4CC Ladies Free Skate | Page 11 | Golden Skate

4CC Ladies Free Skate

Leonardo

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
It only looks fine in real time [to you] because she is a master of staying upright and pulled in until she's gotten all the rotation in - off or on the ground (think Sarah Hughes, Nagasu, but Mao is even better at it). It's why she was able to stand up on that axel. She basically landed in a balanced backspin position. It helps avoid falls, and it helps her hook around under-rotated jumps. The problem is that because she's able to stand up so many UR jumps so easily, she doesn't get the kind of torque (or falls) that other skaters get on those landings, therefore it's comfortable and it makes it psychologically harder to fix it.

In any case, it was pretty obvious the loop in that combo was UR in real time, as well as the second flip. What other jump did they UR? The feed was Standard Quality and I sort of tuned out halfway through the performance, anyways. Judges aren't average spectators, and neither are other skaters.

I love Akiko Suzuki. She really draws you into her performance. She reminds me of Bebe Liang with the bits of dance she does towards the end of her program.

Sorry, her second flip was rotated, she didn't receive a UR for it. 3A, 3lo in combination and 3t (strict call)were UR. I don't think she should try that 3lo in combination, I just don't see her getting credit for it. For me, 3lo, 3A, 3F+2lo, 3lz, 2a+3t, 3lo+2lo+2lo and 3F would make an amazing program, and cleaner.
 

Ambivalent

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
^^ Huge difference between Dai who is nearing the end of his great career plagued by injuries, and a still competition fit Yuna.
but yes, totally agree about Yuna trying to do all her elements well, this is how she's won in the past, this is how she'll end her career in sochi.

Yes, duly noted but my point was more that there are no givens in figure skating. Everyone thought it was a given that Daisuke would at least medal yesterday, and he did not.
 

hurrah

Medalist
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
I'm totally exhausted from watching 4CC!

Gracie ... totally bombed. It was like watching a different skater to the one at Nationals (FP, that is).
Christina Gao is a beautiful skater. I just wish she'd learn to extend her legs more. I totally agree she should go to Worlds and not Gracie.
Kanako was wonderful! I love her musicality, but her jump techniques are still meh. Hope she can fix those within a couple of years.
Akiko was lovely! She's skating better than ever in her career! At 27!
Mao was not as great as she was in SP, but it's the first time she attempted an 8-triple program, and she did really well for her first attempt. I guess this is more or less the difficulty that they will aim for in Sochi. I really hope she can get the under-rotation issue sorted out during the off-season. She will be unbeatable if she can get that sorted out.

What a wonderful night of skating it was.
 

MaiKatze

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
I loved the top three and Zijun Li. That girl is awesome and surely will be a player soon. I love the Nausicaä soundtrack and I'm happy when a skater uses it. (Remember Kozukas Nausicaä? That was beautiful) But Kexin Zhang even without that weird mistake didn't know how to interpret it at all. She really has to work on her expression.

I'm happy for Mao and Kanako, but still Akiko has the most beautiful program of this season. I was bummed that she made that mistake on the Axel. I doubt she will medal at Worlds, which is a shame because watching her awesome free just makes me happy. It is so beautiful!
 

mirai4life

1Lo <
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 26, 2013
Yuna's jumping techniques are far more superior than Mao's. It's always a treat for the eyes when watching Yuna for me. <3
I have my bet on her.
 

koriani

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
However if we are talking about making the world team and earning spots, why would you want to gamble on a skater who frankly isn't necessarily ready for prime time. I get wanting to put Gold out there for Sochi but this decision may cost us three spots. And lets not get into Wagner's meltdowns.

can gracie deliver a clean short program at worlds? I think that's the question. She's only done 1 clean short this season, at the rostelecom, and if she blows her short again, she may effectively blow the US's chances of getting that third spot. Ashley...I don't know how to feel about her right now. At the beginning of the season, I thought she was going to be ms. consistent, but after the GPF and nationals...not so much

really don't know how worlds is going to turn out. hopefully it'll be good. fingers crossed!
 

hybfc

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
the technical specialist is very strict on mao. level 3 on stsq, downgrade 2a3t, which looks perfectly fine. I also doubt the downgrades on 3a and 3f3t. They both looked rotated.
 

SkateNater

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
She can't do that because then she would repeat 3Lz, 3T and 3S and you can only repeat 2 triples so instead of 2A-3T she does 2A-2T-2L. Unless Yuna does a 3L she can't have a 7-triple program.

I'm going to go through the rule book and see what it says, but I'll take your word for it.

If Asada doesn't do the 3A in the SP, Kim may not need the extra triple as her TES in the SP will be higher than Asada's and she's pretty much going to Out-GOE Asada on all jumps and rake in pretty big PCS.

I think people are looking at base value too much and trying to make prediction. Quality matters too. Yes, Mao has a 3A. Yes, she has 7+ triples. She will still probably be a Toe Loop's worth of points behind Kim just in GOE, especially if she has just one UR, for that matter.

That's how Wagner ranked 4th in the world last year with no triple triple, by having good transitions into her jumps, good run out, avoiding GOE-killing UR calls (apart from her Flutz edge call).

If Wagner can score 128 Internationally in a FS, and this skate by Asada only got 130, well Kim can score 140+ if she skates clean just by what we seen her do this year.
 

Ambivalent

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
Yuna's jumping techniques are far more superior than Mao's. It's always a treat for the eyes when watching Yuna for me. <3
I have my bet on her.

I am and always will be a YuNa uber for this reason but it will be extremely close if Mao goes eight triples clean. And Mao has always been such a magnificent skater who can turn it on when she's really in the zone.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Triple flip triple loop by ando or now asses was almost always called < on the loop part. But while ando did it with severe penalty most of the time from 2007-2010 and then did it less to be conservative now it is less risky because you can get more credit. It's good to see thee attempts and same applies to 3a. Much rather see this kind of 4 rotated triple performance win than others this season! Because here you have real attempts at difficulty.
 

SkateNater

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
the technical specialist is very strict on mao. level 3 on stsq, downgrade 2a3t, which looks perfectly fine. I also doubt the downgrades on 3a and 3f3t. They both looked rotated.

She two footed the 3A, and if you understand how those things work you can clearly see why the jump was rotated. The foot that touched down first wasn't fully rotated.

The Loop on the end of the Flip combo was clearly UR. The Toe at the end of the Axel Combo I can't really say for sure. The feed was of low quality and the angle wasn't optimal. I don't think I bothered looking at the replay (or know if they replayed it for that matter).

Step Sequences I don't know enough about the rules for levels on those. I just know I want them to put an end to straight line step sequences that go back and forth 5 times before they get to the other end of the rink. It's driving me mad.
 

prettykeys

Medalist
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Frankly I don't adore Christina's skating and I can see why she gets lost in the shuffle. However if we are talking about making the world team and earning spots, why would you want to gamble on a skater who frankly isn't necessarily ready for prime time. I get wanting to put Gold out there for Sochi but this decision may cost us three spots. And lets not get into Wagner's meltdowns.

The point of the matter is if you base it on the overall skating right now Gao got royally screwed by the US judges.
Eh...I think sometimes you have to have faith in your athletes. I know, I know...why have faith when you can look at the overall consistency in skating where Christina Gao wins this season? But really, when Gold is on (as she was at US Nats LP), she is actually exciting to watch. Whereas Gao is very meh to me. Gold is the only US lady, if clean in SP+LP, to compete with the top girls for a podium spot at Worlds.

I wouldn't say Gao was that screwed. When Gold put down her LP she won pretty fairly, IMO. It was Wagner who was held up with her ridiculously high PCS for her LP, but I'm not complaining about the ranking if we are going by what the girls have displayed over the past two seasons.

Full disclosure: I'm Canadian, not American so I'm not so concerned about spots as American fans are...I want to see good, exciting skating so I'm glad that it's Gold and not Gao who got the Worlds spot. lol
 
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Ambivalent

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
Eh...I think sometimes you have to have faith in your athletes. I know, I know...why have faith when you can look at the overall consistency in skating where Christina Gao wins this season? But really, when Gold is on (as she was at US Nats LP), she is actually exciting to watch. Whereas Gao is very meh to me. Gold is the only US lady, if clean in SP+LP, to compete with the top girls for a podium spot at Worlds.

I wouldn't say Gao was that screwed. When Gold put down her LP she won pretty fairly, IMO. It was Ashley who was held up with her ridiculously high PCS for her LP, but I'm not complaining about the ranking if we are going by what the girls have displayed over the past two seasons.

Full disclosure: I'm Canadian, not American so I'm not so concerned about spots as American fans are...I want to see good, exciting skating so I'm glad that it's Gold and not Gao who got the Worlds spot. lol

Yes, but I can't stand the two-spot situation for the US anymore (I'm Australian). As a fan of figure skating I want to see more representation from the talented US field. One less heart broken as well.
 

SkateNater

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Sorry, her second flip was rotated, she didn't receive a UR for it. 3A, 3lo in combination and 3t (strict call)were UR. I don't think she should try that 3lo in combination, I just don't see her getting credit for it. For me, 3lo, 3A, 3F+2lo, 3lz, 2a+3t, 3lo+2lo+2lo and 3F would make an amazing program, and cleaner.

I'm not talking about what the protocols say. I'm talking about what I seen. Maybe they gave her the benefit of the doubt, that's usually the way it's *supposed* to go - and good for them if they erred on the side of caution (not that she needed it, so blah).

I think she went for the loop combination because... WHY NOT?! It's not like she was going to lose to anyone. She had like a ten point lead. She could have fallen twice and still eeked out a win a'la Wagner at Nationals. Why not just go for it in such a riskless situation like this, and get just a bit more experience throwing it in a major competition...
 

prettykeys

Medalist
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Yes, but I can't stand the two-spot situation for the US anymore (I'm Australian). As a fan of figure skating I want to see more representation from the talented US field. One less heart broken as well.
True, but if it were a third American girl going I'd want it to be Mirai, not Christina, and I doubt that would happen anyway because it seems the USFSA is dumping Mirai now. So...I don't feel huge regrets if that's what they're going to do.
 

bekalc

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
Eh...I think sometimes you have to have faith in your athletes. I know, I know...why have faith when you can look at the overall consistency in skating where Christina Gao wins this season? But really, when Gold is on (as she was at US Nats LP), she is actually exciting to watch. Whereas Gao is very meh to me. Gold is the only US lady, if clean in SP+LP, to compete with the top girls for a podium spot at Worlds.

I wouldn't say Gao was that screwed. When Gold put down her LP she won pretty fairly, IMO. It was Wagner who was held up with her ridiculously high PCS for her LP, but I'm not complaining about the ranking if we are going by what the girls have displayed over the past two seasons.

Full disclosure: I'm Canadian, not American so I'm not so concerned about spots as American fans are...I want to see good, exciting skating so I'm glad that it's Gold and not Gao who got the Worlds spot. lol

There is a short program you know. And Gold's was terrible. As for the long program, I think Gold has terrific jumps and could eventually be a beautiful skater. However I STRONGLY disagree with the concept that Gold right now deserves the kind of lead over Gao that she got on PCS at US Nationals... Gold has a lot of work to do when it comes to interperting music.

Did Gold deserve to place ahead of Gao in the long, sure. But overall- highly questionable. I'm not completely against it, but once again, to say there was no favoritism going on there....
 
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