2013 US Nationals Senior Ladies SP

[katymay]

I dont know why everyone is hating on agnes. The reason she is in second is because her two successful jumps were textbook perfection.Yes she had a fall, but it was on a very minor element that doesn't cost huge points. I dont think there has been any overpromotion. Yes she can be inconsistent but besides the 2A every other element was perfection and her marks showed it.

I thought mirai was great, she was really fast and attacked all her elements. On a bad note, she was a little iffy on some of her spins which would usually rack up big points which didnt today. Also with her music choice, she didnt have a suiting personality. It was almost like she was just focusing on the jumps and nothing for performance. Yes she skated great and she had a unlucky draw but her performance was not as good as agnes, therefore she had slightly lower components

Truthfully if anyone was overmarked it was Ashley. Her program was mediocre, boring and stiff. Her spins were bad and her jumps weren't so crash hot.

Caroline i believe had lower components than expected, even with her super slow skating. However i agree with the technical panel about the downgrades and under-rotations. When i look slow-motion i can see that she absolutely under-rotated and downgraded her 2 big jumping phases so her technical score reflected what i expected. But components were defs low. She should have scored maybe 28-29 for components instead of 26

I agree. However, Ashley can be relied upon in international competition, and by elevating her somewhat an "Alyssa Cizny" situation can be avoided. Even when Ashley falls, she doesn't 'fall apart', and she will fight to the end for every point. Agnes has big powerful jumps, although they are never as good in competition as they are in practice, the 'big' jumps put her over the edge. Mirai is a bit of a loose cannon, although with the change in coaching, I think she is starting to get back the joy that was missing while training with her former coach.

[tulosai]

I think the placement reflects the intention of sending AW and AZ to the Worlds and secure 3 spots for the next year. Mirai is inconsistent.

The bizarre thing to me, though, is that it's not like Agnes is consistent. She just hasn't had an opportunity to be inconsistent at Worlds yet. Her LP's are a disaster as often as not (perhaps more often than not but I don't want to be unfair) and IMO she hasn't got the same overall quality that Mirai has in non-jump elements. In addition, I think it's more unclear what international judges think of her than what they think of Mirai as well (though I admit that is partly because Mirai has more experience internationally). If Mirai skates well, international judges do reward her.

[katymay]

I don't care what kind of score Caroline got, it was a lovely performance. I think with such a small cushion going into the long, Ashley is going to feel the pressure. At the moment, I am inclined to think Agnes is going to pull off an upset.

I just watched Caroline in super slow mo, and her loops appear to be within the .25 allowed. I hope Peter appeals and asks for a review of the downgrades.

[drivingmissdaisy]

I was heartbroken for Caroline when I saw her face as she got her scores. It must be devastating to work so hard and skate clean and end up so low in the standings.

Agnes, to me, skated well and I think her TES being ahead of Mirai and Ashley is fine because her elements were executed well and she had incredible difficulty on the jumps. I would not have had her PCS as close to those two because I still think they are a bit better than her, particularly on presentation.

I find it interesting that, under 6.0, the 12th place skater very likely would have finished ahead of the 2nd place skater.

[leafygreens]

I just watched Caroline in super slow mo, and her loops appear to be within the .25 allowed. I hope Peter appeals and asks for a review of the downgrades.

Can this be done after the close of the SP? Where would she place if not for the downgrades?

[demarinis5]

Congrats to Ashley, Agnes and Mirai.

What the heck with Caroline's scores.

[herios]

Caroline's triple-triple combination was ridiculous. I thought the second jump was a double or something. Her score was deserved.

Add to that the fact that Caroline has no steps leading into her solo flip, for the last half of the length of e rink, that should automayically trigger a hit on the GOE

[fairly4]

i am going on the icenetwork video and i am going to complain if i find out the ur zhang purposely to keep her down and over looked all other skaters cuz they dont want zhang anymore, which i think what happenede.
look for urs found it. didn't look for other mistakes so wouldn't find them.

[mskater93]

I think she got lowballed on the PCS. Just 29 and change.

She seemed to lose speed when she got to the step sequence which is a huge function of the 29+ she got.

[fairly4]

watch video ashley, miria, agnes, gracies, should have all got urs on their jumnps. they didn't they wasn't looking for them for those skaters like zhang.
i am tired of this, i hope osmaond beats ashley at world/fc. and the us ladies go to one and the u.s goes to 8 in the team event.
they don't deserved to be up on top since the u.s. figure skating can't judge fairly/evenly.
look for mistakes on ones they don't want like zhang over look others like ashley, mirai, agnes, gracie, courtney, christina.
all jumps like zhang and none was ur but her.

[lavender]

which is just wrong
I never get the Zawadzki overpromotion, she is a hot n cold skater
as usually does terrible LPs

I agree. I don't get her at all.

This type of judging continues to help me feel less and less about this "sport".

[Tinymavy15]

I think Mirai was held back a tad in PCS since she skated so early in the lineup. I know that this is more of a 6.0 judges trick, but we consistently see skaters who perform later get the benefit of the doubt. Regardless, she is in a good place to overtake Agnes in the free, and as i predicted, we'll have an Ashley/Mirai california girl team.

[drivingmissdaisy]

watch video ashley, miria, agnes, gracies, should have all got urs on their jumnps. they didn't they wasn't looking for them for those skaters like zhang.
i am tired of this, i hope osmaond beats ashley at world/fc. and the us ladies go to one and the u.s goes to 8 in the team event.
they don't deserved to be up on top since the u.s. figure skating can't judge fairly/evenly.
look for mistakes on ones they don't want like zhang over look others like ashley, mirai, agnes, gracie, courtney, christina.
all jumps like zhang and none was ur but her.

Unfortunately, I think when you have a reputation for UR'ing it is harder to get credit in close calls. The fact is she did under-rotate those jumps and it is quite clear in replay. Caroline gets URs called by both national and international judges so I don't think anyone is out to get her. I don't think the others UR quite as frequently as Caroline.

[mateusp1]

For me, Mirai was very good... But, I didn't thought she was "totally" and "completely" ON yesterday. She looked very tense and nervous. Her skating was very cautious.

About Agnes... Well, I not the right person to comment, because I love her skating. Her SP song is so nice. I like the Ina Bauer.
I do not think Agnes slow... I have never watched her live, but, in the screen, she is very fast. She also needs speed to make that massive, big and enormous jumps.

Ashley was great. I like the program, suits her very well... I heard she is struggling with the 3Lo+2A+Seq and she fell again in the sequence. I am rooting so much for her. When people comment that she does not have a 3+3... I would like you to see that 2 of the 3 jump elements from her SP are back loaded... The position of the Loop and the 2A gives her an extra point.

[kwanatic]

Ashley: Not as easy and powerful as the GPF performance but still very good. She hit all of her elements cleanly and given the injuries and illness, she did exactly what she needed to do: delivered a solid error-free program. I'm happy for her and completely agree with her score.

Agnes: Everybody is fussing about her being in 2nd but I'm actually okay with it. It's not like she's 3 or 4 points ahead of Mirai. It's less than a point. Her lutz and 3-3 were great and the fall on the 2A was unlucky. I like Agnes but I'm highly doubtful she'll maintain her position. She's known for being very unstable in the LP so I'm thinking she'll drop from 2nd to 3rd or possibly 4th or lower depending on how others skate.

Mirai: Definitely an improvement! She didn't have the fire/spark throughout the performance but there was enough there to let you know this is not the Mirai of 2011-2012. She attacked her jumps; that 3-3 was the best I've seen from her since 2008. No doubt about the rotation, good height, great coverage and speed. I think she lost focus on her spins, particularly the layback (traveled) but overall, she was wonderful. I think 3rd is a comfortable spot for her and hopefully skating last will be a good thing as well, especially if she's solid. The judges will know exactly what she's up against...I think she'll pull it off and move up to 2nd.

Courtney: The camera angle really lets you see how much air she gets...it's impressive. However it's sad that she gets that much height and still URs her jumps (her 3T in the combo was <). She's still very all over the place when she skates, very clunky, a bit sloppy and very unrefined...I'm not a fan of her skating.

Christina: Breaking through requires that you skate cleanly so I guess there's no one to blame here...but even with the mistake on the spin I thought she was a bit underscored. I figured she'd score 60 but no such luck. I'd have had her ahead of Courtney. Her 3-3 was lovely and so was the program, but the jumps were a little tight. Hopefully she'll have a good LP and get out of 5th place...

Yasmin: I'm happy for her. Her SP is lovely and it's good to see her give a solid performance. I love those transitions into her 2A...

Gracie: The media has done a number on Gracie. People expect her to do so well b/c they hype her through the roof: the 3-3s, the Rippon lutz, perfect practices, working with Zoueva, "changes" made since COR...that all sounds great and leads you to believe Gracie is this rock solid competitor when in fact she's been anything but that this year. I can't say I'm surprised with how she skated, especially after seeing the terrified expression she had before she got started. The judges were generous and kept her within striking distance of the top 5. Maybe she'll be able to pull off a strong LP with no pressure now, but a lot of people would have to suck for her to make it to worlds this year. I wouldn't rule out 3rd or 4th though...

Angela: So sad she can't get her SP together. Last year she jumped from 16th to 8th so maybe with a strong LP (which she's known for) she can move up. She 10th now so she might be able to move up to 6th or 5th. She's another one who will never break through if she can't manage to deliver cleanly in the SP. If she'd been clean she would probably be in 4th or 5th right now...

Caroline: I do feel really sorry for her. By her standards, that was a great performance. In realtime, the 2nd 3L looked URed but not worthy of a DG. I thought her 3F might be iffy b/c she started rotating a little late. Even with the jump errors and the slowness of her skating, I thought she'd get at least a 50-52. It's obvious they don't want her to sneak into 4th like she did last year b/c then they'd have to give her a GP or send her to 4CC. They want those spots for the newer/competitive girls. I feel sorry for her. She's actually been pretty strong this season in terms of her jumps; it's just that her basics are so bad she gets hammered on PCS and receives very few GOEs. This might be her last appearance at nationals...

Haley: Even with the mistakes I thought she was gorgeous. I saw her a few months back (a clean performance of that program) and was amazed by how graceful and elegant she is. She has a very classic 70s look about her skating...she'd fit right in with Dorothy and Peggy. I love and definitely appreciate her style. Plus she's really sweet; she thanked me for my support on Twitter!

The LP will be a dogfight. As long as Ashley is solid, she's the winner...as she should be. No one is close to matching her consistency or international cred right now so she needs to be on that team. Hopefully she's gotten over her 3L-2A hump and her energy/stamina will hold up. I think she'll be okay though...

I don't expect Agnes to hold onto 2nd. She's just not a strong LP skater so if she manages to deliver strongly, I'll be shocked. I'm feeling good about Mirai but I'm worried about her too, mainly b/c of her cold. You could tell how sick she was at the press conference. She was coughing the whole time. That could cause issues in terms of stamina.

Christina has the potential to move up but she'll need a repeat of SA to get to the podium. I think a strong performance from Courtney could land her 4th or 5th depending on others. Gracie will need every point to move up. She's 10+ points back which means she'll have to be near perfect and will need others to make mistakes if she wants to move into the top 3 or 4. If she's clean I expect a massive score from the judges to help her leapfrog everyone else onto the podium...but they're damn fools if they send her to worlds this year. 4CC? Sure. Worlds? They'll regret it. Angela has the ability to pull herself up a few spots as well if she's clean, which she usually is.

This will be an interesting LP, that's for sure. Can't wait!