Practice Reports

[babayaga]

Maybe she will show a tape from 2009 as part of her program.

All I know so far is, I just saw Kim do a 3Lz/3T. All these fully rotated 3Lo combos that Mao and Miki are going to do -- I think I will wait until Friday before commenting further.

I doubt Mao will go for a 3/3 in the short program honestly. But even without it, if everything else is clean she will still have 3 triples with one of them being a 3A which should be enough to stay very close to the top.

As for Yuna's short program, I liked it more when she showed parts of its choreography first without the music in that open practice session. With the music it for some reason doesn't look as good as I thought it would be. But maybe she didn't try as hard as she would during the actual competition, so I'll wait till then to decide whether I like it or not.

[seniorita]

i ll dare say i like Yuna as Bond girl more than gisele and that kind, I find her more convincing in less dramatic programs in general BUT maybe with the costume and competition mode ambiance(which i wont be able to watch in real time anyway,lol) I may eat my tongue and this may be her best sp, her comeback is impressive nontheless and I m kinda sure she will medal, probably win.
Seriously now has anyone else arrived from ladies?

[lavender]

Still, based on the full run-through, that's all Yu-na needs to win the short program, IMHO.

ITA agree regardless of me not being in love with it...yet.

I think it's very much okay for someone not like Yu na's program. It's okay. This doesn't mean that anyone is right/wrong.

[pokky_oc]

Hmm... I'm pretty sure if Yu-Na skates like that, she'd score around 70-73 even though she can't do her 5 points spirals and her G.O.E. on her jumps have been cut. ( 0.7 on her 3Lz+3T, 3F ) and ( 0.5 on her 2A ).

I'm guessing something like this...

3Lz+3T 10.10 1.54 11.64
3F 5.30 1.26 6.56
FSSp4 3.00 0.50 3.50
2A 3.30 0.80 4.10
LSp4 2.70 1.00 3.70
SlSt3 3.30 0.90 4.30
CCoSp4 3.50 1.00 4.50

TEC 38.30
PCS 33.00

SS 8.50
TR 8.00
PE 8.25
CH 8.25
IN 8.25

SP 71.30

And this is being generous enough I think We haven't seen 70+ in Ladie's SP this season yet, so it should be exciting!

And as for Miki, I hope she puts in a 3S+3Lo in her SP! I really think that she can skate a great short program! And for Mao, I hope she puts in a 3-3 of some sort... I do agree that she shouldn't risk a 3Lz in the SP but she has landed it number of times this season! The Japanese Nationals, the 4CC Warm-Up and the 4CC FS.

[silverlake22]

Has Miki done a full SP run-through with 3Sal+3Loop combination and 3Lutz out of steps as her jumping passes? That would be a very welcome change and she certainly needs the upgraded content if Yu-Na and Mao skate clean. I've always wondered why Miki never tried a 3Sal+3Loop combination, as it would be much less prone to downgrades. She did do a 3Toe+3Loop a couple years ago, and it still got downgraded, but since the 3Sal is such an easy jump for her I figured that would be an ideal fit.

Mao's SP is terrible. I hope she doesn't go back to Tarasova for a competitive program next season because that woman has lost her touch, at least in terms of making CoP programs. Nothing in the program goes well with the music at all. I wouldn't say her step sequence looks hurried, rather TOO much time is spent on the footwork sequence. The pattern becomes a mess and she spends way too much time on that one element trying to execute a million steps and turns. I think she must be going for a Level 4, but it's just not going to happen.

I don't think this music is the best fit for Mao to begin with but the current choreography is total crap. At the VERY least she shouldn't be doing all of her jumping passes back-to-back-to-back at the start of the program. Ick.

BTW, Yu-Na's LP is better than her SP. I was trying to put it as nicely as possible a couple months ago when I said that Yu-Na's Giselle SP was more like Miki Ando's Giselle than Yukari Nakano's Giselle (for those who remember the battle of the Giselle's back at 2008 Skate America). Musical similarities aside, hopefully you all see what I mean now.

I agree about Miki, and if she goes for 3s-3lo then she doesn't have to worry about having to do a 3f which gives her trouble, and further her 3s-3lo is probably more likely to get full credit than her 3lz-3lo. Seems like the way to go unless she just plans to play it safe and do 3lz-2lo and 3lo. But if Mao and Yuna do 3-3s, or even if Mao does 3-2 but is otherwise clean with a 3a, the first layout is probably the way to go.

[demarinis5]

I really liked the practice clip. Nothing sedate in her interpretation of this music and I like that. Her jumps, footwork, spins and the intensity
she brings to this program imo were great.

[Krislite]

The choreography is boring? Wilson must be losing his touch.

This is not typical of Yuna, of course. She's done Tango, Danse and Bond Girl, which project a fierce femme fatale-like personality. Going from that to an angst-ridden ballerina might be a bit of a stretch. But if she were to do Carmen, which suits her skating personality to a T, people would complain of lack of originality, etc.

Personally, I'm glad she's experimenting with different styles and expressions. And we haven't seen her perform it in competition yet so I'll hold my assessment for now.

What I'm really interested in is her LP. Lots of skaters have skated to Giselle, but not to a medley of Korean folk music. She's supposedly incorporated a few Korean folk dance moves into the choreo. Unfortunately I won't be able to recognize it.

[Blades of Passion]

Still, based on the full run-through, that's all Yu-na needs to win the short program, IMHO.

Well, yes. The 3Lutz-3Toe and overall poise speak for themselves, so she'll still deserve to win the SP when considering the dreck Mao Asada has for a SP this year.

Truth be told, my favorite SP's of the year from a conceptual standpoint are probably Sarah Meier's and Rachael Flatt's (at US Nationals...the altered choreography at 4CC was a step down). Both of those still have areas I'd modify, though, and the thing about choreography is that it changes based upon execution. You can give someone the best choreography in the World but that doesn't mean their body will move perfectly, or that their positions will be the most appealing, or that their expression will be the best.

Trolls emerging. Hoped they would take a break from this worlds but no. There is plenty of ballet elements in the program, including her toes. Ask anyone with knowledge in ballet.

The only person trolling in this thread is you. I'm quite sure that any SP skated by Sasha Cohen would be classified as more balletic than this SP of Yu-Na's. There was a lot of talk about Yu-Na changing her carriage and making a big stylistic departure with this program. It didn't happen, plain and simple. There are a couple overt ballet references but she certainly does not display the kind of positions that one would think of when recalling a ballerina.

Which is fine because this is ice skating and not classic ballet. But the program isn't great regardless (feel free to have your own opinion of course). I'm just going to be glad about her LP; Yu-Na will really deserve to win the competition there.

[Andalusia]

Yu-Na's SP run-through bored me to tears, although I expect her to notch it up a bit during competiton. And there was nothing balletic about the programme at all; with that same fugly free leg position in her layback, I don't see how she can ever be called even remotely balletic. She is still going to win the SP by an insane margin, so the bots can just cease and desist with calling others trolls for the moment.

Any links to her LP run-through? Mao's?

[alexeifan]

Yu-Na's SP run-through bored me to tears, although I expect her to notch it up a bit during competiton. And there was nothing balletic about the programme at all; with that same fugly free leg position in her layback, I don't see how she can ever be called even remotely balletic. She is still going to win the SP by an insane margin, so the bots can just cease and desist with calling others trolls for the moment.

Any links to her LP run-through? Mao's?

ITA it's a horrible layback but still enough to win if she's clean. I thought she was going to fix some of her leg positions but she's still above the rest in other areas.

[ImaginaryPogue]

Lynn Rutherford's tweets: "Virtue/Moir FD: dazzling lifts, speedy twizzles, great samba character, sexy gold dress. Adds up to spectacular. What a dance competition!"

[Symmetry]

Yu-Na's SP run-through is the best program I've seen in this season. It would be exciting to see a new face (or even an old one) knocks out the Olympic champion, but she has to be fairly beaten. I don't see how Yu-Na could lose the SP to anyone in the current weak field.

[feraina]

Given that most elite female skaters and quite a number of elite male skaters take ballet lessons on a regular basis, generic ballet movements are fairly common in figure skating program and not just limited to ladies. Want to see a real competitive program with ballet focus? Take this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6zKfZVurJY

Oh, I forgot how much speed Oksana Baiul had! And she had such height and distance on that 3Z. Amazing! She also had a lot of COP-friendly spin positions. Just a little fireball of energy. Good for her.

[SkateFiguring]

Lynn Rutherford's tweets: "Virtue/Moir FD: dazzling lifts, speedy twizzles, great samba character, sexy gold dress. Adds up to spectacular. What a dance competition!"

Waiting for video.

[colleen o'neill]

Pogue..thanks for referencing Lynn Rutherford's tweet..It's had me drooling all day. ( More . I want more.)