Ladies sp | Page 7 | Golden Skate

Ladies sp

McWicked

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 7, 2007
My impression with everyone is that EVERYONE, I mean EVERYONE looked sooooooo nervous.


Yeah, I guess coz most girls are aware of the fact they have grown a few inches, even Yuna is taller!!! Kimmie was so nervous, I always notice by the way she starts like hyperventilatin before takin the ice on the warm up... takin deep breaths
 

zephyrskates

On the Ice
Joined
May 2, 2007
I love yuna just like everyone else, but her face after the scores said it all, she did not expect a 69 and some change. I was watching it on universal sports (HD!! thank you NBC new york!) and she did look so much better as compared to the other skaters though. Yuna's flip on the replay takes off on an almost flat edge, and I remember someone said that the technical panel does not use replay to evaluate jumps. considering that yuna flies across the ice, it would be so difficult to call her flip a lip. someone also said that the technical panel when the takeoff is too close to call should give the skater the benefit. LOVE her costume!!!:love:

Miki, Miki, Miki. the beginning of her program looked great, and it suits her. i loved miki's reaction at the end. how she smiled and shrugged as if she did not know what happened as well.

Yukari. wonderful spins, the wrap is really holding her back.

Mirai. Very scrappy, changing her jump layout to accommodate the COP is praise worthy. Spins and spirals are good. Footwork needs more speed.

Flatt. Well, to me it was flat. i love moon river, but instead of watching her skate, i just sang along with her music. My biggest problem with her is that her spins are not up to par with her competitors.

Meissner. Too bad on that Flip. overall it was an improvement from last season. you can see it on her face, that it looks like that she was enjoying herself on the ice. after getting off, you can hear her and her coach talk about her program while they were showing the replay. She kept on insisting that she could have pulled off a 3-3 or that she could have at least stepped out on the flip, and her coach just kept on saying, "no you did great". She also said that she "felt good out there".

I like having no commentators. watching a program without button screaming about the classic layback position is priceless.
 

*Sniper*

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
well, that's not true. I don't know if you are familiar with "short track speed skating"? Korea is dominating in that event and short track speed skating is very popular there. Korea brings tons of money to the ISU.

Yes, only during the Olympics from what I've read and heard from my Korean friend.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Oh man.

First off, 69.5 for Yuna??? My goodness. I would have said maybe around the 60 mark, but I thought Ando should have scored a little higher than she did. Maybe 62-63 for Yuna and 60 for Ando. Now Yuna's all but bagged this one. Meh...

Strong performances from both Nagasu and Flatt. They're definitely holding their own, although I felt the former was a little tentative...maybe nerves played a role, but most everyone seemed shaky out there (given it's the first comp of the season, that's to be expected). It's weird, because I watched the whole program...the first skaters were putting me to sleep (except for Karademir and Flatt) but once the second group took the ice, the atmosphere changed significantly.

I'll end comment with Kimmie's performance. I must say the move has done her a LOT of good. I've never seen her "emote" so much- it was not typical Kimmie at all. Noticed she's also wearing more make up than usual (but not too much, thankfully). Even with the fall, apart from Ando and Kim I liked her performance the best (note I'm talking in terms of enjoyment, NOT placement). Any of those skaters in 2nd to 7th can pull themselves up, but looks like Yuna ran away with this one early.
 
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fourclover

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 9, 2007
Please let me know when Dick pointed out Yuna's filp jump?
As far as I remember, Dick always praised her jumps.

During Yu-na's LP or SP at 2008 World's. I think it was her LP (Miss Saigon) but I'm not sure. Look up Yu-na's 2008 World skate coverage by ESPN in Youtube and you'll hear Dick talking about her straight edge take off. After that he added, "Now that's jumping!"
 

bekalc

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
Oh man.

First off, 69.5 for Yuna??? My goodness. I would have said maybe around the 60 mark, but I thought Ando should have scored a little higher than she did. Maybe 62-63 for Yuna and 60 for Ando. Now Yuna's all but bagged this one. Meh...

Strong performances from both Nagasu and Flatt. They're definitely holding their own, although I felt the former was a little tentative...maybe nerves played a role, but most everyone seemed shaky out there (given it's the first comp of the season, that's to be expected). It's weird, because I watched the whole program...the first skaters were putting me to sleep (except for Karademir and Flatt) but once the second group took the ice, the atmosphere changed significantly.

I'll end comment with Kimmie's performance. I must say the move has done her a LOT of good. I've never seen her "emote" so much- it was not typical Kimmie at all. Noticed she's also wearing more make up than usual (but not too much, thankfully). Even with the fall, apart from Ando and Kim I liked her performance the best (note I'm talking in terms of enjoyment, NOT placement). Any of those skaters in 2nd to 7th can pull themselves up, but looks like Yuna ran away with this one early.

63 only really? Considering that Nakano got a 57 for jump content that included shaky jumps all around a double lutz? Heck no. Yu-na should have gotten at least a 66.. That was at least 9 points better than Nakano.... When you consider Yu-na did two more freaking triples.

As for Miki, someone said what could have happened was that she lost the triple loop due to a downgrade so that's 3/4 points and then she probably lost points big time on her footwork -GOE fairly for that one, and then maybe even lost a level on her footwork, then there's the deduction and all of that leads to some massive point loss for Miki. I guess. I thought her 3/3 looked good though.
 

fourclover

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 9, 2007
Yeah, I guess coz most girls are aware of the fact they have grown a few inches, even Yuna is taller!!! Kimmie was so nervous, I always notice by the way she starts like hyperventilatin before takin the ice on the warm up... takin deep breaths

Compared to how they skated at the U.S. Nationals, Rachel and Mirai looked VERY nervous and somewhat stiff (I guess because they are nervous). Which reminds me how good Yu-na was at her senior debut at Skate Canada with the injury and all that. She won the SP on her senior debut and she didn't look nervous at all.
 

zephyrskates

On the Ice
Joined
May 2, 2007
Now, back to country discrimination again.......

Oh cmon. It's not a thread unless comments about yuna's flip and mao's lutz turns into a full on fight with mudslinging towards their respective nationalities. it actually makes watching politics in the US seem like a scuffle between 3 year olds.
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
impressions

Miki was fabulous and Yu Na was subpar except for her triples, esp the amazing opening 3-3. I am NOT happy with the scoring tonight.

Danse Macabre is a perfect program for Yu Na and she is (or at least will be) totally up to it artistically, but besides the near-fall on the 2A, weren't her spins awfully slow and her sit spin position too high?

Miki OTOH outdid herself except for that absurd, meaningless fall. I saw her do this program over the summer, but she has gone way beyond that performance. Tonight she used her head and arms to capture the trapped-geisha spirit of the music. She was more than secure and fast, she was beautiful. The hand-flutter she added to a spiral was an inspired touch. Gorgeous work, Miki! :clap:

Yukari was underwhelming and I thought those semi-sleeves interfered with her line. She seemed overscored IMO.

I definitely thought Mira Leung improved. Of the US skaters, Rachael should be very happy with her performance. She is one of those performers who isn't really beautiful but can create the impression of beauty by her great musicality. I think she should keep her hair up to make her neck look longer. Mirai's first spiral sequence and her spins were great but she wasn't at her best. Kimmie seems to have put aside all the efforts of last year to grow artistically and is just focusing on technique. I hope it works. Tonight was just OK.

Oh and about Tugba - she's turned into a great performer. One of her spins - is it a 1/2 Biellmann? - was the best of the night, maybe the best I've ever seen. Way to go!
 
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bubbleyum

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
i agree with fourclover, that everybody looked nervous. i guess that comes with it being the first comp of the season!

btw, ice network rocks :D
a few comments on the ladies short;

rachel flatt: clean prgram but looked like a little girl on a field trip out to the senior competition. her jumps were not as big as the bigger stars out there, and she was slow, choreography was not as intricate either... at least the other younger baby ballerinas make up for their somewhat juniorness with amazing flexibility and spirals, spins etc. one nice thing though, was that she had a lovely freeleg position in a very classic layback, and she didn't do the "gradually drop the foot down" thing. now i love michelle, but seems like ever since michelle started to do this to cover up for her less-than-perfect freeleg during spins EVERYBODY does it, even skaters that don't need to. ugh. but then again, while rachel's freeleg was much better than everybody else, her back was not as low.

mirai: i love mirai but it seems like maybe her growth spurt has kept her from improving too much this season. i guess that's better than losing what skills she had previously, but was just a bit disappointed. also i think the early botched combo and having to throw in the second toe as a combo in another jump thing made her a little flustered, so she couldn't work on her expression as much. all her jumps seemed to end with the stiff-shaky landing feel...

kimmie: her dress looks so much like yuna's short program dress from last year. she had a really cute delicate double-strand gold necklace on, hmmmm wonder where i can find one like it? ha. as for her skating, she did have a fall but she looks so much more confident and improved compared to last year. other than that though, i don't think she is ever going to really be the top contender in figure skating anymore, on the international stage. airplane arms, still there (though somewhat improved). spirals blah. spins blah. she seems like a really nice girl and has a lovely smile but i dunno if she can compete with all these new girls.

yukari nagano: i actually thought she should have been scored lower than nagasu. why does she always wear those flutter sleeves that flap in the wind and droop down inside out whenever a skater raises their arms? geez. eyebrows overplucked ( << frivolous comment that has nothing to do with skating. sorry, eyebrows are a pet project of mine! )

miki: in the beginning of the program, she looked STRONG. very confident, i was surprised. then the footwork fall and after that she just kinda slowed down and looked like she wasn't trying too hard with her choreography. she had a really fancy dress on, looked like it came straight out of an anime book. pretty. HER eyebrows are overplucked too! actually moreso than yukari.

yuna: love her dress, black and dramatic, without being overly-costumey. i feel like i have gotten used to her arms that i hardly notice that they are so lovely anymore, but as i was watching her program over again, it struck me that she realy does have nice arms compared to anybody else. her first jump had so much speed and so much height, woooooww, impressive. didn't look like a lip to me. and i like the ending pose of her lutz so much! reminds me of michelle's lovely landing positions (michelle had great landing positions on ALL her successful jumps!) other than that, her choreography and spins were not too impressive... i was disappointed after she had kinda hyped it up in her pre-comp interviews. maybe it will get better as the season progresses. and of course she had the double axle ending-stumble-pitchover-touchdown thing. i love yuna but she was kinda overscored. you could tell yuna herself was surprised too. at the end she was slow and her sit spins didn't look as low as last year...

overall frivolous comment: what's up with all the ladies' makeup? everybody is wearing thick black eyeliner/fancy eyeshadow and then pale nude lips! for everyday life a nude pale lip is okay, but when you are wearing stage makeup it looks kinda scary... :p
 
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kandidy

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 29, 2007
Oh cmon. It's not a thread unless comments about yuna's flip and mao's lutz turns into a full on fight with mudslinging towards their respective nationalities. it actually makes watching politics in the US seem like a scuffle between 3 year olds.

If this time the top is US, imagine the roar from non US member.......
 

bekalc

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
Oh cmon. It's not a thread unless comments about yuna's flip and mao's lutz turns into a full on fight with mudslinging towards their respective nationalities. it actually makes watching politics in the US seem like a scuffle between 3 year olds.

Yeah.. I don't get it I know people keep on saying I'm Yu-na's biggest fan. But I adore Mao Asada as well. Mao's so fabulous and has been working hard on correcting that Lutz. Plus the girl has a freaking triple axel.! I'm not sure how someone can be a figure skating fan and not like BOTH girls Mao and Yu-na.

The only thing I find hard and sad is that only of them (Mao or Yu-na can win) I kind of fear right now that Mao may be pulling ahead big time, and I do want Yu-na to at least win one World title. This being said, I do think when she's healthy that Yu-na is more consistent than Mao (which I guess could win the day) Key word is will Yu-na be healthy? And if you want to fight me on that Mao's triple axel is not consistent, and she gets hit for underrotation much more than Yu-na does... That's what I mean. But then Yu-na has a tendency to peak to early. So who the heck knows?

Last year I loved Mao's programs better. This year Yu-na's programs seem to be a BIG improvement. I just want both Yu-na and Mao to get world titles, and as for the Olympic title I really don't care who wins as long as it's either Mao or Yu-na. I guess if Yu-na doesn't have a world title, I may root for her.
 
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szidon

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
yuna's always humble...

i agree with fourclover, that everybody looked nervous. i guess that comes with it being the first comp of the season!

btw, ice network rocks :D
a few comments on the ladies short;

rachel flatt: clean prgram but looked like a little girl on a field trip out to the senior competition. her jumps were not as big as the bigger stars out there, and she was slow, choreography was not as intricate either... at least the other younger baby ballerinas make up for their somewhat juniorness with amazing flexibility and spirals, spins etc. one nice thing though, was that she had a lovely freeleg position in a very classic layback, and she didn't do the "gradually drop the foot down" thing. now i love michelle, but seems like ever since michelle started to do this to cover up for her less-than-perfect freeleg during spins EVERYBODY does it, even skaters that don't need to. ugh. but then again, while rachel's freeleg was much better than everybody else, her back was not as low.

mirai: i love mirai but it seems like maybe her growth spurt has kept her from improving too much this season. i guess that's better than losing what skills she had previously, but was just a bit disappointed. also i think the early botched combo and having to throw in the second toe as a combo in another jump thing made her a little flustered, so she couldn't work on her expression as much. all her jumps seemed to end with the stiff-shaky landing feel...

kimmie: her dress looks so much like yuna's short program dress from last year. she had a really cute delicate double-strand gold necklace on, hmmmm wonder where i can find one like it? ha. as for her skating, she did have a fall but she looks so much more confident and improved compared to last year. other than that though, i don't think she is ever going to really be the top contender in figure skating anymore, on the international stage. airplane arms, still there (though somewhat improved). spirals blah. spins blah. she seems like a really nice girl and has a lovely smile but i dunno if she can compete with all these new girls.

yukari nagano: i actually thought she should have been scored lower than nagasu. why does she always wear those flutter sleeves that flap in the wind and droop down inside out whenever a skater raises their arms? geez. eyebrows overplucked ( << frivolous comment that has nothing to do with skating. sorry, eyebrows are a pet project of mine! )

miki: in the beginning of the program, she looked STRONG. very confident, i was surprised. then the footwork fall and after that she just kinda slowed down and looked like she wasn't trying too hard with her choreography. she had a really fancy dress on, looked like it came straight out of an anime book. pretty. HER eyebrows are overplucked too! actually moreso than yukari.

yuna: love her dress, black and dramatic, without being overly-costumey. i feel like i have gotten used to her arms that i hardly notice that they are so lovely anymore, but as i was watching her program over again, it struck me that she realy does have nice arms compared to anybody else. her first jump had so much speed and so much height, woooooww, impressive. didn't look like a lip to me. and i like the ending pose of her lutz so much! reminds me of michelle's lovely landing positions (michelle had great landing positions on ALL her successful jumps!) other than that, her choreography and spins were not too impressive... i was disappointed after she had kinda hyped it up in her pre-comp interviews. maybe it will get better as the season progresses. and of course she had the double axle ending-stumble-pitchover-touchdown thing. i love yuna but she was kinda overscored. you could tell yuna herself was surprised too. at the end she was slow and her sit spins didn't look as low as last year...

overall frivolous comment: what's up with all the ladies' makeup? everybody is wearing thick black eyeliner/fancy eyeshadow and then pale nude lips! for everyday life a nude pale lip is okay, but when you are wearing stage makeup it looks kinda scary... :p

She always shows gratitude after seeing her score. Think about her facial expression in the K&C when she got the highest LP score ever last COR.
She has never showed "I'm-deserved" kinds of gestures before. Yuna always said she got to know what to improve even though she got high scores.
That doesn't mean she were overscored.
 

AwesomeIce

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 13, 2008
Meh, Mirai was so sloppy. She's moving up higher and higher on my list of overrated skaters. Even with Kimmie falling, I would have had Meissner ahead of Nagasu in the sp.
 

*Sniper*

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
I just watched Yuna's short.
I know next to nothing about leg positions and techniques and stuff, so all that aside....

I've noticed two things.
1) Her spiral sequence looks a lot better. Her leg is definitely more flexible.
2) I think her spins need to be faster. Especially that last one. Didn't really add much to that fiery final pose/face she was going for.

Other than that, considering this is a first competition, I'm impressed!
Well done.
 
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