- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Slutskaya : This year, I think she's skating with a sense of freedom that she hasn't had in the past, when the pressure was on her to win, win, win or to prove that she is a Navka-like dramatic skater. She's maximizing her strengths and, in particular, downplaying her weaknesses, and her LP is relatively light and upbeat, which suits her style.
However, despite the high scores at GPF and high levels of difficulty on her non-jump elements, she received negative GOE on four of seven jumps, she downgraded a 3Lz to a 2Lz, and her combinations were 3S/2Lo/2T and 3T/2T; only Pfaneuf had weaker jump content, because the other four skaters had three combinations/sequences.
Her execution was much stronger at CoR, but despite the 3S/3Lo/2T, she also downgraded a combo and her total base for combos/seqs was on .4 higher than at GPF. At CC, she did a 3/2/2 instead of the 3/3/2 she landed at CoR. If you look at all the Ladies who attempted three combos/seq in their programs, the base scores look like this:
Rochette TEB and Rochette CC: 24.1
Ando GPF: 22.7
Rochette GPF: 21.9
Arakawa NHK: 21.6
Onda NHK: 21.4
Onda SC and Slutskaya CC: 20.6
Nikodinov SA: 20.1
Slutskaya CoR: 19.8
Slutskaya GPF: 19.4
Arakawa GPF: 15.8
Corwin NHK: 14.4
Drei TEB: 14.3
Ando's NHK base for combos was 18.7, and she "only" had two of them.
She hasn't matched her all-time peak on the technical side, so I don't think she's hit her peak, which would combine the freedom and the jumps. She could be so much better if she attempted to stretch her leg and point her toe throughout her program. Many other women who have relatively muscular legs -- Rochette, Drei, Winkler, Maniachenko, Denkova, Hughes, Nikodinov, Liashenko, even Cohen for example -- and not "ready made" line -- Navka, Kostner, Sebestyen, Chait, Arakawa -- manage to do it. Even Suguri does it more. Slutskaya can do it, because she does in her sit spin in the final combination.
Cohen I saw her get close at qualis in Dortmund. There was still a little room for a little more -- the attack she showed in her SP. If her back holds up, she can increase her technical content by landing a 3/3, and getting the same height in all of her jumps that she gets from the 3F. (She already gets distance in most of her solo jumps and the first jump in her combos.) I would consider her at her peak if she did well in the qualis and SP, and then performed a LP in a non cheeze-fest in which the jumps were landed, but which was skated with passion, and not as if she was being sent to the executioner.
Arakawa Her LP at Worlds was the greatest LP performance I've ever seen. I'm not sure she can surpass that in any one performance, but I would say she has peaked when she can perform a SP and a LP at nearly the same level. Her programs this year provide a base; her Madame Butterfly SP is so much better than last year's, and the footwork is fabulous.
Kwan I haven't seen a program in the last three-four years that matches the programs she did between Nagano and SLC, let alone from the Salome/Taj Mahal period. I think at this point she's too much of an institution, and mentally a professional skater who still competes. That she's given her NA audiences years and years of consistent performances and has kept up a level of skating that has been matched by only a few -- Browning? Boitano? Yamaguchi? -- with finish, polish, and commitment is extraordinary, but I think that day-in, day-out consistency and professionalism is antithetical to focusing on and peaking in competition.
The only exception to that may be Plushenko, but he showed more of an artistic range in his Dortmund competition and exhibition (three) skates than Kwan has in her entire career. Part of that is expectations: Plushenko's base appreciates his programs, and comes to shows to see the new and different. Kwan's fan base -- the show-going base -- expects to see a more limited range of Kwan. As does Disney and Chevrolet. Imagine if Kwan performed an avante garde number like Denkova/Staviyski's exhibition at Worlds.
However, despite the high scores at GPF and high levels of difficulty on her non-jump elements, she received negative GOE on four of seven jumps, she downgraded a 3Lz to a 2Lz, and her combinations were 3S/2Lo/2T and 3T/2T; only Pfaneuf had weaker jump content, because the other four skaters had three combinations/sequences.
Her execution was much stronger at CoR, but despite the 3S/3Lo/2T, she also downgraded a combo and her total base for combos/seqs was on .4 higher than at GPF. At CC, she did a 3/2/2 instead of the 3/3/2 she landed at CoR. If you look at all the Ladies who attempted three combos/seq in their programs, the base scores look like this:
Rochette TEB and Rochette CC: 24.1
Ando GPF: 22.7
Rochette GPF: 21.9
Arakawa NHK: 21.6
Onda NHK: 21.4
Onda SC and Slutskaya CC: 20.6
Nikodinov SA: 20.1
Slutskaya CoR: 19.8
Slutskaya GPF: 19.4
Arakawa GPF: 15.8
Corwin NHK: 14.4
Drei TEB: 14.3
Ando's NHK base for combos was 18.7, and she "only" had two of them.
She hasn't matched her all-time peak on the technical side, so I don't think she's hit her peak, which would combine the freedom and the jumps. She could be so much better if she attempted to stretch her leg and point her toe throughout her program. Many other women who have relatively muscular legs -- Rochette, Drei, Winkler, Maniachenko, Denkova, Hughes, Nikodinov, Liashenko, even Cohen for example -- and not "ready made" line -- Navka, Kostner, Sebestyen, Chait, Arakawa -- manage to do it. Even Suguri does it more. Slutskaya can do it, because she does in her sit spin in the final combination.
Cohen I saw her get close at qualis in Dortmund. There was still a little room for a little more -- the attack she showed in her SP. If her back holds up, she can increase her technical content by landing a 3/3, and getting the same height in all of her jumps that she gets from the 3F. (She already gets distance in most of her solo jumps and the first jump in her combos.) I would consider her at her peak if she did well in the qualis and SP, and then performed a LP in a non cheeze-fest in which the jumps were landed, but which was skated with passion, and not as if she was being sent to the executioner.
Arakawa Her LP at Worlds was the greatest LP performance I've ever seen. I'm not sure she can surpass that in any one performance, but I would say she has peaked when she can perform a SP and a LP at nearly the same level. Her programs this year provide a base; her Madame Butterfly SP is so much better than last year's, and the footwork is fabulous.
Kwan I haven't seen a program in the last three-four years that matches the programs she did between Nagano and SLC, let alone from the Salome/Taj Mahal period. I think at this point she's too much of an institution, and mentally a professional skater who still competes. That she's given her NA audiences years and years of consistent performances and has kept up a level of skating that has been matched by only a few -- Browning? Boitano? Yamaguchi? -- with finish, polish, and commitment is extraordinary, but I think that day-in, day-out consistency and professionalism is antithetical to focusing on and peaking in competition.
The only exception to that may be Plushenko, but he showed more of an artistic range in his Dortmund competition and exhibition (three) skates than Kwan has in her entire career. Part of that is expectations: Plushenko's base appreciates his programs, and comes to shows to see the new and different. Kwan's fan base -- the show-going base -- expects to see a more limited range of Kwan. As does Disney and Chevrolet. Imagine if Kwan performed an avante garde number like Denkova/Staviyski's exhibition at Worlds.
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