Junior Ladies LP

[Rachmaninoff]

Wow,Shelepen has planned 7 triples with two triple lutzes and two triple toes and additionaly two double axels. No senior lady this year has such a difficult technical content planned in her program. Very impressive and she almost did it all beside that fall on the back end of her second triple-triple combination. By the way, it's very rare to see a lady program with two triple-triples. I think there were just several ladies who did it. Slutskaya, Arakawa, Asada, Meissner, Kostner, Ando... any other? I'm not counting Hughes' Olympic FS since both triple-triple would've been downgraded had she skated under COP.

If triple-triple sequences count, then Lipinski did it and possibly Bonaly. They both had triple toe-triple sal sequences plus an actual 3-3 combination in their programs.

I'm pretty blown away by the technical content too. It's much more difficulty than you typically see in a senior level comp. Is women's skating going to see some major advancement here, or are these skaters going to lose some of this ability when they get older? I'm hoping the former. I wouldn't want to see this (juniors out-jumping the seniors) become a trend.

[oleada]

Li was a great start to the competition. Nice soft skating. A little sloppy in parts, but very expressive. Good for her

Polina K - wow for a skater who didn't have a 3F last year, that was a gorgeous 3F+3T combo! Really nice skate and I'm so happy for her medal. She is just so elegant, which I love. I think Li is more expressive but Polina is more polished.

Shoji has really nice basics, but oy, the jump technique. I think her opening combo was the only one that looked fully rotated. The performance felt flat, which is understandable given the errors. It's a shame, because there' s a softness to her skating that I enjoy.

Lam was a complete disaster. Tiny jumps (I have no idea how she rotates 3 times, because she gets like half an inch off of the ice), bad posture and rushing like crazy.This program is a lot more workmanlike compared to the SP. This is nitpicky, but I wish she'd change her hair part, because the middle part look is so severe.

I don't expect either of Lam or Shoji to become world beaters.

I must be in a good mood, because I enjoyed Shelepen. I think she's improved her basics and presentation. She'll probably never be great, but there's noticeable improvement. She'll make a good addition to the Worlds team for Russia.

Julia is awesome. She has IT. And she does remind me of Sasha and I LOVE HER FOR IT!

[oleada]

Protocols

Lipnitskaia, Li and Lam all got edge calls on their 3Lz.
Shelepen had an edge call on her 3F.

Lam got 3Lz< on her second combo. Li under-rotated her opening 3F and Shoji only got full credit for her 3S; all other triples were downgraded. Korobeynikova was the only skater without edge calls or downgrades.

[christinaskater]

Julia's LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8I2k...&feature=g-all

[christinaskater]

Polina Korobeynikova
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNt4g..._order&list=UL

Glorious skating! I am excited for her! She is one of my new favorites!

[sky_fly20]

besides Adelina and Julia

I think I found a new fave, out of all the russian wunderbabyies skaters
I really like Polina Korobeynikova's polished and light skating
she's very elegant and yes she sometimes looks and skates a bit like Alissa Ciszny

Polina Korobeynikova will be amazing in the coming years
take note she passed her growth spurt already , so its focusing on adding new elements

[christinaskater]

I agree that Julia is reminiscent of Sasha Cohen!

[christinaskater]

besides Adelina and Julia

I think I found a new fave, out of all the russian wunderbabyies skaters
I really like Polina Korobeynikova's polished and light skating
she's very elegant and yes she sometimes looks and skates a bit like Alissa Ciszny

Polina Korobeynikova will be amazing in the coming years
take note she passed her growth spurt already , so its focusing on adding new elements

She does look like Alissa! When i was watching her especially before she jumps- she really looks like Alissa! I am excited for her. She is the most mature looking among the up and coming russian divas!

[bigsisjiejie]

Vanessa Lam needs an intervention and fast...she's already 16. She's going nowhere with that jump technique, and unlike Caroline Zhang (who also had flawed jumped technique and see where that landed her Jr-->Sr), Vanessa doesn't have the non-jump Wow! elements nor CZ's ice presence. If Lam plans to keep skating, maybe she should get over to Arutunian, toute suite.

Would much rather have seen Samantha Cesario here for the USA. Or (if the USFS hadn't been so blindered by their stubborn methodology of parceling out the JGP spots) Gracie Gold.

Looks like Risa Shoji also needs to step back and take stock on what she needs to do to fix her jumping.

Nearly everybody: FIX THOSE LUTZ EDGES!

[sky_fly20]

She does look like Alissa! When i was watching her especially before she jumps- she really looks like Alissa! I am excited for her. She is the most mature looking among the up and coming russian divas!

not only that, her LP dress, looks a bit like Alissa Cisznys too, LOL

[skateflower]

Vanessa Lam needs an intervention and fast...she's already 16. She's going nowhere with that jump technique, and unlike Caroline Zhang (who also had flawed jumped technique and see where that landed her Jr-->Sr), Vanessa doesn't have the non-jump Wow! elements nor CZ's ice presence. If Lam plans to keep skating, maybe she should get over to Arutunian, toute suite.

Would much rather have seen Samantha Cesario here for the USA. Or (if the USFS hadn't been so blindered by their stubborn methodology of parceling out the JGP spots) Gracie Gold.

Looks like Risa Shoji also needs to step back and take stock on what she needs to do to fix her jumping.

Nearly everybody: FIX THOSE LUTZ EDGES!

It's stupid to believe miracle will strike you and your jumps can be 'fixed' by just switching to another coach. Arutunian couldn't fix Mao's jumps, how the hell do you expect him to 'fix' Vanessa's jumps? There is no miracle coach who can make any person become a world champion,.Vanessa's jumps were tiny from beginning. There's limitation to every skater's natural talent...

By the way, the jump content of these Jr. skaters put almost all the senior skaters into shame.

[shine]

I don't understand why Polina K. doesn't get higher PCS than Lipnitskaya? The latter of course has all the flexi moves, but Polina is much more polished and knows how to move IMO. I really can't see how Lipnitiskaya is so head and shoulders above the rest like her marks indicate. Polina is the only one who looked like she's ready for the senior rank IMO.

[sky_fly20]

^

she'll get higher PCS dont worry
Polina is getting better by the season. she just needs to polish and her consistency

[raress]

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/figureskati...75236044&tab=0 the the entire junior ladies free from CBC

[used2sk8]

Vanessa had a rough night. But she's done pretty consistent free programs all year. One bad skate should not make you need a complete overhaul. Just learn from it and move on! These Jr girls were a tough bunch. Just making the Finals is huge. I'm sure she will clean it up for Nationals. The Short program was wonderful, so the basics are there.