Senior Ladies Free Skate at 7:00 pm EST.

jan said:

I don't think she looks like Joannie Rochette either as a poster said earlier. Joannie was much shorter and compact. It would be good to see her in a skirt like Alissa's.

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If you are referring to me, I said like the very glam Rochette, she is ripped. Meaning NOT that she looks Rochette in any way other than that she is incredibly muscular with incredibly well defined muscle tone (the ripped part); before the Rochette comparison on muscle tone I said that Agnes was very tall (thus, not like Rochette in that respect).

I was hoping for top 5 for Caroline and she did one better, just thrilled for her.

Congratulations to Ashley no more "almost girl". She was on fire tonight.

Agnes is like an amazon...she brings a lot of power.

I am very happy for Caroline - she was 3rd in the free skate. What a comeback for her.

I love Ashley's program - especially the part where she sprouts wings. She totally owns that program. Kudos to her.

And I've always been a big Alissa fan...too bad she got spooked tonight.

But what an exciting competition!

Serious Business said:

Agnes neither looks nor acts remotely masculine.

Which reminds me, I would actually like to see a female skater do a full on drag king routine for a competitive program. Through the years, we've seen ladies pretend to be swans, fauns and that two-timing gypsy Carmen. Why not men?

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This! (reminds me of Kate Hepburn dressing up as a male in one of her movies --can't recall the title-- Point is, think outside the box figure skating world!)

And yes, Agnes is not "masculine." She has changed her look with darker hair (which is it her true color? -- actually doesn't matter -- everyone should experiment with coloring their hair at some point in life, even if just with highlights). Agnes' face is young and beautiful in its very own feminine, unique way -- somewhat a la Barbara Streisand. Agnes seems to have a flawless complexion, and I love how poised she was at the press conference after the sp.

Can any poster here persuade me to believe why Agnes beat Caroline in total score? I feel very strongly that Caroline should have won bronze. My arguments: 3R-3R was underscored in the SP, her 3F was dinged for just a minor stepout, Agnes unraveling program, Agnes high PCS despite having multiple mistakes (and trust me, there IS a correlation between falls and PCS unless you're the legendary Chan or Plushenko).

demarinis5 said:

I was hoping for top 5 for Caroline and she did one better, just thrilled for her.

Congratulations to Ashley no more "almost girl". She was on fire tonight.

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I was actually hoping for top six for Caroline. Also, I had a feeling Ashley was going to win. She is solid, confident, and self-assured. And should I be relieved for Alissa? Were you guys expecting her to perform the way she did? Did you dread that it would be worse or did you anticipate something better?

demarinis5 said:

I was hoping for top 5 for Caroline and she did one better, just thrilled for her.

Congratulations to Ashley no more "almost girl". She was on fire tonight.

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I was actually hoping for top six for Caroline. Also, I had a feeling Ashley was going to win. She is solid, confident, and self-assured. And should I be relieved for Alissa? Were you guys expecting her to perform the way she did? Did you dread that it would be worse or did you anticipate something better?

icellist said:

Can any poster here persuade me to believe why Agnes beat Caroline in total score? I feel very strongly that Caroline should have won bronze. My arguments: 3R-3R was underscored in the SP, her 3F was dinged for just a minor stepout, Agnes unraveling program, Agnes high PCS despite having multiple mistakes (and trust me, there IS a correlation between falls and PCS unless you're the legendary Chan or Plushenko).

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Well what do you think about Caroline's speed and the performance aspect of the program (choreography, emoting, showing enthusiasm?) In all of the above, did she do worse than Agnes?

Olympia said:

Polymerbob, I join you in rejoicing that Caroline has made it back to skating success. And she did it so convincingly. Her flow and assurance were splendid. She still has that wonderful upper body posture, but now she's smoothed out her jumps. May she only improve from now on.

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Thanks. I so hope you are right. :thumbsup:

Their scores were very close. Caroline did beat Agnes in the FP, but Agnes had a 6-point lead from the SP. It could have gone the other way but it was close.

No one is mentioning that Caroline still had a mule kick in her first jump (Lutz or flip, I forget). Wonder if it cost her a beauty point.

For me, Agnes has a mature and steady polish and style that Caroline only clutches at. While I'm happy for Caroline's improvement, which is huge, she has a lot to improve still. Personally I feel her comeback story is getting overhyped, especially by Scott Hamilton, who also exaggerates Alissa's virtues. (He irritates the heck out of me in case anyone didn't notice.) All Agnes needs is to land the jumps that she already has, and to get better packaging. Bingo - instant champion.

This is JMO, of course. The audience was definitely on Caroline's side tonight! It was a great night for her. I hope it inspires her to keep working and improving. I have to say that after tonight I do believe she has the potential to make podiums again. Unlike Polymer Bob, I'm not a visionary and couldn't see the potential behind her troubles.

Well that was an all-around sucky event! Kudos to Ashley, Caroline and Christina...the rest were a hot mess!

Ashley: She put her boot where her mouth was and I'm very happy for her. Ashley has been very determined all year long and I'm glad to see it work out for her. I have a lot of respect for people who can put it out there when it counts and that's what she did. I hope she's able to have a similar program at worlds. If she can be strong there and Alissa doesn't implode, those three spots could actually be a possibility this year.

Alissa: Well, in terms of her down-years, this one isn't so bad. Usually she'd have ended up 9th or 11th, but 2nd is damn good considering what she put out. I don't disagree with the results though. She fought her way through the rest of that program and that's the difference in her placement. Alissa is the 2nd best person to send to worlds so I'm glad she's going, but she can't expect to make the podium or even make top 5 skating like that. I hate that freakin' dress! SPEW!! She usually has such good fashion sense. For the US's sake, I hope Alissa pulls herself together. She's been fragile all season long. She needs to rediscover some of that focus, confidence and strength she has last season...

Agnes: I was proud of her for her SP, but not for one minute did I think she was going to win this. Agnes is not a long program skater...I can't remember the last time I saw her give a solid LP. Still, I hope she realizes that if she ever gets her act together she will be tough to beat. Her jumps are gorgeous but her nerves will keep her out of that number one spot every time. It was very sweet to see Ashley comforting her after the competition...

Caroline: I AM SO PROUD OF HER!! I can't believe how far she's turned herself around! She was only about a point away from bronze! Other than the step out on the flip, she was wonderful. Obviously, she still needs work: her lutz is as flutzy as ever and she doesn't have a salchow, also her spins (except her kick-@$$ layback) looked very slow...but she's a work in progress. She wasn't as good in this program in terms of really feeling the music and selling it. Undoubtedly she was concentrating on the jumps and good on her b/c it paid off. I hope she continues to work and improve. What a comeback story! I'm so proud!!

Christina: Very proud of her too. I think this might be the third year in a row she's been 5th but it's not a terrible place to be. Her jumps were very lovely and I'm happy she was able to settle herself and skate her program relatively cleanly. Her 3f-3t was gorgeous and the only 3-3 in the last group. Christina's still a little awkward looking on her feet but with a little more refinement, she'd be a lovely skater. I'm happy for her for having such a good skate.

Rachael: Naturally, she wasn't going to be anywhere near that podium and rightly so, but congrats to her for pulling off a mostly clean skate. I don't think she'll gain anything from continuing to compete. Her podium days are pretty much over but she's got a bright academic future ahead of her and I think that is what she should focus on. I don't know how good her chances are of getting a GP next year and, in the future, I seriously doubt she'll be in contention for an Olympic spot. She's had a successful figure skating career but IMO her time has passed.

Mirai: I'm officially done with Mirai at this point. :scowl: The crappy programs, the lifeless skating...I can't do it anymore with her. I give up. I'm sick of her bullsh*t excuses. Did anyone hear what she said when she came off the ice? Right before they went on commercial break, you can hear Mirai say, "I don't know what happened. I think I was focusing too much on my facial expressions..." and then it cut off. What facial expressions?! I saw the same dead-in-the-face look she always has. I'm sick of Mirai at this point. She's not the skater I thought she'd be when I saw her at nationals in 2010. She's obviously missing something and it appears to be something that Frank cannot give her.

I'm happy with the results. Congrats to Ashley, the new US champ...she deserves it. I think Alissa has a lot of work to do before nationals but I really hope she does it...we need her to do well. So who is going to 4CC? Ashley, Alissa and Agnes? (triple A!)

krenseby said:

Well what do you think about Caroline's speed and the performance aspect of the program (choreography, emoting, showing enthusiasm?) In all of the above, did she do worse than Agnes?

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Caroline's speed was not horrendous as it used to be. She changed her step sequence to a level 2 so she would be faster and flow better through out it. I agree with the PCS scores in the skating skills department. Looking at protocols, Caroline had a very good spiral, world class, but only received minimal +GOE while Agnes received +2's. I felt Caroline really performed her program while nearing the end of her program, Agnes lost steam.

I'm so happy for Caroline and glad she won the pewter medal. Kudos to her for never giving up. Agnes has learned a lot here to take in and apply for future challenges. Yes, Agnes does deserve bronze. I do feel Agnes has more speed and jumping talent than Caro (even if Agnes faltered in the fp). Caroline really gutted it out and showed all her hard work on improving her technique.

For anyone interested, the lady medalists are starting their press conferance on IN.

It's funny how things work sometimes.

2008 nationals: Caroline placed 4th (Pewter medal) with 173.16
2012 nationals: Caroline placed 4th (Pewter medal) with 173.19

In 2008 everyone was shocked with the result (she was favored for gold) and four years later everyone is shocked for the opposite reason.

Congrats to her!!!

I wish I had seen Angela Wang since she beat Agnes in the long also.

Wow. Envious of everyone who got to see this live inperson or via stream. For now, I just have the numbers and the descriptions to go by--hopefully I can find some video to access later. I actually picked Ashley for the win on my USFS Fantasy Skating card, it just felt like it was going to be her time and I had a feeling Nicks would give her that final kick-in-the-butt she needed to achieve her potential. Very happy for her. Also not surprised by Alissa and Agnes on the podium, though I thought it would be 3 and 4 Mirai then Agnes. Flatt I figured wasn't going to do better than 5th but am glad she had some decent skates and can hold her head up high. Biggest surprise for me is Caroline--I've always been kind of neutral on her (not a fan, not a hater) but with this comeback, her stock has definitely gone up a few points. Lots of respect for her to find a coaching situation she could thrive under, and buckle down and improve. She must love skating a lot to not have thrown in the towel over the past couple of years.

It seems every year we have a favorite "Stick-a-Fork-in-her-She's-Done" candidate, who may reappear and confound our crystal balls.
2010 Caroline
2011 Rachael
2012 Mirai?

bigsisjiejie said:

Wow. Envious of everyone who got to see this live inperson or via stream. For now, I just have the numbers and the descriptions to go by--hopefully I can find some video to access later. I actually picked Ashley for the win on my USFS Fantasy Skating card, it just felt like it was going to be her time and I had a feeling Nicks would give her that final kick-in-the-butt she needed to achieve her potential. Very happy for her. Also not surprised by Alissa and Agnes on the podium, though I thought it would be 3 and 4 Mirai then Agnes. Flatt I figured wasn't going to do better than 5th but am glad she had some decent skates and can hold her head up high. Biggest surprise for me is Caroline--I've always been kind of neutral on her (not a fan, not a hater) but with this comeback, her stock has definitely gone up a few points. Lots of respect for her to find a coaching situation she could thrive under, and buckle down and improve. She must love skating a lot to not have thrown in the towel over the past couple of years.

It seems every year we have a favorite "Stick-a-Fork-in-her-She's-Done" candidate, who may reappear and confound our crystal balls.
2010 Caroline
2011 Rachael
2012 Mirai?

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If it means she'll skate to her full potential in future years, then ITA

Alissa seems to have fallen into the pattern of skating like a zombie up until she has that first fall that takes her out of contention. Once that's settled then she can relax and skate her best.

Good on Rachael! Good on Caroline! Good on Christina!

If Ashley skates like that, I don't see why she can't aim for the podium at worlds.

Congratulations to Ashley!! I so wanted this!! lol.

I knew Alissa wasn't going to skate her best when I saw her face before going out on the ice, while Agnes was in the K&C. I'm glad she is still going to Worlds, but Ashley really deserved the win this time. I was worried they were going to 'hold up' Alissa so I'm glad they didn't.

I was also impressed with Caroline, too bad that Agnes had a mini-meltdown at the end of her performance. But wow, Caroline looked like a totally different skater!

It's sad that Mirai and Rachael had their worst finishes in awhile at the nationals, but people rise and fall on fortune's wheel.. in the past it was Ashley and Caroline in those positions and look where they are now. US Ladies is still so inconsistent.

All in all I'm pleased with the world team. If Mirai had skated well I would have wanted her to go but she's honestly not in worlds form right now. I think Ashley and Alissa COULD get the three spots back for the US for 2013.

Spun Silver said:

Their scores were very close. Caroline did beat Agnes in the FP, but Agnes had a 6-point lead from the SP. It could have gone the other way but it was close.

No one is mentioning that Caroline still had a mule kick in her first jump (Lutz or flip, I forget). Wonder if it cost her a beauty point. For me, Agnes has a mature and steady polish and style that Caroline only clutches at. While I'm happy for Caroline's improvement, which is huge, she has a lot to improve still. It was a great night for her. I hope it inspires her to keep working and improving.

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Yeah you are right on. Caroline may have managed to get her jumps right, but she still has the challenge of skating a fun, vibrant program. And the speed still needs a lot of work. Hopefully she will continue to work on all of these for next season. And yeah Scott Hamilton is all about hype. He perceives miraculous comebacks where in truth the skaters are simply working hard and gradually improving and therefore doing much better in competition.

And all of that applies to Rachael as well; she managed to put out a decent program tonight, but she could do way better!

Also, I really hope the ISU judges give Ashley the due she deserves. They haven't credit her all that much during the GP season. And she is a magnificent skater; I don't want to see her held down.