Laura Lepisto fans should be incensed | Golden Skate

Laura Lepisto fans should be incensed

jsteam4501s

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
I have neither Ice Network nor Universal Sports, I had to accept whatever NBC showed of the Ladies competition. I enjoy Laura Lepisto's skating and I'm sure others here do too. They showed her short program, but completely ignored her for the free skate. To have finished 6th in the final standings was a major breakthrough for her, and her free skate must have been exceptional for her.

Not only did NBC not show her long program, when they showed the final standings, they showed positions 1 thru 5 plus Rachael Flatt's 7th place. They just left out position 6 and never mentioned who finished there. In other words, since they didn't show it, they didn't list it or mention it.

Can someone here who saw her free skate comment on the performance and the shabby treatment of a beautiful skater who must have had the free skate of her life? Thanks
 

jsteam4501s

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
3S/3T Lepisto, meh....

When she starts to land some big jumps, we can talk.

I'm not sure...........who "watchvancouver" is, but I'm looking for response from a FAN of Lepisto. With a final placement that says only 5 skaters performed better than she did, she must have done SOMETHING very well!
 

amateur

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
From memory, having rewatched this morning:
Lepisto was pretty impressive. Really took her time getting ready after her name was called, took basically the entire minute that is allotted, fiiiinally got into position, waited..... and then the music started at the wrong spot! She shot this cool (and kind of sexy) death glare to the referee or whoever is responsible... and then started again. It was really quite the build-up. She looked a tad nervous but determined. Dressed in red, music: Adios Nonino (can't quite recall the arrangement; not the piano version Jeff Buttle did his SP to, nor was it a pure accordian version, i think it's kind of a lounge-y version) Skated with great attack and flow all the way through the program from what I remember, 3t/3t was great, landed a 3lz.. i though it was 2-footed but apparently not. Landed 2 3loops (one in combo), and popped the sal into a double (was a 2s-2t-2l combo i think, near the end of the program). Spins were on, and among the better ones in the comp. I enjoyed her in this competition more than I'd ever enjoyed her before; she was fast and elegant and had some power. I do however find something a bit unrefined still in her movement, despite her lovely style; I think it's mostly her arms which are a bit stiff. She was pleased after her skate, but rather shocked/amazed by the score. It seems incredible that she placed above Miki in the LP, and I think that is mainly due to her signifiacntly better speed here, (as well as much better spins). It's tempting to cry Euro beauty bonus, but Miki is no slouch in looks either... It's amazing to think she'd have scored almost 130 if she'd rotated the salchow. It's debatable to have her above Miki and slightly above (or virtually tied with) Mirai for the LP, but it's rightfully close; Laura did present a good cohesive program with good attack.
 
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TT_Fin

The second worst besserwisser in the world
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Country
Finland
Here you are: http://areena-beta.yle.fi/video/784345
The comments are in finnish, but at least you can see the performance.

I have to edit, my husband says it does not work outside Europe, but you can try.
 
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amateur

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
^^^ I just tried (from canada) and it does not seem to work for me. (though Canadians can rewatch on the CTV Olympics site)
 

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
I'm not sure...........who "watchvancouver" is, but I'm looking for response from a FAN of Lepisto. With a final placement that says only 5 skaters performed better than she did, she must have done SOMETHING very well!

I have understood that Lepisto was 4th in the freeskate. It was a great performance and should have been shown on NBC, in my opinion.
 

Trewyn

Medalist
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
From memory, having rewatched this morning:
Lepisto was pretty impressive. Really took her time getting ready after her name was called, took basically the entire minute that is allotted, fiiiinally got into position, waited..... and then the music started at the wrong spot! She shot this cool (and kind of sexy) death glare to the referee or whoever is responsible... and then started again. It was really quite the build-up. She looked a tad nervous but determined. Dressed in red, music: Adios Nonino (can't quite recall the arrangement; not the piano version Jeff Buttle did his SP to, nor was it a pure accordian version, i think it's kind of a lounge-y version) Skated with great attack and flow all the way through the program from what I remember, 3t/3t was great, landed a 3lz.. i though it was 2-footed but apparently not. Landed 2 3loops (one in combo), and popped the sal into a double (was a 2s-2t-2l combo i think, near the end of the program). Spins were on, and among the better ones in the comp. I enjoyed her in this competition more than I'd ever enjoyed her before; she was fast and elegant and had some power. I do however find something a bit unrefined still in her movement, despite her lovely style; I think it's mostly her arms which are a bit stiff. She was pleased after her skate, but rather shocked/amazed by the score. It seems incredible that she placed above Miki in the LP, and I think that is mainly due to her signifiacntly better speed here, (as well as much better spins). It's tempting to cry Euro beauty bonus, but Miki is no slouch in looks either... It's amazing to think she'd have scored almost 130 if she'd rotated the salchow. It's debatable to have her above Miki and slightly above (or virtually tied with) Mirai for the LP, but it's rightfully close; Laura did present a good cohesive program with good attack.

Haha, that's exactly what happened. The music issue did not throw her off one bit. I've always like Lepisto; even with the stiff arms and the tucked chin; she just has her own 'look and style' out on the ice. It's too bad she doesn't do harder jumps. But she looked so fierce in that LP! I've never seen her quite so determined. My Dutch commentators almost fell off their chair when she landed her lutz. They were like 'She's *never* landed it before in international competition... what a surprise she lands it here' (even though; yeah the landing was a bit shaky). Her jumps when they come off clean are actually really nice. I think I growled in frustration when she doubled her sal because it totally looked like she was going to nail everything that night. But still; she really took that moment to shine and it's the best I've ever seen her skate. Whether the score should have been so high (especially compared to Mirai, Miki and Rachael); don't know... But it was definitely a PB setting performance.
 

TT_Fin

The second worst besserwisser in the world
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Country
Finland
HIt's too bad she doesn't do harder jumps. But she looked so fierce in that LP! I've never seen her quite so determined. My Dutch commentators almost fell off their chair when she landed her lutz. They were like 'She's *never* landed it before in international competition... what a surprise she lands it here' (even though; yeah the landing was a bit shaky). Her jumps when they come off clean are actually really nice..

i don't know if this has been discussed here before. As a youngster Laura had had serious problems in her haunch and her career has been nearly to end. It has been a long period for her not to been able to pracitce jumps at all, so she had practiced other components. I think the lutz will get better and better after she starts t0 succeed it in competition and I will not be suprised if we will see a flip from her some day.

She is going to continue looking forward to Sothsi is everything will be all right. Kiira Korpi has confirmed the same. At the moment we don't have so tough competition as about three years ago, when we had even 5 skater with international level skills, but in 4 years there maybe some young gilrs looking toward to get next olympics. There are some promises, so will see who get the place(s).
 
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oleada

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Both Laura and Akiko set the bar for later on and I wish NBC would have shown them both. I've never seen Laura so "on"...she was fierce, landing everything and presenting wonderfully. She got more +GOE than anyone in the competition except Yu-Na and it's easy to understand why....she had almost as much speed as Kim going into her 3T+3T, her skating skills are among the best in the world and her spins were top notch. Really a wonderful performance.
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
Her haunch... wonder what that is? Anyway, if she's been injured, I'm even more impressed with what she was able to put together at the Olys!

She performed delightfully with great tango pizzaz. She's another of those whom the audience greatly enjoyed.
 

TT_Fin

The second worst besserwisser in the world
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Country
Finland
Her haunch... wonder what that is? Anyway, if she's been injured, I'm even more impressed with what she was able to put together at the Olys!

She performed delightfully with great tango pizzaz. She's another of those whom the audience greatly enjoyed.

It is hip, i checked another dictionary and animal's have haunch..sorry. Laura has been ok for years, but has been injured during her junior years.
 

merrywidow

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
My guess is that because she skated in the second to the last group she was not included in the telecast. Rachael Flatt was in the final group plus she is the US National champion. The young skater from Australia was shown because her mother was born in America. We saw the Turkish girl because she & her family live in Canada & we saw Phaneuf who is Canadian. If Finland had to make the choice between showing Lepisto or Flatt who do you think they would have chosen in the event that Rachael was 6th & Laura was 7th?
 
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amateur

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
^^^ true, but it's sad that the broadcast time is so restricted on that network. The second-last flight was also of a great quality, would have made for good viewing.
 

QuadLutz

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Yes, what makes Laura special for me is that she lives and interprets every note of the music, just as Yu-na (and Joannie and why not Mirai). In Vancouver no nervousness kept her from expressing her musicality and she could back that up with jumps too.

As for the jumps and people claiming more of the difficult ones... I'm one of the first to say she should include the flip and perhaps add another lutz (I never heard of that injury before, it explains a lot) but it is exaggeration to say her program is that easy or juniorish. Her loop is a beauty and by no means an easy jump, and she does two of them (while Yu-na does none). If the two-lutz+flip skaters also did two loops instead of toeloops and salchows now that would be impressive and Laura would indeed be sadly overrun. But few others do two loops; so perhaps that's her thing, not the utmost difficult one, but she's getting there.

And Laura's red dress was my favorite of the night! (Along with Yuna's of course.)
 

gourry

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
I'm not particularly her fan but I truely enjoyed her LP. I think it was on of her best performances.
It was beautiful. Her 3T-3T was very clean and her 3L was beautiful as always. There is something that feels very clean and fresh about her. I don't know what it is, but something. :)
 
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