2016 Finlandia Trophy Ladies FS

[Tolstoj]

But...but...were the judges Finnish?

I really don't get this. How would it work?

And it's not even true, Russian performers (ballet, opera, figure skating) routinely draw full houses in Finland. People appreciate quality when they see it. I think if you took a poll, Plushenko would be the most popular figure skater ever in Finland.

I have a pessimistic view on how some "strict" judges (it is not necessary to have a finnish judge even though there was one here, judge no.8 Saara Ehalt ) are chosen for some events when some skaters have to fail, but that's just my opinion.

About Finland-Russia relations, i know formally both countries are good neighbours now but it's like Polish opinions about Russia: there are haters out there, let's put in that way.

 

[largeman]

Asada's program, on the other hand, is very alluring. It annoys me how they threw away a chance to do an AWESOME spiral, though. The exact place she does a short spiral right now in her choreography sequence would be SO, SO amazing at that point if it was a classic change-of-edge spiral. It sucks that literally nobody does this anymore.

If last season's Madame Butterfly is any indication, the spiral still may "grow" into a long and awesome one by Worlds

I think the program will continue to evolve and be improved upon (I'm not saying it needs to be ) throughout the season.

ETA: I see it was mentioned that Mao hurt her back. That might explain the abbreviated spiral and level 3 spins...

 

[largeman]

Mao's LP in good quality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzZNZPAXWmY

This seems to be from a different stream than the one I watched - better camerawork and some great closeups. The final pose goes with the music, too - I thought Mao went over the music, but it turns out the stream was late...

Great video, thank you! What a gorgeous skate and perfect way to start my Saturday morning.

 

[matcha]

Oh Anna

Oh Mao

 

[Franklin99]

Did Kaetlyn UR a 2t

Wow....Mao was able to score a 121 with four triples

Right?! She was less than one point behind a six triple Osmond, thanks in large part to her artistry. And boy, was her performance . Plus, she got an ! on her 3Lz...progress!

A big congrats to Osmond on her win. I hope this win boost her confidence heading into the GP event.

Poor Anna. No one is more hard on her than she is when she doesn't perform at her best. I hope she knows that she is now a world medalist, and still has a very good chance to stand atop the podium at the 2017 world. Focus on that, not on your past losses Anna P.

 

[Mrs. P]

Anna's never an early season skater. At least there were no drastic falls this time. I expect she will be back in full-force soon enough. :yes:

 

[blue_idealist]

Anna's never an early season skater. At least there were no drastic falls this time. I expect she will be back in full-force soon enough. :yes:

That's true. I remember her face plant last year at.. Ondrej Nepela?

 

[Osmond4gold]

The clearest and best video of KO's LP today in Finland. The music is actually on time to the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ-GjcREI0Q

 

[andromache]

Rewatched the top 3 at home.

Mao - No skater has ever skated a program that looked and felt so much like a Michelle Kwan program. I mean that in a good way! All we were missing was the Michelle Kwan spiral. The lightness, the nuances of emotion and joy in expression and quality of movement....A+. Felt much more dynamic than last season's Madame Butterfly. I'd be interested for someone to make a video editing her LP as a continuation of the SP. Might make me get it more?

Anna - The SP is a masterpiece already, the LP has room to grow. Not a bad thing. She looked tight and nervous, but no awful Pogo belly flops. She is my new queen, and I'm content with her performance here. She's not letting it all go to heck after one mistake. I like the vocals quite a bit and the emotion she expressed during that section. Still, not sure it'll ever be as good as that modern masterpiece SP.

Kaetlyn - She has the confidence that Alaine lacks and the polish Gabby still needs a tiny bit more of. Nice skating skills and speed, nice connection with her music. All other things equal, Kaetlyn beats the other Canadian ladies on PCS any day of the week. But she feels a tad generic to me. Pretty music, pretty choreography, but nothing extremely distinct regarding the program. But she has the charisma and class to pull it off. I've gotten super into pro wrestling in the past few months, so I'm going to say this is the John Cena of programs. Crowd-pleasing and well done, and for a number of good reasons....but missing something a little more edgy and interesting.

I'm a little sad Anna's SP seemed to get some hate for the music. I loooooved it.

ETA: Uhhhhh so I changed my avatar and title under the avatar and now there's a flag there and I can't make it go away? What do I do?

 

[MasterB]

i'm crying of happiness for Kaetlyn who just beat three world class skaters.

I wouldn't say she beat them, they just didn't skate well. However, Kaetlyn is a fantastic skater and should she skate clean she could be tops in the world.

 

[4everchan]

Rewatched the top 3 at home.

Mao - No skater has ever skated a program that looked and felt so much like a Michelle Kwan program. I mean that in a good way! All we were missing was the Michelle Kwan spiral. The lightness, the nuances of emotion and joy in expression and quality of movement....A+. Felt much more dynamic than last season's Madame Butterfly. I'd be interested for someone to make a video editing her LP as a continuation of the SP. Might make me get it more?

Anna - The SP is a masterpiece already, the LP has room to grow. Not a bad thing. She looked tight and nervous, but no awful Pogo belly flops. She is my new queen, and I'm content with her performance here. She's not letting it all go to heck after one mistake. I like the vocals quite a bit and the emotion she expressed during that section. Still, not sure it'll ever be as good as that modern masterpiece SP.

Kaetlyn - She has the confidence that Alaine lacks and the polish Gabby still needs a tiny bit more of. Nice skating skills and speed, nice connection with her music. All other things equal, Kaetlyn beats the other Canadian ladies on PCS any day of the week. But she feels a tad generic to me. Pretty music, pretty choreography, but nothing extremely distinct regarding the program. But she has the charisma and class to pull it off. I've gotten super into pro wrestling in the past few months, so I'm going to say this is the John Cena of programs. Crowd-pleasing and well done, and for a number of good reasons....but missing something a little more edgy and interesting.

I'm a little sad Anna's SP seemed to get some hate for the music. I loooooved it.

ETA: Uhhhhh so I changed my avatar and title under the avatar and now there's a flag there and I can't make it go away? What do I do?

I think that what makes Kaetlyn special in terms of her skating are two things :

no area of weakness
and beautiful big jumps with very nice quality in the air. her landings are usually very flowing etc... so it's hard to not give her good GOE..

Of course, I am talking in ideal conditions.

 

[kwanatic]

Just caught up on the events. Quick thoughts:

Kaetlyn: Very cool to see her win here. She's such a powerful skater but she's added a nice amount of polish and finesse to her skating as well. It wasn't a pretty technically but that was a damn good start to her season. I'd love to see her gain some consistency. She's really lovely when everything comes together.

Mao: WOW. Both the SP and the FS are fan-frickin-tabulous!! GORGEOUS programs and packaging for Mao this season! Both performances were solid but obviously not at the technical level she needs to be at to compete at the top. Still...she blew me away. I'm in love with her programs.

Anna: I think her nerves got the better of her. She hasn't led after a SP in a long time and I think she was just a little too nervous. I know that hurt to drop to 3rd but her performance wasn't as disaster. A performance with no PogoSplats is a good performance. I'm still expecting good things from her this season.

Pretty low scoring event considering the skaters there...

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I wouldn't say she beat them, they just didn't skate well. However, Kaetlyn is a fantastic skater and should she skate clean she could be tops in the world.

I know you're not trying to bring her down, but can we please stop with the "so-and-so only won because so-and-sos didn't skate well/to their potential/to their maximum difficulty"? Kaetlyn did a lot of great things out there, especially her SP, and she also made mistakes but came out on top. I totally agree with you and know you're not trying to trivialize her win but I really don't like it when the immediate reaction is that a skater only got an achievement because others didn't do well.

 

[Skater Boy]

Julia Lip and Liza need to go drinking together and discuss their commonalities. Maybe Sima could join them, but I guess she's underage.

ARen't they all underage in the states? Great SarahSynchro now you can be charged for aiding and abbetting a minor. Hope you look good in stripes lol.

 

[Violet Bliss]

ARen't they all underage in the states? Great SarahSynchro now you can be charged for aiding and abbetting a minor. Hope you look good in stripes lol.

I thought orange was the new stripes.

 

[kwanatic]

I thought orange was the new stripes.

No silly, orange is the new black! :dance:

 

[CoyoteChris]

Kaetlyn was the clear winner!!!!! YES....

Well, it looks like all the Canadians here agree with you!
A real nail biter of a comp for sure....let the GP begin!
I still think during the GP the Judge's nationalities need to go up on the protocals...

 

[Skater Boy]

It was me who qustioned this Happy for her, but I still think Gabby Daleman or Alaine Chartrand will beat her at Nationals (feel free to say "told ya so" if she wins) unless she'll go for 3-3 in all her programs. I'm really sad to say this, but for me she still needs others to bomb to have good placement. 187 is not an impressive score. So no, she's stil not an A team for me. None of the Ladies here has shown champion quality in the FS sadly for me. So what I wish for Kaetlyn is to get 3-3 both in SP and FS and prove me wrong It's just my opinion though and I totaly understand yo disagree with me.

I just had to jump in lol. I think it is a great battle in Canada between Chartrand, Daleman and Osmond. Osmond has perhaps always had a bit more potential at least in respect to start skating skills- she really looked great when she burst on the scenein I guess 2013 then injuries But she deserve dthis win today; I thought she was undermarked. mao has great skating skills and injury or not the doubles are not good. She should have withdrawn if she truly was injured. I felt bad for Anna and Liza but the sun will rise again tomorrow. I thought Osmond was undermarked in sp andfs.

 

[Skater Boy]

Mr. Peter Rankin (AUS).

OMG what would he give an Aus skater who are notknown for their skating skills - o.75???

 

[RemyRose]

ARen't they all underage in the states?

Not in Russia, they don't live in the States