So back on the thread, here are my notes from the area:
Rachael Flatt: 92.37, total 136.09: Not her best, but considering the injury, a good effort. She did five non-UR triples and did not fall. The low score reflected low PCS and low level on spins. Given her current state, probably the best she could have done.
Alena Leonova: 106.67; total 153.49. Lots of little mistakes and initially felt she was slightly overscored. But looking back, she actually did six non-UR triples, though not perfectly, so she probably would have been in the arena of Christina's score if she did the program without the mistakes. She ended up finished fifth in the FS, which is about right. Otherwise, the program was blah. Didn't help she wasn't her usual selling self -- felt like a generic Spanish program.
Sarah Hecken: 85.98, 134.09. Sarah can only basically do 3S and 3T well. But in the past, she always had interesting programs to make up for the lack in difficult content. I give her credit for trying the 3F, but ultimately the low difficulty hurt her. She ended up doing 3F, 3S (2), 3T vs. Rachael's 3F, 3L (2), 3S (2). The program was utterly forgettable otherwise.
Haruka Imai: 107.82, 157.72 -- Personal best! And she deserved it. She had a few close calls but she managed to save the landings. And her non jump elements were great, as usual. She's sort of the Japanese Alissa Czisny for having the great non-jump elements but can easily miss the jumps and she is sort of a Japanese pre-2012 Ashley Wagner as she has tended to do poorly in the SP before going gangbusters in the FS. (In Nebelhorn, she was 9th before jumping to bronze with a 3rd place FS). She finished 4th in the FS and jumped two spots to 5th.
Viktoria Helgesson - 94.56, 144.85 -- Not her best effort. She struggled with the jumps. But she had some pretty elements, such as her footwork.
Valentina Marchai - 104.77, 158.79 -- I wish she had more transitions in her programs and she had a lot of long lead-ins into some of the jumps, but all in all she stayed on her feet and did some nice jumps including two really nice 3Zs. One of them came after a cool catchfoot spiral move.
Mae Bernice Mette - 101.54, 155.95 -- She was great here, thought not as good as the SP. She had some big jumps including a really great 3F-2T-2T combo. But that follow with a fall and a few two foots. I think France's ladies figure skating has a great future with Mette and Silete leading it.
Christina Gao -- 117.62, 174.25 -- WOW WOW WOW! The audience started cheering during her footwork sequence. The audience couldn't wait to give this girl a standing ovation and rightfully so. Besides the clear flutz, everything was clean as a whistle and even her non jump elements was very much improved. This was her best skate in her senior career for sure.
Adelina Sotnikova - 110.03, 168.96 -- Lots of great ice coverage and speed. A few mistakes, including the two-foot on the 2A and a fall on the 3F, but I thought the overall presentation would put her over Gao. Obviously it was the invalid combo that cost her the silver, so I think she would have easily received silver otherwise. But as some coaches say--just do the program. Adlibbing will get you in trouble.
Ashley Wagner -- 127.76; 188.37 -- A great start. She had a few wild landings, but she managed to land them like a cat. She had great transitions and speed. She looked confident and ready and she really projected herself to the audience, who gave her a standing ovation when she was done. Yes, it's similar layout to the programs she did last season, but I think that she's working the programs in stronger way now then she did last season and I think that really showed in her PCS scores. This program still has room to grow with 3T at the end of the 2A and probably some extra transitions, but this is good start.
Overall this was a great FS. We had a few falls, but for the most part, a good competitive segment.
They do it every time! Sandra gushed about Meite's powerful and high triple lutz, and then Meite fell on it, on cue.
She looked amazing out there (was lucky to see it in person). I think this will be a very good program for her. According to one of our fellow GS posters, she was very consistent with the 2A-3T + 3F-3T in practice, so we will probably see it soon!
