Caroline Zhang's 2009-10 season | Page 51 | Golden Skate

Caroline Zhang's 2009-10 season

skfan

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
looks like the skirt in the black outfit is a fake denim skirt complete with fake belt and back pockets. doesn't bring to my mind that gypsy music short. gimme back my baby ballerina! ^_^

from afar mayyyybe kwan-like. when i clicked on the pictures to make them bigger, though, the resemblance evaporated. that's fine though. caroline has a good mix of some of michelle's and sasha's finer traits, and her own inimitable fiery core.
 
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vlaurend

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 14, 2008
Awesome pics of everybody! Thanks so much for posting. Tanith and Ben look gorgeous. Sasha has brought back the Malaguena dress...now the programs will really look similar.

As for the Caroline/Michelle similarities just look at that
http://photography.ice-dance.com/2009SkateForTheHeart/9115-CZ-KW.jpg.php

http://www.dallasnews.com/img/photo/01-03/T_NS_18Girls240832.JPG

I noticed Sasha wore her pale yellow Romeo & Juliet dress from U.S. Nationals 2006 for one of her programs but I only saw one YouTube video so I didn't see her other dresses. Do you know which program did she wore her Malaguena dress for?
 

vlaurend

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 14, 2008
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 don't know. . . I watched her at Golden West both this year and last year and her jumps were much more solid last year. In fact, last year she skated two clean programs with the triple-triple as her opening jump (she didn't do any triple-triples this year). I'm a tiny bit worried about her this year. . .
 

feraina

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
I don't know. . . I watched her at Golden West both this year and last year and her jumps were much more solid last year. In fact, last year she skated two clean programs with the triple-triple as her opening jump (she didn't do any triple-triples this year). I'm a tiny bit worried about her this year. . .

Well, last year she had an injury after GW, and this year she had one before. We saw how fast she rebounded from SC to TEB. So hopefully we'll see something similar this year from GW to TEB.

Don't forget that Rachael's first summer comp's scores were lower than Caroline's GW scores. It's possible to improve that much that fast, especially at the start of the season when the new programs are just starting to sink in.

Okay, I can't make up my mind whether to be hopeful or keep my expectations low, so that I don't get disappointed when TEB rolls around. ;)
 

PolymerBob

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Okay, I can't make up my mind whether to be hopeful or keep my expectations low, so that I don't get disappointed when TEB rolls around. ;)

Over at FSUniverse, there were reports that four skaters had to come back out after the show to re-shoot some jumps for television. Caroline did NOT have to re-shoot hers. :biggrin:
 

Nigel

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Well, last year she had an injury after GW, and this year she had one before. We saw how fast she rebounded from SC to TEB. So hopefully we'll see something similar this year from GW to TEB.

Don't forget that Rachael's first summer comp's scores were lower than Caroline's GW scores. It's possible to improve that much that fast, especially at the start of the season when the new programs are just starting to sink in.

Okay, I can't make up my mind whether to be hopeful or keep my expectations low, so that I don't get disappointed when TEB rolls around. ;)

Flatt mentioned in an interview shortly after her first competition (in Colorado in early August) that she had been training her new programs about 3 weeks. GW was about 7 weeks into training.

So, yes, improvement is possible! ;-)
 

Andalusia

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
I don't know. . . I watched her at Golden West both this year and last year and her jumps were much more solid last year. In fact, last year she skated two clean programs with the triple-triple as her opening jump (she didn't do any triple-triples this year). I'm a tiny bit worried about her this year. . .

Yeah, I actually meant how she looked like at SC, her first GP event. I don't really remember how she did at GW last year; there weren't any vids from the event like there were this year, either. At SC, Caroline's jumps looked atrocious - the corkscrewing and mule-kicking were extreme, and that was with her coming off an injury. This year, she's recovering from an injury as well (probably an even worse one), but her jumps at GW and Skate for the Heart don't look worse than they've always been, which I think is encouraging. The jumps are still low like they always are, but the corkscrew technique seems less pronounced and the mule-kick doesn't look as high.

I wouldn't worry too much about her not doing a 3-3 at GW. It would've been silly for her to do them at such a minor event when she's had (or still has) a slightly torn ACL. In that practice vid of her SP that starrysky posted before GW, I think it was mentioned that she landed the 3F-3T, so we know she's still practicing them. I'm positive the 3-3 will be back in her competitive programmes by as soon as TEB, where she most certainly will have to come out with all guns a-blazin'.
 

efreedman

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
Height

It could be the way that Caroline is standing. She is now 5'4". and Mirai is, per her IceNetwork profile, also 5'4". Also 5'4". Alissa Cizny and YuNa Kim.
 

feraina

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
It's because Mirai has extra long limbs. Her upper torso is very short, haven't you noticed? :) Caroline is actually 1/2 inch taller than Mirai.
 

cornell08

Final Flight
Joined
May 10, 2009
I remember reading in the Orange County Register (I think) that Caroline was less concerned with height than with her legs not growing as long as she'd like. Mirai is blessed with what Charlene Wong used to say were one of her greatest assets-- long legs! I agree that Mirai's torso's short in comparison, but I also kind of find it to be very aesthetically pleasing for a female skater to have long limbs...makes lines look longer and in her case purer too since she has great posture.
 

MKFSfan

Medalist
Joined
Mar 15, 2006
It's kinda funny to me...I ride horses and when watching a clip on youtube recently, I remarked to my boyfriend Mirai would be the perfect pony rider-she's got long legs and arms and a short torso!

I agree that it can be aesthetically pleasing to watch a skater with longer limbs, especially when doing super bendy positions. I always thought the reason Sasha's beillmann isn't quite as impressive as some of her uber flexy peers is because she is tall in the torso and not long in the arm, therefore her arms can't get as extended over her head.
 

Andalusia

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Nothing new to add, but I just have a feeling Caroline is training really hard and in a more focused manner than before, what with TEB only a few weeks away and the upcoming season being such an important one.

Her Twitter and Facebook have been very quiet - I think it's likely she's preparing for this season quite militantly.

We might end up being very surprised at TEB, but I make no guarantees on that one. ;)
 
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