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I am going to say Shiziku Arakawa, I think that Elena Sokolova did improve in the technical aspect of her skating, however she has always had it in her. But her presentation seems to have even went down since 1998 IMO. Shiziku has pretty much been the most consistent woman on the international scene this year landing 5 and 6 triple performances every she skates a LP, and her presentation is steadily on the rise...as you were..</strong></em>
I voted for Arakwawa - Sokolova seems the same as she did to me years ago, Its just that I haven't seen her in so long.
But then when I saw someone wrote Jenny Kirk I have to agree with that, she's like a completely different skater and just needs consistency.
Love cupcake and she really did something for herself but her programs bother me too much to vote for her so I vote for other (Michelle).
I would have voted for Sasha but I don't think her jumps have improved totally yet. I think she has much better choreography but for some reason I feel like rgirl on her. I loved her movement and feel on the ice when she was younger. I think she grabbed the audience more then. I think Sasha would have moved me more then. R & J is the only program that has grabbed me and that was the first time she skated that program.
I feel along the same lines as Lavender. Cupcake obviously made the most dramatic improvement, but IMO Michelle made the most significant and difficult improvements. Michelle was already at 95-96% of her abilities. IMO, she improved up to 98-99%. As many people in many areas of elite ability have noted--music, dance, sports, acting, science, whatever--getting to the 90th or 95th percentile is a lot of work, but getting that last 5 or 10 percent is what separates the merely great from the legendary. Very, very tough to already be that good and still improve. When I taught dance, it was always a lot of fun to teach the beginning and intermediate dancers. You could see improvement week by week and they were very motivated. By the time you're teaching advanced pre-professional, it's a whole other ballgame. The improvements come in very small increments and it's very difficult for even the most motivated person to break old habits and allow him/herself to go to the next level. I find Michelle's improvements to be extremely impressive. She didn't have to make them, but she wanted to and she found a way to make them. Gold medal just for that, IMO.
Rgirl
If we are talking over-all skating, I would have to say Viktoria and Jenny K. Their entire demeanor improved.
As for Elena S.- she's got good jumps but didn't she always have that? She is, however, the one to improve over all, and if she does, watch out Michelle.
Since Cleveland, Sasha has been a wonderful over-all skater. It hasn't changed.
Fumie and the Japanese girls - consistency if needed.
All other ladies - keep working at it. You will shine one of these competitions.