Mira looks like she is putting in the effort

[Mathman]

Actually, Mira was 24th out of 45 at Worlds.

 

[slutskayafan21]

Actually, internationally speaking, Joannie does have the pressure of doing well. Being the top lady means that the country's eyes are you instead of on lady number two. (Though, there's also pressure for Mira to do well to justify her spot, but Mira's pressure is to come in the top 15 or maybe top 10. Joannie is expected to come in in the top 7 or something.)

I agree with this. I was responding that way from the viewpoint of another poster that Rochette still has lots of pressure on her at Canadians to do her own personal best skating, even though Mira is under more competive pressure the last couple years as Rochette was pretty much a shoo-in with a big error cushion. I was just saying that if that were the case, the same could apply to the international level for Mira, despite Rochette having more competitive pressure with higher expectations then Mira. I was talking about it from that point of view, not neccessarily my own. My own is just like you said when it comes to the international scense, just like it is the other way on the national scene for the reasons I stated.

 

[chuckm]

Mira actually had the highest technical component score of all the ladies in the long program! Who would have thought... Congrats to her.

Really? Here's what I found:

TES, SP:
30.40 Meissner
30.20 Zhang
30.10 Ando
25.52 Leung
24.90 Asada
22.70 Hughes

TES, FS:
49.47 Ando
48.38 Leung
46.71 Meissner
45.11 Zhang (5 triples downgraded!)
43.64 Hughes

But TES is only half the score. Look at the PCS marks.

PCS, SP:
28.84 Meissner
27.48 Ando
26.28 Zhang
24.96 Hughes
21.92 Asada
20.52 Leung

PCS, FS:
57.28 Meissner
55.84 Ando
51.76 Zhang
49.20 Hughes
44.72 Leung

Leung's basic skating is meh. Her stroking is mediocre and her jump technique bizarre. She has improved her basic skating slightly, but habits learned from an early age are hard to break, and she is nearly 19 now.

It was nice to see that she has taken an interest in her appearance, and that was a major improvement. But her PCS scores will keep her out of the elite ranks, and she still has a problem with underrotation. She underrotated her 2A in the SP (and was the only skater to have the 2A dinged for underrotation) and the lutz and flip in the FS.

 

[blue dog]

I am not a Mira fan, but after seeing that skate, I was glad she addressed many of the problems. She even fixed that strange entrance into the lutz (well, she has masked it, anyway).

I like what she's done with her hair, and her overall look. No more granny panties!!!! I'm not too thrilled with the piano keys, but I'll take that over her previously oversized costumes.

I am glad the music is working for her, but she needs to find a way to make her own mark with it. She has chosen music that is SIGNATURE music of some great skaters:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gg3gq2NUtHA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZCRaoNfU0r8
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RJMSdT6270k
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1Z4zeGn8IFE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cdsZpanKv60

 

[slutskayafan21]

Leung's basic skating is meh. Her stroking is mediocre and her jump technique bizarre. She has improved her basic skating slightly, but habits learned from an early age are hard to break, and she is nearly 19 now.

It was nice to see that she has taken an interest in her appearance, and that was a major improvement. But her PCS scores will keep her out of the elite ranks, and she still has a problem with underrotation. She underrotated her 2A in the SP (and was the only skater to have the 2A dinged for underrotation) and the lutz and flip in the FS.

That is makes quite a bit of sense, but you have to give her credit for trying and finally trying to follow the advice of the good people around her, not just her mom. She cant change her mistakes from the past, and she can do is try her best moving forward with her career, and it could easily be too late for her to ever be a real elite like you said if she ever had that potential in the first place which is even questionable. I dont doubt that the odds are still against her of having a truly successful career at the international level. It is just nice to see her finally trying to do things the right way, how that will work out for her remains to be seen.

 

[kyla2]

Unimpressive

I completely agree with Chuckm. She is unimpressive and isn't skating at a consistently high enough level at age 19. She should go to college. If she was 14 I would say there was time and room for improvement. She just isn't going to be competitive internationally.

 

[passion]

I completely agree with Chuckm. She is unimpressive and isn't skating at a consistently high enough level at age 19. She should go to college. If she was 14 I would say there was time and room for improvement. She just isn't going to be competitive internationally.

Well, with all the hype and expectations and funding regarding 2010, I don't think she is going to quit yet. People have assumed that she will be at 2010 ever since she was thirteen years old. Plus, I think she was sincere when she said that she wants to become a world champion. If Lesley Hawker is 26, then Mira still has at least another eight years to go! That's plenty of time to improve on the basics etc. Becoming a world champion is still within reach for Mira...and possibly Oympics 2014. I think people expect a lot out of Mira due to all the hype about a little eight year old skating prodigy who may not have turned out as people have expected.

 

[Bennett]

I completely agree with Chuckm. She is unimpressive and isn't skating at a consistently high enough level at age 19. She should go to college. If she was 14 I would say there was time and room for improvement. She just isn't going to be competitive internationally.

Doing a decent job in a grand prix competition seems to me to mean that she is competitive internationally, even if not a world champ contender.

 

[blue dog]

Well, with all the hype and expectations and funding regarding 2010, I don't think she is going to quit yet. People have assumed that she will be at 2010 ever since she was thirteen years old. Plus, I think she was sincere when she said that she wants to become a world champion. If Lesley Hawker is 26, then Mira still has at least another eight years to go! That's plenty of time to improve on the basics etc. Becoming a world champion is still within reach for Mira...and possibly Oympics 2014. I think people expect a lot out of Mira due to all the hype about a little eight year old skating prodigy who may not have turned out as people have expected.

We kinda forget that Maria Butyrskaya won her first world title at 26.

 

[artsciboy]

We kinda forget that Maria Butyrskaya won her first world title at 26.

True, but Maria always had strong technique on her jumps, spins and basic skating skills (her struggle was with her nerves). Lesley and Mira unfortunately lack all of these things.

 

[krenseby]

True, but Maria always had strong technique on her jumps, spins and basic skating skills (her struggle was with her nerves). Lesley and Mira unfortunately lack all of these things.

Maria's spins were pretty bad: slowly rotated and with a very short duration. Her jumps were just ok. They were landed on a stiff foot. The only thing that Maria excelled at was footwork and choreography.

 

[artsciboy]

Maria's spins were pretty bad: slowly and quickly rotated. Her jumps were just ok. They were landed on a stiff foot. The only thing that Maria excelled at was footwork and choreography.

I'm not sure what you mean by "slowly and quickly," but Maria's spins were well-centred, had decent positions (minus the layback), and rotated quickly enough. Her jump technique was excellent, and she didn't always land stiffly - when she let her nerves get to her, that's when she tensed up and landed stiffy. But when she was on, her jumps were textbook - see Worlds '99 LP, Worlds '00 SP.

 

[krenseby]

I'm not sure what you mean by "slowly and quickly," but Maria's spins were well-centred, had decent positions (minus the layback), and rotated quickly enough. Her jump technique was excellent, and she didn't always land stiffly - when she let her nerves get to her, that's when she tensed up and landed stiffy. But when she was on, her jumps were textbook - see Worlds '99 LP, Worlds '00 SP.

Ok, I mean that her spins were of a short duration. They lasted just a few seconds (hence went by too quickly - not in terms of speed but in terms of duration.) Also, they were incredibly slow, slower than the spins of most other skaters. So, yeah I think her spins were really bad. (I concede that she may have had good positions in her spins, but that is the only positive thing about them.)

As for her jumps, they often were good, but only about half of the time. The stiff leg problem haunted her occasionally.