flip take-off? I think this is the first time she's ever gotten any kind of edge call on the 3F. I'll have to go back and have a closer look at this 3F (if this video would ever load!). The 2A turn-out really cost her, she only got 2.24 for it. The 3R was 0 GOE. So, the two -GOE jumps really cost her, as did the level 2 layback.

Alissa had all +GOEs, and all level 4's except for the footwork (level 2), and she of course had the highest PCS. Rachael Flatt had +GOE on her triples, and 0 on 2A, but got some low levels on spins. So her TES more or less evened out with Caroline's. But her PCS was a full point higher, which made up the bulk of the difference in their final scores. As I said before, probably this is due to some combination of skating order and Rachael having momentum coming into the event.

I'm so nervous for Caroline in tomorrow's FS! I hope she does well. I hope she's not feeling as nervous as I am now.

ETA: I just re-watched Caroline's 3F and I still don't see the lip. I mean, she wobbles on the edge a bit, but then she definitely goes into an inside edge before take-off. This panel is giving a ! for not sustaining the right edge for a long enough time?

Alissa also got ! for her 3F, does she lip?! I think this panel doesn't like anyone's flip...

 

[feraina]

Oh, Mirai Nagasu also had a ! for her 3F, also a first time I think! What's happening with all these girls, or is it the tech panel? That's really weird. Mirai had a mild flutz before, and now she's lipping?

All these cases of first time lippers who normally flutz. Doesn't that seem strange?

And she lost almost all value for the 2A. Downgraded and almost -3 across the board. Well, I haven't seen her skate yet (come on, load, load), but this 2A really cost her.

 

[feraina]

Poor Ashley, not only did she get -3 GOE for having a combo that's not 3-3/3-2/2-3, and -GOE for 3flz, and -GOE for the 2A, but the 3Z was downgraded. And her PCS isn't nearly as high as what she got in the GP's. I think her jumps have been steadily deteriorating over time. More and more under-rotations. It used to be more in the latter part of FS, when she's maybe a bit more tired, now it's creeping into the SP too.

 

[Trewyn]

I already knew underrotations were punished way too severely under COP but every time I read protocols my mouth just drops wide open. Ashley got 1 point for her triple lutz... Ouch. 2.90 for her combination.. Weird.. wasn't she attempting a triple flip-triple loop? And instead of the loop she tacked on a single toe? I've never seen her pop jumps before, she must have been nervous, confused and a whole lot of other things... I do hope she skates well tonight... If she has a good skate, I'm sure a medal is hers, despite the low SP score. But she was missed at practice yesterday and I sure hope she isn't thinking about withdrawing . She should look at Johnny Weir, Stephen Carrierre and even Carolina Kostner; they also had disastrous SP scores, but they will fight for it, and she can too!!

 

[OnTheEdge]

Wow, who can hold on, who can fight back, and who can just do the best they can with what they have...? Who will win the title and will they go to Worlds? Is this actually turning into a skating event?

Tune in tonight to see...I know I'm "OnTheEdge" of my seat!!!

 

[PolymerBob]

Skate Order is up on icenetwork.
A special shout out to the two Boston girls for placing 4th and 5th.

And 3rd. Caroline was born in Boston.

 

[museksk8r]

She has a 5 point lead... that is big. Even with a few mistakes she can still win. Even if she places 2nd, she still makes the world team.

That's not very big at all. A fall on 1 3loop and she's dead even with Rachael Flatt. Czisny's LP this season had 5 triples at both Skate Canada and Cup of Russia. Alissa had 2 triples downgraded at Cup of Russia, so only 3 triples completed there. On the other hand, Rachael plans 7 triples for her LP. Flatt has a big edge in technical difficulty over Czisny. Czisny has the big edge in spins, spiral sequences, choreography, and musical interpretation. What I'm getting at is that Alissa has to go clean because Rachael is capable of making up that minor lead that Czisny has on her if Flatt is her usual consistent self.

http://www.isufs.org/results/gpcan08/gpcan08_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf

http://static.sportresult.com/federations/isu-results/events/gprus08/gprus08_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf

 

[demarinis5]

And 3rd. Caroline was born in Boston.

Oh yeah, I did forget that she was born a Boston girl, but she defected to the
other coast quite sometime ago . She is definitely a LA girl now.

 

[Mathman]

Alissa also got ! for her 3F, does she lip?! I think this panel doesn't like anyone's flip...

I believe Alissa's Lutz edge is better than her flip. She doesn't usually get called on her flip edge, though.

I see that two of the judges apparently agreed with the caller and gave Alissa -1 and -2 GOE for the element, while three disagreed and gave her +1.

Alissa had all +GOEs,...

On her combination spin her GOEs ranged from -3 to +2. (?) I wonder if some judges thought she didn't hold a position long enough or something?

 

[HCOSurfer]

I wonder if some judges thought she didn't hold a position long enough or something?

As I recall, her camel position in her combination spin wasn't held for very long, it was only held for a few rotations.

 

[Mathman]

^ Thanks. Looking at the protocols (thanks for the lnk, Feraina), the judges loved them some Alissa! Here are the total GOEs:

Czisny 5.58
Flatt 1.92
Zhang 1.73
Rizo 0.15
Hacker 2.92
Nagasu 0.16
Musademba 0.69
Forte 1.59 (no negative GOEs)
Diggs -1.46
Liang 2.40
Gilles -2.68
Wagner -2.58

 

[Nigel]

Alissa having to wait around all nervous before skating dead last doesn't bode well. While she is jumping better this season, she still doesn't jump great, and nerves only add to the problems. But hey, maybe she'll surprise us.

Alyssa has struggled with jumps this year as demonstrated at CoR. Her team has also stated that this is a multi-year process to help her correct her jumps and consistency does not come over night.

 

[ANW]

Alissa Czisny's SP, poor video quality but beautiful skating
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci_Y3gNZ2Vs

 

[hrmsk8ngnutt]

NBC is showing Alissa SP right now. This is the definition of ladies skating.