Ladies Free Program 19:00 pm Eastern Time Saturday, November 21 | Page 29 | Golden Skate

Ladies Free Program 19:00 pm Eastern Time Saturday, November 21

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
I actually doubt whatever Mirai did in her presentation would have significantly affected her PCS here. There is nothing she can do about judges liking Euro champ and World Silver medalist.
Wagner always skates beautifully. She has among the best choreos, programs and costumes. She also has the lines, presentation skills, and puts her heart to the programs. But she just simply doesn't get much pcs possibly due to the reputation and jumps. The same goes with Sarah Meyer.
Even though Mirai can be a great performer when she tries, I think it was fine for heri to focus on jumps here.
She just needs to keep landing those jumps and wish for a different set of judges when it really counts. It's not that she can't perform, but she can indeed be a great performer. But the priority now should be jumps. Then judges suddenly start to notice her beautiful qualities in her presentation. But not the other way around.

She was third after the short. If she had given her performance that extra something I don't think the judges could have ignored that. She would have been on the podium. However, you might be right that she needed to concentrate on her jumps. New LP and everything ... maybe it's too much for her to concentrate on everything at the same time. First fix the technical problems ... presentation comes with experience and maturity and just getting comfortable with a program.
I think Mirai sort of proved herself here a little bit. She hardly knocked it out of the park. But it seemed like in the SP she might have been a litte underscored because she was skating so early in the competition .... (even though you're not supposed to "save scores" under COP) ... then it turned out that nobody could outscore her except Alissa and Joannie. Ha! I think she should be satisfied ... I just hope SHE sees it that way.
 
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i love to skate

Medalist
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
I think they are both becoming very artistic, the judges just destroy them :scowl: Apparently they think it's more important to keep up the confidence of a 23 year old woman who's engaged to an olympic athelete and has been at the top of the sport for so long than two vulnerable teenagers who probably think awfully of themselves now.

Who exactly are you talking about here? Joannie? Well first off she isn't engaged and secondly when has she ever been on the top of the sport? She has worked her butt off and struggled through 11th, 8th, 7th, and 5th place finishes at Worlds. Don't put her down just because your favourites aren't doing as well as you would like.

Since when are the judges supposed to care for about the skaters feelings or confidence?

In one article, Mirai told a reporter that she thought skating was a burden, but only kept doing it because she wasn't very smart or pretty and wasn't good at anything else. That does not look like healthy self esteem to me, especially because the girl is beautiful and certainly seems smart in her interviews

If she said this than this is a self esteem issue that her and her family need to address. It sounds to me that Mirai really doesn't even like to skate and that her parents need to step in. It isn't the judges responsbility to worry about them.

Weren't you wanting lower age limits before? This just goes to show how vulnerable young girls can be - imagine if she was experiencing this at 13.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009

I think Mirai sort of proved herself here a little bit. She hardly knocked it out of the park. But it seemed like in the SP she might have been a litte underscored because she was skating so early in the competition .... (even though you're not supposed to "save scores" under COP) ... then it turned out that nobody could outscore her except Alissa and Joannie. Ha! I think she should be satisfied ... I just hope SHE sees it that way.


I forgot she skated so early, I think you have a point. I think it was fair that she was below Alissa and Joannie, but I don't think she deserved to be 8 points below Alissa, a couple points would have been sufficient given that they did the same jumps and Mirai has faster skating and more height in the jumps, but falls a bit short of Alissa presentation and artistry wise. If her SP had been a bit higher, with the same freeskate she would have edged out Lepisto and possibly even Alissa do win silver or bronze. I guess it doesn't matter too much though, and in the interview she at least seemed to make the best of the situation, though she was clearly upset. The nationals judges (hopefully) won't be as biased, I think she has a good shot at making the team. At this point does anyone see any contenders for the US ladies olympic team other than Rachael, Ashley, Alissa, and Mirai?
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
At this point does anyone see any contenders for the US ladies olympic team other than Rachael, Ashley, Alissa, and Mirai?
Well, I believe in miracles, so yes. (Look at my avatar.)
And I really don't see Alissa as a contender. I really hope she doesn't make the team. As pretty as her skating is, I can't stand the slowness this year. It's a big year - I want to see people fight for those medals!

Most likely it will be Rachael and Ashley, but my dream team would be Sasha and Mirai... or Ashley in place of either one.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Well, I believe in miracles, so yes. (Look at my avatar.)
And I really don't see Alissa as a contender. I really hope she doesn't make the team. As pretty as her skating is, I can't stand the slowness this year. It's a big year - I want to see people fight for those medals!

I personally don't really want Czisny on the team either but not for the same reasons. I don't want her on because she's proved time and time again she cannot handle the pressure of a Major event. If a US Lady MUST lay an egg at the Olympics let someone else get that chance...:chorus:

ETA: I should point out that I mean this with all due respect to team Czisny. If she earns top 2 at Nats fair and square I'll continue to fully support our team if they decide to send her.

Most likely it will be Rachael and Ashley...

Too soon to tell, especially with the GPF not having taken place yet (and more importantly, US Nats!) I still think the field is wide open. Flatt has the best chance, but it's far from a done deal. Depending on the night it could be either Czisny or Wagner or Nagasu that joins her. (I personally think Zhang has regressed too far to be in serious contention unless there are meltdowns from two or more of the above.) If Flatt has an off-night, she could be easily surpassed by any of the other three IF they skate to their potential.

It's tempting to look at the GP and try to make predictions based on that but it's tough. Skaters aren't looking to peak during this time and a LOT can change between now and then. Remember when Flatt/Zhang seemed like all but a sure thing? Fast forward a couple of months later to now. And then fast forward a couple of months to January...

ETA: The more I think about it, the more I hope for Wagner to make the team. But practicality beats sentimentality ANY day of the week, and when it's all said and done, I want our strongest team in Canada, whether or not it includes her.
 
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Bennett

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
I forgot she skated so early, I think you have a point. I think it was fair that she was below Alissa and Joannie, but I don't think she deserved to be 8 points below Alissa, a couple points would have been sufficient given that they did the same jumps and Mirai has faster skating and more height in the jumps, but falls a bit short of Alissa presentation and artistry wise. If her SP had been a bit higher, with the same freeskate she would have edged out Lepisto and possibly even Alissa do win silver or bronze. I guess it doesn't matter too much though, and in the interview she at least seemed to make the best of the situation, though she was clearly upset. The nationals judges (hopefully) won't be as biased, I think she has a good shot at making the team. At this point does anyone see any contenders for the US ladies olympic team other than Rachael, Ashley, Alissa, and Mirai?

I agree that the effects of her URs last season were perhaps still triggering here. I agree that skating so early perhaps affected her scores, just as Akiko being new also might have.

It seems to me that Rachael has the greatest chance and that Mirai and Ashley are even right now, with Mirai prone to UR and Ashley prone to edge calls. If both skate clean, they are better than Rachael. If both Mirai and Ashley both rotate jumps, Mirai may be better because I don't think that Ashley can fix her edge anytime soon whereas Mirai's flutz may be less serious. But point-wise, Mirai's URs are far costly than Ashley's edge calls. So perhaps Rachael and Ashley may be the ones.

Alissa is possibly the greatest if she skates clean, but this may not happen at Nationals.
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
I agree that the effects of her URs last season were perhaps still triggering here. I agree that skating so early perhaps affected her scores, just as Akiko being new also might have.

It seems to me that Rachael has the greatest chance and that Mirai and Ashley are even right now, with Mirai prone to UR and Ashley prone to edge calls. If both skate clean, they are better than Rachael. If both Mirai and Ashley both rotate jumps, Mirai may be better because I don't think that Ashley can fix her edge anytime soon whereas Mirai's flutz may be less serious. But point-wise, Mirai's URs are far costly than Ashley's edge calls. So perhaps Rachael and Ashley may be the ones.

Alissa is possibly the greatest if she skates clean, but this may not happen at Nationals.


why on Earth would you predict that?:eek:;);)


At this point does anyone see any contenders for the US ladies olympic team other than Rachael, Ashley, Alissa, and Mirai?

Nope. Although ... there's always .... nah, let just not go there.
I personally don't really want Czisny on the team either but not for the same reasons. I don't want her on because she's proved time and time again she cannot handle the pressure of a Major event. If a US Lady MUST lay an egg at the Olympics let someone else get that chance...

I just can't help it. I want it so badly for Alissa. At least with her on the team we know we'll have one American performance that won't be "meh." It'll either be an "egg" or beautiful.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Yeah, I mean I think the last time Alissa delivered two very good programs was at Skate Canada in 2005.....as much as I like her spins and spirals, it seems like her skating keeps getting slower, which makes her programs kind of boring. From what I can tell she does not skate that much faster than Caroline...If she delivers 2 good programs at Nats, then sure she should go as she'd have earned it. I don't want to see her do a repeat of last year though and do a 3 triple long program to win the title, as I don't think that's really fair given her speed and the height of her jumps, unless of course everyone else does worse. Rachael got 5th at worlds and those weren't even great performances for her. If it were to be Alissa and Mirai to go to worlds my fear is that they would finish poorly and fail to give the US that third spot again, but this is all speculation. Rachael and Ashley is a safer bet, although a Mirai or Alissa at the top of their game could do better. I'd personally pick Mirai over Alissa at this point though, unless Mirai's jumping regresses between now and nationals. I understand if people think Alissa's a better bet though
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Yeah, I mean I think the last time Alissa delivered two very good programs was at Skate Canada in 2005.....as much as I like her spins and spirals, it seems like her skating keeps getting slower, which makes her programs kind of boring. From what I can tell she does not skate that much faster than Caroline...If she delivers 2 good programs at Nats, then sure she should go as she'd have earned it. I don't want to see her do a repeat of last year though and do a 3 triple long program to win the title, as I don't think that's really fair given her speed and the height of her jumps, unless of course everyone else does worse. Rachael got 5th at worlds and those weren't even great performances for her. If it were to be Alissa and Mirai to go to worlds my fear is that they would finish poorly and fail to give the US that third spot again, but this is all speculation. Rachael and Ashley is a safer bet, although a Mirai or Alissa at the top of their game could do better. I'd personally pick Mirai over Alissa at this point though, unless Mirai's jumping regresses between now and nationals. I understand if people think Alissa's a better bet though

If you don't mind, I'm trying to be in denial about this.
 
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silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Yeah....on the upside she's prettier than ever :yes: and still has amazing flexibility, lines, spirals, spins, and expression. Plus she seems really sweet. That's a whole lot going for her :clap: , however it just might not transfer over to her potential olympics performances. There's still hope though, she's one of the best the US has right now
 
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