2014-2015 GPF Ladies Short Program 12/11

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I can see why she got the edge call on the 3F. At least from the camera angle we were given (not the greatest, but good enough), it did look like an outside edge. That doesn't explain the two -3 GOEs she got though. Her 3Lz looks to be on an outside edge to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTHaOnyCZcM If you freeze it at 5:02, she's very clearly on an inside edge. I mean, she starts on an outside edge and flips onto it, but that should be ratified as a 3F in my opinion. I think under the stupid edge call rules a skater receives a mandatory -3 reduced GOE... and some have argued that she doesn't have enough steps into it which is a further GOE reduction (although again, I think she does have sufficient steps). It's incredibly stupid though that a jump that clean gets -3's. At worst, -2s (I'd have given it a -1, obeying the "e" deduction). IMO, that's one of the best triple flips Lip has done in recent memory.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Here is the video I made of Lips jumps since they are back in question for anyone that misses a few pages back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEkc1txKC7c

The flip is in slo-mo and even a bit in reverse. Her lutz was clean although I admit my video blurts out bad for it

 

[peg]

According to some articles tweeted out by https://twitter.com/figureskatingRu , Liza and Radionova say they have colds(or some other illness...) and Yulia said she was extremely nervous.

If you translate this page to English and scroll down to where they've posted the videos of the ladies' SP, it lists Rika's last name as MUSHROOM

 

[Sweet Dream]

No way either Pogorilaya or Radionova deserve to be ahead of Rika Hongo. I don't think Rika has much personality on the ice, but she skated a very clean and inspired program (probably so happy to even be there). The scoring reeks of fs politics and the overwrought notion of the Russian young ladies being so good. Their talent is mostly in their ability to land jumps and over-dramatically preen on the ice.

Your assersion is way too subjective. I agree that all these Russian girls are still nowhere near real top-notch skaters in many aspects, but the overall ladies skating level is always very weak compared to mens. If you cannot jump, however graceful your movements on ice are, you can never move far. After all, figure skating is a sport, not art. Hopefully these young ladies can find ways to improve their technical/artistic portions and develop into much better skaters in the near future.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Your assersion is way too subjective. I agree that all these Russian girls are still nowhere near real top-notch skaters in many aspects, but the overall ladies skating level is always very weak compared to mens. If you cannot jump, however graceful your movements on ice are, you can never move far. After all, figure skating is a sport, not art. Hopefully these young ladies can find ways to improve their technical/artistic portions and develop into much better skaters in the near future.

I think that's part of the intrigue that some people miss. The sport is exciting now to some because its almost like someone hit the reset button and that means there is a learning curve and for me watching the next group of girls grow up and develop is just as exciting as watching the last generation run the show. Sure it's different but its still enjoyable. I'll never understand the posters that comment on everything they don't enjoy as if they're trying to poop in everyone's cereal. Thanks but no thanks.

 

[mirai4life]

Julia's Flip looks fine =<

 

[satine]

Here's a quick gif of Yulia's flip I made. Sorry it's not HQ, the best yt video I could find is 480p hwell:

 

[AprilS]

Here's a quick gif of Yulia's flip I made. Sorry it's not HQ, the best yt video I could find is 480p hwell:

Looks like an inside edge to me... :confused2:

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

Here's a quick gif of Yulia's flip I made. Sorry it's not HQ, the best yt video I could find is 480p hwell:

To me it looks like she's going from an outside edge to (barely) an inside edge - she's almost on the flat as she takes off.

 

[creaturelover]

To me it looks like she's going from an outside edge to (barely) an inside edge - she's almost on the flat as she takes off.

Looks like that to me too...

 

[Alba]

To me it looks like she's going from an outside edge to (barely) an inside edge - she's almost on the flat as she takes off.

She is not on the flat (look at the knee curve also), but she isn't on a very (clear) inside edge either. Definitely and ! call for me, never an e.


@satine: can you do a gif for the lutz as well?

 

[MIM]

To me it looks like she's going from an outside edge to (barely) an inside edge - she's almost on the flat as she takes off.

I agree with you-

 

[gravy]

If you translate this page to English and scroll down to where they've posted the videos of the ladies' SP, it lists Rika's last name as MUSHROOM

Hongo means "mushroom" or any type of fungus in Spanish. Spelled the same, but the "h" is silent in Spanish.

 

[Scovies]

To me it looks like she's going from an outside edge to (barely) an inside edge - she's almost on the flat as she takes off.

Her skate turns to give the appearance of an inside edge juuuuust before she leaves the ice, but does her weight really shift to the correct edge? To me, this jump looks like a lutz with the appearance of a flutz, but her weight never really shifts onto an inside edge.

If you hadn't told me what jump this was before I saw that .gif, I would have assumed this was a lutz attempt.

 

[starlight97]

Ashley-
Sad to say that I completely expected that from her, but too bad that she proved me right. I hope she won't finish last here.

Elena-
I did not expect this fall however! But her character really showed when she just went on performing like nothing happened. I still think she'll win it.

Liza-
I'm happy for her comeback but neither her music nor her costume nor her movements work for me... But great 3T- 3T!

Anna-
I wanted to slap her coach!!! That girl has improved a lot from last season, makes the final with a win and a second, then missed the first combo.... and has to guts to put a 3T after her Loop!? She fought and I really never cared much for her before but today she impressed me with that move.
And what does her Refrigerator-like coach? Doesn't comfort her, doesn't hug her and completely ignores her when Anna tries to speak to her in the K&C. Sorry but...

Yulia-
I get the Flip-call but her performance was the best imo. This horrible rule that makes skaters score higher on a jump with a step-out or a fall than with an e is not my cup of tea.
All in all weird judging today, and I don't say this because I love Yulia, but concerning all ladies' scores.

 

[kwanatic]

I think that's part of the intrigue that some people miss. The sport is exciting now to some because its almost like someone hit the reset button and that means there is a learning curve and for me watching the next group of girls grow up and develop is just as exciting as watching the last generation run the show. Sure it's different but its still enjoyable. I'll never understand the posters that comment on everything they don't enjoy as if they're trying to poop in everyone's cereal. Thanks but no thanks.

Nicely said Sam. Some people are expecting the same level of polish and maturity we got from Yu-Na, Mao and Carolina last year, yet they seem to forget that at one point Yu-Na was clunky, Mao skated through her music and Carolina was coltish. It takes time for young girls to develop into mature and polished women. Unfortunately, the top of the field is inundated with nothing but teenagers at this point, most of whom have only been at the senior level for a two or three years.

I get that it's going to take some time and I'm cool with that. For now, I've decided to enjoy what they bring to the table at this point in time rather than lamenting the fact that they aren't 100% soup yet.


As for the competition:

Liza T: That 3-3 was a thing of beauty. The lutz step out cost her a bit but overall it was a very good performance. Winning the SP is great but it also leaves her in the godawful position of skating last. I want to see her skate well and medal. I'm not sure if she'll hold onto that #1 spot but I can't imagine her missing the podium at this point.

Julia: I thought she looked much more engaged in her performance this time, even more than last time. It's very clear that she's extremely comfortable with her SP this year...but the FS is where she's had her issues. She looked stronger in the SP so I'm expecting better skating in the FS. I expected better skating at TEB too though. We'll have to wait and see.

Elena: Hey, nobody is perfect. I'm actually happy she had a mistake. I think when you skate so well so often, that pressure of being expected to be perfect builds up and can weigh you down. That fall released the pressure. I love how she still finished the program off as though nothing had happened. A true performer to the end. She's less than 4 points out of 1st...TBH, I wouldn't be surprised if she manages to win.

Anna: I thought Anna was a bit of a hot mess. Sorry. The music is just way too much and is way too big for her...and with the jumps going sideways, everything that's wrong with her skating is kinda magnified. She's still really sloppy; someone needs to work with her on controlling her movements better. It was gutsy to try to put the 3T at the end of the loop but that fall took her out of the program. She should not have placed ahead of Rika...

Rika: Very happy to see her rise to the occasion. Being at the GPF is a great opportunity for her to give herself a leg up for nationals and skating as well as she did is a major plus. I think she's doing a better job of bringing more personality to her performances and her PCS increased b/c of that. The judges are crazy; she should be in 4th, not Anna.

Ashley: Ashley, Ashley, Ashley.:disapp: It sucks b/c she did such a nice 3F-3T in the warm up...she just can't seem to land them in competition any more. She's roughly 7 points off the lead, but with the amount of technical content she's up against, she might as well be 15 points behind. Ashley will need to hit on just about all of her jumps cleanly and she'll need one of the top 3 to have a mini meltdown to get on the podium. I think 4th place is doable. Being in last place and skating first, she really has little to no room for error. I'll cross my fingers for her.

 

[peg]

Hongo means "mushroom" or any type of fungus in Spanish. Spelled the same, but the "h" is silent in Spanish.

Because it was a Russian page, at first I thought maybe "hongo" meant mushroom in Russian. But then I went to google translate and got a different word, and also remembered that Russian doesn't have the "h" letter or sound. But what made it even funnier is that when the page is in Russian, her name is actually written out in the Roman alphabet, not Cyrillic. And it's correct. But if you scroll down to her video and hit "translate to English" you can see it switch from "Hongo" to "Mushroom" right in front of you.

 

[Sandpiper]

I'd give Yulia the flip with a !. Honestly, it looked like a not-quite-right lutz attempt. Not sure what to call it.

 

[Meoima]

Anna-
I wanted to slap her coach!!! That girl has improved a lot from last season, makes the final with a win and a second, then missed the first combo.... and has to guts to put a 3T after her Loop!? She fought and I really never cared much for her before but today she impressed me with that move.
And what does her Refrigerator-like coach? Doesn't comfort her, doesn't hug her and completely ignores her when Anna tries to speak to her in the K&C. Sorry but...

Agree. Anna's coach has been giving me some cold and condescending vibe this season. It's scary. I wonder what she says to Anna after K&C. Still couldn't forget her death stare at CoR. :hopelessness:

 

[Sweet Dream]

I think that's part of the intrigue that some people miss. The sport is exciting now to some because its almost like someone hit the reset button and that means there is a learning curve and for me watching the next group of girls grow up and develop is just as exciting as watching the last generation run the show. Sure it's different but its still enjoyable. I'll never understand the posters that comment on everything they don't enjoy as if they're trying to poop in everyone's cereal. Thanks but no thanks.

Agreed. It will be much wiser to look at the development of this sport and meanwhile evaluate the skaters with a more open and objective mind.