What do Ashley or Gracie need to do to Medal in Sochi | Page 7 | Golden Skate

What do Ashley or Gracie need to do to Medal in Sochi

jenaj

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
Only in America. Not going to happen in Sochi.

Didn't Ashley place ahead of Mao at 2012 Worlds in France? Mao wasn't at her best there, but that was the second time in a row that Ashley beat her. Ashley needs to do a 2A-3T in her long program to be in the hunt. With a 3-3 in the short, too, she is a definite medal threat.
 

mskater93

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
Not necessarily. Wagner is capable of beating even a relatively good Asada at her best (see 4CC 2012).
Wagner has to be at her absolute BEST though, not just "best of the season" and Mao has to not be given the benefit of the doubt on her elements. Wagner skated with the "heavy is the head who wears the crown" at Nationals and Worlds this year, unfortunately...not sure if it's due to her injury at GPF and subsequent illness and lack of training time due to both or pressure.
 

Li'Kitsu

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2011
R.D. said:
Not necessarily. Wagner is capable of beating even a relatively good Asada at her best (see 4CC 2012).

What...? Relatively good Asada at her best? Like - no?
Ashley completly deserved to win 4CC, but that were by far her best combined skates - nothing this season came close to that, and nothing else last season did. And Mao had lost her mother that season, skated with nowhere near the confidence, commitment and joy she had this season (especially 4CC!). Both 3A's underrotated, no 3-3, popped Salchow. It's tricky to compare scores from different events, but even at worlds this year Mao had a higher score than Ashley at 2012 4CC.
Yes, Ashley won over Mao at 2012 4CC and deservedly so, but that was nowhere near Mao at her best. This season's 4CC and to a lesser extent the GPF were Mao at her best, and frankly, Ashley wouldn't have had a shot to beat her in those competitions. (And no, I'm not saying Ashley is done, nor that a medal in Sochi is impossible for her, though unlikely. But 2012 4CC doesn't allow the thought Ashley might beat a relatively good Mao at all).
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Wagner has to be at her absolute BEST though, not just "best of the season" and Mao has to not be given the benefit of the doubt on her elements. Wagner skated with the "heavy is the head who wears the crown" at Nationals and Worlds this year, unfortunately...not sure if it's due to her injury at GPF and subsequent illness and lack of training time due to both or pressure.

She needs to a) pace herself to peak late (instead of early) and b) get that 3-3 ready because floundering around 5th in the world has for to get boring for her after a while.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
It just occurred to me...when I said HER best I meant Wagner's best, not Asada's. Seems like I confused a few posters there.

Rephrased to be clearer: Wagner, at HER best, is capable of beating even a relatively good Asada (see 4CC 2012).

Of course, if Asada is at HER best, she is beatable probably only by Kim, so there you have it
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
What...? Relatively good Asada at her best? Like - no?

I am not even sure what qualifies as a good Mao in the LP at this point, but I think some of you are setting the mark too high for that given her last 3 seasons. Mao never skates clean long programs anymore, whether she does the extreme of planned inhumanly hard jump layouts (Worlds this year) or relatively easy ones (early this season), so whatever the idea of good Mao right now has to be, it certainly cant be completely clean. Her LPs in her two losses to Wagner were actually somewhere in the middle for her these days, she has as many long program skates worse than those as better.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
Wagner, at HER best, is capable of beating even a relatively good Asada (see 4CC 2012).

I guess it depends what you mean by Ashley's "best". She has never skated a 129+ LP, even at Nationals. Mao achieved that four times this season (three of those were in international competitions). So if Ashley's best is skating better than she ever has, then she can beat a relatively good Mao. They are simply in different leagues.
 

ffionhanathomas

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 12, 2013
I know Gracie definitely needs a new choreographer for her PCS, but what do you all think of Ashley's choreographer? I wonder whether her PCS may improve with a new one..

Nevertheless, she has had some great programs with Mills and its what she is comfortable with so its probably best.
 
Top