2023 Cup of China Women's Free Skate

[Vicky458]

Loena HENDRICKX
Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)

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2A
3F
CCoSp3
ChSq1 +1.29
3Lzq+1T
3F+2T+2Lo
3S< (forwards, hangs on)
FCoSp4
StSq3
LSp3

FS: 130.84 (3rd)
TOT: 201.49 (3rd)

Loena looked just a little tired, even the spins weren't as good as she's capable of. It's been interesting to hear how a lot of the athletes here are struggling with exhaustion, either from travel or it being their second GP.

I also found that Loena does a lot of “posing” not skating..this skate reminds me of Katerina Witt’s Carmen at the Olympics..she too did a lot of posing!

 

[discodisco]

That version of Summertime is one of my favorite songs of all time so I always get distracted. I don’t think it makes a good figure skating program - there was an American ice dance team that didn’t do so well with it last season either - and Schizas didn’t either. She could have been skating to anything so why choose this?

Must be a preference thing. I think she does a fantastic job, but it's so refreshing to see a skater skater program that isn't a generic female ballad or some sort of electronic classical music that can be whipped off in about 10 minutes on any music software program. I think both of her programs this year stand out as unique, and they are both very different from one another. I think she does a particularly good job of facial expressions in both of them, not afraid to stare at the cameras/judges, and really having a ton of sass.

 

[snd]

Rinka's costume designer needs to go, 0/4

i loved the brown dress.

the current one looks weird with the music

 

[RafaelAstro]

Nice judging here aside for the favoritism towards Loena, but I'm very happy for Hana and very impressed by Rinka, hope Hana goes to the gpf and still improve as the season goes

 

[Agent Michael Scarn]

If my math is correct, Loena has officially clinched the finals with 26. While it's mathematically possible for more than 6 women to finish with at least 26 points, those scenarios involve Chaeyon Kim and/or Nina Pinzarrone getting 26 with two 2nd place finishes, and 1st+3rd beats two 2nds.

So two skaters have clinched the finals now. For the four remaining spots, there are a bunch who are mathematically alive, but the ones with a realistic chance are:

	Current Point Total	Max Points Possible
Kaori Sakamoto	15	30
Chaeyon Kim	13	28
Nina Pinzarrone	13	28
Rion Sumiyoshi	11	26
Hana Yoshida	24	24
Haein Lee	9	24

Rino Matsuike has 11 points but only had one assignment. If that changes and she gets swapped into one of the last two GPs, then she has a chance as well.

 

[RafaelAstro]

If Mai withdraw as well form the nhk Rino may take her place

 

[CellarDweller]

good morning everyone, i see @CellarDweller is slacking off today

Here I am. Hey the ice isn't prepared...

I was sleeping! It was 3:38am for me!

Why didn't someone tell Yelim?????

 

[Agent Michael Scarn]

If Mai withdraw as well form the nhk Rino may take her place

Yeah, that's true.

And now that I look again at the NHK roster, I think I should have added a few others to the list of possible finalists, since it feels like that event is wide open. There's no Kaori, Loena, or Isabeau, and possibly no Mai (or maybe a Mai who's not at 100%), Haein has been struggling this season, and 22 points is sometimes enough, so Wakaba, Amber, and Lindsay, who have 7 points, all have a legitimate shot of making the finals.

 

[RafaelAstro]

I think Wakaba needs to win if she wants to qualify for the final and even if she wins she would be behind Hana, I hope Japan scores her better, she is much better than what judges did at idf. All will depends of how Haein, Chaeyeon and Niina do at their events

 

[SmileHappy34]

Saw the woman skate. Great job. Hana and Rinks the Japanese Nat'ls will be competitive. to me Loena didn't skate with as much confidence or as strong. I think everyone was surprised at outcome and scores.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Looks like another high quality event. You can criticize the Russians all you want. But at least they forced everyone to maximize their potential. Sadly, that has seemed to go away.

Hmm.. I've seen the Cup of Russia protocols. This isn't really true, is it?

 

[Joekaz]

Hmm.. I've seen the Cup of Russia protocols. This isn't really true, is it?

It actually is if you look at the quality of skating so far in the last 2 seasons of the Grand Prix. My comment was about the Russian participation forcing the other girls to push themselves. It wasn't meant to imply the Russians would necessarily be dominant. It doesn't even mean it is all negative, since several top girls injured themselves pushing too hard to compete.

 

[icewhite]

I don't think they are pushing themselves less. To win you still need to be better than the others.
I do think though it's visible that we are still a bit away from the Olympics and some people luckily rather take the time to heal than make an injury worse and worse for short time gain.