Ladies' Free

[bekalc]

Oh, I'm not panicking. If the past two seasons are any indication, then I can expect the front runners to be:
Oct - Dec: Yu-Na Kim (strong, peaks, injury, DOWN)
(late) Dec - Mar: Mao Asada (moderate start, gain momentum, peak at exactly the right time, GOLD)

But I can't say I wasn't slightly disappointed by Mao's FS. Not only in her performance, but the choreography in general. I really appreciated Mao getting into the up and down motion of the waltz. You can count along with her the 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 and see that her movements match to the beat. I think the counting may be affecting her concentration because it looks like the jumps are placed on an exact beat and if she's thinking too hard on when to hit that jump, it might cloud her mind. But her step sequence was awesome! That part I love.

Yeah, I hate the music. I figure it may be the cut but there's no high and lows and it over powers her.

 

[Kasey]

Actually, I'm kind of torn here. Who deserves to win Worlds more

Gee, how about, whoever skates best at World Championships, 4 months from now?? Or is that not a concept worth entertaining to some people??

 

[mycelticblessing]

^^

That's probably the best answer of the lot. ITA!

 

[R.D.]

Gee, how about, whoever skates best at World Championships, 4 months from now?? Or is that not a concept worth entertaining to some people??

I swear. It's so amusing to me to hear about who "deserves to win" the world championship or Olympic championship based on past accomplishments, or worse, their fandom of the skater. If the World Champion were decided on who I thought "deserved" it most, then forget about holding the competition...all I'd need is the medals, three boxes, and UPS 2nd Day Air service. Oh yeah, and the addresses of the skaters.

 

[steyn]

Rochette isn't in the picture? This year though I really want Yu-na Kim to win Worlds.. With all her injuries, I can't see her staying much longer after Vancover. So it would nice to see her at least be a world champion. Joannie can be GPF champion, if you want someone knew in the picture, but hopefully Kim will at least win worlds.

Yu-Na said some time ago and also confirmed recently in an interview with Korean media that she would retire after Vancouver to live as an ordinary college student. Considering her personality and all the other circumstances I think this will really be the case. So only 15 months left.

 

[R.D.]

Yu-Na said some time ago and also confirmed recently in an interview with Korean media that she would retire after Vancouver to live as an ordinary college student. Considering her personality and all the other circumstances I think this will really be the case. So only 15 months left.

As an aside, Slutskaya said that she would retire after Moscow Worlds. She ended up taking a shot at Torino.

 

[museksk8r]

I know I must sound obsessed how I continually talk about how Joannie could rework her LP jump layout to work around the problems she has with the 2Axel+2Axel+SEQ, but I seriously think she should consider doing this:

3Lutz+2toe+2loop
3flip
3loop
x3Lutz
x2Axel+half loop+3Salchow (she did this at the end of her 2006 LP)
x2Axel+mohawk+3toe (she did this in the middle of her 2007 LP)
x3Salchow

This way, she keeps her 7 triples and her two 2Axels and she is doing jumping passes she has done successfully before, so she won't have to relearn any completely new jumping passes and she maintains the same base mark points she has with her current layout. If she insists on doing sequences over combinations, I think this strategy could work well for her in a successful rate.

 

[waxel]

As I said about SP, the LP is just as big a mess. When you really get right down to it ... they all tanked.

 

[Blade Runner]

Yeah, I hate the music. I figure it may be the cut but there's no high and lows and it over powers her.

Agree. Bad music, frenetic tempo, gravity-aknowledging jumps, not the usual prima dona light textured program that suits Mao. All in all she has wrapped herself with too much fur and not enough silky kimono.

 

[R.D.]

As I said about SP, the LP is just as big a mess. When you really get right down to it ... they all tanked.

Caroline Z. certainly didn't.

And Joannie held her own, although it wasn't her best.

I agree on everyone else, though.

 

[bekalc]

Hersh's description of Mao

Asada made about 7 million mistakes – fall, popped jumps, 2-footed landings, high yuck level.

I must say that I think while Mao is 18 part of the reason that costume doesn't work (along with I think it looks not cool is because Mao looks sooo young...

 

[GiuliaPlum]

Yu-Na said some time ago and also confirmed recently in an interview with Korean media that she would retire after Vancouver to live as an ordinary college student. Considering her personality and all the other circumstances I think this will really be the case. So only 15 months left.

this is terrible. Can't be true. Only five years of career as a senior? One of the greatest skater of all time? I'm really, really, really, really, really, really sad

 

[ihystfuj]

Yu-Na said some time ago and also confirmed recently in an interview with Korean media that she would retire after Vancouver to live as an ordinary college student. Considering her personality and all the other circumstances I think this will really be the case. So only 15 months left.

whoa whoa there
as far as I'm concerned, she hasn't even talked about retiring
especially not in public or in an interview with any Korean media
where did you get that information anyways?
it's such a horrible thing to say to a skater who's only been a senior for few years...

 

[bekalc]

this is terrible. Can't be true. Only five years of career as a senior? One of the greatest skater of all time? I'm really, really, really, really, really, really sad

When you consider Yu-na's injuries this feeling on her part makes sense. She has to think about her healthy. Who knows though she could change her mind.

 

[GiuliaPlum]

whoa whoa there
as far as I'm concerned, she hasn't even talked about retiring
especially not in public or in an interview with any Korean media
where did you get that information anyways?
it's such a horrible thing to say to a skater who's only been a senior for few years...

thank you for these words, ihystfuj. It was a shock.
I remember that Buttle talked about retirement after Vancouver. A tragic misunderstanding?

 

[steyn]

whoa whoa there
as far as I'm concerned, she hasn't even talked about retiring
especially not in public or in an interview with any Korean media
where did you get that information anyways?
it's such a horrible thing to say to a skater who's only been a senior for few years...

As far as I know she mentioned it several times before. I wrote about this in April:

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?p=315479#post315479

Also recently after she won Skate America she said in an interview with Korea Times (Canadian edition) as follows:

Q: You are admitted to Korea University. How do you plan to do both skating and study?

Yu-Na: I will stay and concentrate on training in Canada until Olympics so I cannot go to school until then. The university agreed to understand this situation. After retirement, I will just live an ordinary life like attending school, studying hard and so on.

You can watch the video here (in Korean):
http://video.koreatimes.net/zbxe/?mid=ktboard01&page=2&document_srl=7692

 

[PolymerBob]

As I said about SP, the LP is just as big a mess. When you really get right down to it ... they all tanked.

Please point out Caroline's free skate "tank".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As2dSE1sKPA

 

[GiuliaPlum]

Yu-Na: I will stay and concentrate on training in Canada until Olympics so I cannot go to school until then. The university agreed to understand this situation. After retirement, I will just live an ordinary life like attending school, studying hard and so on.

I think she means that until Olympics is too hard to skate and study... after it may be possible. But it doesn't mean she will necessarily drop. There are some top skaters who do GP, Worlds etc. AND University (Takahashi, Nakano...).
If she doesn't speak plainly about it, please don't misunderstand

 

[steyn]

I think she means that until Olympics is too hard to skate and study... after it may be possible. But it doesn't mean she will necessarily drop. There are some top skaters who do GP, Worlds etc. AND University (Takahashi, Nakano...).
If she doesn't speak plainly about it, please don't misunderstand

This is off topic so I don't want to repeat but she herself used the word "retirement" (in Korean). Also please read my previous post:

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?p=315479#post315479

She already has her own plan after retirement. Of course I don't want to see her retirement but this is what I understand so far.

 

[demarinis5]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As2dSE1sKPA

Thank's for the link isn't she wonderful!!!