just watched Alissa as I missed the first two groups yesterday. Wow, really, really lovely. It is beyond wonderful to watch her have such a great season. Here's wishing her the very, very best tomorrow!
I'm too tired to watch more now; but hopefully, they will show Mirai on tv tomorrow! Can't wait!
PS - that split screen of EoE was too hard for me to watch. I'll just savor the memory from last night!
someone uploaded a bad quality recording of Mirai's SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih_T0RgKEF0
Just did a little catching up on nationals viewing. Mostly interested in the top three.
I am not a huge fan of Rachel's, but I think she should have at least been second here. I agree with some about some of her moves getting a bit frantic towards the end. She has talked a lot about wanting the judges to remember how much she really loves skating and what fun it is for her. There were moments where it looked like she was trying to show everyone how much she loves skating, rather than actually just going out and loving skating. I guess maybe it was a bit faked, or overdone. But she seemed a bit faster than normal and the jumps seem a bit higher and pretty smooth.
And for all that everyone was saying about how fast Mirai was, I think she's been a lot faster in the past. I think she can score so much higher with this program. The interpretation and her involvement with the choreography has really grown since the beginning of the season. She also doesn't seem to be cranking the spins like she was last year. Fears of more bloody noses maybe? Maybe she's still catching up on lost training time. If she makes it to Worlds, it'd be great to see her skating - and especially spinning - even faster, and incorporating a triple-triple. I think she could get even closer to her scores last year, even without the spiral sequence.
Alissa is beautiful, but she always seems too reserved. I understand her music is quite soft, but I just feel there's not enough tension in her skating. For whatever reason this always comes across strongest in her footwork sequences. I think that's her weakest element by far, and it just always looks to me like she has no connection to her music in that moment. Jumps were eked out for sure, but that's fine for her. It looks like she's ready to stay on her feet through the long program.
I think this is going to be quite the battle between the top three, but I wonder if the judges, and US Figure Skating has a duo they'd really like to send and if they might fudge a bit to make it so. I think this happened more during the days of the 6.0 system, but we need those three spots back. At this point it seems like any combination of two of these three skaters have an equal shot of earning that third spot back for us.
Does anyone know how the practices went today?
The quality of the video is not so good, but the skating was top notch. I love Mirai!
I just watched the top three again on icenetwork and I've tweaked my mind about a few things.
Alissa was my favorite of the night by far. No quibbling with the placements but it's just my preference. I know some feel her skating is too quiet and that's fine but I love it. I feel like her SP was the most beautiful, the most intricate and the most different. And having watched it again without my heart in my throat, I didn't think she looked as cautious as I thought at first. I don't know why her PCS were lower than Mirai's or Rachael's. Not that Mirai or Rachael didn't deserve their PCS - they both performed the hell out of their programs - but Alissa is just so absolutely exquisite. Whatever - they're all three basically tied on PCS so it's fine.
Mirai is just sensational when she is on like this. The speed, the spins, the flow out of her jumps, it's all stunning. She deserved to be first for sure. The reason I liked Alissa better boils down to their programs. Mirai's program is nice and has a lot of pretty moments. But you know what? I just don't love that gimmicky pedal thing she does in the middle. Still, Mirai was basically awesome.
All three ladies got standing ovations but Rachael seemed to be the only one who got a lot of the audience on their feet before she stopped skating. Well, I thought it was well-deserved because she skated with such joy and abandon. I may prefer Allissa's more subtle and refined program but Rachael gave the most rousing performance of the night and I'm glad she got high performance marks. I do agree a little that the footwork didn't have much to do with the music but she performed with such passion that it made you forget about it. Somehow her arm movements looked right with the music even if the feet didn't quite.
I liked Rachael's dress but the color was not good. I love yellow and I loved the yellow on the skirt but if only the top half had been paler, it would have been gorgeous. Oh and Rachael NEEDS to pin at least some of her hair back. It is so distracting to have so much of it flailing everywhere.
Mirai was actually kind of boring. She's easily my favorite and she did skate lovely but I think she had more energy earlier in the season.
I missed Danielle Kahle! She deserved a MUCH higher score. Remember when she got 6th place in 2007? Good times.
Lol, before I went on an obsessive ride of watching Ryan Bradley's program for the last hour, I had earlier watched Rachael Flatt's exquisite SP for an equal amount of time. :D Can you tell they're my favorites.
Anyhow, I finally wore myself out, and that's when I recalled Kristine Musademba's teary-eyed performance, so alas I just got through watching her "Claire de Lune" again. I absolutely "love" her running 3-turns into 3R, then as she dancing on her toepicks like a fairy, and the way she uses her left leg all the time by itself, running into the spins on the strength of that one leg, and again when she does one-foot fw on that one leg ~ ahhhh, exquisite, exquisite ~ like an other worldly creature come to life!
Alissa's SP is now up. again, poor quality, but at least its something.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sauG6doIxls
personally i am surprised that this didn't beat Mirai by a point or two. But i'm not complaining.
I've watched that grainy YouTube video of Alissa. No wonder this woman keeps getting high marks despite her weak jumps. How many times in our lifetime have we seen spins of that gorgeous textbook quality? She gains speed as she spins. It's pure magic. And of course that spiral...I hope she wins everything in sight this year. (Translation: if she wins Nationals, I hope hope hope with all fingers crossed that she doesn't implode at Worlds!)Originally Posted by emma
Agnes was overkmarked, her single triple was ur a bit, as well as her double axel. her combo spin a bit slow, her presentation wasn't that good. why a 27. shouldn't have gotten any higher than during gp events which was a 22-23.
she wasn't any faster than GAO
Thank you! Thank you!
I missed Kahle too! I have to agree (and hate to nit-pick on costumes), but I really liked the style of Rachel's dress and the bead/sparkly work. But it was just too canary yellow for my tastes; I kept trying to envision which pastel shade at the top with a darker shade under the skirt would look good. I think your suggestion is a great one.
Nadine - I couldn't agree more!Anyhow, I finally wore myself out, and that's when I recalled Kristine Musademba's teary-eyed performance, so alas I just got through watching her "Claire de Lune" again. I absolutely "love" her running 3-turns into 3R, then as she dancing on her toepicks like a fairy, and the way she uses her left leg all the time by itself, running into the spins on the strength of that one leg, and again when she does one-foot fw on that one leg ~ ahhhh, exquisite, exquisite ~ like an other worldly creature come to life!
Kahle's performance was a long time coming. It was very special. However, her prevous comps left her "Reputaton" as a looser, and that, imo, was part of the scoring.
Best Musadember ever, but she hasn't yet reached the top tier.
Ladies SPs being broadcast on NBC now. Along with plenty of the usual fluff. (And no, not the marshmallow kind.)
Awwww Alissa is so sweet. I didn't realize the level of hurt she was going through after last year.
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