Caroline Zhang's 2009-10 season

[R.D.]

Lovely pics of Mirai, Caroline, and the rest of the cast in rehearsal for Skate for the Heart:

http://www.thaichicagoland.com/2009/09/press-coverage-on-olympic-figure.html

at putting Caroline's picture under Mirai's name. Caroline looks slightly taller than Mirai in that first pic of them together, but they both just look so tall and lanky now! If Michelle was in the pics with them, I'd have died and gone to skating heaven, but she would've looked shorter than Mirai and Caroline.

And that huge black overcoat Mirai has on in the 8th pic does make her look strange.

Thanks for sharing the pics!

(FYI- this is the poster formerly known as Red Dog.)

 

[feraina]

Caroline and Mirai look closer than ever. They are so cute together. I wonder if they will put that pairs spin/spiral into the show.

 

[PolymerBob]

All the pictures look nice. They all look like they are having fun when they are not trying to defeat each other.

 

[cornell08]

Wow, Caroline and Mirai really do look adorable together!

And not to dwell on the food topic, but I think in this case, its more of a "Hmmm, shouldn't the slowest ladies skater try to brainstorm foods that wouldn't weigh her down but still give her lots of energy so she could potentially skate faster than the zamboni?!"

 

[Tinymavy15]

Wow these are great pics. Thanks so much for posting.
I know this is Caroline's thread...but wow does Tanith look hot. I love that she let her hair grow back a little. Gorgeous.

 

[feraina]

Someone at FSU has posted that Caroline's speed seems much improved, she had some cool variations on her spins and spirals in the second number, and her performances were a pleasant surprise all evening. Sounds great!

This gives me hope for her very-soon TEB assignment!

 

[PolymerBob]

Yes, I saw that. It looks like Caroline is recovering from her knee injury. She will need a bronze or better at TEB to have any chance of making the final. I hope to see some videos.

The same poster said Sasha was struggling. :disapp:

EDIT :

Some videos are starting to pop up on YouTube. In this clip, the focus is on Charice singing "In This Song". You see a skater at 0:46, 2:11 and 3:45 who I believe is Caroline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGstEvkN0jA

The following clip is the same song from a wider angle. The quality is poor, but at 0:51 and 2:04 you see the skater, whoever she is, tearing over the ice like Apolo Ohno. Follow the spotlights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibFuwRgvke8

Another EDIT : The skater IS Caroline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DK-6_jgybU

 

[lakeshore]

Another EDIT : The skater IS Caroline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DK-6_jgybU

Don't see much improvement here. She's still slow, the jumps were wonky, and the choreography, the presentation, and the style were bland.

 

[feraina]

Don't see much improvement here. She's still slow, the jumps were wonky, and the choreography, the presentation, and the style were bland.

I don't know how you can tell, to me it's all a blurry blob, and often not even in the frame!

I can't wait to see a high quality shoot of the whole program. But we'll see her soon enough in TEB. Can't wait!

 

[PolymerBob]

There are a couple of times in this video where you can follow the spotlights even though you can't see Caroline directly. She seems to be moving quickly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibFuwRgvke8

 

[fliptart]

OMG! Fellow Filipino Charice singing as Caroline skates!!!!! This is soooo heaven...

 

[cornell08]

Regardless whether she actually skated faster or not, I think this just goes to show how skating to faster music (fastest for her, I think...if we don't count "Walking on Sunshine") helps create the illusion of speed. I really wish she'd change her LP to something faster but not too fast for her, Passepied by Debussy perhaps?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBqbTix9Sac

...

On second thought, way too fast...but I love the interlude at 1:35!

 

[feraina]

Here's another video of her skating to Charice's song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozViA2FMq14

She really does look slow in this video, and... don't shoot me, but it looks like puberty is catching up with her, and she might get hit with a lot of under-rotation calls this season. Those jumps are lower than ever, especially with her height. :no:

 

[PolymerBob]

It's hard to tell. The camera jumps more than Caroline does.

 

[Oldies]

I think the video stretches everything out a little, and personally I feel like her skating is a lot faster than last year.

 

[mskater93]

Interesting because she seemed about the same to me, but the camera work was not very good

 

[feraina]

Some graat photos from the show:
http://photography.ice-dance.com/2009SkateForTheHeart/

Caroline definitely looks like she's emoting more and relating to the audience more than she has in the past. I think in general she's also skating like she cares about the choreography and the audience more. I think that's really good news for her, and could really increase her PCS. She will never be a speed skater on ice like Carolina Kostner or Mirai Nagasu, but she can definitely aim to become an emotive, convincing artist like Sasha and Alissa, neither of whom are fast, especially at the age where Caroline is now (16).

I actually think both of her programs this year have a lot of potential. I like the opening sequences of the nutcracker, and even though it's slow lyrical music, I like it a lot better than Ave Maria. At least it has highs and lows, and I can see that she's trying to bring a lot more interpretation and choreography out of the skating than she ever did with Ave Maria. Maybe by the end of the season, both programs will become her best programs yet.

 

[Andalusia]

Some grant photos from the show:
http://photography.ice-dance.com/2009SkateForTheHeart/

Caroline definitely looks like she's emoting more and relating to the audience more than she has in the past.

Thanks for the pics, feraina.

I agree - in the photos of her in the black outfit, the expression level is almost Kwan-like. Even at Golden West, she looked a lot more expressive during the footwork in the SP than she ever was before.

Her skating was also worrisome at the start of last season, when her jumps looked downright awful. In fact, I think they're looking better now than they did then. We can expect how she'll look like later on in the season based on her history; I just hope peaking at the wrong time won't cause her to be left off the Olympic team. Based on her recent comments, she and her coach are working to address the peaking problem, so that's reassuring.

I still can't get over how big Caroline looks as compared to the little pixie she was in 2007 - she's almost certainly taller than Mirai, Michelle, and Sasha now.

 

[feraina]

Oh, yeah, I really like her new dresses. The black and white is really nice on her! She looks very beautiful and elegant and mature in it. Could it be her new SP dress? It would be appropriate.

I wish we could see more of the last white sparkly dress she had on, too; that looks new too.

 

[PolymerBob]

Her skating was also worrisome at the start of last season, when her jumps looked downright awful. In fact, I think they're looking better now than they did then. We can expect how she'll look like later on in the season based on her history; I just hope peaking at the wrong time won't cause her to be left off the Olympic team. Based on her recent comments, she and her coach are working to address the peaking problem, so that's reassuring.

I still can't get over how big Caroline looks as compared to the little pixie she was in 2007 - she's almost certainly taller than Mirai, Michelle, and Sasha now.

Excellent pictures. I think Caroline is starting to show more emotion than last season. She also seems to be getting more muscular.

And yes, there can be no peaking this season. She has to do well in both of her Grand Prix events to get to the Final, then do well at the Final, then do well at Nationals to assure herself of a spot on the Olympic team. Warm up events are over. Every event this season is important.