2015 Cup of China Ladies Short Program

[dna5019]

Zijun Li
Mao Asada
Rika Hongo
So Youn Park
Anna Pogorilaya
Elena Radionova
Karen Chen

This is the event I was looking forward to the most. So many of my favorite ladies in one competition.

 

[OS]

Zijun Li
Mao Asada
Rika Hongo
So Youn Park
Anna Pogorilaya
Elena Radionova
Karen Chen

This is the event I was looking forward to the most. So many of my favorite ladies in one competition.

Soo excited by this event! This is my fav ladies GP by far, and I am honestly torn who to support more!

May be I will just go and support the sentimental underdogs, which are Zijun, SoYoun and Karen for me. Hope you all manage at least a top 8... that already will be very impressive among this group. Also good luck Courtney! Wonder if she will try a 3A this round for fun. Afterall, the grand dame of 3A Mao is here to provide extra inspiration and motivation at hand. I hope Anna can continue the momentum she has so far... it will be VERY interesting to see how Elena get on as well.

May the best lady win.. that's all

 

[Sweet Dream]

I read that Mao has arrived in Beijing, with her grey-haired coach of course.

 

[Kittosuni]

Hicks should go for the 3 Axel. She has nothing to loose.

 

[kalle]

With no Wagner or Gold, this is really an opportunity for one of the American ladies to make a statement. A medal seems to be a tough task in this field but a 4-5th place and a strong score should not be overlooked. I love Hanna's attention to details but the jumps has been too small in the past.

I believe judges has appreciated Hick's speed and she scored well last season so even if she is not my cup of tea, she has a good chance to get a personal best if she manage to do two good programs here.

Chen is the most exciting and complete skater of the three but she has yet to put together a strong LP. Both her programs are a bit bland for me, I wish she had something with more tension to them but hey, a good old
Nessum when you hit a beautiful spiral to the note of the music cannot be wrong ;-)
Karen has lovely lines but instead of rushing between one element to another, I wish she should slow down a bit and add some transitions.

Otherwise, I am excited to follow Mao/Elena fight for the gold and Anna/Rikka for the bronze.

 

[sabinfire]

Start orders are up for all 4 events!

Mao goes first in the second group, Elena & Anna go last!

Here's a detailed time schedule for each skater:

http://vk.com/photo-24972370_385705547

 

[randomfan]

So many skaters I want to cheer for!

I am a bit surprised that Zijun is skating before So Youn. How is the order determined again? World ranking? Because if it is world ranking, I've always thought that Zijun was higher than So Youn for it.

Edit: Just checked the current world ranking list. So Youn is 29th and Zijun is 30th with only a difference of 6 points!

 

[skateluvr]

Zijun Li
Mao Asada
Rika Hongo
So Youn Park
Anna Pogorilaya
Elena Radionova
Karen Chen

This is the event I was looking forward to the most. So many of my favorite ladies in one competition.

I haven't seen most of the program's so it's wonderful,as the series unfolds to see new to me programs. It goes by so fast it is just wonderful that the folders are so well organized into threads to keep it manageable. Thank you Doris for your constant work to make the different events accessible. I'm sure we are all very grateful to you.

It is amazing to have all these kids and then Mao. I love her programs this season and I am looking forward to Zijun Li on home turf as she is truly a lovely soft skater and a true Chinese beauty. I wonder what was her rank in the world last season. And I wonder when the next Chen Lu will emerge? One of my all time favorites. So lovely was she and a sublime skater when on. And back when ladies had the elements I miss so much. Well it will be a good competition Ii hope.

 

[Meoima]

Free popcorn for the event:

 

[YesWay]

I am really STOKED for this!
So many wonderful skaters!

 

[karlowens2]

Sabinfire, I am shocked. You're generally level-headed, but I think you're living in a fantasy world here.

Asada will make mincemeat of her competition here.

I think this year will be all about the return of women to ladies figure skating. Enough of the kids.

I so agree. Tired of these bony kneeded pre-teens (bodies) getting ridiculous scores. Mao may run away with it or not. She sometimes has bad days (Sochi) or simply beaten and not just by Kim. Suzuki 2014 Japan Champ. WAGNER! 2012 4 CC.

 

[Blades of Passion]

Hicks should go for the 3 Axel. She has nothing to loose.

She has points to lose. Falling on an < 3Axel (her practice attempts have never looked sufficiently rotated) is only worth 1.9 points. She has enough jump content already. Should focus on trying to actually skate a clean competition, something she's never done before.

 

[gotoschool]

I so agree. Tired of these bony kneeded pre-teens (bodies) getting ridiculous scores. Mao may run away with it or not. She sometimes has bad days (Sochi) or simply beaten and not just by Kim. Suzuki 2014 Japan Champ. WAGNER! 2012 4 CC.

There are a lot of people including me who think that Mao should have won the 2012 4CC's based on the quality of her performances, though Akiko was the clear winner of Nationals in 2014. Akiko skated great, but Mao did have back pain.

 

[tulosai]

She has points to lose. Falling on an < 3Axel (her practice attempts have never looked sufficiently rotated) is only worth 1.9 points. She has enough jump content already. Should focus on trying to actually skate a clean competition, something she's never done before.

I agree. Hicks actually would score very well if she ever went clean, no 3A needed. Her problem is she never goes clean.

 

[invisiblespiral]

Well, good luck to everyone.

 

[nagoya]

asada mao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhU5dx3EMlI
3A , 3F+3Lp , 3Lz
what will be her technical score if these jumps went clean?
any guess?

 

[NoNameFace]

I am litterally shocked with this Mao practice clip and layout planned...On the one side - I am afraid we'll jinx her in advance but on the other side - I do admire her constant drive to challenge herself, to improve, to experiment and I have a faith in her ability and confidence. Hopefully she'll bring everything to its best in both segments

 

[nagoya]

admit it that 3lz in the end was clean and just simply fantastic

 

[GF2445]

If she can pull it off, she would achieve probably the hardest jumping passes in a ladies' SP.

3A instead of 2A
She does flip and lutz
and the second jump in the combo is 3Lo

 

[GF2445]

Also, this arena is HUGE!!!! How in the world are the seats going to be filled??
Hopefully there will be lots of Japanese supporters in Beijing this weekend.