2023 World Junior Women's Free Skate

[YuBluByMe]

The final flight made up for the gruesomeness of the rest of the competition.

 

[auser]

So happy about the final group I am actually rocking out to Nsync arena music. Congrats to the medalists. And thank you to all the lovely skaters.

 

[liv]

Wow, Mao. But, she seems almost too perfect and perfectly packaged, ya know? Like, is she real? Lol.

Fabulous skate. So far she seems like the real deal, but the future is the future, and I hope she fully enjoys the present. She wins this going away!

 

[lileychristie]

So I got the podium right on my predictions game, but 4 and 5 totally off

And some thoughts after the junior women's free:
I love Mao and while I'm glad she landed her 3A and 4T today, I just hope she won't push her body too much and stay healthy. Especially worried as she's with Hamada. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Jia is a great well-rounded skater, she just seems to sometimes lose concentration and has a fluke fall at random places. I'm sure she'll grow out of it as she matures. I do find her FS and SP to be very similar though, I'd love to see her try a different style.

 

[cohkaix]

Yes, Mao please stay healthy so I’ll see you LIVE next season at JWC. Congratulations to the winners.

 

[Lamente Ariane]

So I got the podium right on my predictions game, but 4 and 5 totally off

And some thoughts after the junior women's free:
I love Mao and while I'm glad she landed her 3A and 4T today, I just hope she won't push her body too much and stay healthy. Especially worried as she's with Hamada. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Jia is a great well-rounded skater, she just seems to sometimes lose concentration and has a fluke fall at random places. I'm sure she'll grow out of it as she matures. I do find her FS and SP to be very similar though, I'd love to see her try a different style.

I’m also worried about Mao staying healthy. With the age increase, I hope Hamada understands that she has a marathon to go before seniors, not a sprint… but I have very little faith in that.

 

[PaulE]

As @auser said, thank you to all the skaters, especially the final flight. I was standing in my kitchen after each one of their skates.

 

[CoyoteChris]

As @auser said, thank you to all the skaters, especially the final flight. I was standing in my kitchen after each one of their skates.

How great was THAT, PaulE! Anyone want to guess the podium next year? What will one year, two years bring? Oh the stress and pressure we put on our young ones....
But To quote my fav announcer, TB. "God I love this sport."

 

[Flying Feijoa]

So I got the podium right on my predictions game, but 4 and 5 totally off

And some thoughts after the junior women's free:
I love Mao and while I'm glad she landed her 3A and 4T today, I just hope she won't push her body too much and stay healthy. Especially worried as she's with Hamada. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Jia is a great well-rounded skater, she just seems to sometimes lose concentration and has a fluke fall at random places. I'm sure she'll grow out of it as she matures. I do find her FS and SP to be very similar though, I'd love to see her try a different style.

Speaking in terms of overall style I prefer Jia to Mao. Both have soft knees and fluidity but Jia's carriage and upper body movements are more refined. It's subjective, a bit like how I prefer Wakaba or Yelim to Kaori.

I am a bit biased because I saw a great free dance (Scherbakova/Goncharov, look them up if you have't already!) to Passepied that made full use of the start of the music for a choreo sequence, so it drives home the lack of musicality in the beginning of Mao's free.

The last group's skates were enjoyable but the programmes themselves didn't have as much character as some in the earlier groups (notable exception being Minsol! ) I wonder if this is because top girls are younger than their male counterparts - skaters seem to find their individuality by mid-late teens (men will usually be still in juniors but women often will have moved up).

 

[lariko]

We were glad that Gurgenidze climbed to top 10 and even more touched by seeing that she brought the wee hedgehog we gave her yesterday with her today! I like, almost cried I am not sure her coaches are wise however, because she is great, but she is not Kostornaya yet, but they make her skate like she is. We gave her the Drakarys dragon today i got for Trusova for 2020 world that got canceled, and I hope she will soar.

I was really impressed my Y. Kim today and preferred her to Nakai about 100 times over. I am starting to develop a serious dislike of Nakai’s choreography. She clearly is a talented woman and deserves better than void programs.

Got a little scare that Shingave away silver… but she held on to it!

It seemed that maybe Calgary altitude was impacting women in the free, as many of them looked winded by the second half, including the Americans who have identical stop in the middle of the program to mask a little breather by choreo. Seriously, enough of that. They don’t all need it.

Repond skated wonderfully today, despite the objections that I have to her physical form.

And Reuter was totally totally at ease with translating the hometown welcome into a successful skate. She has the simple, sunshine charisma that was wonderful!

Oh, our lovely neighbour had a cat toy dressed in Minsol’s copy of a dress, so mom was charged with delivery, and she didn’t let us down. given how customized the gift was I was super happy to see Minsol play with it in K&C.

 

[Skater Boy]

Yes, Mao please stay healthy so I’ll see you LIVE next season at JWC. Congratulations to the winners.

I am cautiously optimistic and hopeful that Mao will have a long reign. Her body type is probably more stable ie not to be affected as much by puberty and growth still y ou never know. Remember the other Mao (Asada) looked set to reign and then she had her issues. Sitill good but soe major issues. And we've seen that with EVegenia, Alina, Yulia Adelina, Pogolorya, Radinova et al

 

[lileychristie]

Also, I'm not too worried about the state of the US junior women. Yes they lost a spot, but so did Japan a couple years ago.

Last year Rion and Rinka also didn't do well and failed to regain the extra spot, but look at Japan this year

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

@CaroLiza_fan is going to be a proud Dad! Unfortunate fall at the end, but she put on a good fight!

Haven't seen it yet, but I always am. I just love this programme. OK, so I have always loved "Nagada Sang Dhol" anyway, but a lot of Bollywood programmes can be cringeworthy, because the skater is not convincing. But Stefania usually is.

The plush sloth is adorable!

That's SuperSimone. She brings him to every competition.

Here's some background info on him:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CcXt9dJKi9p/

If I were a skater, I would model my entire career, including programs and packaging choices, after Alena Leonova.

I loved Leonova. Of all the "Pirates Of The Caribbean" programmes we have seen over the years, my two favourite versions are still her 2011-12 Short Programme, and Javier Fernández's 2009-10 Free Skate.

And I loved Alena's 2012-13 "Jai Ho!" Short Programme that you are talking about too.

Wow! Hard to believe all those programmes are now over a decade ago.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[purplecat]

Mao was amazing!! Congrats to her and the whole podium!

 

[JimR]

Great comeback by Gurgenidze. Repond the best junior in Europe. I thought the judges were hard on her in the SP. The judges were a lot more lenient on the last 6.

Shimada in a class of her own in this group. Only participant to even attempt a quad. Most of the program she skates on two feet though so I don't really understand the mark for components.

 

[JimR]

I wonder if people are happy now that the age limit is now going to be 17 this girl won't be able to go the Olympics.

It's for her own protection.

 

[labgoat]

I wonder if people are happy now that the age limit is now going to be 17 this girl won't be able to go the Olympics.

I feel like we already did this with Mao Asada - remember she was also too young to go to Olympics

 

[yume]

Where is the next junior worlds please? I don't like to miss events because of the impossible hours. The final flight looks to have done very well. I missed Mao junior historical free skate

Congrats to the medalists. Congrats to Japan because the three JWC spots and maximum jgp spots are back. I was right last year when i said that this generation was more promising than the previous one.

South Korea gets a 2nd silver and all its skater in top 5. That's a good result.

 

[yume]

I feel like we already did this with Mao Asada - remember she was also too young to go to Olympics

The curse of Maos...........

 

[lariko]

Where is the next junior worlds please? I don't like to miss events because of the impossible hours. The final flight looks to have done very well. I missed Mao junior historical free skate

Taipei iirc