Sasha's Wilson R&J

[Vash01]

If Sasha wins the U.S. Championship, she will be the U.S. Champion, period, regardless of anyone else's situation. I have no doubt she will be tickled pink if she accomplishes this goal, and she should be.

And don't forget Alissa.

But Alissa must, must, must bear down on those jumps. Unlike Sasha and Michelle, the judges will not cut her any slack if she does not skate her best.

JMO.

MM

I don't think Alissa is quite there yet, except in her flexibility. To me she looks gawky on the ice,and has a rather contrived facial expression. She will have a great future if she becomes more secure with her jumps. Jumps aside, right now I don't see her challenging Sasha or Michelle.

I don't think we can compare skating at Marshalls with skating at a serious high level competition. Sasha typically skates well at exhibitions, and this one was almost an exhibition. I am still not sure the changes she has made to the program really work because she did not have all the difficult jumps in it. However, all the accolades she received will certainly boost her confidence for the nationals. It is really her championship to win or lose at this point. I don't see Michelle challenging her at this point....sad but true.

Vash

 

[jesslily]

Sasha's major problem is the short program can take whole lot out of her at competitions. By the time to do the long, she is tierd, and the program is little sloppy, slow, landed a couple jumps two footed...

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I have a few questions on Sasha's R&J program... what was time length of the program and how much is lp vs. old exhibition?

Any help would be appreciated...

It was obvious it was abridged. I would presume it is for future exhibition purposes or even for an SP if Sasha continues competing through 2010,

I have noticed through 5 years of Sasha's of LPs that she tends to tire at the half way mark of the routine. However, she covers that up well, with a snappy I spin at the end and one forgets the slowmo that preceded it. JMO

Joe

 

[euterpe]

Sasha's major problem is the short program can take whole lot out of her at competitions. By the time to do the long, she is tierd, and the program is little sloppy, slow, landed a couple jumps two footed...

The Nationals ladies SP is always skated on Thursday, with the FS two days later. In the GPs, and at Olympics and Worlds, the SP and FS are never skated on the same day.

If Sasha's SP is "taking too much out of her", then something is very wrong with her conditioning, her dietary regimen, or both.

 

[Kwanford Wife]

It was obvious it was abridged. I would presume it is for future exhibition purposes or even for an SP if Sasha continues competing through 2010,

I have noticed through 5 years of Sasha's of LPs that she tends to tire at the half way mark of the routine. However, she covers that up well, with a snappy I spin at the end and one forgets the slowmo that preceded it. JMO

Joe

Joe,

I reviewed the video of Sasha's exhibition and the slip happened at what would be the half way point of her lp... without her typical jump content. Not sure what that means other than Sasha still needs to get her focus & stamina under control but given the nature of Marshall's & her high expectations for this year, here's hoping that she finds the magic formula.

 

[R.D.]

Interesting. I never thought of that. But I don't think it's quite fair to use that assessment because in that case it would happen at the end of every short program.

Simple- she just goofed at the end.

 

[Dee4707]

Based on the performance we all saw yesterday, I don't think Kwan will show unless she thinks that she has a fighting chance at skating very well and perhaps winning. Hence my comment on if Kwan shows.
.

Michelle, in my opinion has a rough road ahead of her. She has gained a lot of weight and her jumps just weren't there. It was sad to watch her.

A lot can happen in a month, and I think if she can pull together a two strong programs, she will beat Sasha. Especially if Sasha makes mistakes, which unfortunately is almost a given.

A month is a very short time. If Michelle can get it all together more power to her.

All the skaters make mistakes, I don't think it's just Sasha that can beat Michelle either......and I don't think that it is just a given that Sasha ALWAYS makes mistakes. Are you saying that because you fear Sasha will beat her??? That's life!!

Dee

 

[Kwanford Wife]

Interesting. I never thought of that. But I don't think it's quite fair to use that assessment because in that case it would happen at the end of every short program.

Simple- she just goofed at the end.

I agree, but I found it interesting regarding the timing of the slip. Looking back at Swan Lake & the amount of cheoro that was chacked by Wagner because of the inconsistency issues, I just wonder if the newest version of R&J is managable & what the final version will look like as well as Sasha's & "Mr. Nicks" strategy will be in the next two months.

 

[Kwanford Wife]

Michelle, in my opinion has a rough road ahead of her. She has gained a lot of weight and her jumps just weren't there. It was sad to watch her.


A month is a very short time. If Michelle can get it all together more power to her.

All the skaters make mistakes, I don't think it's just Sasha that can beat Michelle either......and I don't think that it is just a given that Sasha ALWAYS makes mistakes. Are you saying that because you fear Sasha will beat her??? That's life!!

Dee

Wow! You can definately tell that its Olymipic Time!

 

[R.D.]

Cohen ALWAYS makes mistakes? No.

Cohen makes mistakes a VAST MAJORITY of the time? You bet.

So the odds are maybe 4 to 1 that she will commit some kind of error in either her short or her long. Doesn't mean it will DEFINITELY happen, but the odds are so overwhelmingly against her being completely clean...you know what I mean?

 

[swannanoa54]

She has gained a lot of weight and her jumps just weren't there. It was sad to watch her.

Michelle has gained a lot of weight? Exactly where? Her face is puffier than normal, but how can you perceive that she's gained "a lot" of weight?

I'm still wondering what Sasha's revamped entire LP will look like. I certainly didn't care for the part I saw of it even though I thought she skated it very well.

 

[Kwanford Wife]

Cohen ALWAYS makes mistakes? No.

Cohen makes mistakes a VAST MAJORITY of the time? You bet.

So the odds are maybe 4 to 1 that she will commit some kind of error in either her short or her long. Doesn't mean it will DEFINITELY happen, but the odds are so overwhelmingly against her being completely clean...you know what I mean?

Stop it. You know better than to be logical with the ubers (myself included on occassion... )

 

[Dee4707]

Cohen ALWAYS makes mistakes? No.

Cohen makes mistakes a VAST MAJORITY of the time? You bet.

RD, so do a lot of other skaters, why don't you name a few.

Dee

 

[Enero]

I don't think that it is just a given that Sasha ALWAYS makes mistakes. Are you saying that because you fear Sasha will beat her??? That's life!!

Dee

Hey I'm a fan of Sasha's! I would love to see her put together 4 amazing skates! Two for Nationals and Two for the Olympics, but as Red Dog stated before it is highly unlikely due to Sasha's history of not being able to hold it together.

And yes other skaters make mistakes, but those other skaters aren't Sasha Cohen, who has such wonderful potential, but has fallen short time and time again when the National gold, World gold, or heck even the Olympic Gold (if she'd skated clean in SLC) was within her grasp. I want her to do well. But I'm being realistic regarding my hopes and dreams for Ms. Cohen.

 

[Bowers]

Michelle has gained a lot of weight? Exactly where? Her face is puffier than normal, but how can you perceive that she's gained "a lot" of weight?

You can't?

 

[gracefulswan]

yes. kwan has gained a good deal of weight. it's very obvious. i was not impressed by her at all and i guess i was expecting a lot more than what i saw. hopefully, we'll see much more in time for nationals.

that being said, i do think sasha is on the verge of a national title. all she really has to do is skate like she has been doing... even with a fall i think she could win. no kidding. unless she has a total meltdown (which hasn't been the case in her last 2 competitions), she will probably take home the gold. who knows though, stranger things have happened.

 

[R.D.]

RD, so do a lot of other skaters, why don't you name a few.

Dee

Sure, that's true. Could apply to Alissa, Kimmie, Carolina, Fumie, both Elenas, etc.

BUT I would say it DOESN'T apply to Irina or MK. Of course they will make mistakes but it's not like a clean performance is a rare occurrence from them.

One is missing the point I'm making though. I'm saying that it's not quite time to start crowning Cohen National Champion. She can't be relied upon to put out consistent clean skates, but MK CAN. (The circumstances are somewhat different this time around, though.) In the end, it's all about who is left standing. And how do we know it will be Sasha?

In fact, the more people say "She's gonna win", the more convinced I get that she WON'T win. (I can't help but wonder if the Olympic situation is the same with all of us proclaiming Irina the winner.)

However, to be fair, I did proclaim MK the champion ahead of time in 2004 and 2005, and she won both. So it seems I have a decent track record

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

This thread is beginning to look like: I won't predict the Oly winner but I will say that she will make mistakes. duh.

Joe

 

[dancindiva03]

Okay I still don't get all this "Michelle has gained a ton of weight" talk. A few pounds, sure, but I'd bet all my money that she's still in better shape (minus the ailing hip, of course) that 99.9% of us here, myself included! For someone who couldn't get out of a bathtub a month ago, let alone work out, I think she looks fabulous and its not like she isn't going to get into better shape by Nats. Not that I care, she could show up at her present weight and I'd still think she looks fine.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Michelle is fat and Sasha is anorexic. So what?

Joe