Ladies LP

[jovani2293]

I think this is the 5th year in a row where the reigning world champ didn't make the podium:

2005 - Shizuka placed 9th
2006 - Irina wasn't there
2007 - Kimmie placed 4th
2008 - Miki withdrew
2009 - Mao placed 4th

Nice to know this.
This is not good for Yuna Kim that all.

[shallwedansu]

I just realized Yu-Na and Mao could compete against each other in the grand prix before the GPF, assuming they both make the finals. And Miki won't have to compete against Yu-Na like she had to do twice this season .

[jovani2293]

:chorus:

I don't think Patrick would be really really indignant over such a thing, to the extent of Joubert ("But she can't do a quad!"), but it would bug him and stoke his fire a bit more, I bet. And he'd probably say so to the media, with a bit of a chuckle!

I would rather like to see Joubert vs. Ando, with quads from both ;-)

That want be so much fun to watch.

[figuristka]

It is really unrealistic to compare Yu-na's score with men's. For her to become even comparable to male skaters, she MUST have triple axel at least. With her program, she will never even considered top 10 among male skaters.

Mao would be competitive then

[kyla2]

I think Kostner has been held up by judges for so long that she hasn't felt pushed. I believe that's why she is so inconsistent and lackluster. Her speed has also given her props that weren't warranted. I think a coaching change is useless. It is just too late. She is no Miki Ando that's for sure. I am sorry if this sounds harsh but I think she has gotten away with too much for too long. I was thrilled that Lepisto won Europeans because she is much more beautiful to watch on the ice.

[Mathman]

Pinnacle: Yu-Na Kim's Short Program Performance to 'Danse Macabre'. Forever remembered as one of the Greatest Performance of ALL time.

Major disaster: Golden Skate Forum crashed right after Yu-Na's LP performance! Fan's enthusiasm has outpaced technology. Figure skating still has hope.

Major distraction: NBC 's incessable shouting and screaming commentary during figure skating performance. figure skating should not be commented like a football game. That's why figure skating has MUSIC in the background.

Major regret: Tomas Vernier's LP performance. He could have been the gold medalist, had he finished it off the way he started it. It was so close, yet so far away.

Four stars!

[gio]

My congratulations to Yu Na Kim, who was brilliant. I really enjoyed her program as well as Joannie, Miki and Mao.
Congrats also to Miki and Joannie for their medals.

[Tinymavy15]

I think Kostner has been held up by judges for so long that she hasn't felt pushed. I believe that's why she is so inconsistent and lackluster. Her speed has also given her props that weren't warranted. I think a coaching change is useless. It is just too late. She is no Miki Ando that's for sure. I am sorry if this sounds harsh but I think she has gotten away with too much for too long. I was thrilled that Lepisto won Europeans because she is much more beautiful to watch on the ice.

I kind of agree. But also i think it was just a bad week/day for her. She landed nothing but singles in the warmup and seemed genuiinely heartbroken that her LP went the way it did. I agree that she needs to imporve some areas such as spins and chreography if she wants to keep the scores she has gotten in the past.

[PROKOFIEV]

Rachael has been the US's top international performer this year, with the only silver medal in the GP. She was not destined to medal this year because it was her first year at Worlds, and she wasn't going to get the PCS scores that more experienced skaters like Lepisto get, even though she outskated Lepisto technically. But becoming a seeded skater in the GP will earn her more respect from the ISU judges next year, and if she can perfect her 3/3s (and not get her final spin invalidated), she could be looking at a score in the 120s next season.

She got 113.11 on her FS, having lost 3 points on the final spin and 5 points on her 3F+2T being downgraded to 3F+1T. Remove those mistakes and add in another 2-3 points on her PCS score, and she definitely could challenge for a medal.

I agree with you. I am really happy for Rachael this year. She is going to improve a lot more next season and she could become a serious medal contender. With Caroline and Mirai, I am really confident that American ladies are going to be strong again,maybe not 2010( well, I have not lost a hope yet,though), but for sure 2014. They are only 16years old. It is going to be exciting!!! I can not think of any countries right now which have this many promising young skaters.

[ks777]

I soooo called it in the SP thread. I said Miki would be the dark horse. I saw so much determination in Miki during her SP and I had a feeling it was going to happen again last night and it did! Miki's the comeback girl!

Did you see the Real predection thread? I got the top 4 right!

[PROKOFIEV]

Did you see the Real predection thread? I got the top 4 right!

KS777, Good Job!!!! You must have a crystal ball!!

[wonderlen3000]

I think this is the 5th year in a row where the reigning world champ didn't make the podium:

2005 - Shizuka placed 9th
2006 - Irina wasn't there
2007 - Kimmie placed 4th
2008 - Miki withdrew
2009 - Mao placed 4th

I was thinking the same thing. Some kind of strange pattern going on. I bet Yuna win not go to 2010 world for sure regardless of if she win the gold or not.

[Daniel5555]

Just few words...
I'm really happy for Yuna Kim. Her performance was amazing and I think she fully deserved the score that she got. Maybe the score is a little bit higher than it should usually be, but I got the impression that judges were generous to everyone, so it's fairly.
When she cried while staying at the podium... that was the most touching moment I have ever seen. I'm sure, everything will be all right for her and we'll see even more awesomeness from her in the future.

Sadly, Mao is off the podium. Everyone was like it's "Yuna vs Mao" battle, which it never have been, because they are not enemies at all and there were a lot of other great skaters besides Yuna and Mao, like Miki Ando, Joannie, etc. Actually, I'm not really surprised that Miki is 3rd.

It looks like next season will be very interesting. I'm sure that Yuna will show something amazing, but Mao will return too, and she'll be stronger... and others... really you never know what will come, so I'm expecting some really interesting events in the future. I'll be looking forward to them.

[Kissx3]

Congratulations to Flatt and Leonova for rocking their first Worlds. Leonova has got to be a favorite for the European title next year at this point.

I love Alissa and all, but even though we can't say for sure, it does seem more likely that Zhang would've secured three spots, especially coming off of her excellent 4CC performance. I didn't think it was really a possibility at all coming into this but Rachel really proved me wrong.

And what was up with Carolina's PCs? Yeah, I know she fell to 12th (15th in the LP!) but seriously that was the worst skate by a top level competitor all season long. That would've been a bad skate at the junior level. Mid 7s? One judge giving her high 8s? Really?

[wonderlen3000]

I just realized Yu-Na and Mao could compete against each other in the grand prix before the GPF, assuming they both make the finals. And Miki won't have to compete against Yu-Na like she had to do twice this season .

There is a 20% chance that Mao will have to compete against Yuna before final. Since Miki is the Bronze medalist, Japan will sure select her as one the top three seeded skater and Mao will sure to be selected as one of the skater from 4-6 place finisher. Mao has 40% each to compete against either Yuna or Rochett as well.

My prediction since this year GP series will be in reverse order starting from NHK to SA.

NHK - Miki, Asada,
COR - Rochett, Lepisto
TEB - Miki, Lepisto
COC - Kim, Asada or Flatt?
SC - Rochett, Asada or Flatt?
SA - Kim, Flatt