Carolina kostner - will the Lutz be back?

[daphna]

anyone knows if Carolina is still training the jump? i know it's her nemesis jump.
they did a smart move 'simplifying' her programms and she skated quite well so far this year, but i think she'll need her full difficulty back for worlds, abd def. for next year when all the junior Russians will storm out to the senior ranks.
thoughts?
i love Carolina, and i would love to see her winning worlds and (finally) skating well at the olympics.

 

[jiggs]

She said in an interview prior to the GPF that it is not competition ready yet. She wasn't allowed to do the jump during the 2010/2011 season at all due to injury. Her doctors gave her an ok to practice flip and lutz again early 2011, just before Euros. Before that she didn't do those 2 jumps at all, not even in practices. And even after that, she was only allowed to do 1-2 lutzes each practice session. This means she hadn't done the jump at all for at least 7 months, and then could only do a few of them after that. She missed out on a lot of practice on that jump and decided to not include it until it is 100% competition ready.

Honestly, I don't know why everyone keeps ranting on her lack of lutz. She is not the first skater who hasn't done the full range of jumps. For me, her programs have been much more enjoyable since she has taken it out. It is clearly not her favourite jump and it really takes away from the overall impression of her programs. I'd prefer her to not include it and add a 3f3t and maybe a second flip. And honestly, I don't think she needs the lutz at this point. She seems to be doing perfectly fine without it because the quality of everything else she does is exquisite!