Why Yukari Nakano had the best long program

[vlaurend]

Looking at the protocol sheet, Nakano's spins were actually judged better than Kostner's, or at least got higher positive GOEs

As for the spiral, Nakano's edge was a heck of a lot stronger than Kostner's. Kostner almost put her foot down on the final position of her spiral sequence and still managed to somehow get a +1.00 GOE (same as Nakano)

Wow, unless I missed something, it took 41 posts for someone to finally mention the protocol sheet! (Thank you!).
I also thought Yukari had the most memorable, beautiful, exciting program and I would love to have seen her on the podium. Unfortunately, she really did underrotate that triple axel (Peggy is not a trained judge and cannot have been expected to notice the cheat on the landing). If you watch the jump frame by frame you will see that on the landing, Yukari's foot was facing almost the exact same direction as it was on takeoff. It was supposed to be facing 180 degrees in the opposite direction from takeoff. That means it was almost 1/2 turn underrotated on the landing (it was the landing, not takeoff that got dinged for underrotation). She did a curve/hook on the ice on the landing edge so that the rideout of the landing edge was in the right direction.
Yukari's wrap may keep her from getting +GOE on jumps, but it does not give her -GOE on her jumps and there is no mention of + or - GOE on wrapped air positions in the judges' scoring guidelines.
Incidentally, Yukari only wraps on those jumps that take off and land on the right leg: loop, flip and lutz. She does not wrap on the toeloop, salchow or axel. The transition of her weight from the left leg to the right leg on those jumps keeps her from immediately pulling her thighs together, which is what creates the wrap on the right leg takeoff jumps.

 

[GoldMedalist]

Unfortunately, she really did underrotate that triple axel

Yes, but the point is that downgraded jumps are penalized way more than they should be.

And her Flip should NOT have been downgraded.

 

[jenaj]

As others have noted, a major problem with COP scoring is the double penalty for downgraded jumps. Yukari would have scored better if she had simply done a double axel instead of landing a clean, but slightly underrotated triple axel. Either penalize in GOE or just downgrade it to a double. But don't do both.

 

[PolymerBob]

As others have noted, a major problem with COP scoring is the double penalty for downgraded jumps. Yukari would have scored better if she had simply done a double axel instead of landing a clean, but slightly underrotated triple axel. Either penalize in GOE or just downgrade it to a double. But don't do both.

I quite agree. My hope is that judges and ISU officials read these boards. Maybe they will get a feeling for what us ordinary fans think.

 

[GoldMedalist]

Well you most definitely don't want to use GOE grades and downgrading a whole jump level is already too severe, imo. They just need new jump values to account for underrotated jumps. A cheated Triple is not a double. It needs to be worth more than that.

 

[bethissoawesome]

This always drives me insane...

Her leg wrap always seems to slow her jumps and keep them from being fully-rotated. Yet, she can pull off a 3A. Somehow, I find that mind boggling.

 

[indicatoto101]

Yukari doesn't wrap on the axel, for some reason.

 

[JonnyCoop]

Yes, the leg wrap is basically bad technique (tho for some reason with Yukari I find it actually adds a cool quality to her jumps), and yes, the musical interpretation and choreography could probably have been stronger, but who cares???? Yukari delivered the most interesting, EXCITING, THRILLING performance of the entire Worlds and should have ended up on the podium. Her spins alone had me out of my seat, so to speak. Certainly it was more podium-worthy than Kostner's less-than-enthralling effort.....