- Joined
- May 19, 2011
Mirai used to be better on many of the PCS criteria, but she's really mailed in a lot of her performances since the 2010 Olympics. Also, when she makes a mistake there is a noticeable difference in her speed (she slows down significantly -- see 2011 Nationals). Gracie has very well constructed programs (CH) and while she maybe doesn't always present them in a mature manner (rushing, not finishing off some things or skating through her music), she has great speed and variety in her skating (SS) and a ton of transitions (TR). If you couple that with difficult content and a mostly clean skate (which she is LIKELY to do), PE and IN stay in the same corridor as SS, TR, and CH.
Mirai's doing better with carrying the program to the end this season. Last season if she made a mistake all of the air would go out and she'd skate flat and dead for the remainder of the program. She's had a performance or two this season where she made a mistake but got up and kept going, not dropping the energy the way she used to.
Gracie's programs are nothing great in terms of choreography though she does have a number of decent transitions and big jumps...when she completes them which she hasn't really done all season. She had one strong SP and two mediocre LPs so far.
IMO, TR is the only area Gracie beats Mirai in terms of PCS. Mirai is either slightly ahead or they are even on everything else in that category. Gracie has the better jumps, Mirai has the better spins and overall polish. Both of their SPs are decent but both LPs are rather meh. To me, Gracie and Mirai are on equal footing heading into nationals. Mirai had better finishes on the GP, but their overall total scores were very close (Mirai 176.68, Gracie 175.03). Both of them have not completed more than 4 triples in an LP this season. Mirai is prone to URs and edge calls on her lutz, while Gracie is prone to popping/doubling jumps and edge calls on her flip. Like I said, they're pretty much on equal footing.
I think the second spot will go to the person who has the best performance at nationals.