Ladies Free Skate

[Juli®]

Aftertherain
Thanks for GOE.

[bekalc]

Yea, I like the fearless aspect of Mao too That's what makes her more exciting than Yuna for me. She is more fearless than some men IMAO. I just wish she had Plushenko's consistency, then she'll be unstoppable.

I really find this unfair to Yu-na. The only thing different about Yu-na and Mao is that Mao tries the triple axel and Yu-na doesn't. Yes Yu-na doesn't go for the 3loop, but Mao doesn't go for the 3lutz or the 3sal it seems. There have been very few women in the history of the sport who can do the 3axel, and I think Kim's 3/3s are very risky.

[chapis]

I really find this unfair to Yu-na. The only thing different about Yu-na and Mao is that Mao tries the triple axel and Yu-na doesn't. Yes Yu-na doesn't go for the 3loop, but Mao doesn't go for the 3lutz or the 3sal it seems. There have been very few women in the history of the sport who can do the 3axel, and I think Kim's 3/3s are very risky.

I think yuna is incredible too, but not for to be a risk skater, her 3-3 is very consistent, then is not a risk for her, but well is an honor she can to say "I do the 3-3 because is the most valuable and secure for me"

[Tesla]

I think yuna is incredible too, but not for to be a risk skater, her 3-3 is very consistent, then is not a risk for her, but well is an honor she can to say "I do the 3-3 because is the most valuable and secure for me"

So to be a risk taker is to do something you can't do? If that's the case, Mao should do a 3-3. I think it's incredibly risky to do a 3-3 because very few can do them.

[miki88]

I really find this unfair to Yu-na. The only thing different about Yu-na and Mao is that Mao tries the triple axel and Yu-na doesn't. Yes Yu-na doesn't go for the 3loop, but Mao doesn't go for the 3lutz or the 3sal it seems. There have been very few women in the history of the sport who can do the 3axel, and I think Kim's 3/3s are very risky.

Relax. That is just my personal opinion. Yuna is a great skater but I just prefer Mao over Yuna. Actually it's not for those reasons that I think Mao is more fearless than Yuna. I just feel Mao is fearless because she tries to go for things that may seem out of reach but she still goes for it. It may be foolhardy to some people, but I find it kinda admirable and exciting. Actually Mao did go for the 3lutz in past seasons. She flutzed but she still went for it. Yuna does difficult elements but she really knows what she does best at and she sticks to it. I mean she doesn't do things that may be too much for her. They just have different mindsets.

[bekalc]

Relax. That is just my personal opinion. Yuna is a great skater but I just prefer Mao over Yuna. Actually it's not for those reasons that I think Mao is more fearless than Yuna. I just feel Mao is fearless because she tries to go for things that may seem out of reach but she still goes for it. It may be foolhardy to some people, but I find it kinda admirable and exciting. Actually Mao did go for the 3lutz in past seasons. She flutzed but she still went for it. Yuna does difficult elements but she really knows what she does best at and she sticks to it. I mean she doesn't do things that may be too much for her. They just have different mindsets.

Yu-na switched her 3/3 from a 3flip/3toe to a 3lutz/3toe? How was that not risky for her? And Yu-na has attempted 3loops as much as Mao has done 3 sal. I' mnot saying you can't like Mao better but I think its very unfair to say that Kim doesn't take risks. Kim's 3lutz/3toe and her double axel/3toe may look easier but a lot of women wish they could do those combinations. Mao isn't doing 3/3s because she's afraid of getting downgraded. She feels more comfortable risking the 3 axel. So to me, both are taking risks but risks they are more comfortable with. I'm not sure what more risk people could actually expect from Yu-na.

[miki88]

Yu-na switched her 3/3 from a 3flip/3toe to a 3lutz/3toe? How was that not risky for her? And Yu-na has attempted 3loops as much as Mao has done 3 sal. I' mnot saying you can't like Mao better but I think its very unfair to say that Kim doesn't take risks. Kim's 3lutz/3toe and her double axel/3toe may look easier but a lot of women wish they could do those combinations. Mao isn't doing 3/3s because she's afraid of getting downgraded. She feels more comfortable risking the 3 axel. So to me, both are taking risks but risks they are more comfortable with. I'm not sure what more risk people could actually expect from Yu-na.

I am not saying she doesn't take any risks. I just feel she take lesser risks than Mao. Yes, there is more risk in her current combo than her previous, but she has a pretty good chance of landing both. For me, risky means you have little more than 50% chance of landing the jump. But for Yuna, her 3-3 combo are solid for her, so the risks are smaller. And she has pretty good landings on all of those types of jumps. Mao trying to land three 3As is risky and Miki trying to land a quad is risky because they haven't done that at least in competition. Zhang/Zhang trying to do quad throw is another example of high risk.

[bekalc]

I am not saying she doesn't take any risks. I just feel she take lesser risks than Mao. Yes, there is more risk in her current combo than her previous, but she has a pretty good chance of landing both. For me, risky means you have little more than 50% chance of landing the jump. But for Yuna, her 3-3 combo are solid for her, so the risks are smaller. And she has pretty good landings on all of those types of jumps. Mao trying to land three 3As is risky and Miki trying to land a quad is risky because they haven't done that at least in competition. Zhang/Zhang trying to do quad throw is another example of high risk.

That's not smart to try something you can only do 50% of the time. It's also dangerous. SheZhang could have been seriously hurt....Unless you have seriously no other shot otherwise, but Mao has other jumping layouts.

I mean Joubert made some jumping changes to his layout. At Europeans he was doing a 4toe and a 4sal with one triple axel. I think he was still hoping to go for 3 quads at the Olympics. But he fell on his 4sal a jump he hasn't landed in years and he decided to make a change. He announced he'd do 2 4toes and 2 Triple axels. This is a still a risky risky layout but its a layout he's more likely to do cleanly.

[miki88]

That's not smart to try something you can only do 50% of the time. It's also dangerous. SheZhang could have been seriously hurt....Unless you have seriously no other shot otherwise, but Mao has other jumping layouts.

I mean Joubert made some jumping changes to his layout. At Europeans he was doing a 4toe and a 4sal with one triple axel. I think he was still hoping to go for 3 quads at the Olympics. But he fell on his 4sal a jump he hasn't landed in years and he decided to make a change. He announced he'd do 2 4toes and 2 Triple axels. This is a still a risky risky layout but its a layout he's more likely to do cleanly.

Yes. It's not smart and dangerous. But I remembered I felt very excited when Zhang/Zhang was going to try that throw. Sadly they failed :( but they did succeed at their nationals and it was so cool.

[inside edge]

That's not smart to try something you can only do 50% of the time. It's also dangerous. SheZhang could have been seriously hurt....Unless you have seriously no other shot otherwise, but Mao has other jumping layouts.

[herro]

Not to step on any toes here, but I don't think it's very logical to call Mao a "risk-taker" just because she attempts triple axels.

Just like the same argument that Yuna is not a risk-taker to some people because she does elements she's very good at (3-3, 2axel-3toe, etc.), Mao does triple axels because that's her most consistent high-level move. Yuna has her triple-triples and Mao had her triple axel. Those were their "signature," "point-clenching" moves. The only difference, however, is that Mao has somewhat lost consistency in her "usually consistent" triple axel. Mao's 3-3's are less stable and powerful IMO. Mao's not necessarily taking risks - she's doing what she needs to do in order to be competitive at Yuna's level again.

[skatefancan]

i cant believe that a skater who did a 3t-2t as a combo and a 3sal is in 2nd place after the short. what?

[Nadine]

I thought the free skate was today? Will have to check on the times & dates.

Btw, last night I watched Akiko's SP (not the others yet), and was shocked a bit because I expected to see a clean short, but was surprised to see that she had the same type of errors as Mao, even a tiny bit more, yet she is in first place.

In my mind, this just goes to show me that the judges have been wanting Mao to take out the 3A in both the SP & the LP, and rather just do as everybody else is doing practically ~ 3/2, 3, and 2A in the SP ~ and six or seven triples of different type in the LP, with one 3/3 combo. thrown in for good measure.

Ah, Mao, I feel so sorry for you, have for a while, but do admire you for sticking with your guns & not deviating!

[miki88]

Not to step on any toes here, but I don't think it's very logical to call Mao a "risk-taker" just because she attempts triple axels.

Just like the same argument that Yuna is not a risk-taker to some people because she does elements she's very good at (3-3, 2axel-3toe, etc.), Mao does triple axels because that's her most consistent high-level move. Yuna has her triple-triples and Mao had her triple axel. Those were their "signature," "point-clenching" moves. The only difference, however, is that Mao has somewhat lost consistency in her "usually consistent" triple axel. Mao's 3-3's are less stable and powerful IMO. Mao's not necessarily taking risks - she's doing what she needs to do in order to be competitive at Yuna's level again.

She's not taking risks because she does triple axels. She's taking risks because of her current layout which consist mostly of 3A. Mao could just go back to her old layout in 2008, where she had both 3-3 and a 3A. She got downgrades on her 3-3 but it can still give her more points when her 3A fails her.
With that layout, she has a better chance of medalling because it's not solely dependent on her 3As. Because she chooses this current layout, it is riskier. She will either succeed or bomb. I think that is a high risk strategy.

[Sylvia]

I thought the free skate was today? Will have to check on the times & dates.

Ladies Free Skating - Group 1: 13:00:00 (Korean time) = 11 pm Eastern time tonight.
Ladies Free Skating - Group 2-4: 14:24:00-16:57 (Korean time) = 12:24-2:57 am Eastern time (early Friday).

Skater-by-skater time schedule: http://www.isuresults.com/results/fc...meSchedule.pdf