State of U.S. Ladies' skating 2016-17 | Page 24 | Golden Skate

State of U.S. Ladies' skating 2016-17

jenaj said:
Unfortunately, ignore posters' posts show up when someone replies.
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Well, everyone is responsible for their conduct. If anyone behaves civil or says moderately (not even expecting "nicely") about skaters that s/he doesn't want to appreciate, others would reply to that opinion with a similar manner accordingly. :) I've found your previous post having a double standard applied to the mentioned two skaters though.

I think Mirai's top concern at the moment is to maximize her technical elements and to gain judges' favor back for her better scoring, so the criticism on her facial expression seems to be the next thing to resolve which I think is a practical and workable move. She just needs confidence, not David Wilson's help because she used to emote decently in competition. Though I've felt funny about battles between American ubers of Ashley vs Gracie vs Mirai vs Polina in the US ladies skating since Sochi.
 
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Crossover said:
Well, everyone is responsible for their conduct. If anyone behaves civil or says moderately (not even expecting "nicely") about skaters that s/he doesn't want to appreciate, others would reply to that opinion with a similar manner accordingly. :) I've found your previous post having a double standard applied to the mentioned two skaters though.

I think Mirai's top concern at the moment is to maximize her technical elements and to gain judges' favor back for her better scoring, so the criticism on her facial expression seems to be the next thing to resolve which I think is a practical and workable move. She just needs confidence, not David Wilson's help because she used to emote decently in competition. Though I've felt funny about battles between American ubers of Ashley vs Gracie vs Mirai vs Polina in the US ladies skating since Sochi.
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Oh, I get it now. I forgot I mentioned anyone other than Mirai.
 
Also, not a single judge cares about facial expressions and interpretation and emotions if a skater has high TES and good SS and speed, for example ;)
Imho, thats like the last of concerns, and only worth nitpicking once the skater hit the top ^^
 
moriel said:
Also, not a single judge cares about facial expressions and interpretation and emotions if a skater has high TES and good SS and speed, for example ;)
Imho, thats like the last of concerns, and only worth nitpicking once the skater hit the top ^^
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All of those things make a skater interesting to watch. I can live without facial expressions if the skaters attacks her program. When a skater moves with average speed, has slight jumping errors, and has relatively empty choreography, there isn't much for a judge to get excited about.
 
Problem is, Mirai doesn't have top TES, skating skills and speed. Her TES at Worlds was 60.97. All the medalists had TES from 68.45 to 77.76, and the top 6 had TES 66 and up. And the top 6 all had PCS scores in the 8s, most in the mid to upper 8s. Mirai's PCS scores are what they have been for years: in the mid 7s, even with a clean program (except for two <). Speed is part of her problem, but like it or not, her non-presence in the music/program cost her in the PCS department, and if she doesn't have top TES scores, she can't afford to continually lose in PCS, too.
 
moriel said:
Also, not a single judge cares about facial expressions and interpretation and emotions if a skater has high TES and good SS and speed, for example ;)
Imho, thats like the last of concerns, and only worth nitpicking once the skater hit the top ^^
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I disagree. If you want to be the Champion of the World, you need the total package. You might win a GP event or even Medal at your Nationals, but you're not going to be on top of the Podium anywhere if you can't perform.
 
All the face in the world won't do much for Mirai without some more complicated choreography and some consistency to build her rep. Getting fewer URs (which she has improved on) is a start. For those who have seen her live - how slow is Mirai? Is she Polina slow? Or Sam Cesario (who gave awesome face) slow? Because those two are who I think of when I think of sloooooow. But then there are skaters who aren't super fast, but aren't super slow either. If Mirai isn't sloooooow slow, then she'll be fine.

Expression is definitely secondary compared to improving some other parts of her skating. Expression never did Sam Cesario any good, and she's just the first example that comes to mind.
 
andromache said:
All the face in the world won't do much for Mirai without some more complicated choreography and some consistency to build her rep. Getting fewer URs (which she has improved on) is a start. For those who have seen her live - how slow is Mirai? Is she Polina slow? Or Sam Cesario (who gave awesome face) slow? Because those two are who I think of when I think of sloooooow. But then there are skaters who aren't super fast, but aren't super slow either. If Mirai isn't sloooooow slow, then she'll be fine.

Expression is definitely secondary compared to improving some other parts of her skating. Expression never did Sam Cesario any good, and she's just the first example that comes to mind.
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I've only seen Mirai in person once and that was in 2011 at Nationals. Mirai was great. especially in her short program. Of the skaters I remember off the top of my head. Mirai was faster than everyone in the short program except Christina Gao who was spectacular. This was Mirai's Witches Of Eastwick program when she started by picking the flower. This was a great program for her as she was animated and very fast. With all of Mirai's improvements, the one thing she did better under Frank and Lori, was perform. To get back on top she needs that quality back in her performances.

Here's Mirai's 2011 SP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEDJOZQhOI0
 
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andromache said:
All the face in the world won't do much for Mirai without some more complicated choreography and some consistency to build her rep. Getting fewer URs (which she has improved on) is a start. For those who have seen her live - how slow is Mirai? Is she Polina slow? Or Sam Cesario (who gave awesome face) slow? Because those two are who I think of when I think of sloooooow. But then there are skaters who aren't super fast, but aren't super slow either. If Mirai isn't sloooooow slow, then she'll be fine.

Expression is definitely secondary compared to improving some other parts of her skating. Expression never did Sam Cesario any good, and she's just the first example that comes to mind.
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Mirai in 2016 worlds is visibly slow. she has the biggest support from the crowd in the event for sure. but everyone knew she is slow comparing to top tier. So they cheer for her whole heartedly but they also understand, somehow, they would not expect her to win.
I would say Mirai is comparable to SoYoun Park. I have watched them skate in the same event twice live. TBH, both are gorgeous ladies to watch live. but SoYoun's PCS is way lower than Mirai's. so that is that.

Polina I never watched live, so I dont know, Sam I have watched live. I think she and mirai are different skater in terms of styles. Sam is not very smooth. but Mirai is kinda smoother. Speedwise. not much difference as much as I can remember. Also, both gorgeous lady to watch live, I mean I can still remember Sam's spread eagle.
I think Mirai changed her LP choreo a little. Mirai has some comfortable moves/transitions. I hope she can keep as much as the original choreo as she can. because those choreos have meanings and purposes to the music.
as for Gracie, if you watch them practice. you will see, Gracie got skills, very good blade work and overall very nice ice presence, her problem is her jump landing. her jump landings is not always smooth and consistent. which directly leads to her mistakes in competition.
 
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Mirai has a lot of circular step sequences which look slower compared to straight line step sequences because they curve around the rink. Of the top ladies, Ashley and Gracie are both fast but Ashley is fast with a lot of complex transitions, Gracie with simpler transitions. Mirai's new SP is unfortunately using Chopin's repetitive motif so it could bore the audience into thinking they've seen this already/she's slow. Her straight line step sequence from the 2013-2014 SP (the man I love) was probably one of the fastest of the night with deep edges and connecting steps.
 
Mirai isn't slow. Not sure where that idea came from. I've seen her live several times and speed is not what's holding her back. Part of what is holding her back is undeservedly low PCS. At Worlds she scored about the same as Gabrielle Daleman, who I like, but who is not an artistic skater. Mirai is among the top four US ladies and if clean, is much better than Polina. She has the best spins and spirals and one of the best double axels. And the fans love her.
 
andromache said:
All the face in the world won't do much for Mirai without some more complicated choreography and some consistency to build her rep. Getting fewer URs (which she has improved on) is a start. For those who have seen her live - how slow is Mirai? Is she Polina slow? Or Sam Cesario (who gave awesome face) slow? Because those two are who I think of when I think of sloooooow. But then there are skaters who aren't super fast, but aren't super slow either. If Mirai isn't sloooooow slow, then she'll be fine.

Expression is definitely secondary compared to improving some other parts of her skating. Expression never did Sam Cesario any good, and she's just the first example that comes to mind.
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Besides being slow, Sam Cesario was a chronic underrotator. She hadn't been on the senior scene long enough (two seasons), with gaps due to injury, to be seen as anything but a newcomer. All of these factors kept her from having any kind of real success.
 
yyyskate said:
Mirai in 2016 worlds is visibly slow. she has the biggest support from the crowd in the event for sure. but everyone knew she is slow comparing to top tier. So they cheer for her whole heartedly but they also understand, somehow, they would not expect her to win.
I would say Mirai is comparable to SoYoun Park. I have watched them skate in the same event twice live. TBH, both are gorgeous ladies to watch live. but SoYoun's PCS is way lower than Mirai's. so that is that.
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So Youn Park is a very expressive skater----just the opposite of Mirai. So Youn really gets into her music and skates with her heart. Unfortunately, So Youn can be very inconsistent with her jumps, and she also URs quite a bit. I have noticed that So Youn's most recent skates have much easier technical content than her skates of 2-3 years ago. Her skating is heading in the wrong direction, which is not good for her with so many talented young Korean skaters on the scene. Still, I love to watch her skate because she is so expressive, so much more so than most of the other Korean ladies.
 
jenaj said:
Mirai isn't slow. Not sure where that idea came from. I've seen her live several times and speed is not what's holding her back. Part of what is holding her back is undeservedly low PCS. At Worlds she scored about the same as Gabrielle Daleman, who I like, but who is not an artistic skater. Mirai is among the top four US ladies and if clean, is much better than Polina. She has the best spins and spirals and one of the best double axels. And the fans love her.
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But Gabby skates with speed and power moreso than Mirai so... well pcs can go up for that too. Well Mirai is not Caroline Zhang slow at least.
 
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