I agree but the judges really like Kostner; she is like Patrick Chan - great pcs and quality though I think Chan is comparatively stronger still the judges acknowledge those skills. True she is not a natural artist.
I disagree about her not being a natural artist. She's certainly matured over the years, and artistically I think she's the finest to watch of the women at this point in time. However, I don't think that should justify her getting propped up in PCS over better technical performances. Her PCS cushion is in double digits over Li, Sotnikova, Tuktamysheva, etc. which forces the latter to max their technical game and execute it cleanly when Kostner can (like Chan) have subpar performances but still be granted enough PCS to stay ahead of them, which is wrong. At least Yu Na is getting comparable PCS, so when she skates her technically superior programs cleanly, there's no matching her - even with Kostner's artistic ability.
Kostner would have to skate cleanly at the Olympics in both programs and with better technical content than she's had in years ... internationally, putting together two clean programs (heck, even a clean SP + a FS with minor errors) is not something she's been particularly known for or capable of as of late. Jenny Kirk brought up an interesting point that she gets so into her programs that she loses focus and makes costly errors (her errors are often the most CoP-unfriendly, such as falls or turning triples to doubles/singles).
When I said that Kostner artistic look force and not natural, I means that in her skating since 2010, she doesn't look to skate with passion and her heart. So, to me her presentation look really telegraph and it doesn't look strong to me.
I enjoy more the Kostner who skate with attack and passion in 2007 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XX1kxQLMsw
I was a fan of her in thoses times, but today it's like that she knows that she will always have automatically her high PCS cushion so that she doesn't push herself like before.
Yet a Kostner before the 2010s were caliber to beat Yu-Na Kim, but not the new Kostner telegraph and fear of not pushing her skating into her high level.
Seriously? She doesn't skate with passion and her heart? She knows she will always have high PCS automatically and doesn't push her skating onto a higher level? I am sorry but that's almost an insult to a skater like Carolina.
If you mean she doesn't push herself on the technical side - check again. She had to take her lutz and flip out during the 2010/2011 season due to injury. She was only allowed to put those jumps back in slowly and look at where she is today - she reincluded her 3lz (which not a lot of people expected her to do), she also reintroduced her 3f3t and all of her jumps are textbook quality. She is 26 years old and still tries to push herself on the technical side of skating. She deserves some credit for that.
If you mean she doesn't push herself artistically - please ckeck again too. From 2011/2012 onwards, she has consistently come up with innovative programs, always challenging herself trying out different styles, skating to rather unconventional music & using contemporary choreography. She really is one of the rare skaters to have developed her own style and pushing boundaries in terms of choreography.
Her skating might not be your cup of tea but saying she doesn't skate with passion/heart and that she is not pushing herself relying on a PCS cushion is ridiculous.
Nobody can.Who can rival Yuna in Sochi: Mao or Carolina?
Yuna is so much better than any other competing female skater that they have not any chance.
I don't understand how he's past his technical peak when he's been upping the tech content every season.
Not saying Yuna isn't mentally strong, but her clean skate at Worlds is more of a result of her insane level of technical polish to absolute perfection.
Regarding the person who mentioned Li as an outside threat to Kim, I love Li but at this point she is Kim lite but without any of the reputation yet. Her LP at Worlds was outstanding and should have scored over 130 but didnt. In the event I HAD to pick someone outside of the big 3 as a threat to Kim it would be Gold since technically I could see her being close to on par with Kim on a good day, and while she doesnt have that strong of PCS the judges like her and give her already generous PCS, she has a strong federation fully behind her, and I see the potential to be a decent artist and greatly improve her PCS at some point. I certainly dont see Osmond, Murakami, Sotnikova, Tuktamysheva, or Wagner as a threat to Kim even on her worst day and their absolute best.
It's both. Remember she had far fewer actual competitions this season than either Mao or Carolina, so she had fewer chances to get into the competitive mindset. Also she started training later than most (and after a whole year off), so she also had less time to polish her programs and her jumps this season. Yuna mentioned in an interview that her jumps had gotten more consistent in practice than before, which is very surprising as you'd expect it to be less after a long break. I think that, too, had a lot to do with her confidence in the LP.
Gracie is no match to Yuna in TES even when she lands all her jumps. She can do a 3Lo thus a higher planned BV (although her 3Lo is one of her weakest and most inconsistent), that's her only advantage. Where does the fantasy about her being such an amazing jumper come from?
I do agree about that. I think her confidence also comes from her being such an excellent technician.
A threat to Kim in Sochi? I'm afraid that's too soon unless Kim makes mistakes, or if you're thinking beyond Sochi.
Gracie's GOE is not competitive with Yuna and Caro at the moment. Look at the score sheet, they are getting +2 +3 for their clean elements. Gracie's 3 Loop, 3Flip will never get that kind of GOE.
Yes, her GOE isn't competitive, but it has nothing to do with the actual elements performed. Gracie's 3Z is better than Yuna's. She comes in on a deeper BO edge than Yuna and get comparable height and distance. It's a better lutz.
I also have a hard time believing her 3L and 3F won't ever get +2/+3. You seem to be making absolute statements. Her Loop is just fine, her Flip, she does need some edge work going into it, but everything else is just fine. All of her elements save her footwork is comparable to Yuna's.
When you say never, do you actually mean "next year"?
Yes, her GOE isn't competitive, but it has nothing to do with the actual elements performed. Gracie's 3Z is better than Yuna's. She comes in on a deeper BO edge than Yuna and get comparable height and distance. It's a better lutz.
I don't think Gracie is capable of getting +2/+3 on her loop. If you compare her loop to Caro's 3 loop, which got her +2/+3 all the time, you will see a huge difference.I also have a hard time believing her 3L and 3F won't ever get +2/+3. You seem to be making absolute statements. Her Loop is just fine, her Flip, she does need some edge work going into it, but everything else is just fine. All of her elements save her footwork is comparable to Yuna's.
I meant NEVER.When you say never, do you actually mean "next year"?