I feel very sorry for Mirai. She should've been placed higher in FS but not by much. She was very tentative which affected PCS. But I also would've had her 2nd in SP.
I feel very sorry for Mirai. She should've been placed higher in FS but not by much. She was very tentative which affected PCS. But I also would've had her 2nd in SP.
If we did get a third spot back i think someone like Wang or Cesario could contend. Wang has all the goods she just kills herself in the SP and Cesario needs to up her tech scores. Alissa is almost 26 with a bad hip and Mirai is inconsistent and not getting better. As for Agnes she needs to prove she can skate a clean LP and Gao needs to keep getting better also. It says how much depth there is now that the 3rd group outskated the last group. 2014 Nationals is going to be a bloodbath. It was last night.
Originally Posted by Jammers
If we did get a third spot back i think someone like Wang or Cesario could contend. Wang has all the goods she just kills herself in the SP and Cesario needs to up her tech scores. Alissa is almost 26 with a bad hip and Mirai is inconsistent and not getting better. As for Agnes she needs to prove she can skate a clean LP and Gao needs to keep getting better also. It says how much depth there is now that the 3rd group outskated the last group. 2014 Nationals is going to be a bloodbath. It was last night.
Mirai needs to quit carrying her emotions on her sleeve. While watching her I just thought she must be sick. We the audience should not know that. She has to learn to fake it like everyone else. I don't know what she can do to fix the underrotations. I think she has had many chances in the past, but now that new skaters are coming along the USFSA does not have to put up with Mirai or Zhangs problems.
I feel bad for Christina. She should have been on the podium this year. She skated beautifully. She should have been 3rd or 4th. She buried herself in the short. How does Agnes stay on the podium with those bad skates. She does have big huge jumps, but if she does not do anything with them in the future the USFSA will lose faith in her also.
I watched the YouTube video of Ashley's interview, which of course showed Mirai and her scores. I was devastated for her and as a mom wanted to jump through the screen, smack the camera man and give her the biggest hug!
I wasn't able to watch last night but from reading the posts it seems there is a big divide between bronze( because of the Sp) and maybe 5th. I can't comment til I see her skate. Regardless this is the time for Mirai to get angry. Find a coach who is great technically and a choreographer who suits her style. Train like mad on and off the ice and come back with a vengeance and give no one in the USFSA a reason to hold her back.
If that were to happen, I think Mirai is just as good as anyone in the world, especially in the US. The determination was there this season. I do not want to see her give up. She was soo close to a medal in 2010 and she could challenge for the podium in Sochi. She was doing a 3Z/3T in 10 she will need to bring that back.
Amélie Lacoste @melipetit
@mirai_nagasu You are a great skater!!!! Don't ever forget! Stay strong!❤
6:00 AM - 27 Jan 13
to both of these ladies.
I was surprised by Mirai's final placement, but that was partly because my niece wasn't allowing me to give 100% attention to Mirai's performance. I noted the 1 fall. Mirai certainly didn't excude attack and passion, but I thought quite a few of the ladies skated cautiously.
I actually thought it was a good sign that Mirai had only the 1 fall - in the past, 1 fall usually led her to rush and fall more. So, look for the positives. She didn't totally fall apart and, if she was that sick, it was an impressive performance. The Flu has been reportedly severe this year - even if she was well enough to skate, it doesn't mean that she was feeling her best.
As for Caroline, I didn't see her short program yet. However, I think she just wanted to do a good job and feel proud of what she could do. While she's still slower than the other skaters, she's still lovely to watch and I thought there were some general improvements. Plus, you could see her happiness with her performance when she went into her spiral sequence - she did what she wanted to do in that moment.
As for their chances for Sochi, well, there's a whole year left. The lack of pressure could help them. Also, never count someone out. Chen Lu went from the top to the bottom to the top in a 4 yr span. Although I have to admit they have a tough battle to get there since Mirai needs to battle nerves and Caroline needs to improve her technique exponentially. No matter, I'll still enjoy watching them.
What makes it even harder for someone like Mirai you now have skaters like Hicks, Wang and Cersario getting into the mix. Nationals next year is going to be even more intense. More reason to get that 3rd spot back. There's to much talent to only have 2 spots. In 2010 there wasn't this much depth and quite frankly 2 spots was about right.
I don't see it. Based on last night, I think USA has the number of spots it deserves. Bleh. An awful night of skating except for Gold's LP and some good showings from other skaters who don't quite have the goods to make even the nationals podiums with clean skates, never mind worlds.
As for Mirai, I feel utterly crushed for her. But I don't get her performance last night at all. Did this flu come sometime in between the SP and the LP? Because she showed determination and life in the SP. Her lifeless and frankly grim performance last night was shocking. I don't know if she should have been higher than 7th. Maybe. But there's more trouble there than just the judges scoring.
The UR call needs to go away. Audience were confused and booed and rightly so. This is a dying sport on the current track.
It's not the first time she's landed so many URed jumps, and they were too obvious to let them pass. I don't see how the judging was so harsh to her, given that they were actually generous to give her the PCS of 61, for that sloppy skate.
Nagasu is only 6 points behind Zawadzki. She was not robbed. The placement ist her drama, not her score.
I would have reversed the places of Gao and Zawadzki. Agnes was gifted in the Short.
I feel sorry for both Mirai & Caroline but I feel we are entering an era when technique is going to be of primary concern to international judges & that's what our U.S. judges have been made aware of. Judging in figure skating goes in cycles, sometimes its the beauty & presentation skills that are more important & when they reach a certain standard then judging takes a harder look at the techniques being used & it is going to be stricter for this next cycle, for both men & women.
This. Considering the generous scores handed to Ashley and Gracie I think the writing was on the wall for the others. Imo the World team was already pre-determined. The hype for Gracie by NBC even after her sub-par SP (which had her in 9th-anyone else would've been lower) made me suspicious that US Figure Skating and NBC had got together and decided who would be the 'Star' this time.
So did Gracie-and she was give HUGE PCS scores of 7s, 8s, and 9s that were a joke. It was a disgrace. I've seen Juniors with better transitions and choreo too. She was held up in the SP and they wanted to make sure she got on the World team no matter what anyone else did. Mind you-Mirai didn't deserve to be on the team but she certainly deserved to be higher considering the generous scores handed to the top two. Same for Zhang, Gao, and Cesario. Even Agnes it seems didn't have a chance even had she had a clean skate. With Gracie's unrealistic scores the bar was set too high.
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