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

silverlake22 · Mar 7, 2010

bekalc said:
Then why is it that some of the greatest female jumpers in the history of the sport, Midori, Tonya, and Irina were hardly small and thin?

Midori and Irina were pretty small, and Irina especially was pretty tiny. Also these skaters were pretty short, and I feel shorter skaters are generally sturdier but even so they don't weigh much. For example, online it says Rachael Flatt, Miki Ando, Mao Asada, and Mirai Nagasu all weigh 110 pounds and yet they all have different builds and are different heights. Rachael is strong, Mao is a waif, and Miki and Mirai are somewhere in between, but their weights are all the same so jumping wise I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes (same gravitational force right?), especially considering the height difference between the tallest and shortest skater of the group is less than 3 inches.

Mrs. P · Mar 7, 2010

Joesitz said:
This thread is predicting the hopefuls for 2014. I wonder how those same posters whose predictions for 2010 see where they went wrong? That it is still in the hopeful stage and not in any prediction stage except for country favorites. Have they forgotten that two USA skaters finished top Ten, and do they imagine that Kiri Baga is through?

Haha. I can see this thread going for 4 years and maybe beating the "Any Sasha Updates?" thread.

pista04 · Mar 7, 2010

I think in 2006 I woulda said to watch Kimmie Meissner, Emily Hughes (who both did quite well for some time) as well as Yu-Na Kim and Mao Asada. Maybe I'd throw in Caroline Zhang, maybe.

silverlake22 · Mar 7, 2010

pista04 said:
I think in 2006 I woulda said to watch Kimmie Meissner, Emily Hughes (who both did quite well for some time) as well as Yu-Na Kim and Mao Asada. Maybe I'd throw in Caroline Zhang, maybe.

Yeah, funny how that works out. Kimmie and Emily have all but vanished from the skating world, Caroline is struggling with puberty as predicted, and four years ago Mao was "the best skater in the world" and Yu-Na was an afterthought....how that changed fast.

miki88 · Mar 7, 2010

I think if anyone is going to be a podium threat; it should be Mirai because I feel she already has gone through her puberty woes and should be going up barring any injury. She also has a great coach and team. The junior ladies may be good now but haven't been tested by puberty to know for sure. On top of that, Mirai has a natural elegance and refinement to her skating. She has never displayed that awkwardness seen in juniors even when she was 14. If she can get her downgrade issue down, she will be a force to reckon with.

prettykeys · Mar 7, 2010

Thanks for your lists, silverlake and pista. My eyes will be kept on:

Japan
-Mao Asada (still my favourite Japanese lady)
-Kanako Murakami (really impressed me when I first saw her, but...missing a special something)
-Yukiko Fujisawa (I like her more than Kanako, but I don't think she is quite as good yet.)

USA
-Mirai Nagasu. Really excited to see how she will continue to grow!

Russia
-Elizaveta T. I like her a lot; she's my favourite Russian girl.

YuNa will remain my #1 if she continues to compete, but she hasn't stated her plans yet. If not, I will be cheering most for Mao, Mirai, and Elizaveta.

Lucky Star · Mar 8, 2010

Well, let's try....

Japan:
- Mao Asada. She will have a new coach (TAT said that she will not continue to work with her) and maybe will fix her jumps and have better programs
- Yukiko Fujisawa, I just like her a lot ))
- Kanako Murakami maybe

USA:
-Mirai Nagasu
- Kiri Baga maybe, she is really good and has some time to improve

Russia:
there are so many talanted girls here and all of them are so good! So I think it could be....
-Liza Tuktamysheva. Her jumps are textbook and I think it will help her in future. I also like her arms and musicality
-Julia Lipnitskaya (born 05.06.1998, so she can go to Sochi) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSof5IXyvFo She can be the next big name!
- Adelina Sotnikova. I like her ballet style, she is good too
There are also Anna Ovcharova, Polina Shelepen, Sofya Biryukova (she has all triples and 3-3), Darya Medvedeva (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXPT1nJih4k), Nikol Gosviani is very promising too (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vITUMZwSgY) as well as Kristina Zaseeva ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-cNjL6PR3M , she is only 13 and has 3-3)
As for Polina Agafonova, I think she could try in pairs, she is tiny and I've heard some rumors that Tamara Moskvina kept her eyes on her ))

Oh, forgot about Ksenia and Alena

Like them both too.

silverlake22 · Mar 8, 2010

There are so many young Russian girls who are very good but unfortunately, most of them have clearly not gone through puberty yet. If they can keep their jumps once they grow and continue to progress then they should be a force to be reckoned with, but those are big ifs. As of now Anna Ovcharova is the only one that looks like she has possibly already gone through her big growthspurt (she was really tiny last year), but she could end up growing a lot more and just being really tall. The rest of the girls are tiny and if they stay tiny maybe they should switch to pairs.

janetfan · Mar 8, 2010

Was wondering - aside from Russia - aren't there any young Euro girls coming up? Where are the young skaters from Germany, France, Italy, E. Euro or Scandanavia?

silverlake22 · Mar 8, 2010

janetfan said:
Was wondering - aside from Russia - aren't there any young Euro girls coming up? Where are the young skaters from Germany, France, Italy, E. Euro or Scandanavia?

Sarah Hecken from Germany is only 16. She doesn't have all her triples yet but she has improved a lot since I saw her at Skate America, she is tall and not very flexible but has a nice 3t-3t and has recently added the 3lz to her jump arsenal. I think she could be competitive on the European stage in a few more years, she has good speed and could potentially have nice body lines if she can become more flexible as she is thin and long limbed.

There is a Sweedish girl Joshi Helgesson who is also only 16. She also is not very flexible but she is a good jumper. At this point I'd say Hecken has more potential, but you never know.

Mariam Ziegler is only 15 and from Austria. She went to the Olympics but didn't make the FS because she had two big jumping mistakes. She landed a nice combination though and had good flexibility and spins as far as I could tell. If she becomes more consistent with her jumps I think she could potentially be competitive on the European stage as well, she had a very nice quality about her for a 15 year old.

silverlake22 · Mar 12, 2010

Anna Ovcharova just beat Kanako Murakami and Polina Agafonova in the SP at Jr. Worlds :agree:, her score was 59.80 and she didn't even do a 3-3 and her score was still higher than Kanako who did 3t-3t and Polina who did 3lz-3t, I think she is definitely one to watch! Last season she was a tiny little peanut who couldn't do most of her triples and finished 16th at Russian Junior Nationals and this year she can do all the hard triples and keeps getting better! Plus she isn't even 14 yet, she turns 14 next week, but already is 5'3" so hopefully she's already had her big growthspurt. She is special, her expressiveness on the ice rivals Sasha at her age :love:

FlattFan · Mar 12, 2010

silverlake22 said:
Anna Ovcharova just beat Kanako Murakami and Polina Agafonova in the SP at Jr. Worlds :agree:, her score was 59.80 and she didn't even do a 3-3 and her score was still higher than Kanako who did 3t-3t and Polina who did 3lz-3t, I think she is definitely one to watch! Last season she was a tiny little peanut who couldn't do most of her triples and finished 16th at Russian Junior Nationals and this year she can do all the hard triples and keeps getting better! Plus she isn't even 14 yet, she turns 14 next week, but already is 5'3" so hopefully she's already had her big growthspurt. She is special, her expressiveness on the ice rivals Sasha at her age

By less than a point. And if she didn't even do a 3-3 she probably couldn't do a 3-3. See how that played out for girls who couldn't do 3-3 in this Olympics.

silverlake22 · Mar 12, 2010

FlattFan said:
By less than a point. And if she didn't even do a 3-3 she probably couldn't do a 3-3. See how that played out for girls who couldn't do 3-3 in this Olympics.

I know, but still, it was exciting. That was her season's best score by about 5 points. She said she's working on 3-3s and does them in practice. She can already spin and is flexible with great presentation, and considering she's 1 to 2 years younger than most of the other comparable girls at junior worlds, I thought that was pretty cool. Her teammate Polina Agafonova also did very well and did a 3lz-3t! She's also just 13 and one to watch too!

bekalc · Mar 13, 2010

silverlake22 said:
Anna Ovcharova just beat Kanako Murakami and Polina Agafonova in the SP at Jr. Worlds :agree:, her score was 59.80 and she didn't even do a 3-3 and her score was still higher than Kanako who did 3t-3t and Polina who did 3lz-3t, I think she is definitely one to watch! Last season she was a tiny little peanut who couldn't do most of her triples and finished 16th at Russian Junior Nationals and this year she can do all the hard triples and keeps getting better! Plus she isn't even 14 yet, she turns 14 next week, but already is 5'3" so hopefully she's already had her big growthspurt. She is special, her expressiveness on the ice rivals Sasha at her age

If she is 13, than I have a hard time thinking that her growing is over. She is very expressive and I love her spirals. BUT, her jumping technique is awful, even I can see its unorthodox. OF course that she can land them now at her height is a good sign, but what happens if she grows not only taller (but wider). 13 year olds do not only get taller, they have a tendency to develop hips later on too.

silverlake22 · Mar 13, 2010

bekalc said:
If she is 13, than I have a hard time thinking that her growing is over. She is very expressive and I love her spirals. BUT, her jumping technique is awful, even I can see its unorthodox. OF course that she can land them now at her height is a good sign, but what happens if she grows not only taller (but wider). 13 year olds do not only get taller, they have a tendency to develop hips later on too.

She turns 14 in a few days. Likely she is not done growing but she may be almost done growing, a lot of girls don't get much bigger after 8th grade. And I was surprised to see that her jumps actually look a lot better, she doesn't flip or lip and under-rotation doesn't seem to be a problem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s-c5Jw6MuE&feature=channel

If she develops jumping problems in the future, well then she and her coaches can cross that bridge when they come to it, but for the time being, she's doing really well and improving quickly. If she keeps it up I think she could have a great future ahead of her. Plus if she stays on the JGP circuit again next year that will give her time to sort through any puberty battles she may be fighting before going to seniors.

silverlake22 · Mar 13, 2010

Agnes Zawadski just won silver at Junior Worlds! I don't know much about this skater but she got very good scores at nationals and Junior Worlds. I don't know which Grand Prix (junior or senior) she will be on next year but whichever one she competes on I bet she will do well. Her jumps are huge!

☆Genie · Mar 13, 2010

The junior champion is kanako murakami! It seems like she will be a skater to watch as she makes her way into the senoir rankings.

silverlake22 · Mar 13, 2010

☆Genie;486241 said:
The junior champion is kanako murakami! It seems like she will be a skater to watch as she makes her way into the senoir rankings.

Yeah, she was great :agree:! She's awful teeny though, I'm still not convinced she won't have a big growthspurt, and if she does, that could potentially throw off her jumps. I really like Polina Agafonova too, although she is even younger and smaller than Murakami, her spins are fabulous though, even if her jumps take a hit when she grows her spins and spirals should help keep her up in the standings.

christinaskater · Mar 13, 2010

MAO ASADA
MIRAI NAGASU
KANAKO MURAKAMI
YASMIN RAJ- this girl is etheral
AGNES ZAWADZKI
The Polinas and the other Russian girls
CAROLINE ZHANG
ASHLEY WAGNER

silverlake22 · Mar 13, 2010

Caroline needs a new coach and a LOT of work, but I do love her spins and if she manages to make the kind of transformation Mirai has made I have no doubt she can become a top skater again :agree:

I still think Christina might surprise us and become amazing in a year or two, she's not quite there yet but she has all the qualities needed to become a top skater.

Also, gotta love that Anna! Her skating is wild but so exciting and I can see her becoming one of the European skaters who gets teased about the prettiness bonus, she has gorgeous lines and is tall, thin, and pretty :love:

Mini-Lepisto, Kostner, or Korpii I'd say.

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

silverlake22

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!

pista04

silverlake22

miki88

prettykeys

Lucky Star

silverlake22

janetfan

Match Penalty

silverlake22

silverlake22

FlattFan

Match Penalty

silverlake22

bekalc

silverlake22

silverlake22

☆Genie

silverlake22

christinaskater

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