JGP Final - Ladies | Page 7 | Golden Skate

JGP Final - Ladies

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
I was surprised about the call, too. But I noticed her flip edge take off wasn't from an inside edge while watching the replay. Her jumps are quite nice, however.
 

Meli_Huber

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 25, 2008
That is absolut strange ...
Liza never get the e before.
I only saw Adelinas first Lutz combo in slow move - and that was clear INSIDE edge!
Don´t saw her second Lutz or Lizas flip in slow move, so i cannot say something about that.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Great to see Christina skate mostly clean and do that 3F-3T! Looks like she was third in the FS but obviously that really bad SP did her in. It was a tight race for that bronze -- only four points separated 3rd (Zijun Li) to 6th (Christina).

Decent levels though she needs to work on getting that step sequence up a few levels.
 

Andalusia

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Just saw Sotnikova's FS, and she is frighteningly good. Kim is very lucky that she won't be at senior Worlds. If puberty doesn't do a number on her and she doesn't prove to be a headcase, the battle for the gold should be between her and Tuktamysheva at Sochi in 2014.

I think I've got another skater to root for in Li Zijun - she is lovely and there is so much untapped potential there. Oh, what a really good team could do with her!
 

Meli_Huber

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 25, 2008
I love this little chinese girl!
And she must be so happy she was allowed to skate here after Baga withdrawal!

Really hope she develope in the right direction and will be such a lovely skater for many years!
 

bigsisjiejie

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
Just returned from the Arena

Due to travel, couldn't make it to the first day's skating, but did manage to get to over to the venue this afternoon and evening. Just got home and haven't had time to see the protocols, but here's some thoughts from seeing it live, to add to the pbp generously supplied above. This is the first time I have seen any of these young ladies live.

Siraj--Unfortunately I got to the arena late and saw her in the K&C only.

Gao--She is taller than I expected from the youtube clips. Maybe grown? Her program is rather boring and I didn't care for the choreography. She was actually fairly slow. A pleasant skater, but for all those who claim she's the Next Big Thing in US ladies skating...I'm not seeing it yet.

Gong--With this Salome program, I actually saw a couple of vague snippets of Michelle Kwan's 1996 choreography--not surprising with Frank and Lori on Team Gong. :laugh: Unfortunately for Gong, my natural reaction was to compare, and realizing just how good Kwan really was at age 15--oodles beyond this. Gong's skating reminds me a bit of Bebe Liang--she's more of a power skater rather than an artist. Or maybe it's the body type that's similar. I love this music but I think it got a little overwhelming for her in the last half of the program. That said, she's still a work in progress so let's see what she does the rest of this season and next.

Li--Very nice program and a good music/choreo match for her. She rotates very fast in the air. Her jumps were "on" today and she skates with pretty decent speed and flow. Her arm positions are often distracting, though, as if she doesn't quite know what to do with them. I think we may have China's next big lady skater--she is on track to probably be the best since Lu Chen--IF puberty doesn't poleaxe her and if she can avoid major injury issues. Her presentation was better than Gao's and Gong's. Would like to see her next try some program music with more dynamic variation. Crowd was thrilled by her.

Shoji--She looked tense in the warm-up and was having trouble with her jumps. But they seemed to come together in the program itself...mostly. She has a really light touch (gentle) on her landings. I like this program, it's well-constructed and she presented it well. Thought she might have some UR's. Gave Li the edge on technical but Shoji on PCS. Watch out for this one in the future in seniors. I prefer her skating/technique to Murakami's. Score came out as a TIE. :eek: Li ahead on better FS--bummer for Shoji.

Shelepen--Something about her is very gawky/awkward. She has power in her jumps but some weird technique--and I particularly dislike her toe jump takeoffs, with the bent knee on the picking leg. Ugly. Her non-jump elements aren't anything special. Today she was skating rather sloppy, on the verge of "out of control." Not sure if this is normal for her, or if today was unusual. Anyway, this Russian folk program was full of cliche-ed movements, and the crowd was SO not into it.

Tuktamisheva--Like, like, like. This one's the real deal. Skated with a lot of speed and kept it up throughout--this music is relentless (but I like it, and her choreog)! Screwed up her first jump (combo) but didn't let it muddle her mind and just kept working her program. Mishin has obviously taught her some solid technique. Most effective footwork so far. She has good presentation quality. Got off ice quite happy. Clearly best of skaters thus far.

Sotnikova--Another real deal, but I think she has more potential future jumping issues. I was sitting on the side opposite the judges and had a perfect angle to see her first jump combo. She CLEARLY flutzed, though it was an impressively done 3Fltz-3Loop. I also thought her 2nd solo lutz was flutzed slightly but my angle wasn't quite as good on that one. She moves beautifully on the ice, and I see what everyone has been saying about her posture, carriage, extension, etc. And her musicality. Best of this competition, IMO. Interesting to contrast her skating with Tukta's--they have different strengths and weaknesses. For me, it would have been a hard choice tonight--these two were clearly the class of the field.

Judges gave it to Sotnikova and score surprisingly high. I'm guessing that tech panel gave her full credit for lutzes without "e" calls. Their bad. (Must look at protocols when I have time.) Not sure if it made a difference in the final placements, though.
 
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treeloving

Medalist
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
Such a shame for Risa, my favorite junior lady right now, who skated 2 clean beautiful and emotional program(but a lot of under rotate) and almost get to the podium. Let hope she does it better at world! I really love her presentation.
 
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dlgpffps

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
I never realized until I saw her performance in better quality, but Adelina jumps a lot like Mao circa 2010 (those bloody toe-jumps). I actually had to look twice to make sure I wasn't watching Mao jump that flutz combination (lavender costume, similar body type, jumps identical in slow-mo). Adelina has the edge above Liza in terms of posture, lines, musicality and performance, but I see Liza weathering puberty easily on account of her clean technique and Adelina, fighting to keep her money jumps. She should start working on technique caliber from an early stage so she won't need a complete overhaul later on. She has great consistency now, but bad habits eventually take their toll. Pristine technique, however, is wood-solid.

But I definitely understand why everyone's abuzz. Adelina is pure talent. I see a glimpse here and there of World, possibly even Olympic, champion material. I also see the same amount in Liza. The big difference comes down to packaging & maturity. Give Liza another year. She might be able to turn the tables. I was actually more impressed by her, than Adelina, after having seen cleaner, more close-up clips.

Adelina's programs scream TARASOVA. Liza's scream MISHIN. It's interesting how Russia's next big rivalry echos the last: Yags vs. Plush.
 

dlgpffps

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
This JGPF was excellent. Excellent skating from Adelina, Liza, Risa and Zijun! I'm trying to get tickets to Tokyo Worlds. Maybe I'll go to Junior Worlds if I fail.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I never realized until I saw her performance in better quality, but Adelina jumps a lot like Mao circa 2010 (those bloody toe-jumps). I actually had to look twice to make sure I wasn't watching Mao jump that flutz combination (lavender costume, similar body type, jumps identical in slow-mo). Adelina has the edge above Liza in terms of posture, lines, musicality and performance, but I see Liza weathering puberty easily on account of her clean technique and Adelina, fighting to keep her money jumps. She should start working on technique caliber from an early stage so she won't need a complete overhaul later on. She has great consistency now, but bad habits eventually take their toll. Pristine technique, however, is wood-solid.

But I definitely understand why everyone's abuzz. Adelina is pure talent. I see a glimpse here and there of World, possibly even Olympic, champion material. I also see the same amount in Liza. The big difference comes down to packaging & maturity. Give Liza another year. She might be able to turn the tables. I was actually more impressed by her, than Adelina, after having seen cleaner, more close-up clips.

Adelina's programs scream TARASOVA. Liza's scream MISHIN. It's interesting how Russia's next big rivalry echos the last: Yags vs. Plush.


I see Adelina as more similar to Mao and Liza more like Yuna at this point. Mao was winning everything on the junior level and while Yuna was good she didn't really measure up to Mao, but then on the senior stage she pulled ahead of Mao and became the one to beat. I could see the same thing happening with Adelina and Liza because Adelina has some jump technique issues (like Mao) while Liza has perfect jumps, so I think once Liza develops the other side of her skating she could potentially pull ahead of Adelina ala Yuna. Liza has the looks and the right moves to be a star, she just needs some more time to develop the rest of her skating, but once she does, watch out!
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Such a shame for Risa, my favorite junior lady right now, who skated 2 clean beautiful and emotional program(but a lot of under rotate) and almost get to the podium. Let hope she does it better at world! I really love her presentation.

I know, I was a bit gutted for her. If she can fix her URs though she'll be a force to be reckoned with! I can't believe she is just 14, she skates with such presence and maturity!
 

NMURA

Medalist
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Shoji's lutz and flip were always close to underrotation. Plus she seems to be getting too sensitive to the takeoff edges. As a result, having difficulties to jump with full strength. She should concentrate on UR issues in this season.

Winning a JGPF (silver or bronze) medal in the first season as a junior is kind of a bad omen for Japanese ladies. At least, Shoji may be able to avoid the same fate with Nishino or Fujisawa.
 

skfan

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
a lot of promising young skaters. i like so many of them, the top 2 russian prodigies and li from china especially but risa shoji and christina gao too. but i have just one pet peeve. the ISU should ban gloves, including gloves worn from the sleeve like sotnikova's in the long program. totally ruins the effect for me. hands should not be blue, purple, black, etc. the last skater who wore gloves and charmed me was josee schouinard. i don't even like them on my beloved daisuke.

did i mention i hate gloves? i'll even withdraw my petition to ban blade grab on death spirals if we can just stamp out the epidemic of gloves. *gets off soap box*
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I know this field is really impressive. I wouldn't be surprised if most of these girls were medal contenders for the 2014 Olympics, they are all very impressive and have different strengths, but all of them are also quite strong in the jumping department. Adelina, Liza, Christina, Risa, Polina all have pretty consistent 3-3s and Zijun is only 13 but can do all the triples and 2a-3t already. Puberty may still hamper Liza, Zijun, and Yasmin but it seems like Christina, Polina, Adelina, and Risa are handling it pretty well so far and keeping the tough jumps in their arsenals. Overall a very impressive competition, and to think that there are so many other talented young skaters that weren't here (Polina A, Rosa, Anna, Ira, Vanessa, etc) is just amazing. Very deep field of ladies for sure.
 

evangeline

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Adelina's programs scream TARASOVA. Liza's scream MISHIN. It's interesting how Russia's next big rivalry echos the last: Yags vs. Plush.

:laugh:

I never realized that but it's so true!

I can't wait until Liza and Adelina reach seniors.
 

bibi

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 7, 2007
From the feed, it doesn't look like the flip take off from an inside edge. It was just straight edge, so the call could go either way.

The calls on edges and UR were so strange at this competition!

Liza got UR on her 3lutz and 3toe...which is REALLY strange..her jumps were clearly rotated look here at 4:49 and 4:54 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wid2Y_w01Y8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
Also, her 3flip should really not have gotten an edge call. We can see that it is clearly from an inside edge at 5:09.

I'm very glad that Adelina won, she was wonderful! but I just don't get why she didn't get any edge call on her lutz.. Look at 4:56 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxE1RHCq1CI&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL It is an inside edge..

Finally, I was very shocked by Christina's low score and she got that low because of UR on her 3toe and her 3loop which were fine! Look for her clean 3loop at 1:12 here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK1hEuq4aPQ
Also, her 3toe was clearly rotated..look at 4:04.
On the other hand, she fell on her 2axel because she was really off in the air and THIS jump should have been underrotated, not the others! Look at 4:35.

Well, I'm really disappointed by the callers because those mistakes from them were pretty obvious ..
 
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