One point about Sasha's LP: She had four TAT versions of "Swan Lake" for the GP series and final. IMO, the version for Trophee Lalique was by far the best. Serpentine FW, change-edge spiral (Level 3), no mistakes except for almost a hand down on the 2Axel. Then there was the RW watered-down TAT for Nats, followed by the completely reworked RW version for Worlds. That's six different versions of "Swan Lake." True, in the GP series the structure was basically the same but with added difficulty. But RW's World's version was essentially a whole new program. Different music, some of the same moves but a lot of things changed, which affect muscle memory--and also affect how the program would be judgdd under the COP. What I thought RW helped Sasha do was improve her jumps--have never seen them look better technically. She flubbed two in the free skate, but she landed everything else with a solidity of technique I've never seen in Sasha before. But there was not the fw into the jumps that TAT had.
Basically, to speculate on how Sasha would do under the COP, we have to differentiate between which version of "SL" she did. During the GP series, even though there were changes in difficulty, Sasha was about 20 points (don't quote me, too late t check) ahead of the second place finisher, Shizuka, in at least two of the competitions with TAT's "SL." TAT's "SL" was carefully designed to milk every point out of the COP. RW's "SL" was designed (a) for the OBO system and (b) to, IMO, say "Sasha is MY skater"--you know how male wolves, dogs, cats, and certain other mammals do when they lift a leg to, ahem, "mark their territory." If Sasha won the gold, NO WAY did RW want her winning it with TAT's choreography. Ironically, I think that decision may have cost Sasha the gold.
So if we're talking COP, I'd say Sasha's GP "SL" choreographed by TAT has proven that, even if skated with a couple of mistakes, she was way ahead of everybody else. OTOH, the judges were not very familiar with the COP, so I think there was some general overmarking on the component scores. If we're talking about RW's World's "SL," which was meant for the OBO system, then we have a weak program no matter how well Sasha skated it. By all accounts I've heard, Sasha skated very well in the QR. Yet in a week during which 6.0s were handed out like advertising flyers in Las Vegas, Sasha did not get a single 6. for her QR performance.
It's the skater's performance AND the choreography. Although a great performance can make up for rather empty choreography, I skater can only do so much. Michelle got a unanimous row of 6.0s for "Lyra Angelica"at Nats and had people all over the arena, including some judges, in tears. At Nagano, from those who saw it live, it was flat and the choreography was not enough to hold it up. I know she was coming off the fractured toe and this is nothing against Michelle since she still skated a mistake-free program; my point is just that for a high COP value, you've got to have good choreography AND a good-great performance.
I too wil be very curious to see how Shizuka does with TAT's choreography. I'm curious about TAT too. Now that she has her World ladies singles gold medalist, will she relax a bit or will she put everything she's got into getting Shizza the Olympic gold--and beating that naughty Sasha as a bonus, lol? Hard to tell. I hope TAT goes all out. I'd love to see Shizuka blossom into the truly amazing skater I think she can be. Don't get me wrong, she was great at Worlds, but she could be even better.
In sum, when talking COP, keep in mind major changes to the choreography. I know it took me a while to train my eye to see FW patterns and other difficult entrances into jumps, but man, do they ever rack up the points. TAT's "SL" was chuggy-jam with that kind of stuff. RW's had none of it and I think the judges, having had experience with the COP, noticed. BTW, this goes for Michelle's "Tosca" too. If she'd skated clean, she might have won or at least won second at Worlds under OBO. But under the COP, I think "Tosca" would have a TSS of about 115-120. I think Sasha had the highest during the GP series with three TSS of127, not counting the tenths, at SA, SC, and TL. I can't recall what Shizuka got at the GPF; my GP notes are on my other computer, which, ironically, is broken, lol.
There's something to think about. What if a computer breaks during a competition? I guess they'd go with one of the pretend judges. But what if they all went out? OMG, it's too horrible to think about
Rgirl
