The Last Six to Skate at Worlds

I'm not that impressed with Joannie. She has a good program but there's a lack of polish in her skating. She seems "messier" than the other girls.

I don't really understand why everyone seems to be getting on Shizuka's case. I've seen MK with some ugly GP programs but it's not as though people write her off all of a sudden. Even with MK's problems at the Cheesefests it's not as if all of a sudden she's not going to do well at Worlds or Nationals. Shizuka has difficult programs with lots of transitions and the whole purpose of these events is to work the kinks out of these programs. Sometimes you see clean skating at the early events, but people tend to be quite messy in the beginning of the season. I really liked Shizuka's SP at GP final (much better than Slutskaya's IMO though Slute's jumps were slightly better). It seems Shizuka is skating normal for the GP. I love her skating and quotes from interviews suggest that Shizuka is quite frustrated with herself. She said that she wanted to retire after Dortmund and after she won she had to go on. I hope the bad press and expectations don't get to her b.c I really think she can medal (and defend) her world title b.c she looks pretty good out there. I hope TT can bring Shizuka to a peak at Worlds. And there is no doubt Shizzy will be in the final 6. That's a great SP.

Sasha: I don't know about her.... She probably will make the world team but it might be best for her if she didn't. It might light a fire under her a$$ like not getting GP events in 2003 did for Johnny. Plus it will give her time to get over this injury.

I definitely think the "four" that we refer to will be there: MK, Irina, Sasha, and Shizuka

I would say Rochette would be there, based on the results she's turned in on the year (although I've yet to see her skate....thank you American TV coverage...*grumble, grumble*). I think Vika probably is a good bet, not only for the home ice advantage, but b/c she has been skating well on the year (2nd-Cup of China). I would say that watch out for the seething mass of talented Japanese ladies. With names like Suguri, Onda, Ando, and Ota, at least one of them should be able to put it together and get in that final group

soogar said:

I'm not that impressed with Joannie. She has a good program but there's a lack of polish in her skating. She seems "messier" than the other girls.

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I totally disagree. I think that Rochette is already more polished than Slutskaya could ever be, and quite on par with Arakawa if not more so. When she's on I really think her presentation is as good as anyone in the world. The only thing she lacks is harder spins and harder jump entries. That said, I'm not crazy about her Firebird program. I've seen her be more musical and feeling the choreography a lot better. I am enjoying her short program a lot more.

I don't know about the Japanese ladies this year. They've really seemed to take their knocks, especially Miki whom I think the judges are being especially hard on. Fumie has not looked good this year but perhaps not making the GP final was good for her because she doesn't have to travel and can work on technique with Oleg.

I really like Yoshie's skating. I think she is the most reminiscent of Midori Ito in terms of her power and big jumps. I think the Japanese team is a lock with Shizuka and Miki but that third girl is the big question (and I hope Shizuka doesn't decide to quit before worlds... maybe TT can give some of that encouragement to Shizzy). Personally I love Fumie's new programs and look fr this year. However Fumie is such a questionable jumper. She's never had really good jump technique even though she has landed her jumps in the past. Yoshie had her share of falls in the GP as well. Maybe the Fed should give the nod to Yoshie so Fumie can have the time to work on those jumps. On the other hand, I think Fumie can clean up on the stuff other than jumps for COP as she is a lovely skater and these are strong programs.

Final 6 at Worlds is hard to predict... I wonder if it will even matter who skates the final 6 as the top 12 girls might be within striking distance of a medal after the SP.

soogar said:

Final 6 at Worlds is hard to predict... I wonder if it will even matter who skates the final 6 as the top 12 girls might be within striking distance of a medal after the SP.

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Good point! With COP, someone in the penultimate group could walk off with the gold. The only issue could be the "holding back marks" thing, but AFAIK this isn't much of an issue under COP as it was under 6.0 sometimes. It should certainly make the competition even more exciting, because you know that by the time the LP comes round, more than 2 or 3 people have a realistic chance of winning the title. Top 12 could be (no order): Kwan, Cohen, Slutskaya, Sokolova, Arakawa, Ando, Suguri/Onda (depending on who goes), Rochette, Sebestyen, Kostner... and maybe 2 of Phaneuf, Pavuk, Liashenko, 3rd American, Poykio, and any number of dark horses. Should be a great competition.

2ndmark said:

Kostner's LP at Cup of Russia was so excrutiating she may not even make the Italian team!

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With Euros being held in Italy and as the last Worlds before Olys being held in Italy (same city, same arena)? Of course Caro would make the team, they might even give her a bye (was Italian Nats already?) so she can rest that back.