Ladies - Long Program

[dlgpffps]

I thought Asada's Triple Axel is much improved. For the 1st time in a long time I can say it actually merits a positive GOE.

The changes she's made to her flip also merits praise. Hated her bending motion going into the entry. She was also developing a hideous mule kick. It's amazing how soon her efforts are paying off. The combination of immense talent and unrelenting effort are obviously paying off.

[ibauer]

Anywho--I hope Worlds will be better for all three and Canada.

I think the Canadian ladies have only 2 spots at Worlds this year. Phaneuf finished 5th and Samson 29th at last year's Worlds.

[Jammers]

I got the same feeling watching Mirai last night that i did at the Olympics in the LP when she knocked it out of the park. This may have been the best i've ever seen her skate a LP. She was fast and confident and her jumps were huge compared to what we've seen this year. If only she skated with half the energy she did last night she would have at least finished 2nd at Nationals and would be on her way to Worlds. I get the feeling the US is leaving it's best skater behind.

[wallylutz]

As for Mirai, I didn't see any underrotations. I watched it again on youtube. They look very clean to me and the judges agreed with me.

Don't bother with that poster, I agree with you, none of the jumps she mentioned were UR or even questionable. It's completely BS. Even just looking at Mirai's score in the 3 jumping passes mentioned, where the said poster concluded were underrotated (note, she didn't say questionable, she said UR, read her post, with very assertive statement in the case of Mirai), neither the Technical Panel picks up anything and all 9 judges, 9 X 3 = 27, gave her 26 positive GOE out of a possibility of 27 among those 3 elements. I should also add Mirai's 3 Loop was preceded with difficult entries, which should gather additional bonus for features. My guess, the said poster just randomly picks 3 jumping passes, in the same way she thought the 4CC panel was too lenient compared to Europeans only to find out the Tech. Panel here is actually mostly European as well, ROFL. It's amusing how people made these really funny assertions without covering their behind to begin with.

[burntBREAD]

Don't bother with that poster, I agree with you, none of the jumps she mentioned were UR or even questionable. It's completely BS. Even just looking at Mirai's score in the 3 jumping passes mentioned, where the said poster concluded were underrotated (note, she didn't say questionable, she said UR, read her post, with very assertive statement in the case of Mirai), neither the Technical Panel picks up anything and all 9 judges, 9 X 3 = 27, gave her 26 positive GOE out of a possibility of 27 among those 3 elements. I should also add Mirai's 3 Loop was preceded with difficult entries, which should gather additional bonus for features. My guess, the said poster just randomly picks 3 jumping passes, in the same way she thought the 4CC panel was too lenient compared to Europeans only to find out the Tech. Panel here is actually mostly European as well, ROFL. It's amusing how people made these really funny assertions without covering their behind to begin with.

I was about to say...I thought the loop was the best executed jump out of all of them...

[wallylutz]

I was about to say...I thought the loop was the best executed jump out of all of them...

In the case of Mirai, her 3Loop and the 2Axel were her best jumps because they were clean, fully rotated and preceded by difficult features

[Lucky Star]

Sorry if I make you look like someone who is awfully unprepared for your nasty propaganda against non-Russian skaters. All I can say is: "Oh well, better luck next time!"

Oh, I have to ask, where did you read that? Because I didn't write this for sure. And it's not about Russian or non-Russian skaters. Actually I'm a Mao's fan. But this time she didn't rotate her jumps and I was really surprised with her scores. But I do think that Mao is not a chronic underrotater and it's all because she is still fixing her technique. I expect clean jumps from her next season and would love to see it.
Same about Mirai. Her 3Lz for example
http://radikal.ru/F/s016.radikal.ru/...b33f6.jpg.html

As I already said, I have no questions about Miki's jumps, they were clean.

[oleada]

I have to stick up for Lucky Star, she is a pretty fair poster.

I love Asada, but I'm also a little surpirsed that some jumps (3S) weren't looked at more closely. Same with Flatt. Overall, I think it was a really high marked competition, but it was so for everyone, but it works out in the end.

Mirai's jumps looked better than ever to me, though.

[prettykeys]

Post #442

This is such an excellent post. I really appreciate these kind of detailed analyses.

I only watched the ladies' top 5 SP/LP at this event so far. My thoughts:

1) Still impressed with Miki's SP. It's one of her best that I've seen (if not the best.) The elegant, glamorous style really suits her--she seems to be drawn towards dramatic, darker themes, but this is where she is really in her element, it seems. The improvement in her spins is very noticeable, but I thought her steps stood out the most: crisp and controlled. Stylistically I don't like her LP as much (reminds me of her older stuff) but her technical remains very strong with powerful, clean jumps with the aforementioned improvements. If my amateur eyes are not deceiving me, even her basic skating skills seem to have improved. Congrats on the win.

2) Mao - has anyone else mentioned how she's switched to wearing her tan skates bare, without stockings covering them? I LOVE IT! It goes especially well with her new SP costume. Her lavender dress in the LP might go better with bare white skates, but still, I really do like the look of her tan skates.

Choreography change in LP - hmm...I think I like it as much as I liked the old choreo. :S I don't have the most keen eye for choreography, but this was just different and I enjoyed it. Especially the unexpected ending short spiral. Gorgeous high 3A, completely and unequivocally fully rotated. I agree with the poster who noted that it deserves stronger Interpretation scores than it got.

3) Mirai. Her LP was my fav of this competition, and she continues to grow on me. Her jumps were soooooo clean with buttery smooth landings (I love those kinds of jumps) and nice expression, with amazing spins as usual. I realize that Alissa's spins are best (considering their centering, acceleration, and smooth transitioning between positions) but somehow I find Mirai's a little more fun to watch. Is it possible for a spin to have personality? It seems there is more personality to Mirai's spins. (I know I may be jumping into hot water with this one.)

Also, the fact that she ranked highest of the American ladies here at 4CC is both something of a vindication as well as a reason for regret. Why couldn't you do this at Nats??? The Tokyo audience at Worlds would have loved to have seen this, I'm sure.

One thing I do notice though, is that Mirai has a slight hammertoe on at least one of her jumps--I hope she continues to work on that technique.

I got the same feeling watching Mirai last night that i did at the Olympics in the LP when she knocked it out of the park. This may have been the best i've ever seen her skate a LP. She was fast and confident and her jumps were huge compared to what we've seen this year. If only she skated with half the energy she did last night she would have at least finished 2nd at Nationals and would be on her way to Worlds. I get the feeling the US is leaving it's best skater behind.

I agree with you, but unfortunately it was Mirai who did herself in. The USFSA had no choice unless they were to be unfair to Alissa or Rachael, given how they performed at the US Nats.

[cjsk8fan]

Miki deserved the win. I admire how hard she has worked to improve. Mao is beautiful to watch, but I agree with those who feel she was given the benefit of the doubt on most of her jumps. Best I have seen Mirai skate. Her jumps were rotated and her spins wonderful. Hope she can take this into next season and continue to improve.

[R.D.]

They could have always assured Czisny the spot (as champion) and then had a skateoff between Nagasu and Flatt for the 2nd spot. Nonetheless, given that Czisny still scored decently despite flaws bodes well for her at worlds if she does better. I think we may have an outside shot at 3 spots after all.

[PolymerBob]

I get the feeling the US is leaving it's best skater behind.

They did that 2 years ago, so they had better do it now.

[MKFSfan]

RD: ^^^ Agreed. Overall Alissa has been the stronger US Lady this season and while I know she can go to Worlds and falter due to nerves, I believe she can also go and skate as she did at GPF or Nats and be in the running for Bronze. I also feel she deserves to be on the teams based on her results this season, not just based on being the US National Champion. I'm hopeful that not having a strong skate this weekend will help Alissa for Worlds-she won't have as much pressure as she would have she been on the podium and she had another chance to go out there and skate. It seems like the more mileage Alissa gets under her belt, the more confidence she has. She had to come down off that "high" of her Nationals win and now she can build back up for Worlds.

Personally, as much as I like Alissa, I think Mirai is our best current US Lady. Rachel is a steady eddie and pretty reliable as a solid #2. Watch her now go, have two HUGE skates of her life and be on the podium at Worlds! I just think Mirai will always come out ahead when clean, regardless of what Rachel does. But including a 2ax/3lp and 3fl/3t is quite ambitious! I am so looking forward to seeing her nail both at Worlds! I hope both Rachel and Alissa get to have skates that they can be happy with at Worlds, and getting 3 spots would just be the cherry on top of the sundae!

[dorispulaski]

3 spots looks more than achievable, even if Rachael & Alissa skate no better than they did at 4CC's. If Alissa skates as she did at Nationals and the GPF, a bronze might be possible!

Rachael's total score of 180.31 would have won Europeans very handily. Sarah Meier will not be at Worlds, but her total score was only 170.60. Kostner was second and her score was 168.54 total. Rachael's score here is within half a point of Alissa's PB at GPF (180.75). Alissa's score here was 168.81 and would have beaten Kostner.

So let's say they both skate the same, and that Murakami and YuNa beat both of them. That's Rachael in 5th and Alissa in 6th. And that's 3 spots with some room for error. If Rachael skates as well as she did here, she could beat Murakami, whose PBs for the SP, the LP, and total (all achieved at the GPF) are all lower than Rachael's score at 4CC's. Fourth is definitely possible.

In the LP recap, Rachael is quoted as saying:

I'm very happy with the way I skated because this is the first time I have tried the double Axel-triple loop combination in a program," Flatt noted. "For this being the first time I've tried it (the new layout of her free program) and practicing it for two weeks, I'd say it went very well. It was a huge stepping stone for me to stay on my feet the whole time. It was a little slow in spots, but overall I think it was a great effort."

For the World Championships, Flatt hopes to bring back her triple flip-triple toe combination in both programs.

That's very ambitious of her.

Her SP was particularly well received at 4CC's, and I was very pleased to see the non US crowd gave her a standing ovation, so I think Rachael placing between 4th and 8th is very possible for her this year. In fact with luck, a bronze is not totally impossible, if either Yu Na, Mao or Miki falter (and I would not have said that at the beginning of the year). And the same is true for Alissa.

[Joesitz]

I agree with you, but unfortunately it was Mirai who did herself in. The USFSA had no choice unless they were to be unfair to Alissa or Rachael, given how they performed at the US Nats.

If you believe that the one competition is a lock on the World Team, then it is unfortunate if you do. I just don't believe the one comp can select the worlds team.