Most interesting championships

Hi all!Well,now we can compare championships.I live in Europe but I think the US Nationals is awesome!And not only because of popularity but because of strong competitions and very high level of participants.What do you think about it?
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I'm glad you liked our ladies and men so much. Euros had Plushenko's smashing return and Carolina's uplifting comeback, plus the tension of whether she would make her Olympic team. The U.S. had Sasha's comeback to add some drama, the pressure of only having 2 spots for the women, and a deep and awesome group of men who are always great to watch. I dunno I thought both were great.

Honestly, I don't care about any national championships since they are so overscored that it just drives me nuts. Flatt with 200 points, Davis & White with 218, Denney & Barrett with 190, Abbott 260? You can substract about 20 points to find out where they really are in some cases much more. Although they were trying to create tension in some categories, in the end there were no big surprises in the results, maybe except the pairs category.
For me Europeans were much more fun to watch. More drama, more different performances and more surprising results.

I enjoyed the Ladies event at Japanese Natls for several reasons.

The skating in the top group was excellent.

The podium order seemed correct

Stars were NOT held up and their marks appeared to be fair.

The inflation was not as bad as several other Nationals.

I enjoyed the US Men's competition - but was bothered by the Ladies event.

I thought the scoring was way too inflated for the USA Ladies.

I thought the SP scoring for the Ladies, in a comparitve sense was wrong as there was a very clear winner of the SP and not the virtual three way tie that we saw.

I thought the LP scoring was overly strict for one skater and absurdly generous for another skater.

Of course,Euros are interesting too but I don't think the Plushenko victory was a big surprise-)

Also I agree with people who thinks about changing the system of Olympic selection-I think an athletes who came back should compete for the Olympic ticket during all pre Olympic season

Vlad said:

Of course,Euros are interesting too but I don't think the Plushenko victory was a big surprise-)

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Nope, that one was not since the judges still obviously love him no matter what.
But Kavaguti / Smirnov beating Savchenko/Szolkowy was. Faiella/Scali winning OD+FD was a surprise too. Pechalat/Bourzat, if not the mistake in twizzels, possibly finishing in third also. Kostner comming back "strong" after the nightmare performances so far in this season, too, not to forget Gedevanishvili's bronze.

About Savchenko/Szolkowy-in my opinion their SP costs it's about 80points,so for me the final results in pairs looks very strange./Yes,Federica and Massimo were so wonderful,eh unfortunately they are second/I agree about Elene,she skated great her program.

Regardless of the scores, there was quite a bit of excellent skating in ALL the US Divisions.

As for the Ladies, it showed that it's not just about two skaters, but several skaters determined to rise to the occasion.

Rachael certainly accomplished that. She showed the 3x3 which is most important In Ladies world wide. Spirals maybe wow but they are not that point getting. Rachael should now work on flow-out after landing her jumps.

Mirai showed her 3x3,too, albeit, the siimplest one. What impressed me most was her newly found mature approach to her performance. She is no longer with the teenybopper style of skating.

Ashley if nothing else showed that she is definitely a member of the elite US Ladies. She had the most complicated routine, but it did not deter her from skating a clean program. A 3x3 in both the SP and LP will serve her well in the future.

Sasha - Has any skater, male or female, displayed so many stunning Short Programs in their years of skating? I doublt it, but her nemesis is the LP and what to do about it, I just don't know.

Caroline has to start showing some mature skating on the ice. The careful approach to the elements has to be speeded up, and the mule kick has to go. She's much too talented to keep unresolved problems.

Amanda, and welcome to the elite with better than average Singles and Pairs.