Conclusions for the 2013 World Championships | Golden Skate

Conclusions for the 2013 World Championships

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Here is a chance to focus on summarizing our conclusions; what we have learned and what we can now expect as we head towards Sochi.

First, COP seems to be misunderstood or not liked by many or some. the Germans in pairs, Carolina in the short and Patrick Chjan in the long have been criticized as they were marked too high for error filled or affected programs. But these skaters seem to know the parameters or rather the aprameters allow them to score well despite errors. Chan's skating skills are phenomenal and for all of them missing a jump or two can be made up on other jumps and other elements as well as pcs. All three have reknowned skating skills like them or not. And their technical skills aren't anything to sneeze at especially with others making erros.

Second, I don't think we can say there was a lot of national bias towards Canada in the judging. Patrick's win is because of pcs and the fact others faltered too and most worse. Denis Ten is a good skater but his skating skills/pcs still are lacking and certainly his free program was not choreographed as a artistic wonder. The Canadians did not get a lot of fourtism or els one would think they would hae won silver in pairs and such.

Third the US's rookies Max Aaron and Gracie Gold did their country proud. And the Us ladies have three spots and that has always been their marquee sport for the ladies so kudos to them.

There is the mini breakdown heading into sochi of the Russian skating team other than pairs and even then K and S and B and L were not well received Russia is diecimated. In ladies they barely made the top ten. And in dance their apparent no. 1 team crashed and burned (I and K) and they need an overhaul technically and artistically.

In dance it appears by the wide margin ithe sd that D and W are heavy OGM favourites BUT break down the performances and V and M may not be dead. They barely lost the freeskate and in the SD they made 3 mistakes so they aren't too far behind them.

It is exciting but precarious there are a lot of potential medallist ie men - Fernandez, Ten but the ylack consistency. the Japanese men showed vulnerabilty but still have chances for gold and podium in Sochi. In pairs the battle really is about bronze. Ssquared from Germany and V and T will duke it out for gold. V and T have to worry about content - the germans have far more difficult jumps and throws. The battle from bronze includes Pang and tong, two Canadians, two Russians and the maybe the Italians. Inladies its Yuna and then Carolina and Mao and then a h uge group led by two Americans - Wagner and gold, Murakami and potential whoever represents Russia (and I do mean whoever) plus Osmond.

Skaters to watch: Li, Gold and Osmond in ladies, Ten in men (but he could bomb even worse than Leonova and suzuki) and Reynolds what will he do to improve his artistry and pcs (skating skils); Mt andM and the exciting French team in pairs; chock and bates in dance

Skaters that are fading or may not make their potential

Thomas Verner once so much hope now making top 15 is hard., Brezina on the cusp of greatness but seems to be slipping further away from the gold , the Frenchmen Florent Amodio not consistent enough with the big tricks and hasn't grown pc wise; Joubert some glimmer of his great past but that was another era he really skates like he just wants to go to the olympics but he really looks a bit weathered. In ladies Leonova might as well start crocheting doilies with Markova - we may never see her on the int'l big stage again especially with two spots. Suzuki we'll see if she fights back. She is quite mature in age already for a skater. if Ando comes back is there room for her on the Japanese team? Jenna McCorkell will go to the olympics again but really she is looking tired and has stopped developing as a skater. Sui and Han are young but they don't seem to be the right size for each other with her growth. Pang and Tong - painful at times to watch as he tries to deal with injury and time. they epitomize the team that really really really wants gold at the Olympics but really their time has passed; they won the Oly freeskate in 2010. It would be tempting the skating Gods that they would try to do the same thing as their compatriots come back just to get ogm. It is almost against the laws of nature so to speak that this would happen to the same nation twice in a row.I and K what a disaster. I think the Shibs are fighting so good for them. For a while I thought P and B were fine but oddly enough we find them in the situation we thought might happen minus I and K passing them. the italians, Weaver and Poje and B and S snuck past them. If anyone was to retire I think it would be P and B but I think they will skate on for the olympics.

Overall a poorly skated world championship; not a lot of great amazing skates if any that were truly spectacular. Nice to see Yuna back on the throne The results were generally right; imho other than the Germans silver (should have been 3rd or 4th..
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
My conclusions:

-Voloszhar & Trankov, Yu Na Kim, and Davis & White are the clear and heavy favorites for the Olympic Gold in their categories.

-Canada will win the Team Event Gold.

-There are lots of good young ladies on the rise and womens skating will be in fine hands when Kim, Kostner, and Asada all retire following the 2014 season.

-The sport will be better off when Patrick Chan retires and he will not be missed.

-Denis Ten's star which had flickered out is one the rise again.

-Fernandez did not have his best competition but his GOE and PCS compared more favorably in the past vs Hanyu's, which is a good omen for their future battles.

-Takahashi might be a spent force at this point.

-Canadian pairs are on the rise in a huge way.

-Sui & Hong are at the end of their partnership and Hong at the end of his skating career most likely.

-Kostner is a new women from the earlier career headcase and is very tough and reliable now.

-Weaver & Poje are back on track and still very much contenders heading into next season and beyond.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Russia had a major catastrophe of epic proportions in men's and ladies and shows there needs to be a radical overhaul of everything going on in the senior singles programs. Both of tarasovas singles skaters flopped very badly. Liza flopped very badly in sp and lp lost to so many people's because her pcs is the worst. Tarasovas students can't jump and have no Stamina and mishin students get the worst pcs. Russia is such a focus because this was the worlds before their Olympics and their singles skaters were basically garbage. So it was so bad there must be more reforms.

Yuna was so good it was shocking - like really good.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
My conclusions:

-Voloszhar & Trankov, Yu Na Kim, and Davis & White are the clear and heavy favorites for the Olympic Gold in their categories.

-Canada will win the Team Event Gold.

-There are lots of good young ladies on the rise and womens skating will be in fine hands when Kim, Kostner, and Asada all retire following the 2014 season.

-The sport will be better off when Patrick Chan retires and he will not be missed.

-Denis Ten's star which had flickered out is one the rise again.

-Fernandez did not have his best competition but his GOE and PCS compared more favorably in the past vs Hanyu's, which is a good omen for their future battles.

-Takahashi might be a spent force at this point.

-Canadian pairs are on the rise in a huge way.

-Sui & Hong are at the end of their partnership and Hong at the end of his skating career most likely.

-Kostner is a new women from the earlier career headcase and is very tough and reliable now.

-Weaver & Poje are back on track and still very much contenders heading into next season and beyond.

ITA EXCEPT for Chan. Chan forced skaters to become complete skaters quad, spins, edges and all. Otherwise we might have generic crap skating like Evan winning (oops sorry if that sounded crast.)

Tak has had two bad events in a row. I wonder if his body is starting to feel the pain.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Chan forced skaters to become complete skaters quad, spins, edges and all.

Oh please the history of figure skating is filled with dozens of complete men skaters who had all those things and didnt fall on their touches 5 times and still get handed wins on a silver platter each event too. He didnt force anything, except thousands of more skating fans to turn off their TV sets, many of them for good, and possibly revived rules to come soon for all the things he is the Poster Boy that is wrong with the current scoring system.
 

Puchi

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 26, 2010
-The sport will be better off when Patrick Chan retires and he will not be missed.


-Kostner is a new women from the earlier career headcase and is very tough and reliable now.


Remember not so long ago everybody hated to see Carolina winning medals with flawed performances. Don't you think Chan can become a new man from the earlier career headcase and turn into a tough and reliable skater too?
;)
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Chan's skating skills are phenomenal and for all of them missing a jump or two can be made up on other jumps and other elements as well as pcs. All three have reknowned skating skills like them or not. And their technical skills aren't anything to sneeze at especially with others making erros.

Second, I don't think we can say there was a lot of national bias towards Canada in the judging. Patrick's win is because of pcs and the fact others faltered too and most worse. Denis Ten is a good skater but his skating skills/pcs still are lacking and certainly his free program was not choreographed as a artistic wonder. The Canadians did not get a lot of fourtism or els one would think they would hae won silver in pairs and such.

of course because only S/S should matter and Chan would always win with multiple falls
Osmond had an inflated score even with 2 falls.

that's not going to happen though
I notice an Osmond trend she is only mostly good when in Canadian soil, probably she knows she will have inflated scores
she usually bombs when outside Canada and not a good FS like 4CC

overall the clear favorites V/T, Yuna, D/W and Chanflated Fraud
V/M can complain all they want but they are lagging now tech
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Remember not so long ago everybody hated to see Carolina winning medals with flawed performances. Don't you think Chan can become a new man from the earlier career headcase and turn into a tough and reliable skater too?
;)

Considering he has less than 1 year of amateur competition left I would say that is unlikely.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I noticed how much slower V/M were in their Worlds Carmen performance than they had been in earlier events. I suspect the reasons for that are 1-to avoid making mistakes and 2-Tessa's delicate legs can't handle great speed, that's why she cramped at 4CC. When speed falls off, so do the PCS scores.

That's not to say V/M are done, not at all. But they have to be very judicious about their program selections for Sochi and focus more on what they can do well, not on speed and difficulty. If programs LOOK like they are very difficult, that is not a good thing. Dance should look airy and effortless.
 

Eislauf

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 26, 2012
Oh please the history of figure skating is filled with dozens of complete men skaters who had all those things and didnt fall on their touches 5 times and still get handed wins on a silver platter each event too. (Patrick Chan) didnt force anything, except thousands of more skating fans to turn off their TV sets, many of them for good, and possibly revived rules to come soon for all the things he is the Poster Boy that is wrong with the current scoring system.

:clap:
 

sweetskates1

Medalist
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
ITA EXCEPT for Chan. Chan forced skaters to become complete skaters quad, spins, edges and all. Otherwise we might have generic crap skating like Evan winning (oops sorry if that sounded crast.)

Tak has had two bad events in a row. I wonder if his body is starting to feel the pain.

I disagree wholeheartedly. Patrick Chan only wishes that he could possess an ounce of the pure talent possessed by the likes of Stephane Lambiel and Daisuke Takahashi... I am not looking forward to seeing Patrick topping the podium at next year Olympics. He does not deserve it; just as he did not deserve 'winning' gold medals at the past two world championships.
 

sweetskates1

Medalist
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
I noticed how much slower V/M were in their Worlds Carmen performance than they had been in earlier events. I suspect the reasons for that are 1-to avoid making mistakes and 2-Tessa's delicate legs can't handle great speed, that's why she cramped at 4CC. When speed falls off, so do the PCS scores.

That's not to say V/M are done, not at all. But they have to be very judicious about their program selections for Sochi and focus more on what they can do well, not on speed and difficulty. If programs LOOK like they are very difficult, that is not a good thing. Dance should look airy and effortless.

Virtue and her partner wish they had the speed of their rivals. They have always been relatively "slow" when compared to the 2013 world champions. It is just that, (unfairly!) Virtue and her partner have relied on their mushy 'romantic' (whatever... ) connection to win up until now. I agree that Ice Dance should look airy and effortless, this is why last year's Die Fledermaus was an instant classic! Honestly, the real question is not whether Virtue and her partner are done, but rather if the judges will continue to acknowledge the greatness of their superior rivals... not holding my breath or making bets...
 

LeReveur

On the Ice
Joined
May 1, 2010
One of the things that frustrates some and causes others to smile in this "sport" is the array of opinions. I thought Virtue and Moir were spot on last night and looked better than early in the season. I only saw the program live and once, so I understand that other sets of eyes may have seen things differently or may have viewed the program more than once. In contrast, I watched Davis and White on YouTube (my stream died before they skated live) and criticize them for something I've noticed in some prior performances: they didn't interpret the music well. There's no question that their speed is tremendous, but they skated as if the music was essentially one big blast and I don't think they ever thought to insert subtlety into the program to bring some contrast in. I think there's no shame in putting D/W technically high up there and then hitting them when they don't interpret music in a way that makes sense. Anyway, at least both teams were "better" in their discipline than Chan and Ten!

Time to try to watch the ladies' LP on video.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
One thing I was really surprised with - the quality of the top 24 in the ladies and men's disciplines! Maybe it's the TES mins, but I was pleasantly surprised to see such good skates from the 1st and 2nd groups, and by skaters who really belonged there too and didn't wind up in one of those warmups due to SP meltdowns. It was really great to see.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Oh please the history of figure skating is filled with dozens of complete men skaters who had all those things and didnt fall on their touches 5 times and still get handed wins on a silver platter each event too. He didnt force anything, except thousands of more skating fans to turn off their TV sets, many of them for good, and possibly revived rules to come soon for all the things he is the Poster Boy that is wrong with the current scoring system.
then if that is the case let us be consistent, add Germany, Kostner and the list goes on. Wrong - well then change the scoring system or parameters but then what there will be a new problem because it is in the eye of the beholder. every change brings a new headache not to mention whining on these boards by someone who likes it or not. Remember when those nasty spirals became long tedious ugly positions. Or the spins that required everyone to do some form of a Biellman. The race for the quad....
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
One thing I was really surprised with - the quality of the top 24 in the ladies and men's disciplines! Maybe it's the TES mins, but I was pleasantly surprised to see such good skates from the 1st and 2nd groups, and by skaters who really belonged there too and didn't wind up in one of those warmups due to SP meltdowns. It was really great to see.

One thing I was not really surprised with is the bickering on this board with the marking system But that being said yes, the quality was good of the ladies.
 

ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
of course because only S/S should matter and Chan would always win with multiple falls
Osmond had an inflated score even with 2 falls.

that's not going to happen though
I notice an Osmond trend she is only mostly good when in Canadian soil, probably she knows she will have inflated scores
she usually bombs when outside Canada and not a good FS like 4CC

overall the clear favorites V/T, Yuna, D/W and Chanflated Fraud
V/M can complain all they want but they are lagging now tech

But not 130+. ;)

Osmond seems to have some of the same issues as the other teenagers (Gold, Tukt, Sotnikova, Li to an extent)--she gets spooked. You could tell that she hadn't expected to find herself alongside Kostner, Asada, and Kim in the final group, and that probably affected her concentration. But she's an excellent performer already, with almost the whole arsenal of triple jumps, and this should be an issue that goes away as she gains more experience.
 
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