Is Zijun Li ready to skate with the big girls? | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Is Zijun Li ready to skate with the big girls?

suzukifan27

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 24, 2012
Hope she's not going to lose her jumps after growth spurt. Her 3f+3t and 2a+3t were fantastic. They were not as high as Yu Na's but had very good rhythm. The height of the 2nd 3t is higher than the 1st jump which leads to full rotation and high goe.

Her coach was criticized for teaching Caroline Zhang bad technique. Zujun Li/Lu Chen's jumping techniques are great. The truth is you need natural ability for certain things. If Zhand didn't use the unconventional technique to do triples, she wouldn't make out of sectionals. Zhang has had accomlished a lot based on her limited jumping ability and relatively poor skating skills.
 

skatel80

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Zijun is a lovely skater :) she reminds me of Yuna and of Mao :) I look forward to watching her career develop. Good for China to have a real future contender in ladies again :)
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
For me, the delight of the 2013 world championships was China's Zijun Li. Here she is:

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRRA2Mok9QDOnSShcYERDbLS7HlPblfAj6BzEav5wQ7dQ6LgPcm

Oh. wait. That's not Zijun Li.

Here is her worlds LP. (Please somebody tell me the aspect ratio is off in this Eurosport video. She's nt that slim, right?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZCSsAdtaxQ

What does she need to do to become a factor next year? More speed maybe?

For sure, she was the delight of the night!!!! I have to admit that I hadn't even heard of her but she got the first standing ovation of the night and her skate was thrilling. Speed yes but she is so youn\ng. She didn't look that slow out there. For someone so slight she truly projected and frankly, I thought her performance was among the most heartfelt.

I wonder why she didn't hold that Ina Bauer a bit longer towards the end. It would have lent drama with the crescendo of the music. Is it because it would have been more difficult to get into that last spin without the cross overs?

More Zijun please!! I just hope her body cooperates in years to come.
 

Macassar88

Medalist
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
I think that she needs to do a 3F-3T in the SP as well - that way she can practice it more instead of practicing both that and the 3T-3T
 

ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
I truly wonder how Li would stack up against the Russians, Osmond, and Gold when all are skating at their best.

Tukt and Sotnikova didn't have the best of nights at Worlds and both lost many points for elements that they usually execute with finesse. The same goes for Osmond, who was a clear 10 points ahead of Li after the SP and would probably have stayed ahead if not for those two falls. Gold, the highest finisher of the so-called "younger generation," was shaky on several of her jumps and yet only finished two points behind Li in the FS.

Food for thought.
 

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Li is very lovely, and I think she can compete well with the second tier group of skaters like Wagner, Gold, Liza, Adelina, Kiira, Suzuki.
To move to the next level, her skill is not there yet. She will need to improve steadily for the next 3-4 years to catch the Big 3 where they are now.
 

suzukifan27

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 24, 2012
I truly wonder how Li would stack up against the Russians, Osmond, and Gold when all are skating at their best.

Tukt and Sotnikova didn't have the best of nights at Worlds and both lost many points for elements that they usually execute with finesse. The same goes for Osmond, who was a clear 10 points ahead of Li after the SP and would probably have stayed ahead if not for those two falls. Gold, the highest finisher of the so-called "younger generation," was shaky on several of her jumps and yet only finished two points behind Li in the FS.

Food for thought.

I don't understand why everybody is so high on Osmond. So far she proves to be a SP skater. She has an average 1-2 falls in LP. She doesn't have hard 3+3 in LP either. Her performance is good. But she can't repeat the same 'style' in every program. Her SP score was inflated due to home court advantage. Li bombed her SP and she wasn't hyped beforehand, thus the low score.

I have more faith in Gold, Li and two Russian girls than Osmond.
 

koatcue

Medalist
Joined
Aug 31, 2011
Country
Russia
I don't understand why everybody is so high on Osmond. So far she proves to be a SP skater. She has an average 1-2 falls in LP. She doesn't have hard 3+3 in LP either. Her performance is good. But she can't repeat the same 'style' in every program. Her SP score was inflated due to home court advantage. Li bombed her SP and she wasn't hyped beforehand, thus the low score.

I have more faith in Gold, Li and two Russian girls than Osmond.
I thought Osmond was overhyped but the more I watched her, the more I saw: first of all, she has "it", the spark is there. Her posture is good too...It looks like she's dancing,not skating - that's natural for her.
And I think if Li doen't lose her jumps after puberty, she'll be better than Liza and maybe Adelina.
 

shine

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
I have always rooted for her since she was a junior but IMO she still carries herself like a little girl and the performance aspect is missing when you compare her to the other up-and-comers who are about the same age as her. I also don't think she "feels" her choreography or her music. Sleeping Beauty is actually a great LP for her but I couldn't help feeling that there was so much more she could've done with the music as she was skating through it kind of. When her jumps don't work her programs don't look nearly as compelling. I think a dance instructor who can seriously address these aspects will do her a lot of good and make her competitive. She also needs to train her strength (core??) because all her moves come across soft and rather powerless and she can't be as sharp as she should be when the music demands it, which also hurts her projection. This is particularly apparently if you compare her side by side to, say, Osmond or Sotnikova. I hope as she matures she'll retain her soft lyrical quality (which seems to be a trademark unique to the Asian ladies skaters) while skating powerfully. I'm being a bit critical of her because I really would like to see her become compeititve and not have to rely on others' mistakes to place well.
 
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