Sasha's Best LP Performance
- Thread starter morninglight
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
There was a quali round performance that was really great -- maybe Rachmaninoff in DC? I saw it, I just don't remember what year. Her quali round Swan Lake was pretty gorgeous, too, even if imperfect.
My favorite Cohen program was the waltz SP in SLC.
My favorite Cohen program was the waltz SP in SLC.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Our Sa-
sha is
a perfect gem!
Yes, she
is an
exquisite femme!
She's won
the hearts
of all the men!
Her best?
Hernando's
Hideaway -- Olé!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzxzDCuiZ5w
sha is
a perfect gem!
Yes, she
is an
exquisite femme!
She's won
the hearts
of all the men!
Her best?
Hernando's
Hideaway -- Olé!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzxzDCuiZ5w
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
Oh Math, you wear so many hats:
Board Moderator
Avid fan of Michelle and Yuka
Professor
Educator
Mathematician
Husband
Dad
Son
and now.............
Poet
You probably wear more hats but these are the ones I came up with.
Dee
Board Moderator
Avid fan of Michelle and Yuka
Professor
Educator
Mathematician
Husband
Dad
Son
and now.............
Poet
You probably wear more hats but these are the ones I came up with.
Dee
This discussion made me go back and look at many of Sasha's performances, and I realize that maybe I never gave her enough credit, including at SLC. I really wanted MK to get the OGM in 2002, but thanks to youtube I can go back and re-evaluate. IMHO, it should've been:
SP: SC, IS, MK, SH
LP: SH, SC, IS, MK
So the final results should've been (G) SC, (S) SH, (B) IS, with MK off the podium.
They all had the same jump difficulty in the SP, but SC beats MK on the spins and spirals, and IS on presentation. IS did an unusually lyrical SP, with a lot of speed/power, but it didn't suit her; her free leg is often bent in transition steps and before toe jumps, and that showed more when the music was slower. MK did a great SP, but it didn't have as difficult of spins/spirals/transitions as SC's, and she had no height on the 2-toe or 3-flip. SH's SP was justly 4th, I don't understand why some think she was lucky with that placement. For the long program, SC, IS, MK all had basically the same jump content, but SC beat MK in spirals/spins, and IS in presentation & speed. IS had one double-footed landing and one landing way forward that nowadays would not get her more than -2 GOE, and so giving her only 2 points advantage over MK & SC, but she had no speed/power, and would've lost many more points to SC on the spins/spirals/transitions, etc. I think I've just convinced myself that SC should've perhaps won the OGM! (and I'll change that "perhaps" to "probably" if she'd done a clean double instead of that falling triple with no speed going in.) If only she had the same int'l reputation/credentials as MK or IS! A little OT, sorry, I'm making up for years of overlooking Sasha.
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2003
Thank you so much for posting these links. It's been awhile seen I've seen them, and the Malaguena absolutely gave me goosebumps!!
Mistakes, or not, there will never be another like Sasha...
You're welcome!
I've often wondered why Sasha didn't use more music like Malaguena for her LP's. Something with an edge and places to demonstrate a more spunky attitude. She seems to do better with that kind of music ... more so than with the slower, more lyrical pieces.
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
I agree. Sasha for me, remains a bravura skater, and Malaguena/Dark Eyes is her best style. Even with her excellent Swan Lake, the best of that program was during the bravura music of the Black Swan, not the lyrical White Swan. Sasha, for me, radiates with very pronounced sharp music. Her lyrical Roti R&J, although sugary good, was just outclassed by another lyrical skater, Shizuka. Had she used Prokoviev she would have won, imo.
Joe
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
I don't think it was the choice of music so much as the two falls that kept Sasha off the top of the podium. Even with the mistakes, Sasha was within 59 hundredths of a point of Shizuka on the Program Component Scores. It was on the technical that she got clobbered.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Things always look different from a longer perspective. I quite agree that, given their relative standings in the sport at the time, Sasha would have had to have been absolutely perfect to be placed above either Michelle or Irina.
I don't necessarily think, though, that Sasha's spins and spirals were better than Michelle's. Sasha's spins had a wow factor because of her extreme flexibility, and her spiral had great amplitude. But the knock on Sasha at that stage of her career was that she did not have the depth of edges nor the control that Michelle showed on her spirals.
As for Irina, she was never a "pretty" skater, but she always got excellent results on the second mark because of her powerful stroking and basic technique and her command of the ice, which was regarded as far superior to Sasha's and matched only by Michelle.
Sasha's reputation in 2002 was that she was an oustanding "above the ankles" skater. But at that time she could not have placed ahead of Michelle or Irina unless they made mistakes.
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Irina often skates with wonderful speed/power/command (e.g. SLC SP), but not in her SLC LP: she was tentative and sluggish on the faster (music) sections, and on the slower parts she looked like she could barely stay on one foot, and she had no control or extension on her spirals and didn't hold them at all (even under 6.0 these things mattered); none of the spins were up to her usual standards except the final combination spin, and none of her jumps would've deserved +GOE except for the loop and maybe the 2axel. Sasha's LP, OTOH, started with some gorgeous spirals and dramatic movements, which exhibited excellent control and interpretation; and several of her jumps were text-book perfect; even the triple toe she fell on was fully rotated (to my eyes), and after all the only one attempting 3-3 compared to IS & MK.
But more on topic, I really like Sasha's 2003 Marshalls Swan Lake LP -- I'm a sucker for perfection.
The WC version had a few scratchy landings and a popped salchow (! usually her best jump), but otherwise very good too. She had such dramatic, energetic, musical footwork seq's! Maybe not deep edges, but definitely amazing control and skating skills. I loved her Torino Dark Eyes, too, but then she was a master at perfect SP's and... I think I was never a big fan of Sasha b/c it required one not to have heart or be able to stand its being broken repeatedly. 
(This is why I love Caroline so much; and hope Johnny doesn't go down Sasha's route!)
But more on topic, I really like Sasha's 2003 Marshalls Swan Lake LP -- I'm a sucker for perfection.
The WC version had a few scratchy landings and a popped salchow (! usually her best jump), but otherwise very good too. She had such dramatic, energetic, musical footwork seq's! Maybe not deep edges, but definitely amazing control and skating skills. I loved her Torino Dark Eyes, too, but then she was a master at perfect SP's and... I think I was never a big fan of Sasha b/c it required one not to have heart or be able to stand its being broken repeatedly. (This is why I love Caroline so much; and hope Johnny doesn't go down Sasha's route!)
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2006
I appreciate your interpretation of SLC, Feraina. Sasha's SP made me an instant fan. When she didn't make the podium, I gave up on skating judging.
And yeah, it can be hard being a Sasha fan. This season gives me a chance to rest and regroup. I decided to be a Miki fan and look what happened!
And yeah, it can be hard being a Sasha fan. This season gives me a chance to rest and regroup. I decided to be a Miki fan and look what happened!
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2004
Wow, you really do see things through Sasha-colored glasses, don't you? Sasha's LP in SLC was far from perfect, and the triple toe she fell on was not fully rotated. And, like others have mentioned before, she was a good "above the ankles" skater, but if you just watched what her feet/blades were doing, she was nowhere near the level of MK or IS.
I would need to see Sasha's fall in slow-mo to ascertain if it really was rotated -- it looked to me rotated, but her free foot was stuck on landing because she went in with no linear momentum. I agree Irina normally has excellent speed/power/command/ss/edges, but just not for the SLC LP. For that night, I thought Sasha was better than Irina. Less certain Sasha was definitely better than MK -- but then was MK definitely better than Irina or comparable? If the latter, then Sasha ought to have beat Michelle too.
I was a hard-core MK fan her entire career, because her performances touched me more deeply than anyone else's (and they still do). Some people complain she was graceful/elegant/sublime but didn't have amazing technical prowess for CoP, others say she was reared in a different 6.0 system and had different emphases. But Sasha also grew up under 6.0, and her programs under 6.0 would also score very high under CoP. Actually I came to appreciate Sasha more this season because Caroline got me really into skating again, and she totally reminded me of Michelle -- but many think she's more like Sasha, to my surprise, which got me to go back and re-watch lots of Sasha's programs.
I was a hard-core MK fan her entire career, because her performances touched me more deeply than anyone else's (and they still do). Some people complain she was graceful/elegant/sublime but didn't have amazing technical prowess for CoP, others say she was reared in a different 6.0 system and had different emphases. But Sasha also grew up under 6.0, and her programs under 6.0 would also score very high under CoP. Actually I came to appreciate Sasha more this season because Caroline got me really into skating again, and she totally reminded me of Michelle -- but many think she's more like Sasha, to my surprise, which got me to go back and re-watch lots of Sasha's programs.
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2003
He skates to both. But wow, you mean to say that's better than his same program at Euros???
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
Michelle leading up to Nagano was a 7 triple jumper in her LPs; her SPs were flawless and both programs flowed the entire arena beautifully. Her Tech in those years was the best of all her competitors, imo, and her Presentation was second to none.
However, the decline, and the mystery surrounding it, was beginning to show soon after Nagano. That hip was beinning to take its toll. Sad that she continued skating instead of seeing a surgeon about taking a year off.
Sasha took better care of herself.
Joe
However, the decline, and the mystery surrounding it, was beginning to show soon after Nagano. That hip was beinning to take its toll. Sad that she continued skating instead of seeing a surgeon about taking a year off.
Sasha took better care of herself.
Joe
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
That always seemed to me to be an impossible comparison. Irina stank but stayed on her feet. Michelle recovered from two early mistakes to skate the rest of the program with verve.
The exact same thing happened in Torino. Irina, coming off one of the greatest performances of all time at Moscow Worlds and the odds-on Olympic favorite all year, skated like a Zombie. Sasha fell twice, then picked herself up and gave a strong performance. Which was better?
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2003
Whoops wrong Sasha LOLOLOLOL!
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
Spun Silver thanks for posting that skate. It is also one of my favorites too.
Dee
Wait a second...are my eyes playing tricks on me?! I KNOW I didn't post recently and I remember this thread, only I thought it was MUCH older! My post says I wrote in April 28th, but I do not remember posting! I do remember that I wrote that post though...
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