2018 Nebelhorn Trophy Ladies Free Skate

[Heleng]

Finally caught up w ladies (well, except Leona’s which is blocked in US) and haven’t read any of the posts here. It may just be my impression, but Mai really stood out to me with her beautiful basic skating skills — her stroking, edges, glide, speed, all seemingly effortless, creating the illusion that she’s floating on the ice. I love that in figure skating. She may not be at her level yet, but Mai reminds me a little of Yuka Sato in that aspect of her skating.

 

[rachno2]

Alina skating like the Olympic Champion she is :luv17: I love Carmen on her, and she seems to love it too. I really don't understand some of the hostile reactions. No program is perfect this early on, but I already saw more genuine performance here than I did last season

 

[rikaquegira]

Alina skating like the Olympic Champion she is :luv17: I love Carmen on her, and she seems to love it too. I really don't understand some of the hostile reactions. No program is perfect this early on, but I already saw more genuine performance here than I did last season

It's a matter of taste, as always.
Although I'd say her SS is a more objective matter. :scratch3:
That 9.35 PCS is... quite something!
Specially when Mai is getting 8s and Marin is getting freaking 7s!

 

[Interspectator]

Finally caught up w ladies (well, except Leona’s which is blocked in US) and haven’t read any of the posts here. It may just be my impression, but Mai really stood out to me with her beautiful basic skating skills — her stroking, edges, glide, speed, all seemingly effortless, creating the illusion that she’s floating on the ice. I love that in figure skating. She may not be at her level yet, but Mai reminds me a little of Yuka Sato in that aspect of her skating.

Yay, we can appreciate her lightness and SS together!

 

[pearly]

For starters, the music cuts are much, much better. I mentioned before that the cuts used are similar to VM’s iconic Carmen.

Has the music changed?

 

[rikaquegira]

Has the music changed?

No, it's the same Carmen cuts from the test skates. I meant in comparison to her SP where the music cuts are very strange, the FS flows better, musically speaking.

 

[gioccia]

This event was so good! The final flight especially. The girls did really well. Loena is a surprise, I hope she’ll shine in Europe this year. I’ve always liked Mai, she’s so soft and secure. Alina was sensational, I shared the opinion that music cuts were wrong and the programs didn’t suit her, but they are growing on me just like the Swan from last season. The costumes are beautiful especially that of Carmen, fantastic jumps. Hope she will become even stronger as the season continues.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Seems like people here are quite divided about Alina's program and performance!

Well I just caught up on Alina's skate and while her performance was very impressive the program itself was...I didn't like it at all. For some reason it felt completely disjointed and at the half way point I actually looked to see how long was left to go! It felt like it just draaaaaggged on.

However, I don't think that's Alina's fault...I've come to the conclusion I just don't like Danill's choreography, he seems like a nice guy, but man he just throws everything including the kitchen sink into a program and the end result is...meh.

Still, good to see Alina perform so well after the Test Skates, which were a bit of disaster and the problem getting out of Russia last week. Perhaps I'll grow to like Carmen...

 

[freeman21]

Me right now:

:Looks at Alina's FS:

"This is going to be such a one sided season... nobody is even close to this"

 

[demarinis5]

Does anyone have a link to the medal ceremony?

 

[newyn]

Finally caught up w ladies (well, except Leona’s which is blocked in US) and haven’t read any of the posts here. It may just be my impression, but Mai really stood out to me with her beautiful basic skating skills — her stroking, edges, glide, speed, all seemingly effortless, creating the illusion that she’s floating on the ice. I love that in figure skating. She may not be at her level yet, but Mai reminds me a little of Yuka Sato in that aspect of her skating.

Excactly what I thought! Mai's beautiful, effortless-looking gliding across the ice remind me of Yuka and Takahiko Kozuka. The very best tradition of japanese figure skating.

 

[Yuzuruu]

Thoughts on Alina...
It was a slight outside edge last season but it looks like a flat/slightly inside edge now. Not 100% sure because I need a better camera angle. Jumps in general look great. Spins are amazing as always.

The angles make it hard indeed but I think she flutzed in her SP and had very shallow outside in both lutzes in FS. I'm glad she still has all the jumps though, she grew a lot!

It's a matter of taste, as always.
Although I'd say her SS is a more objective matter. :scratch3:
That 9.35 PCS is... quite something!
Specially when Mai is getting 8s and Marin is getting freaking 7s!

Seems like jumps + clean skate = PCS, eh? Will it ever change? :sarcasm: sadly, I don't think so.