2017 GP Internationaux de France Ladies SP

[Sabrina]

Re the quality of the ice:

For those who understand French (I do not), this page (article, plus scroll down for a video) has some information about making the ice for this competition.

The page is from a few days ago.

http://france3-regions.francetvinfo...-mondiale-du-patinage-artistique-1365429.html (Nov 14)​

I'm curious whether anything interesting is said??

They say they mix a white powder with water, in order to make ice uniform....nothing else interesting

 

[danse]

The ice there looks to be very wet (I know how that sounds... Ice is frozen water... ) which would make it softer and probably not so helpful on toe jumps.

 

[russianfan]

Even the 1st place Osmond can't afford to fhuck up in the FS because eryone below her is very close!

Even 6th place Bet or 5th place Zagitova can still win gold here with a clean skate! Exciting!

would be more exciting if everyone scored higher... junior-level scores don't look exciting to me...

 

[ice coverage]

The competition organizers have mobilized some twenty workers since Monday to scrape the 1800 square meters of the rink to create an immaculate surface.

"We are covering the ice with a white powder mixed with water," explains Claude Pissard, ice-surfacer. "This way, we'll have an even surface."

L'organisation de la compétition mobilise depuis ce lundi une vingtaine d'agents chargés de racler les quelques 1800 mètres carrés de patinoire pour obtenir une glace immaculée.

"Nous recouvrons la glace avec une poudre blanche mélangée à de l'eau"explique Claude Pissard, glacier-surfaceur, "de cette façon, nous aurons une surface uniforme".

They say they mix a white powder with water, in order to make ice uniform....nothing else interesting

Merci .

Anyway, comments in the thread are confusing -- b/c Tracy apparently said skaters commented that the ice was hard ... whereas others are observing that it is soft???

I know nothing about making ice. Only recall watching a vid about making an ice surface from scratch (in an arena without a permanent rink) for U.S. Nats. The emphasis seemed to be on making a series of very thin layers of ice. Nothing about powder. But again, I know nothing about making ice.

Thanks again for your replies.

 

[kevinVchicago]

Merci .

Anyway, comments in the thread are confusing -- b/c Tracy apparently said skaters commented that the ice was hard ... whereas others are observing that it is soft???

I know nothing about making ice. Only recall watching a vid about making an ice surface from scratch (in an arena without a permanent rink) for U.S. Nats. The emphasis seemed to be on making a series of very thin layers of ice. Nothing about powder. But again, I know nothing about making ice.

Thanks again for your replies.

Well anyway they seem very proud of their powder method [emoji39]

You're very welcome!

 

[frida80]

So if Maria is second in the end will she kick Wakaba out of the final?

If Polina’s T silver or better at SA, yes.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Okay. Real talk.
Osmond COULD win here if the judges prefer her program than Zagitova's. But it's unlikely considering that she's made mistakes. Zagitova is 7 points behind her so it will be close. Ice is slippery, especially in France.
Zagitova COULD win here if she performs lights out and she gets the high PCS that she deserves. 7 points behind Kaetlyn isn't too bad but it's not great going into the free.
Sotskova actually has a chance if she performs well and doesn't underrotate...oh wait that might be hard. Also has bland programs which is not good for PCS.
Yuna will probably make a couple of mistakes and judges won't want to score her highly because favoritism, ya know.
Mai has a good chance if she skates clean. But ice is slippery and Mai is either stunning or not so good.
Tuktamysheva... ouch. Last place. I think her team chances are over though.

Good luck in the free, ladies!
Especially to Alina! and Mai and Maria.

How do you think we can work to get a GP event out of France and to somewhere with better ice?? Korea could be good, maybe Australia in a couple of years when they build up their program. Italy is also a good choice.

 

[xeyra]

I vote Spain.

Yes, please. I might actually manage to attend a FS event then!

 

[Mathman]

How do you think we can work to get a GP event out of France and to somewhere with better ice?

From the ISU's point of view it's not about ice. It's about who can line up sponsorship.

 

[xeyra]

Checking protocols and J4 (Russian) gave Mai's 3F a -1... being the only one giving less than 1 GOE.....

 

[MaiKatze]

I said it last year. Come to Germany! Haribo Trophy.

 

[TunaKeem]

Checking protocols and J4 (Russian) gave Mai's 3F a -1... being the only one giving less than 1 GOE.....

and also her PCS from that judge are quite low as well!

 

[millie]

Okay. Real talk.
Osmond COULD win here if the judges prefer her program than Zagitova's. But it's unlikely considering that she's made mistakes. Zagitova is 7 points behind her so it will be close. Ice is slippery, especially in France.
Zagitova COULD win here if she performs lights out and she gets the high PCS that she deserves. 7 points behind Kaetlyn isn't too bad but it's not great going into the free.
Sotskova actually has a chance if she performs well and doesn't underrotate...oh wait that might be hard. Also has bland programs which is not good for PCS.
Yuna will probably make a couple of mistakes and judges won't want to score her highly because favoritism, ya know.
Mai has a good chance if she skates clean. But ice is slippery and Mai is either stunning or not so good.
Tuktamysheva... ouch. Last place. I think her team chances are over though.

Good luck in the free, ladies!
Especially to Alina! and Mai and Maria.

How do you think we can work to get a GP event out of France and to somewhere with better ice?? Korea could be good, maybe Australia in a couple of years when they build up their program. Italy is also a good choice.

If If's and ands were pot and pans, what would we do with thinkers...if you watched the short program, you can see that Katelyn is in a different league than Alina. You can't compare apples and oranges. You can see the maturity in Kaetlyn's skating compared to Alina. Even the costumes show her immaturity. I think that with a few years under her belt, she will be great...no Russian sweep in the short...

 

[OS]

Just going through the protocals.. It is quite apparent which one is the Russian judge and what result is Ms Olga pushing for. Marking all Alina's biggest rivals down so much. She made a nice team with Mr Yuri of Kaz. Basically judge 4 and 8.

Zigitova is quite over marked for what she did. I'd seriously laugh if she start to get 9s by FS in an effort to over compensate.

 

[Mawwerg]

J4 even gave Maria better components than Kaetlyn. I suppose it's one of the reasons why judges have a country flag behind them:noshake:.

 

[DexterK]

I said it last year. Come to Germany! Haribo Trophy.

I vote Germany too.

Star and Laurel Cup, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz.

 

[moriel]

From the ISU's point of view it's not about ice. It's about who can line up sponsorship.

Im sure Japan could line up sponsorship for a second GP
Since they dont homecook much, should be just fine

 

[randomfan]

Kaetlyn and Elizabet’s videos didn’t work for me...maybe another time.

Maria was great except for that one mistake. I like the new dress and the program is looking even better!

Yuna was very lovely! I liked this program the first time I saw it, but now I like it even more. It’s beautiful seeing that the jumps were there today. Hoping for a good FS because she has a chance for the podium now.

Good job to Mai for saving herself after the combo problem. The choreo of this program seems difficult to keep up with, so it’s impressive to see her keep going.

Okay, something needs to be done about Alina’s SP. First she fell on the 2A twice, then the combo, and then the 3Lz on its own. She can do these jumps in the LP just fine so it’s not a jump issue or a backloading issue. If she’s falling every time, she needs to water down something to be more consistent. I felt sorry for Alina after seeing how sad she was, but I can’t help but go crazy because of these inflated PCS.

Laurine’s program was gorgeous as always. That said, I think she did better at Skate Canada but got a lower score there. Anyways, I hope she can use the home crowd to her advantage and do well in the LP.

Polina did better than I expected. I think that this program is well-constructed, but having all the jumps there would help.

Poor Liza...unlike Mai, the first mistake completely rattled her and took her out in the rest of the program. What will she do now?

 

[silverfoxes]

No, Japanese competitions are terrible for those who live in NA and have day jobs. And it still would favor their own skaters too much with the host pick spots. Keep the GP in Europe but give it to Italy or Spain. Sorry, I don't think Germany cares enough about skating to make it work (plus they used to have a GP there years ago already...Sparkassen Cup/Bofrost Cup).

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Just going through the protocals.. It is quite apparent which one is the Russian judge and what result is Ms Olga pushing for. Marking all Alina's biggest rivals down so much. She made a nice team with Mr Yuri of Kaz. Basically judge 4 and 8.

Zigitova is quite over marked for what she did. I'd seriously laugh if she start to get 9s by FS in an effort to over compensate.

I'm not even going to try to put in my opinion on that sentence. But please, use Alina's proper name. It's Zagitova.