Ladies Short Program

[aftertherain]

Exactly, but she is going to try to two triple axels in long. If it works great, if she falls, not great, if she gets down graded and she would end up being marked for like four double axels (as I would assume she would be putting in couple of real double axels in the long). I don't know. I don't understand this strategy. If I were Mao, I wouldn't want to go into the most stressful competition of my life, with the most stressful element, that I must make TWICE, to stand a chance. That's putting too much load on those narrow shoulders. The girls gotta have fun at some point.

Which is either if/when she gets the OGM or when she gets "replaced" by Kanako.

[miki88]

Which is either if/when she gets the OGM or when she gets "replaced" by Kanako.

Kanako is good but she also have problems with jumps (flutzs), so who knows how she will become like in the future.

[aurora100]

Which is either if/when she gets the OGM or when she gets "replaced" by Kanako.

who is Kanako?

[aftertherain]

who is Kanako?

Kanako Murakami. Current JGPF Champion. Fifth at Japanese Sr. Nationals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanako_Murakami

[Tinymavy15]

She has a backup plan in which she replaces 3A with 3lo in the SP(she loves her loops).

But that will not help her if the triple axel attempt is downgraded as it was here. Even if Mao knows it was short on rotation when she lands it, she can't change the layout since in the SP the attempt does not count as a double. Things have gotten very bad. We had hope at nationals, a shread, but it no I have none. If she can't pull it together now, what will she be like at the Olympics with her whole country's eyes glued to her.

[aurora100]

I don't think Mao can drop the triple Axel right now. She doesn't do the Lutz anymore and even the Salchow is missing. That leaves her with 3T, 3Lo, 3F and 3A. If she drops 3A, she would only have 3T, 3Lo and 3F in her arsenal. That would limit her a lot in FS. She also does not have a reliable 3/3 anymore.

Well, then she cannot be an Olympic contender. Skaters (men or women) with everything in their arsenal, at their 110%, goes to the Olympics and falter. Olympic figure skating history is filled with them (Kwan, Cohen, Browning, Stoijko, Orser on and on). Mao is not a genuine 2010 Olympic contender on this basis. She should work on all her jumps for 2014.

[figurejennah]

I've found only Mao's SP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxhtSNrMQWc


Add: Min-Jung Kwak, the TES winner, SP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5GvNVLrhQU

Thank you for the post!

Very unfortunate to see Mao's DG and single flip.
I can't believe that her season best is 58+... ugh.... (except for the nationals)
We will see what happens in LP, since Mao seeems to redeem herself in LP
most of the time. It would have helped Mao gain her confidence back
if she did well here, but so far it doesn't seem like it. :(

As to the TES winner Kwak, I never saw her performance before.
She somehow reminds me of Christina Gao and also young Yuna a little.
Ridiculously long legs and arms, and her jumps seem pretty sold and
I like her flexibility! I see that she has the highest TES, but super low PCS,
so I wonder if she will grow to become a threat to Nagasu, Murakami,
and Gao perhaps? (Although sad to admit, I think Zhang is
out of the picture now..... )

[aurora100]

Thank you for the post!

so I wonder if she will grow to become a threat to Nagasu, Murakami,
and Gao perhaps? (Although sad to admit, I think Zhang is
out of the picture now..... )

Kwak will grow up to be an older Kwak. She reminds me of Yuna the most but she is even in better form than Yuna was at her age.

[yangjie]

Im really shocked to see how low the mao's pcs is.

but i guess she failed her SP yedsteray, so got the right psc,

although only one skater could get the high psc with huge mistakes.

[aftertherain]

(Although sad to admit, I think Zhang is
out of the picture now..... )

I refuse to give up on her.

[miki88]

But that will not help her if the triple axel attempt is downgraded as it was here. Even if Mao knows it was short on rotation when she lands it, she can't change the layout since in the SP the attempt does not count as a double. Things have gotten very bad. We had hope at nationals, a shread, but it no I have none. If she can't pull it together now, what will she be like at the Olympics with her whole country's eyes glued to her.

I think it means she won't do attempt the 3A to begin with in the SP.

[miki88]

Well, then she cannot be an Olympic contender. Skaters (men or women) with everything in their arsenal, at their 110%, goes to the Olympics and falter. Olympic figure skating history is filled with them (Kwan, Cohen, Browning, Stoijko, Orser on and on). Mao is not a genuine 2010 Olympic contender on this basis. She should work on all her jumps for 2014.

What do u mean everything in their arsenal? Do you mean all the jumps? Because no current female skater has a complete set of jumps.

[hikki]

The entire post

GOOOOOOOO MAO-CHAN!!!!

Wow, you're awfully positive! Which is great because I feel rather gloomy about Mao. While I'm not as excited as you, I do agree that her spiral was faster and I like the choreo changes she made since the Nationals (step sequence in particular).

That said, she's still going for three 3axel attempts most probably because she should rely on them with 3/3s and lutz gone, which is not ideal at all in the olympic season. That with the coaching situation added...

And Mao's basic skating skills are much stronger (although, it's not an entirely fair comparison as Mirai is 3 years younger.)

And this is no dig at Akiko, but I must admit I am not impressed by what constitutes a "Level 4" step sequence... :indiff:

Can you elaborate as to why you regard Mao's basic skating skills to be much stronger? I'm not picking on you but rather intrigued as you seem to post great analysis in general. Edge control, maybe? And the 'soft knees' as Tracy Wilson would say?

I was watching the slow live stream on justintv so I'll have to watch Akiko's L4 step again. Speaking of step sequences, I was wow-ed by Cohen's Nats SP step because it didn't have the awkward stops or excessive upper body movements but it was more of an 'old school'ish one that was smooth, crisp and went so well with the music. And it got L3 anyway, which made me wonder if some skaters are better off on this route than with a so-so L4-aiming one.

I'll have to stop talking about US Nationals in this thread

[Nadine]

I think it means she won't do attempt the 3A to begin with in the SP.

I disagree, I think she will attempt it; she has all season long, even at Japan Nationals. No stopping now nor taking the coward's way out IMHO. The only thing I wish/pray for is that she does *not* pop jumps or double them. That will be her downfall, as we saw in the SP. JMHO, of course.

[hikki]

If she can't do a 3-3 just do a 3-2. I mean, you're Mao Asada, you're going to get strong GOEs on completed elements and insanely high PCs just from rotating and staying on your feet. So you won't beat Yuna, who cares? At least you won't have totally screwed yourself out of a medal altogether by chasing impossible jumps.

Unfortunately my guess is that Mao is too proud to 'settle' for less at this moment... Better fail with ambitious contents than being 'just good.'

Whatever. Good luck for her this season. But next season, I really hope she'll have a solid support team (and her own mentality to work with the team).