- Joined
- Mar 17, 2013
In a realistic setting, it is very hard to beat Kim, and almost equally hard to beat Asada at her best skating, the kind of skating that she did in Vancouver. And it is prudent to assume that both will come back in their top form. In Kim's case, even if she falls a couple of times, she will still poise for top podium. the reason is quite obvious: with -2 mandatory deduction, 3-4 points loss jump GOEs, and additional -2 or -3 in PCS, her usual GOE's points and the kind of program she will put out that secures the top PCSs Kim's score will likely deviate only 7-8 points from her best score theoretically speaking. Of course it is hypothetical and the real situation will make slightly different dynamics to skaters in sochi, but it shows how hard it is to beat Kim even with the life time performances of any competitor out there.
I think it is a mistake to make assumptions based on how things WERE circa 2012/2013 season. There is a sea-change happening between the old guard and new guard and don't think the judges and other officials aren't aware of this and prepared to help it along. To this point YuNa seems to have stayed above it all, but if you think the judges aren't going to hammer YuNa if she gives them the opportunity then you are just whistling past the graveyard. If she gives them an excuse, they'll pounce like a cat on a mouse. Conversely, if the youngsters like Julia give similar performances like they recently did they are sure to be well rewarded. Be prepared to see similar scores in Sochi.