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- Feb 25, 2014
Thoughts on Satoko Miyahara's skating
- Thread starter Mrs. P
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2014
Skating Skills
She has the best skating skills out of all the Ladies; without question.
She has the best skating skills out of all the Ladies; without question.
Tiny jumps and two 2a+3t don't represent "best skating skills" in my book, and apparently not in the ISU judges' book either. Although she was 4th in the FS at 2016 Worlds, she was 7th in Skating Skills:
9.07 Ashley WAGNER
8.89 Evgenia MEDVEDEVA
8.61 Gracie GOLD
8.57 Anna POGORILAYA
8.54 Mao ASADA
8.50 Elena RADIONOVA
8.18 Satoko MIYAHARA
9.07 Ashley WAGNER
8.89 Evgenia MEDVEDEVA
8.61 Gracie GOLD
8.57 Anna POGORILAYA
8.54 Mao ASADA
8.50 Elena RADIONOVA
8.18 Satoko MIYAHARA
I think the judges would be better served just giving an "overall program impression" mark because that is essentially what they're giving here.
If judges were giving a "SS" mark purely based on, well, actually SS skills, I think that list would be very different. For one, Satoko would not be last and Ashley would not be first.
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I really like Satoko's new LP simply because of the music. I've wondered quite a while what it would be like to use The Planets as a program(sort of like a space traveler theme program) and even tried to edit the music myself using Saturn, Neptune, Mars, and Venus: starting with Saturn's astronaut breathing-like tune to exploring the unknown territory-ish mood of Neptune to black hole or crash landing tune of Mars to mysterious new found of Venus. Something like that. Of course I failed big time so only dreamed someone else would come up with something similar with The Planets.
Satoko's LP is the closest to what I imagined and I'm very happy with that! Seamless music edition except the Jupiter ending. I also like how well Leia's theme is meshed with other parts.
I was more focused on the music than her actual performance, but overall I think it's a good program for her. I don't like her jump qualities, but had her technical scores reflected them accurately she wouldn't have gotten this much bashing, and it's the judges and technical panels' faults not hers. I like other aspects of her skating.
Satoko's LP is the closest to what I imagined and I'm very happy with that! Seamless music edition except the Jupiter ending. I also like how well Leia's theme is meshed with other parts.
I was more focused on the music than her actual performance, but overall I think it's a good program for her. I don't like her jump qualities, but had her technical scores reflected them accurately she wouldn't have gotten this much bashing, and it's the judges and technical panels' faults not hers. I like other aspects of her skating.
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- Joined
- Feb 25, 2014
Actually she was 7th overall in PCS so that means everything else was worse than the first 6 skaters - including Radionova.
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- Mar 24, 2015
Skating Skills =/= Jumping Skills. That's why Ice Dancers can skate circles around many singles skaters.
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- Feb 17, 2010
I'm surprised the ISU has never addressed the issue of how judges need to manipulate PCS to reflect program difficulty and execution. If difficulty were not rewarded in PCS, there would be no reason for every woman not to do the 2A-3T as their 3T combo. Someone doing a 3Lz-3T and a solo 2A should accrue more combined points on those two passes than an equally well-executed solo 3Lz and a 2A-3T. The system we have now judges things like "skating skills" in which Gracie can be 0.4 better than Ashley in the SP and 0.4 worse than Ashley in the LP. Giving an "overall program impression" mark at least doesn't try to quantify something the judges aren't really assessing.
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- Mar 7, 2015
that's a topic that has been discussed many times... .hope the ISU will smarten up one day and give a BV to each combo.... I often use the Midori Ito 2L-3L combo which was so impressive and much harder than combos putting the smaller jump 2nd..... back then, in 6.0 era, ladies would also do a 2t-3t in preparation for 3t-3t.... can you imagine if skaters were rewarded now for 2t-4t or 3t-4t ? it would be so thrilling and perhaps would lead to 4t-4t combos... but now... meh.... in deed 3Lz-3T + 2A = 2A-3T +3Lz... but NO... sigh
Which is clearly wrong. Ashley's SS should be high 6 low 7. Apparently ISU judges have been judging based on reputation & federation support. Sorry, but Mao Asada's skating skills are lower than Ashley, Evgenia, Gracie, Anna Pogorilaya? Yeah, ok.
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- Mar 23, 2010
Ok I must admit, initially, when I first read about Satoko's Star War program, the first thought come to mind:
...oh Great! The Ewok strikes back, with her phantom jumps! How can one not return with seethe over those GOEs on her 2.5 triples, abuse of pre-rotations, and the likely outrageous number of 3Ts tacked on in the 2nd half for some shameless Russianing?! I can already feel an attack of the moans coming along, with the return of the judges pinning their new hope for a force of future Japanese funding.
After seen this, I haven't exactly changed my mind, but it is slight forgotten...
It has some interesting moments of clarity, an interesting concept merging the planets with Starwars. Not a cheese in sight...sadly. It is like how Japanese tends to do with western cheese/junk. Dress it up, posh it up a bit, repackage it nicely beyond what originally made them interesting, price it up to give it class. Although the choreography is not particular unique nor interesting, and nothing particularly star wars about it. Satoko has refined her presentation to the point you can gloss over the generics of her program, and find something interesting about her form. Her improvements are there to see, from appearing overtly studious and practiced like she was 2 seasons ago to have enjoyed a moment of spontaneity and play with them. Some exquisite details in her arms movement, upper body form which is something young or Russians don't have, nor her musicality.
Now just need some personality, originality, and uniqueness to boost her presentation. Otherwise, there are moments I can see she is still imitating past great champions instead of Satoko - a unique skater. Although her tiny jumps are certainly her signature, but it doesn't bother me much in an exhibition. A beautiful skater who should win in a music recital, perhaps just should not be the most competitive one in an Olympic mottoed sport.
...oh Great! The Ewok strikes back, with her phantom jumps! How can one not return with seethe over those GOEs on her 2.5 triples, abuse of pre-rotations, and the likely outrageous number of 3Ts tacked on in the 2nd half for some shameless Russianing?! I can already feel an attack of the moans coming along, with the return of the judges pinning their new hope for a force of future Japanese funding.
After seen this, I haven't exactly changed my mind, but it is slight forgotten...
It has some interesting moments of clarity, an interesting concept merging the planets with Starwars. Not a cheese in sight...sadly. It is like how Japanese tends to do with western cheese/junk. Dress it up, posh it up a bit, repackage it nicely beyond what originally made them interesting, price it up to give it class. Although the choreography is not particular unique nor interesting, and nothing particularly star wars about it. Satoko has refined her presentation to the point you can gloss over the generics of her program, and find something interesting about her form. Her improvements are there to see, from appearing overtly studious and practiced like she was 2 seasons ago to have enjoyed a moment of spontaneity and play with them. Some exquisite details in her arms movement, upper body form which is something young or Russians don't have, nor her musicality. Now just need some personality, originality, and uniqueness to boost her presentation. Otherwise, there are moments I can see she is still imitating past great champions instead of Satoko - a unique skater. Although her tiny jumps are certainly her signature, but it doesn't bother me much in an exhibition. A beautiful skater who should win in a music recital, perhaps just should not be the most competitive one in an Olympic mottoed sport.
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- Joined
- Jan 17, 2014
When is SS judged base on jump heights and type of combo? This is a lack of understanding of SS and your list also highlighted the current weakness of PCS scoring. Based on the ISU description of what SS is to be judged on, the list should be very different. Ashley will not go beyond low to mid 7s with her weak edges and inability to sustain her speed into elements, a clear indication of mediocre blade work. Lenok will be high 7s, low 8s, Zhenya mid to high 7s. Satoko is about right but should be a bit more than Lenok. Gracie,s look fine. Mao should be about 8.75.
This sounds harsh but being the uber fan of steps and SS, the current crop of ladies really are underwhelming where basics are concerned. How nice that Mao is still about and really miss the sort of flow which Midori Ito, Yuka Sato (quiet blades!), Michelle Kwan and CaroK brought to the ice.
I really like Satoko's new programs, and I've liked every senior free program she's had. Her lines are something else, it's just soothing to watch her. She maybe doesn't stand out from all those bombastic skaters but the field is richer for having someone like her. Her jumps are kind of amazing to me, look at how fast she rotates and how low in the knees she gets on the landing, that's using everything that you can. Also, I find her interesting as a person, hopefully we'll see more of that Osaka sense of humor in the future 
Her posture is the best. She lands with both arms straight up, back straight, and with seemingly little effort. Very pleasing to see rather than some of the Russian teenagers with arms akimbo, off-axis and unsightly leans (no names mentioned but I will say that Medvedeva is none of these, she's the class of that field). It adds a polish and cleanliness to her jumps that don't quite make up for the lack of height, but gives her skating a different finesse.
That didn't sit well with me either. I mean ... really? And although I like Ashley, she was way overscored in Boston on SS. Mao should have been close to 10 there.
I agree, Satoko's carriage is very pleasing.
And it's more difficult to gain speed that way, so I also think that her SS are quite good. With a little bit more speed I'm sure she would get higher SS marks.
Ashley was overscored, but I think that Mao is just a little bit too slow to deserve 10's.
I got a question: What's the better approach? Skating really fast without having complete control and learning to control the speed (like f.e. Kostner) or skating slower with good control and trying to gain speed in the course of time?
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I just love it how everyone knows more than the judges.
The difference between sheep and human is human possesses critical thinking. Sheep just take the results face value. No questions.
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