Yuna Kim | Page 277 | Golden Skate

Yuna Kim

Joined
Dec 9, 2017
Maybe the SS mark is influenced by what the judges prefer, yes. Ideally the other performances shouldn't affect anything, but undoubtedly they do.

If you didn't like the GPF SP (I liked the timing of her spins most there), maybe CoR? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUvu4rk_sNw

I think it was the only season she attempted and landed 7 triples in one of her LP showings? That should count. :p https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AESWt2lgB8w (Also in CoR!)

(David Wilson, y u made Miss Saigon :palmf:)
 

Izabela

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Maybe the SS mark is influenced by what the judges prefer, yes. Ideally the other performances shouldn't affect anything, but undoubtedly they do.

If you didn't like the GPF SP (I liked the timing of her spins most there), maybe CoR? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUvu4rk_sNw

I think it was the only season she attempted and landed 7 triples in one of her LP showings? That should count. :p https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AESWt2lgB8w (Also in CoR!)

(David Wilson, y u made Miss Saigon :palmf:)

I was thinking between GPF and CoC but I haven't really remembered how she did in CoR, I'm going to check them all.

Despite its technical difficulty, I really can't warm up to Miss Saigon. The music cuts don't have the highs and lows that I usually associate with Yuna's skating, and this is probably the only LP of hers where I am so painfully conscious of the time duration.
 
Joined
Dec 9, 2017
Miss Saigon is just really flat. She acknowledges music cues very, very superficially. I think you nailed it with the music cut criticism. And I agree about the duration part, I just kept clicking through that video to make sure that was the one with the 7 triples, instead of actually watching it. (I also straight up dislike that music, with the beginning somehow opening up into that piano section... Nagasu did the same this season, and somehow had an even worse routine!)
 

Izabela

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Ok, so here's my scoring of Miss Saigon. In retrospect I should not have done this in my sleepless state and a body that only functions now because of caffeine. But again, I really, really, really don't like Miss Saigon. I'm sorry Yuna I love you so much but I can't really like this program.

Yu-Na Kim
Free Skate - Miss Saigon

3F-3T / +1.5 / 10.65 - Again, very good speed, height and distance. But her landing on the 3T is also not completely secured, and there's more visible effort to control her landing. She also lost her speed on landing and her effort to gain more speed on exit is more visible.
2A / +0.5 / 4.05 - Definitely not her best 2A. No difficult entry going into the jump plus the ice spray on her landing would make it difficult to justify a higher GOE here.
FSSp4 /+1 / 4.00 - Although I don't think there's a considerable difference in speed compared to her SP, this spin works better here. Again, strong hold on the position and less travel. She also hit the notes for the most part, and the placement look more natural compared to her SP. Although I wished she waited a little longer to execute her flying camel to match the shift in the rhythm of the music rather than seeing her already spinning when the shift happened.
3Lz-2T-2Lo / +1 / 9.00 - I'm giving this a +1 mostly because this is a difficult combo. I'm actually impressed that she still has a speed enough to go for the 2Lo but that landing takes away an otherwise higher GOE. But +0.5 seemed more appropriate here? On the other hand this jump was so timed in to the music, so maybe +0.5/+1.5 range is appropriate depending on your mileage?
2A-3T / +0.5 / 10.34 - This is not her best showing of this combo, and from what I saw she had a sharp landing on both her 2A and 3T.
FCCoSp4 / +0.5 / 4.0 - She had less control on her position and traveled more, but again the placement of this spin looks more natural. Could have been faster and more dynamic if she had better control on the spin. Nicely done exit though.
1Lz / -1.0 / 0.5 - I got to give her negative GOE here because she planned a triple, but it was still a nicely looking 1Lz!
3S / -1.0 / 3.7 - She really struggles with her Salchow and not her best jump. She improved on in later in her career but still her weakest jump IMO.
CoSp3 /+1/ 3.0 - She had a change of rhythm here and despite the music, this spin looks more dynamic.
StSq3 /+1.0 / 3.8 - I can also give this a +.5 honestly. I know there's a reason why I don't like this program: Yuna kept missing her music cue and in this step sequence, although choreographically it is nicely structured, she had turns and movements that visibly lagged behind the notes. She is also slower and I don't think it's because it has to do with following the rise and fall of the music, but because of her stamina. I really, really feel sad that she is injured in 2007 and 2008, and although I can't put it in the score, I admire her for her great effort.
2A / +1 / 4.3
CCoSp4 / +0.5 / 4.0 - Again, could have been faster and she had more travel here. I think I'm too stingy on her spins?

TES: 61.34

SS - 7.5 - She had good use of deep edges, steps and turns here (particularly in the beginning with her variation of turns and spread eagle but sadly as the program went on she exhibited less and less steps and turns). It's also difficult to determine balance, rhythmic knee action and precision of foot placement here because she's lacking varied movements in between her elements. Her speed is still relatively better compared to her competitors but in terms of flow I am considering all her landings on her jumps, and as far as I can tell nothing is smoothly landed.
TR - 7.00 - This maybe the harshest thing I will say to Yuna but in the middle and end of the program I thought she was just gliding around. Again, this program started so great with the varied turns and movements but I guess they are preserving her stamina for her jumps.
PE - 7.00 - This is by far her most forgettable program. Nothing in this program stands out and it's a shame because it's a Miss Saigon and could have easily been performed honestly. I blame this more on the music cuts and the way they really tried to conserve her energy. She is also not engaging here.
CO - 7.25 - After her 3F-3T combo, this choreography went downhill (LOL). Seriously though, I think they purposely emptied the middle of this program for Yuna's sake, but for me the only reason why there's a sense of unity in this program is that it's flat to begin with. Although I will have to commend the choreography (despite the "watering down" of movements?) for its phrase and form.
IN - 7.25 - Yuna, who has a great feel to the music, just kept missing her music cues. She missed her timing in her arm movement around the beginning part of the program, she missed her timing in her spiral sequence (she entered her spiral sequence too early), she missed several notes in her step sequence (she was lagging behind). It was also bland interpretation of Miss Saigon, and as I kept saying I blame the awful music cuts here!

PCS - 57.60

Can anyone change my mind here? :drama:
 
Joined
Dec 9, 2017
Oh Lord ...
...
... ...
... ... ...

... I agree. :confused2:

:shame:

(Where's her ChSq1 though? She can still crack 120!!)

Danse Macabre is nice! :slink:

(But I'm saddled with Scheherezade, too :drama:)
 

Izabela

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
I think Danse Macabre and Scheherazade, we will have different opinions. Lol Because I will score these two way higher than DF and MS :laugh:


And regarding ATS tickets, how much do they usually cost?

LOL if I were to say that the beginning of her program is her chsq I may have to give her +1 there!
 
Joined
Dec 9, 2017
Danse Macabre, W09 (because I watched it that one time to give thoughts, so might as well knock it out)
3F-3T +1.5/+1.05 Beautiful jumps, but zero flow out of that 3T. 10.65
3Lz +2.5/+1.75 Perhaps her best solo 3Lz? Seemed delayed, and beautiful running edge and exit position. 7.75
2A +1.5/+0.75 It's alright. 4.05
LSp4 +1/+0.5 Good positions but very little relevance to the music. 3.2
FSSp4 +1/+0.5 ^^^ 3.5
StSq3 +1/+0.5 Pretty choppy turns towards the end, but the performance factor gets her a bonus. 3.8
CCoSp4 +1.5/+0.75 The I-Spin being held for so long bumps up the GOE from +1 4.25

TES: 37.2 :slink:

SS: 7.75 She's choppy and loses speed in the step sequence, but otherwise no real complaints.
TR: 8.00 She has choreographic moments throughout the program, and very few empty moments, apart from the build into the 3F-3T.
PE: 8.25 She is very fiery and engaging, but apart from that she falters in the way she projects during the beginning and towards the end of her StSq, because she couldn't yet do those turns with ease and likely had to focus more there.
CO: 7.5 And this is where I'm glad the spiral sequence was abandoned, because somewhere in the middle of that should have been one of her spins. And that cut was very specifically chosen just so she could do those darn spirals. OTOH, they could have made her do the sit spin right after her lutz. IDK, the two spins back to back ruin the effect a little. And she can't get that backloading bonus on her 2A! The step sequence could have built from the slow music replacing her sit spin, and maybe gone on to get a level 4.
IN: 7.75 So there are obvious moments to interpret music, except at the beginning when she's skating backwards, and going into her 3F-3T without doing steps. And the beginning and the end of her step sequence need more fluidity, and the fast music towards the end of her sequence is too slowly interpreted, and she probably shouldn't be doing a sit spin when the music is building during her final spin.

(Did I ruin this program for everyone yet? The spirals have nothing to do with the overall program, but that'd be unfair to dock her for.)

PCS: 31.4

TSS: 68.6

That's still good!

(... I think none of her SPs crack 70 after her 2007W one for me. OTOH, Les Miserables is one of the few that would crack 140 (or at least 70 on PCS), and I think only Mao beats the 74 on Yuna's Roxanne.)

Oh, I meant the spiral sequences in the LPs to be ChSq, but really that's boring anyway. And we're just comparing thoughts anyway.
 

Izabela

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
I checked the protocols for DM and even the judges can’t agree on how to score this! Scores on the PCS side can go from 7.5 to 9 :laugh: So I guess this really depends on our mileages.

I will give her higher GOE on her combo because this is a huge jump. She flew into the air and I think that should be given +2. And is it right for the tp to give her an edge call here? Agreed on her Lz and 2A. Will also give higher GOE on her spins.

The place IMO we won’t agree is on the PCS :laugh: I would give her SS higher than 7.75, possibly 8.5. Agree on transition. Will definitely disagree on her performance! I would be giving her 9 here, not only because of how she roused the audience, but in those two minutes she owned the music. It was hers. I don’t know how to explain this well, but this feels like a recital rather than a competition, an SP that feels so free. Would give CO an 8, and IN a solid 8.5.

This is a kind of program that I wouldn’t be focusing so much on fluidity. It’s a program that has so much edge and sharpness. Her distracting Lvl 4 +3GOE arm movements are also so so attractive!
 
Joined
Dec 9, 2017
(Just saying here before y'all drive me away, that I like Danse Macabre. The concept, and Yuna, just have so much potential that when married together they should have created so much more that I can't help but nitpick, pls don't kill me pls)

EDIT: Before getting into the rest of that later: No, probably not. Seemed like at most a very shallow outside edge, which would be an "ISU defined unclear edge", but lol meh.
 

Izabela

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
It’s nice looking at her programs and scoring them as objectively as we can. For example, I’m getting a better sense of what part she improved, and what part I wished they could have done more. The more I look back, the better I appreciate both her senior debut programs, and how particularly sensational El Tango is. I will not go as far as to say that none of her SP could potentially crack the 70pts, because my bias tells me that SiTC should haha.

I actually came across a thread here about what makes Yuna special, and someone mentioned that what sets her apart is the totality of her program. I am quoting from memory but that poster mentioned that she attacks every element with the same passion and you can’t visibly see her highs and lows in her programs (meaning where you can visibly see her weaknesses and strengths). I completely agree with that, and this is probably why her programs, when watching them, seem to only last for 30 seconds rather than 2/4 minutes. I think it was Sandra Bezic who had the same impression (about time moving so fast) on her Gershwin. (As a tangent, Nancy Kerrigan also has insightful comment on Yuna’s skating back in her Junior days, about how she really rises and falls with the music.) So we can really break down and point out the flaws in her program in the same breath we can say in terms of the complete picture that we like it and will keep watching it. :laugh:

(Should really be finishing a paper but talking about Yuna is far more interesting).
 

Izabela

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
But if they are scored the way programs are scored nowadays...:slink: Her jumps should all be +3 and no UR calls! (No hatin’ here btw it’s just a cheeky response LOL)
 

Izabela

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
So I took a quick look at how fans in GS reacted to Yuna's LP in 2008 and there are serious debate about how she should be given higher PCS there and could have won silver instead. So to balance it all out, I'm so, so, so proud of Yuna for performing in 2008 the way she did (not completely bombing) despite all her chronic injuries.

Also, I'm glad that ATS lowkey acknowledged that the superior Adios Nonino dress is the Black AN dress. :laugh:
 

Izabela

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
And she also chose the song herself! She has great taste in music I can’t handle this this composition should have won instead of Shape of Water soooo i am reading this as Yuna serving justice!
 
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