Ladies SP - 3:55 am Eastern Time Friday

[museksk8r]

I think Rochette's result is a consequence of being so wishy-washy about going or not going for a 3Lutz+3toe combination in the SP. It's so easy for her in practice and warm-ups where she lands them all the time, but when it comes to do or die time under pressure, she freezes up, becomes too cautious, and makes costly mistakes like today in the SP. I think she needs to make the final decision to either commit to the 3+3 or to just forget it and do 3+2 in the short. This performance for her brings flashbacks to her unfortunate SP at the GPF last season. She's A LOT better than that! I really hope she shows it in the LP!

[janetfan]

Same here. Well, so surprised to see the reults.
What happend to Joannie and Rachael?!
Are they unfortunately, in a jet-lag or not in shape?

Mira's SP is wonderful. Her spin and spiral is superb!!!!
Does she earn lots of GOE?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uZ9wDtkfNM

Mirai skated the best and had lowest PC. Another strange case of CoP scoring. If Mirai skates even better in her LP will her PC be adjusted downward to match her good skating

[Spun Silver]

I'm so delighted for Mirai. That's what audiences people want to see when they watch ladies' figure skating: youth, beauty, speed, amazing feats (I too loved her spins and spirals), effervescence, charm -- she has IT. I pray she makes it to the Olympics. I don't know if she's tough enough but as far as her talent and personality go, a lot of people will turn on their TVs to watch her, IMO.

Nice interview -- what is Frank Carroll afraid of?? I'm glad he's working out for her. He's a regular champion factory.

"I think my coach is genius, who give my a lot of support, though some times he's just scared," she added. "And I'll just focus on my performing."

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...t_12362509.htm

[jeff goldblum]

I can't say how pleased and surprised I am to see the results this morning. I had a little knot in my stomach going to bed last night. I really expected Mirai to end up maybe third or fourth, but this is wonderful. I think Jenny Kirk was right on in her blog when she predicted Mirai could stage an upset. Of course we still have another whole program, but this should give her confidence. I hope she'll keep the "demons" out of her head for the long program so she doesn't succumb to the pressure.

Now, after watching the short on youtube, I'd say all of her jumps looked nice and clean to me, and she has one of the biggest double axels of any of the ladies. I think some observers think clean jumping should always resemble something like what Krisztina Czako used to do. For those who don't remember or don't know her, she had a great season in 1997. Her jumps usually completed rotation several inches off the ice and were very impressive. This is great, but not everyone jumps this way. Reaching the ice with the toe-pick at one-quarter turn shy of the rotation is totally normal and acceptable. Of course the former technique should garner major positive GOEs and that's why we have that built into the system. It seems like Mirai is jumping much cleaner than last season, and while it would be nice if she could recover a little more of the lift she had in '08, I think she'll do fine this year if she can keep this up.

On the other hand, I am surprised to see that her PCS were so low. I agree she has a ways to go in this department, but this program had a lot more enthusiasm than the version she skated a couple months ago at Golden West. I know judging doesn't translate competition to competition, and especially not locally to internationally, but I did think she deserved a bit higher. I also want to throw out that it is good she and her coach and choreographer made some changes to the program. I hope the long program will show as much or more modification from the last time we saw it.

Best of luck in the LP!

[SerpentineSteps]

Mirai skated the best and had lowest PC. Another strange case of CoP scoring. If Mirai skates even better in her LP will her PC be adjusted downward to match her good skating

She wasn't in the final flight, which is probably why her PCS are low.

[i love to skate]

Well this was not what I was expecting when I woke up this morning! After reading through the comments it sounds like Joannie was flat out pissed off at herself. Good. I am expecting a great performance of her long program tomorrow! Hopefully she can pull up in the standings.

[bekalc]

I think Rochette's result is a consequence of being so wishy-washy about going or not going for a 3Lutz+3toe combination in the SP. It's so easy for her in practice and warm-ups where she lands them all the time, but when it comes to do or die time under pressure, she freezes up, becomes too cautious, and makes costly mistakes like today in the SP. I think she needs to make the final decision to either commit to the 3+3 or to just forget it and do 3+2 in the short. This performance for her brings flashbacks to her unfortunate SP at the GPF last season. She's A LOT better than that! I really hope she shows it in the LP!

Yeah. That's the thing it's a lot easier to do a big jump like a (3axel Mao) or big time 3/3 in practice then it is in competition. Joannie's been trying it for a couple of years now, and she's never managed to do it in the short. Which is why I don't really believe she'll truly attempt it at the Olympics in the short program.

Frankly i think she'd be better of trying a combination a couple of times in the long program and then after its consistent putting it in the short.

[McWicked]

Mirai skated the best and had lowest PC. Another strange case of CoP scoring. If Mirai skates even better in her LP will her PC be adjusted downward to match her good skating

YES!!! This' why I always liked better Mirai than Zhang!!!

[DarkestMoon]

Wow, what a turnaround for Mirai from last season. She finally move on from her cutesy style. She improved her speed and I suspect that she may skate even faster in the future. However, she may have been nailed for her lip and hopefully she will get that fixed. The judges may have given her low pcs because they were not sure how she would perform. With time her pcs would increase if she continues to deliver strong clean performances.

I am surprised that Joannie didn't make the final flight. I thought her plan was to place the 3-3 in the lp according to an interview. However, it is better for her to try the 3-3 now then having to try it at the Olympics.

[janetfan]

Wow, what a turnaround for Mirai from last season. She finally move on from her cutesy style. She improved her speed and I suspect that she may skate even faster in the future. However, she may have been nailed for her lip and hopefully she will get that fixed. The judges may have given her low pcs because they were not sure how she would perform. With time her pcs would increase if she continues to deliver strong clean performances.
I think Mirai was undermarked by a few points

.

Geez, wasn't the point of CoP to just score what you see on the ice and that younger skaters and skaters in the lower bracket would be treated with some semblance of fairness?
This scoring system appears if anything to be even more reputation based than 6.0.

Mao can skate miserably and get highest pcs and Mirai can skate very well and get lowest pcs.

Mirai may still be a work in progress but her skating appears to be much more polished than what I saw from Alena last week.
Not to mention Mirai's posture and speed are good.

[HCOSurfer]

I can't describe how happy I am about the results. MIRAI , I knew she'd make it to the top one day. Let's just hope she can have a decent free skate so she can clinch the gold.

[janetfan]

I can't describe how happy I am about the results. MIRAI , I knew she'd make it to the top one day. Let's just hope she can have a decent free skate so she can clinch the gold.

Yes, that would be a great start for Mirai!
Hope she has a bit of the killer instinct in her and skates clean tomorrow.

[cornell08]

Its cute how the Chinese commentators seem to really like Mirai.

[aunm88]

I'm so happy for Mirai! That was a really nice program from her. Although...doesn't anyone find that weird squatting thing she does in the middle of her footwork kind of...unattractive? It's around the 3min mark in the youtube link posted earlier. Aside from that though, I liked that!

[cornell08]

Yeah its unattractive and awkward looking-- you get a clearer view of it from her Golden West performance.