I was just reminiscing and watching Mao's 2008 world free skate performance, and her jumps are just marvelous. The height, speed and landing (although there might have been slight under-rotations and wrong edges).
People mention so much of Sotnikova's jumps as one of the best currently for her elevation, but I am going to have to say Mao in 2008 would probably have beaten Sotnikova by a great margin.
I am wondering what happened to her jump qualities - I did notice that her physique now has changed somewhat, but I can't really pinpoint on how. Until this time Yuna and Mao seem to have similar body build, but Yuna grew to be more slender. I don't know if this was part of the reason that Mao suffered problems with her jumps later on, but probably there are Mao experts here who know better?
People mention so much of Sotnikova's jumps as one of the best currently for her elevation, but I am going to have to say Mao in 2008 would probably have beaten Sotnikova by a great margin.
I am wondering what happened to her jump qualities - I did notice that her physique now has changed somewhat, but I can't really pinpoint on how. Until this time Yuna and Mao seem to have similar body build, but Yuna grew to be more slender. I don't know if this was part of the reason that Mao suffered problems with her jumps later on, but probably there are Mao experts here who know better?