Ladies LP

[bekalc]

remember Shizuka wasn't in her best form until the olympics, even at japense national she wasn't doing that well. but, come olympics she brought her a game and won it.

Shiz wasn't looking this poorly though. I mean she medaled at both her events but she had to face Irina/Mao at one event and Mao/Sasha in another. She actually beat Sasha in the long program in France (barely but still) and she had the fourth highest scores (and the third highest of the eligible ladies!) that year. She was looking a LOT better than she was from the previous season and she wasn't looking completely out of it.

As for Mao hitting her jumps in practice, a lot of people were commenting on how her jumps didn't look so great in the pratice clips... sigh. It seems that Mao decided to not only fix her flutz, but changed the technique on her flip. I think it was all just way to much.

[janetfan]

Mao off the podium in this rather weak field.

Mao not making the GPF.

Mao not cracking 100 in her FS.


I don't know which is the most shocking

All of the above, all of the above.

[skate4ever]

IIRC, Mao pocketed 12.75 with a 3F+3Lo combo a couple of seasons ago.

Going for 3A is fine, I believe, because it's her signature move, she wants to do it so badly, and it looks so good when she lands it.

But why not throw in a 3-3 about half way in her LP as a back-up?
The 3F-2Lo-2Lo that she does now isn't really impressive.

Having said that, I think the most important thing about Mao is that she's not enjoying this whole thing. The heavy pressure she's experiencing is written all over her face, and it's just too much for her.

[Basics]

Well, actually.....
ITA!! (But I'm a big Ashley fan, so...)
Ashley did so good today.

Congrats, Miki, Ashley, and Alena!!

But seriously, Mao won in PCS yet again. Seriously?!

well, I'm telling you. She's got a lot of power

[janetfan]

What a jerky thing for Morozov to say. I mean it's akin to kicking a dog while they are down... (Poor Mao) It's not the way to convince the Japanese federation to let him have Mao if Miki retires next year.

Frankly I think it's too soon to count Mao out. She has four months to get things together. Maybe she will, although she definetly needs a new coaching environment.

However Mao is starting to remind me of Miki in the Torino Season. Ando had a bad season but she did regroup next year to win worlds. Hopefully she can take this time off to regroup and prepare for Japanese Nationals.

[Medusa]

This is only Ando's second GP-win in her entire career. She went from being in the second row behind Arakawa, Slutskaya and Cohen - to be in the second row behind Kim, Asada and Rochette. This might be her time to shine.

It's also interesting that she won every single Junior Grand Prix event she ever entered, she also won the bronze at the JGPF and twice the Gold.

[Spun Silver]

I knew only three of my four favorites could make the podium, and they did, but woe is me indeed for Mao.

It's hard to rejoice for Miki, Ashley and Alena when Mao is so much trouble. :banging:

(I haven't seen any of the programs yet.)

[ks777]

IIRC, Mao pocketed 12.75 with a 3F+3Lo combo a couple of seasons ago.

Going for 3A is fine, I believe, because it's her signature move, she wants to do it so badly, and it looks so good when she lands it.

But why not throw in a 3-3 about half way in her LP as a back-up?
The 3F-2Lo-2Lo that she does now isn't really impressive.

Having said that, I think the most important thing about Mao is that she's not enjoying this whole thing. The heavy pressure she's experiencing is written all over her face, and it's just too much for her.

because she can barely do a double loop now, I highly doubt that she can do a 3-3 still. She evern got her 3flip downgraded, which never happened until this season. Mao got .20 GOE on her best jump, 3loop. She used to get 1.0 or so on that jump.. She is losing her jumps, she really needs a jump coach now.

[Dodhiyel]

IRRC, Shizuka won Worlds with TT. Then Shizuka's spirit seemed to go down, she stopped doing as well in international competition, and she ended up going to Morozov about a month before the Olys, and she won that. I believe that TT concentrates on polishing the PCS, then brings up the focus on the technical level toward the biggest contests, Worlds and Olys, so that her skaters peak at just the right time. It worked beautifully for Evan Lysacek. Frank Carroll had polished his style a lot, and then TT polished it even more. While TT was working with Evan as his choreographer last season, Evan's technical skills noticeably drooped, but they were brought back again to peak level just in time for Worlds. I think this is TT's strategy, with skaters who have proven jumping ability, but need artistic/stylistic improvement. I think she has them concentrate on the PCS side of skating, and lets their TES side languish for a while, then ends up renewing the technical focus, and bringing the whole thing together at the right moment. Perhaps if Mao can stick it out for the rest of the season, trusting TT, as Evan did, she will have a surprisingly happy result. I remember seeing footage online of TT congratulating Evan after his Worlds win, and I think she was saying, basically, "I told you so" to him. He looked very happy. If the Japanese federation is not able to trust TT's game plan, then, I think, the ending may not be so happy for Mao.

[janetfan]

Lest I forget, I absolutely need to know this. What kind of chocolate did you buy?

And please, can you share it with all of us

[life684]

Shiz wasn't looking this poorly though. I mean she medaled at both her events but she had to face Irina/Mao at one event and Mao/Sasha in another. She actually beat Sasha in the long program in France (barely but still) and she had the fourth highest scores (and the third highest of the eligible ladies!) that year. She was looking a LOT better than she was from the previous season and she wasn't looking completely out of it.

As for Mao hitting her jumps in practice, a lot of people were commenting on how her jumps didn't look so great in the pratice clips... sigh. It seems that Mao decided to not only fix her flutz, but changed the technique on her flip. I think it was all just way to much.

I agree with ur statements on Shizuka but Mao still has the second best senior score. One reason we where shocked at her score at france was probably we all know she could easily score in the same range as Yuna.
Again in winning this competition Miki hasn't set a huge score, but that is the range in which she scores and further was enough to win the competition.

Most concerning part is mental toughness of mao, she seems not able to handle the pressure. Hope she learns to relax, do some yoga or something.

[Iscariot]

just watched miki andos lp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGDPyz4f2R8
is it just me in the video or she was kinda slow???

[ks777]

IRRC, Shizuka won Worlds with TT. Then Shizuka's spirit seemed to go down, she stopped doing as well in international competition, and she ended up going to Morozov about a month before the Olys, and she won that. I believe that TT concentrates on polishing the PCS, then brings up the focus on the technical level toward the biggest contests, Worlds and Olys, so that her skaters peak at just the right time. It worked beautifully for Evan Lysacek. Frank Carroll had polished his style a lot, and then TT polished it even more. While TT was working with Evan as his choreographer last season, Evan's technical skills noticeably drooped, but they were brought back again to peak level just in time for Worlds. I think this is TT's strategy, with skaters who have proven jumping ability, but need artistic/stylistic improvement. I think she has them concentrate on the PCS side of skating, and lets their TES side languish for a while, then ends up renewing the technical focus, and bringing the whole thing together at the right moment. Perhaps if Mao can stick it out for the rest of the season, trusting TT, as Evan did, she will have a surprisingly happy result. I remember seeing footage online of TT congratulating Evan after his Worlds win, and I think she was saying, basically, "I told you so" to him. He looked very happy. If the Japanese federation is not able to trust TT's game plan, then, I think, the ending may not be so happy for Mao.

actually Evan wasn't doing good with TT's choreographed programs so he had Lori Nichols change the programs for him. then it worked for him.

As for Shizuka, she was with Richard Callaghan that year until right before the worlds. It was clear to me that Callaghan should get credit for her win at worlds.

[bekalc]

IRRC, Shizuka won Worlds with TT. Then Shizuka's spirit seemed to go down, she stopped doing as well in international competition, and she ended up going to Morozov about a month before the Olys, and she won that. I believe that TT concentrates on polishing the PCS, then brings up the focus on the technical level toward the biggest contests, Worlds and Olys, so that her skaters peak at just the right time. It worked beautifully for Evan Lysacek. Frank Carroll had polished his style a lot, and then TT polished it even more. While TT was working with Evan as his choreographer last season, Evan's technical skills noticeably drooped, but they were brought back again to peak level just in time for Worlds. I think this is TT's strategy, with skaters who have proven jumping ability, but need artistic/stylistic improvement. I think she has them concentrate on the PCS side of skating, and lets their TES side languish for a while, then ends up renewing the technical focus, and bringing the whole thing together at the right moment. Perhaps if Mao can stick it out for the rest of the season, trusting TT, as Evan did, she will have a surprisingly happy result. I remember seeing footage online of TT congratulating Evan after his Worlds win, and I think she was saying, basically, "I told you so" to him. He looked very happy. If the Japanese federation is not able to trust TT's game plan, then, I think, the ending may not be so happy for Mao.

Shizuka did not really win Worlds under Tarasova. She was trained under Richard Callahan up until two weeks or so before Worlds. So Richard C deserves a HECK of a lot of credit for Shizuka's Worlds win.

With Tarasova, I believe Shizuka left her a lot sooner than just a month and while Shizuka was looking better it was clear her confidence needed boasting. Say what you will about Nicolai but he helped her a lot by making everything her programs etc easier.

And while peaking is Tarasova's game plan, I don't think her game plan is to see her skaters having disasterous skates right before the Olympics either. I mean Illia had a bit of a disasterous season prior to his Olympic seasno. But he was looking incredibly strong in the Olympic season. So was Yagudin. Yagudin's win against Plushenko at the GPF helped his confidence a LOT.

[skate4ever]

Does anybody know how time violation works?
Is it the time between the skater comes into the rink and steps out of it,
or the duration of the performance (music)?

Sorry guys, too lazy to read the rule book.