The "Future" of Figure Skating: 2014 Olympic Podium Threats (Ladies)

[silverlake22]

You are forgetting the other mini-Yuna! Kwak didn't actually win the South Korean Figure Skating Championships... she came in 2nd, 12 points behind the 1st place finisher who was too young to compete in the Olympics. Why? She is only 12! But she will be old enough to compete in 2014. Her name is Haejin Kim (even the same surname as Yu-Na hehe). I think if she gets through her growth spurt, she will be Korea's next powerhouse skater.

Her SP components at her 2nd competition ever (the Korean Championships): 3F, 3Lz+2T, FCSp3, SlSt3, SpSq4, LSp4, 2A, CCoSp4... 54.23 (33.93/20.30) vs. Kwak 46.23 (26.48/19.75)
FS components: SpSq4, 3F, 3Lo, CCoSp5, 3Lz, 3Lz+2T, LSp4, 2A, FCSp3, 3Lo+2T+2Lo, 3T, SlSt3 94.55 (50.90/43.65) vs. Kwak 88.00 (46.00/42.00)

At 12 years old, she already has PCS scores higher than 16-year old Kwak. If Haejin Kim isn't a great skater in the making, I don't know who or what is.

For Japan, it's fairly obvious that it will be Murakami.

The Russian pixies as well.

For the US, Mirai, Christine and Agnes Zawadzki (I think Rachael will disappear into college before 2014)

That young Korean girl is promising too, but she is so young I think we'll have to wait a few years before we know more about her. I like Kiri Baga, Angela Maxwell, and Amanda Dobbs of the US as well.

Oh, and I think Kwak did not skate very well at Korean Nationals because her scores at the Olympic qualifier in November were significantly higher, and then also at 4CC and Olympics.

[dlgpffps]

You are forgetting the other mini-Yuna! Kwak didn't actually win the South Korean Figure Skating Championships... she came in 2nd, 12 points behind the 1st place finisher who was too young to compete in the Olympics. Why? She is only 12! But she will be old enough to compete in 2014. Her name is Haejin Kim (even the same surname as Yu-Na hehe). I think if she gets through her growth spurt, she will be Korea's next powerhouse skater.

Nationals Champion at the age 12? You know who that reminds me of? Yu-na! I must look out for her. Do you know where I can find videos?

[Lilith11]

Nationals Champion at the age 12? You know who that reminds me of? Yu-na! I must look out for her. Do you know where I can find videos?

Here's one video I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKK5KU7K4s0

And a thread w/links to all the performances of the Korean Nationals: http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sho...rean-Nationals

[silverlake22]

Here's one video I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKK5KU7K4s0

And a thread w/links to all the performances of the Korean Nationals: http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sho...rean-Nationals

Technically, this girl is great, but I prefer Kwak's skating, she is graceful and has very nice spins, stretch, flexibility and lines.

[Mrs. P]

Top 10 in 2006
Shizuka Arakawa
Sasha Cohen
Irina Slutskaya
Fumie Suguri
Joannie Rochette
Kimmie Meissner
Emily Hughes
Sarah Meier
Carolina Kostner
Elene Gedevanishvili

Out of those...
TWO of them were retired by 2010.
ONE (Sasha Cohen, of course) attempted to comeback and make the 2010 Olympic team.
FOUR (Cohen, Fumie, Emily and Kimmie) did not make the Olympic team.
And only ONE (Joannie Rochette) improved on their ranking between 2006 and 2010.
The other THREE returning skaters from 2006 (Gedevanishvilli, Kostner and Meier) all did worse.

Also..here's the top 10 from SLC
Sarah Hughes
Irina Slutskaya
Michelle Kwan
Sasha Cohen
Fumie Suguri
Maria Butyrskaya
Jennifer Robinson
Julia Sebestyen
Viktoria Volchkova
Silvia Fontana

Out of that list...
THREE (Hughes, Butyrskaya and Robinson) were retired by the 2006 Olympics.
TWO (Kwan and Volchkova) qualified to return the 2006 Olympics, but did not compete due to injury.
TWO (Cohen and Suguri) improved on their ranking at the 2006 Olympics.
THREE (Fontana, Slutskaya and Sebestyen) got a lower ranking at the 2006 Olympics.

Point is that a lot can happen in four years. I think it's likely that the people we'll see on the podium in 2014 will likely be people who didn't compete at the senior level this year. BUT the past records also show that a skater who is able to be persistent can certainly improve on their second Olympics. (Mirai is a good candidate for this).