Um, it's called being nervous, and not competition-sharp? This would be a pretty tough competition for anyone to be making their season debut at.....Originally Posted by Lanie
Sasha did pretty much as well as I anticipated - maybe very slightly better. She turned out not to be sharp enough to pull it all off, but there was fight there.
Somebody here compared Rachael and Mirai to the close rivalries of the past. I would have felt fine about the result if Rachael had won by a hair (say 2 points), but it is the idea that everything makes Mirai stand out did not count that galled me.
My husband reacted the same way as SashaSpins' two nephews - he just didn't get it.
Also, I can't remember - did Scott and Sandra make comments about Mirai's jump problems? If they did, I didn't notice. If they didn't, it just adds to the audience's incomprehension. If there is going to be a judging system this picayunish, they MUST have commentators who can see and explain what is happening.
Rachael and Mirai had almost identical pcs in both the SP and LP.
The difference last night was in the tes where Rachael had a considerably higher score.
(This is totally OT but just to lighten things up... we were in LA a couple of weeks ago and stayed at a Japanese hotel in "Little Tokyo." I asked the desk clerk if she knew where the store/restaurant owned by Mirai's parents was. I wanted to go eat there and tell them how much I like their daughter's skating!
Unfortunately the clerk claimed not to know who Mirai Nagasu was.
Probably a Mao fan.)
Yeah but shouldn't Mirai's PCS be much higher? And Rachael's TES be closer to Mirai's (even with the 3 downgrades?). The 3-3 wasn't even clean.
I wonder if Sasha's back is bothering her a bit. I didn't think her layback looked as good as it has in the SP-not as much stretch and slowed considerably. Granted we have been spoiled by Caroline, Alissa and Mirai, but Sasha always had a lovely layback with speed (save for the beillmann position). I would assume that is why she left it out of her LP. What hurt her was not getting a level 4 on the FCoSp then-instead of what could've been a 3.43 if level 4, it was a 2.93 Vs the 3.27 she got for her level 4 layback in the SP.
My guess for omitting the 3toe-she was training a 3f/3t, and was to repeat the flip and salchow for more points.
I thought Sasha skated great in the SP, had speed and flare. In the LP, she just looked tentative, slow, as if she believed as long as she stayed upright, she'd win. I guess she really did underestimate how tough a comeback would be, otherwise I think she would've done all she could to compete last season. That is what killed her chances.
I do feel bad for her, but hard to feel sorry when she made the choices she did. I'm sure she'll be a huge hit on SOI and if anything good comes out of this whole deal, it is she did get a lot of press and love. This AM, the 1st thing my mom said when I called her was,"Oh, that figure skater didn't make the team!" I knew she was talking about Sasha, but said,"Which one?" She said,"Umm...the one they've been talking about and showing on NBC all week..."
Looking forward to seeing what Sasha does in the gala today-I presume she is doing "DSTM" but hoping for something new!
She did a strong SP and fought in the FP. I had a bad feeling when she didn't do triples or runthroughs in practice on Friday or Saturday. I figured she was saving her strength, but still, to launch into such a big program without enough practice... it didn't sound promising. So I was disappointed, but not shocked, at the outcome. And she didn't seem surprised either. She could well have been skating through pain - like a return of that tendinitis.
Has this been posted? (NY Times article on how the COP played out last night.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/sp...s/25rings.html
As Mirai Nagasu completed her stirring free skate Saturday night, the crowd at Spokane Arena leapt to its feet in raucous applause. A hail of toy animals rained onto the ice. Clearly, most in attendance thought that Nagasu had won the United States Figure Skating championship.
Except that she had not.
Even some of the sport’s most astute experts were stumped.
I really didn't take the lack of triples in practice to be a big warning flare. Many have reported n the past that Sasha doesn't always do her triples in those practices, and usually just marks them in her run throughs. For me, what was pretty telling has been Mr. Nicks' interviews leading up to Nationals. Before, he was kind of cautiously optimistic, not,"Sasha is the best the US has to offer!" but how she has been working so hard and is not the 2006 Sasha. Then at Nationals, he started alluding if she just stays upright...That tells me her practices had been rough. She really was a different skater in the LP than SP. She even wobbled on her forward charlotte. I am shocked she didn't get hit with UR's though. Not a meltdown by any means, but a mess of a skate.
By contrast, Ashley, Rachael and Mirai brought it. They completely delivered under pressure, fought through their programs AND performed! That was amazing to see. Gao was also very impressive.
edited...Thanks for the link, SS. I agree, it was very hard to understand why Mirai was in 2nd last night. I thought her last 3t looked UR, but to my armchair eye, I thought all her jumps looked so big and completed, she used to be a more obvious UR when she'd do that weird straighten her blade out as she landed on an inside edge. I was SHOCKED she only got a 118 and that was only because I know somewhat what a good score would mean-I didn't know if she could beat 130+ that Rachael got, she had one less triple and the one obvious UR, but I expected her to be much closer. BUT the best part of it all was Mirai celebrated as if she won. She had the crowd on their feet and she was SO happy, even when she saw she "only" received a 118. I thought Rachael was overmarked, but I thought she would be better scored than her SA LP score, like around 125, give or take.
Well, hopefully being 2nd, and feeling like she was not a contender for the team, enables Mirai to go to Olympics with restored confidence, pressure free, to just enjoy the entire experience, and have an even better skate!
Last edited by MKFSfan; 01-24-2010 at 11:45 AM.
Gao reminds me more of Karen Kwan than Michelle.............42
Yes, it even has it's own topic.
It appears the Rachael supporters are the minority with both the experts and the audience that saw it Live last night.
It was obvious to me who had the better and more appealing presentation last night. Interesting to read that Mirai's dg's were questionable - similar perhaps to what happened to Yuna at the GPF where we saw the replay and how the techcaller obviously made a bad call.
The way Rachael beat Mirai was with alot of help from the tech panel. We saw it last night and fans have every right to be upset by this result which seems questionable at best.
Who are these experts? Scott Hamilton? He kept mentioning Rachael's consistency and what did he mention about Mirai? Nothing. He should have noted that she has a long history of edge calls and downgrades. Aren't you supposed to educate your viewers?
Go back and watch Mirai - she was short on rotation on those jumps. NBC should have shown them - again they f'd it up.
Last edited by i love to skate; 01-24-2010 at 12:01 PM.
Mirai got two UR calls on DOUBLES at SC and two "e" calls on her lutzes, but all 5 triples there were ratified (she left out the 2a-3t, did 2a-2t instead). I really think if judges are going to be that hard on Mirai she just needs to rework her program like Akiko has done.
Mirai changed her 3lo-2t (which the 2t was UR at SC) to a 3lo-2a sequence which was smart (clean with at +1 GOE at nats) and changed her 3lz-2t-2lo (the loop was UR at SC) to a 3lz-2t-2t (no downgrade last night). Now she should just do a 3t-2a seq instead of a 2a-3t, because I know a sequence only gets 80% but if she can't get her 2a-3t ratified, the sequence will be worth more than a 2a-3t< with negative GOEs and she should get good GOEs on the sequence b/c she has a very nice 2a. Then she should just change the second 3lz to a 3f (which she doesn't get edge calls on and it's a better jump for her).
Akiko after getting dinged for lots of stuff at SC made similar changes and got better scores at the GPF. If the judges are going to be that hard on Mirai, she just needs to figure out a way to get around it. She has all the other skills, and the jumps too, with just a little tweaking of the layout I think she could place very high at the Olympics!
Also, she is on the world team too? So pumped! Anyone know who is going to Jr. Worlds? Is it Gao, Dobbs, and Zawadski?
Last edited by silverlake22; 01-24-2010 at 12:06 PM.
Apparently the calls were very questionable and I only see one. I also saw a pretty sloppy landing from Rachael too.
And please, don't try to convince me that you know more about skating than Scott.
^^Syliva reported it's going to be Ashley, Gao and Zawadzki...
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