2014 Skate Canada Ladies FS 11/01

[karlowens2]

Some general comments. First, despite all the negative stuff about Anna's costumes, spins, pcs, artistry, looks, hair she clearly deserved to win here. I kind of laugh about how much criticism there is of Radionova and her being awkward, Anna too rough and yet Russia has two ladies gold out of two and US the traditional well rounded refined ladies have a silver and bronze. .

It's not a Russian/American thing. But, it IS a stage of development thing. In an effort to push up technical levels the ISU has taken the short cut by awarding firsts to those who can get around 3 times with their foot straight. This is, of course, easier if you weigh 40 kg and have a child's muscle and bone mass. They have lost sight of the quality of the move. The solidness, the line from toe to finger tip and crown, the control in and out. These things takes years of training to achieve. It wasn't always like this. Some of us remember Kwan being held back 2 years at world's because the ISU wanted a ladies champion not a child champion. IMO, this has also made ladies figure skating much less popular with the non-russian public.

 

[gold12345]

Pogorilaya jumped wonderfully with 7 triples and deserved the win, but it was just unfortunate that as the song built during the end, nothing that she was doing had anything to do with the music. There was no real choreo there- she did her last jump and then skated around while tentatively pulled her leg up in a spiral. And even during the spiral, it looked like her eyes were looking down on the ice. Just not a strong ending from a choreographic standpoint. Any song could have been playing in the background. It would be great if they could work on that and give her some choreographic details that highlight the music.

 

[[email protected]]

Just finished watching the FS. I forecasted that no one at SC could challenge clean Pogo and as she was clean the forecast was true. She skated with the presence of the "diva of the night". Some details here and there but overall she was just "bigger". And I liked her program. Ashley deserved silver overall mainly because of her SS. But I found her more entertaining during Japan Open. Here was: "OK not bad". And aiming at the top without a lutz is nonsense. Without it she could fight for US #1 position but never for the world's podium. I liked Satoko's FS much better than her SP. I guess, Mozart is just not her piece of cake. Based on FS only I would place her higher than Ashley.

Leonova was injured yesterday. That's why she could not finish rotations during SP and struggled today. Such a pity.

The big question now is in what state are Yulia and Adelina. If it is OK there will be a big drama: Pogorilaya versus Radionova.

 

[Totentanz]

I am so happy for Anna, she had such a progress, improved a lot. She came out of nowhere two seasons ago and qualified for JGP final. Noone was talking about her before that. You know most of Russian talents become famous during national competitions. Then last year she had a surprising win ahead of olympic gold and bronze medalist at Cup of China (of course they were not in their best condition then). With an amazing World Championships debut she finished the season with a highlight. I wasn't expecting her to win SCI after seeing her bad practice videos. I'm surprised and so happy that she is fighting for the top in Russia. Sure I'm a fan of hers and wishing her the best for upcoming events

Is Courtney Hicks developing or did I suddenly become interested in her? Last seasons, I couldn't even watch her skating but now I like it. Leonova's program is also interesting, I really like her look for that free skate. Unfortunately both of them needs more consistency to get into their national teams.

I'm a fan of Satoko. She reminds me of Akiko Suzuki sometimes. Jumps are her biggest problems as everyone said. She is 16 years old and I don't think that she will grow a lot after this stage, but I hope she can improve her jumps to a higher level and rotate them well.

 

[[email protected]]

Just rewatched Anna's Firebird. Very very nice. Some improvements with rotations and she can fight for anything. And one more thing - on a closer look she (not Ashley) reminds Maria Butyrskaia.

 

[Icey]

At least Adam Rippong has a bright future as a choreographer. He could make a lot of money doing it. Doesn't Lori Nichol charge $50,000 for a FP?

I would be surprised if she charged that much or if anyone would be foolish enough to pay that much.

 

[Icey]

ADORABLE! you know, I've never been a big fan of Max's, but he is really growing on me.

He has let his eyebrows grow back in----thankfully.

 

[sk8ingcoach]

For some reason i found this ladies event quite lackluster and boring.

 

[sk8ingcoach]

It felt odd to have a lady so unrefined and with so little personality win a GP. Why does she look down so much. But unfortunately there was no one else who skated better so she had to win.

Ashley seemed very boring too with her watered-down program and bad choreography

It just seemed like a strange ladies.What has the world come too when the lady i was most interested in was Courtney Hicks. At least she has improved.

 

[Meoima]

^^lol at the comment about Anna has little personality. My dear, Anna Pogo has the fiercest personality on ice among her peers.
And I hate it when some sour grapes try to dismiss the accomplishment of young skaters by saying they win only because they did not as worse as others. Dude, aside from the spins Anna did a great jobs and her TES was huge, who else can do the same in this competition?

 

[Icey]

I think there was a lapse in judging for there only to be a 6 point difference between anna's and ashley's total score, in light of Ashley's technically watered down lp. If Ashley had performed that watered down program with no technical errors it would perhaps be more understandable. I guess I will just have to give up on trying to understanding the judging that goes on. I wonder what Ashley's team is thinking. This approach might work at an event like this, but I think it will fail at worlds or the GPF. Overall, there was a lot of sloppy skating all around, with a few skaters giving performances that provided saving grace.

 

[jenaj]

Well...if we must go of topic....here is a picture of the worlds tallest water slide!!!!

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...ogressive,q_80,w_636/jhsydt16aykxsqfh4v05.jpg

It's like 17 stories tall!! Very Wow!!!!

http://www.kmbc.com/image/view/-/24711180/medRes/1/-/maxh/358/maxw/538/-/1bqy2sz/-/slide-1-jpg.jpg

That is very scary!

 

[zytolda]

you are 100% right

 

[[email protected]]

Ashley.... will fail at worlds or the GPF.

186 may be not enough for GPF if she has "deuce" with say Liza who hit 189 at SA. Who will get the 5th and the 6th spots for the ladies's GPF is very unclear now.

 

[OS]

I can't help but to speculate if the danger of no Americans on the GPF may have something to do with Ashley's recent PCS recovery
... but to be fair, I'd give her the highest PCS as well, technical issues aside. That was why I was surprised yesterday when someone said Anna got 2 points higher PCS than Ashley, when the opposite is true.

No complaints about the judging from me. Satoko's weakness looks even weaker with someone like Anna on the same ice.

 

[yyyskate]

I only followed the last 3 lady skaters last night, following a choppy feed. I am probably going back to watch Ashley's program again.

 

[shine]

No complaints about the judging from me. Satoko's weakness looks even weaker with someone like Anna on the same ice.

And the opposite can be said for Anna's presentation compared to Satoko's.

Just rewatched Satoko's FP. Aside from musical interpretation, she has many qualities: strong basics, ice coverage, frequent skating in both directions, edge quality, intricate patterns. Her jumps may be small but I don't see her having any glaring bad habits that most young skaters have. The standing ovation she receive from the crowd speaks volume about her overall performance.

I can't believe how underrated (both by fans and judges) the rest of her skating is just because she has small jumps and is small. It's sad that all those qualities you mentioned above--or the combination of all those--which are so special and hard to come by, are so unrecognizable and even irrelevant to so many people. I was watching her LP and realized that I don't even need her to jump (which are obviously the weakest, if not the only weak part of her skating), because there's so much to appreciate in the rest of her skating. She's special.

 

[SkateSkates]

I wonder if Ashley took out the lutz because she is working on her edge? That would explain the edge calls on her flips this competition she has never received before.
Either way, if she can get the lutz edge to a point where they only call it as an ! that would really help her. Then she could add back in the 3Lo+2A combo and the 3F+2T+2T.
I actually didn't mind her watered down content here - she needed to get her confidence back after that disaster at JO. However, it will be a problem if we don't see her add the lutz back in this fall.

 

[ks777]

and the opposite can be said for anna's presentation compared to satoko's.



I can't believe how underrated (both by fans and judges) the rest of her skating is just because she has small jumps and is small. It's sad that all those qualities you mentioned above--or the combination of all those--which are so special and hard to come by, are so unrecognizable and even irrelevant to so many people. I was watching her lp and realized that i don't even need her to jump (which are obviously the weakest, if not the only weak part of her skating), because there's so much to appreciate in the rest of her skating. She's special.

ita!

 

[chloepoco]

I can't help but to speculate if the danger of no Americans on the GPF may have something to do with Ashley's recent PCS recovery
... but to be fair, I'd give her the highest PCS as well, technical issues aside. That was why I was surprised yesterday when someone said Anna got 2 points higher PCS than Ashley, when the opposite is true.

No complaints about the judging from me. Satoko's weakness looks even weaker with someone like Anna on the same ice.

Other than the small jumps, what weaknesses does Satoko have compared to Anna?

I think Satoko is far superior in everything else she does.