What do you want to see at Worlds ...Ladies

[genki]

She has good speed and ice coverage but it's definitely not true about her lines/extensions. A great spiral has both the technical and aesthetic aspects. Unfortunately, Kim's spirals only have the technical parts down.

I completely agree. Dick Button used to say." That is not a stretch at all." All of us can see that Yuna lacks in flexibility compared to Mao. Look at those video below. It is absolutely clear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOwR7...eature=related

I love Yuna's expression and the way she uses her eyes. Huge 3lz and 3t. Excellent artistic quality. But I do not understand why her spiral garners high GOE at all.
Also, her sit spin position was really high, compared to Mao. Her spin often travels too. I do not get this Yuna Hype at all.

[jatale]

She has good speed and ice coverage but it's definitely not true about her lines/extensions. A great spiral has both the technical and aesthetic aspects. Unfortunately, Kim's spirals only have the technical parts down.

I'm not a skater myself, so perhaps I don't understand what is supposed to be "aesthetic" about a spiral sequence. I just know what looks beautiful to me and YuNa's spiral reminds me of Michelle's trademark one which I still consider the best I've ever seen. Yes, Mao has greater extension and flexibility, and I like her sequence a lot also, and maybe it should score better, but I don't enjoy it as much as I do YuNa's. To me, the most impressive and singular thing about Mao's skating is her 3A, it's just fabulous.

I'll certainly admit that there is a lot of hype surrounding YuNa with all the TV commentators, sports reporters, newspaper reviews, etc. etc. singing her praises, and maybe a lot of people have been influenced by it, including myself. All that hype, however, imposes a huge burden on YuNa to constantly meet the high expectations that hype creates. That maybe part of the reason she withdrew from competition this past year, waiting for the hype to settle down a bit.

[BackStage Barbie]

According to Sarah & Drew on twitter, Lepisto has pulled out of worlds due to a back injury and will be replaced by Turkkila.

[miki88]

I'm not a skater myself, so perhaps I don't understand what is supposed to be "aesthetic" about a spiral sequence. I just know what looks beautiful to me and YuNa's spiral reminds me of Michelle's trademark one which I still consider the best I've ever seen. Yes, Mao has greater extension and flexibility, and I like her sequence a lot also, and maybe it should score better, but I don't enjoy it as much as I do YuNa's. To me, the most impressive and singular thing about Mao's skating is her 3A, it's just fabulous.

Michelle had far more better extension on her spiral. There's really no comparison.

[jaylee]

But I do not understand why her spiral garners high GOE at all.
Also, her sit spin position was really high, compared to Mao. Her spin often travels too. I do not get this Yuna Hype at all.

For the same reason Joannie Rochette, Laura Lepisto, and Miki Ando are also able to grab high GOE for their spirals without having superior flexibility and extension.

Yu-Na's spins are fine. You need to get over the Olympics.

According to Sarah & Drew on twitter, Lepisto has pulled out of worlds due to a back injury and will be replaced by Turkkila.

I heard this elsewhere and I was very sorry to hear of it. I hope she makes a full recovery.

[YunaBliss]

Yuna's spiral is breathtaking!! In fact, almost everything she does - even merely tilting her head - is breathtaking, IMO^^.

Anyway, D-13 till her arrival in Tokyo. And D-19 till the SHOWDOWN! BRING IT ON!!

[Lookingood78]

I completely agree. Dick Button used to say." That is not a stretch at all." All of us can see that Yuna lacks in flexibility compared to Mao. Look at those video below. It is absolutely clear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOwR7...eature=related

I love Yuna's expression and the way she uses her eyes. Huge 3lz and 3t. Excellent artistic quality. But I do not understand why her spiral garners high GOE at all.
Also, her sit spin position was really high, compared to Mao. Her spin often travels too. I do not get this Yuna Hype at all.

Mao sit spin is her worst spin to me, i always giggle at it when i see them.

[jatale]

I forgot to mention Sasha's AMAZING Charlotte spiral, totally breathtaking! That along with Michelle's are my two favorites.

[dorispulaski]

The trouble with Sasha's Charlotte spiral was that it was on a shallow edge or no edge at all.
This picture shows that very clearly.
http://alainagyogini.files.wordpress...te_spiral1.jpg

Here's Sasha's regular spiral-beautiful position, and a good edge, too.
http://web.icenetwork.com/images/200...7/jGFvNmpO.jpg

The trouble with Yu Na's spiral esthetically to me is that she really, really does not like to point her toe, and the rules do not require her to do so to get great scores on the element, so she doesn't. Also she has not needed to develop turn out, so her butt sticks up. And she does not fully extend her leg, so it's not straight. BTW, this is the improved version from last year.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...g-blogSpan.jpg

and from another angle and time
http://web.icenetwork.com/images/200...7/TRKnBPyj.jpg

On the other hand, as you can easily see from these shots, her spiral is on a great edge, and (although you can't see it from a still shot), her spirals have wonderful speed, and so they score well in GOE. Any problems with the esthetics of her spiral would fall into PCS, and since the rest of her skating is really amazing, it does not show, really. So I suggest people do what I do-if you find the appearance of YuNa's spiral unesthetic, turn your head and don't look. The performance will be wonderful immediately after she stop doing the ugly spiral.

A COP spiral, in general, is only very marginally better or worse because it is esthetically beautiful. For example, I don't know whether I've ever seen one of those dog-pee spirals that I though was even remotely pretty, but the skaters needed another spiral position they could hold, and so many used that one. I am so glad that the spiral sequence is now a Choreographic Spiral sequence instead. Thank you, ISU!

[miki88]

On the other hand, as you can easily see from these shots, her spiral is on a great edge, and (although you can't see it from a still shot), her spirals have wonderful speed, and so they score well in GOE. Any problems with the esthetics of her spiral would fall into PCS, and since the rest of her skating is really amazing, it does not show, really. So I suggest people do what I do-if you find the appearance of YuNa's spiral unesthetic, turn your head and don't look. The performance will be wonderful immediately after she stop doing the ugly spiral.

Yes! I've always felt that her spirals are a stark contrast to the rest of her skating. Everything else is fine.

[Mathman]

Yuna's spiral is breathtaking!! In fact, almost everything she does - even merely tilting her head - is breathtaking, IMO.

Yuna tilting her head.

http://kaladan.com/wp-content/upload.../yuna-kim2.jpg

Yuna straight atcha..

http://youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily....Yu-Na-Bond.jpg

Yuna spiral.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/...e8e9970b-800wi

[Mathman]

For example, I don't know whether I've ever seen one of those dog-pee spirals that I though was even remotely pretty...

A remotely pretty dog-pee spiral

.http://www.freewebs.com/noarlungaice...nImage_28.jpeg

I think the key is to have legs that reach from center ice to the third row. This could alsmost make me a fan of the tights-over-boots look.

Edited to add]

The costume is everything! Here is a very nice one. (This is Olga Ikannikova.)

http://rpmedia.ask.com/ts?u=/wikiped..._The_Hague.jpg

[cooper]

Yuna tilting her head.

http://kaladan.com/wp-content/upload.../yuna-kim2.jpg

Yuna straight atcha..

http://youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily....Yu-Na-Bond.jpg

Yuna spiral.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/...e8e9970b-800wi

Laura getting injured again. Sigh.

[dorispulaski]

Yuna spiral.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/...e8e9970b-800wi

Check the edge-while that is a spiral like position, she's not on an edge, she's on a flat, so at this point, it isn't a spiral.

A remotely prettry dog-pee spiral

.http://www.freewebs.com/noarlungaice...nImage_28.jpeg


I think the key is to have legs that reach from center ice to the third row. This could alsmost make me a fan of the tights-over-boots look.

Edited to add]

The costume is everything! Here is a very nice one. (This is Olga Ikannikova.)

http://rpmedia.ask.com/ts?u=/wikiped..._The_Hague.jpg

Nope, anyway, not IMO. Two very attractive ladies doing an unattractive spiral

[breeze]

I think this is one the the prettier fan spirals..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAzVj...ailpage#t=175s

And I'm so sorry to hear about Laura... one of the things I wanted to see at Worlds is gone now. Hope she gets better soon and comes back stronger next season!