Asada shows improvement | Golden Skate

Asada shows improvement

gsk8

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Country
United-States
Excerpt: Asada’s performance to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake at the GPF was a major improvement over her performance at 2012 NHK Trophy a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, the Olympic silver medalist was still not perfect. Two out of six triple jumps in her routine were called underrotated (including the back end of the double Axel-triple toe loop combination), her triple Lutz received an edge call, and she doubled her planned triple Salchow.

“Going into today’s free program, I wanted to make sure I had all the elements right without any mistakes,” said the 22-year-old. “Going over my performance, there weren’t any mistakes, and that is what I want to take away from today. I need to work on the level of accuracy, though. I want to show this is a good program and to skate the best I can.”

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seniorita

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
Her swan lake is not one of the same old, I really love the second part and the end, even if she falters in jumps all the in between are wonderful.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
True but her jumps have never been worse. never in her career have her jumps been so bad. But she isn't losing events now. But no world champion has ever displayed such jump regression in history. Her jumps are atrocious and awful. She basically has one or two triples a competition.
 

MiRé

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
True but her jumps have never been worse. never in her career have her jumps been so bad. But she isn't losing events now. But no world champion has ever displayed such jump regression in history. Her jumps are atrocious and awful. She basically has one or two triples a competition.

so true.... she really needs to have more than 2 or 3 triples. So ridiculous how a skater can win GPF with only 2 clean different triples.:rolleye:
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
True but her jumps have never been worse. never in her career have her jumps been so bad. But she isn't losing events now. But no world champion has ever displayed such jump regression in history. Her jumps are atrocious and awful. She basically has one or two triples a competition.

I'm a big Mao fan and while I think your evaluation sounds a bit harsh, I do agree. She does great on PCS, which I suppose is fine because she has the best footwork and transitions of any woman. I do think she is given too much leeway on her UR calls and GOE on doubled jumps.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
I agree. Her jumps are a major problem. She has been rebuilding them for three years and really it is a white hot mess. And sadly that has affected the jumps; i was hoping she had time to grieve her mother's loss and move on. She is good but she is beatable. Yuna clearly can beat her as well as a clean Ashley not to mention Suzuki. She needs to do something and fast or she will be passed by Kim and a bunch of improving baby ballerinas.
 

Mirunna

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
I agree. Her jumps are a major problem. She has been rebuilding them for three years and really it is a white hot mess. And sadly that has affected the jumps; i was hoping she had time to grieve her mother's loss and move on. She is good but she is beatable. Yuna clearly can beat her as well as a clean Ashley not to mention Suzuki. She needs to do something and fast or she will be passed by Kim and a bunch of improving baby ballerinas.

I don't know what to say about the baby ballerinas, so far they all stumbled and have their own issues to deal with. I do agree about the rest, she really needs to rotate those jumps. It's good that for now, except NHK trophy LP, she was more or less consistent. I think her major problem is that she slows down before the take off which might be a confident issue. In her GPF LP this is obvious on her first 3Flip. The second one was was way better and she had much more speed going into the jump. The only good think abut reworking her jumps is that the hammer toe is gone
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
I think some of the comments were harsh, but more or less accurate on Mao's regressing jumps. It's shocking to believe that she's the reigning Olympic silver medalist and has 3 WC medals, the most recent one from 2010. It's been 3 seasons since she started working on her jumps, and I'm just not seeing any significant improvement. I highly doubt she's going to get her 3As back in time for Sochi.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
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Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
I think her major problem is that she slows down before the take off which might be a confident issue. In her GPF LP this is obvious on her first 3Flip. The second one was was way better and she had much more speed going into the jump. The only good think abut reworking her jumps is that the hammer toe is gone

Slowing down before the jumps is definitely a problem and she never used to do that. She didn't really have a hammer toe in the past either. Look at how good her Flip used to be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1GfZW03lM4

Her Flip is more inconsistent now than it ever was and the quality hasn't improved at all. She has been working on the Lutz for a long time now and she still flutzes every single time. At least she used to go into the Lutz with total confidence, speed, and incredibly difficult transitions (as seen in her 2008 programs). Her immaculate Triple Loop even went drastically downhill last season, although it thankfully seems to be back in place this season.

I think continuing to focus on this different technique is wrong for Mao. It hasn't done anything but make her skating worse. She should do what comes naturally to her. Speaking of which, it's really annoying how she hasn't been going for 3Loop on the back-end of combinations in the SP. She used to do that so well and there's no reason why she shouldn't still be doing it, since getting a < call doesn't kill you anymore. 3Loop-3Loop< and 3Flip in the SP is worth more than the current 3Flip-2Loop and 3Loop she has been doing. She's going to NEED those points against Yu-Na and perhaps other emerging skaters too.
 

mary01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
But that's the problem, isn't it? She WAS awesome, as you said.

She needs to be awesome NOW.

lol, she IS awesome, if it wasn't for Mao I would long have lost interest in the sport, she and SHE ALONE is what makes me love and appreciate the sport so much! what she brings out on the ice is soo special, makes me go through every emotion, in a way that no other skater has done.

so what you feel is your thing, but I and MANY others absolutly ADORE her and her beautiful skating, discovering her was one of the happiest and greatest moment in my life!
 

creme cup

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 9, 2012
I think her improvement is more on mentality and focus to perform a clean program.
BUT, she has a long way to go in technical aspects.
Actually I never really recognized any difference between her flip and lutz from a long ago.
The entrance of flip seems like mohawk at first but there is long delay like typical lutz entrance, and she does this when she jumps 'lutz', too.
It seems like she skipped details when learning mechanisms of jumps and that now it's what causes hardship in jump qualities.

About programs I don't have much to say. Mao surely have certain range of music that works for her and it hardly ever fails.
 
Joined
Mar 11, 2011
lol, she IS awesome, if it wasn't for Mao I would long have lost interest in the sport, she and SHE ALONE is what makes me love and appreciate the sport so much! what she brings out on the ice is soo special, makes me go through every emotion, in a way that no other skater has done.

so what you feel is your thing, but I and MANY others absolutly ADORE her and her beautiful skating, discovering her was one of the happiest and greatest moment in my life!

What are you saying? Nadia says no sorts of "not adoring" Mao.:confused: Mao is adored, surely, but the issue here is that even though she poured more than two seasons on her "reworking technique project," there doesn't seem to be that much of difference in her technique. Her musicality and grace haven't gone anywhere, though, THANK GOD. You really don't need to use those exclamation marks to assert your love for Mao. Everyone knows who you "adore."
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Slowing down before the jumps is definitely a problem and she never used to do that. She didn't really have a hammer toe in the past either. Look at how good her Flip used to be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1GfZW03lM4

Her Flip is more inconsistent now than it ever was and the quality hasn't improved at all. She has been working on the Lutz for a long time now and she still flutzes every single time. At least she used to go into the Lutz with total confidence, speed, and incredibly difficult transitions (as seen in her 2008 programs). Her immaculate Triple Loop even went drastically downhill last season, although it thankfully seems to be back in place this season.

I think continuing to focus on this different technique is wrong for Mao. It hasn't done anything but make her skating worse. She should do what comes naturally to her. Speaking of which, it's really annoying how she hasn't been going for 3Loop on the back-end of combinations in the SP. She used to do that so well and there's no reason why she shouldn't still be doing it, since getting a < call doesn't kill you anymore. 3Loop-3Loop< and 3Flip in the SP is worth more than the current 3Flip-2Loop and 3Loop she has been doing. She's going to NEED those points against Yu-Na and perhaps other emerging skaters too.

I always respect your analysis. Mao is my favorite current skater no matter what, but even I can tell that her current jump arsenal may not be enough to keep her competitive. Your thought about reconstructing her actual jump plan strategically sounds very useful, because it deals with her capacities as they exist right now. I have two questions based on your explanation:
1) If she's slowing down before her jumps, is this something that can be dealt with?
2) If she has been training in this new way for about three years, is there a way for her muscle memory be able to revert to "what comes naturally"?

She has such astonishing gifts; I really hope she can regain her form. I don't give up on her, because even in this state she's lovely to watch, but I can't see my way from here, at Point A, to the Point B where she needs to be for Worlds and Olympics.
 

mary01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
What are you saying? Nadia says no sorts of "not adoring" Mao.:confused: Mao is adored, surely, but the issue here is that even though she poured more than two seasons on her "reworking technique project," there doesn't seem to be that much of difference in her technique. Her musicality and grace haven't gone anywhere, though, THANK GOD. You really don't need to use those exclamation marks to assert your love for Mao. Everyone knows who you "adore."

well if people want to see the improvement, they will see it, but when certain people are determined to keep focusing at some little flaw that weren't even noticeable in the actual performance, then go on!

if you want to see the difference in her technique, then i recommend you to watch her old jumps and notice how much her technique has changed, but if you really where interested in that you would already have done the research, but i guess we all know what your real objective is!
 

Icey

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Any grief counselor will tell you it could take up to three years for her to fully grieve her mother's death. Obviously though and inexplicably , reworking the jumps has not been a successful undertaking. Time for a new approach, I think. That being said, I don't think any skater seems to float through the air the way she does when she jumps.
 
Joined
Mar 11, 2011
Any grief counselor will tell you it could take up to three years for her to fully grieve her mother's death. Obviously though and inexplicably , reworking the jumps has not been a successful undertaking. Time for a new approach, I think. That being said, I don't think any skater seems to float through the air the way she does when she jumps.

I agree, and sometimes I forget that it has only been a year that Mao lost her mother. I think she somehow makes me forget her hardships with her floating skating. She's just gracious. Hope she can really work it out and show better jumps soon.
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
well if people want to see the improvement, they will see it, but when certain people are determined to keep focusing at some little flaw that weren't even noticeable in the actual performance, then go on!

if you want to see the difference in her technique, then i recommend you to watch her old jumps and notice how much her technique has changed, but if you really where interested in that you would already have done the research, but i guess we all know what your real objective is!

Your comments would be more constructive if YOU can actually describe and tell us EXACTLY HOW her current jumps are BETTER than what she did in Vancouver, for example, because obviously many people here do not see the improvement that YOU claim to be there.

Blade of Passion even included a video of her past performance that had better jumps than what I see now.

Nobody said she can't skate. She does have nice qualities. But is it not true that her jumps aren't what they used to be, despite her working on them for about three years? And three years is enough time to see some significant changes, provided that she received proper coaching. (I do not doubt her work ethic as I know that as a Japanese person, her life motto is "gambaru".)
 
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