- Joined
- Dec 2, 2007
I feel sorry for Mao
- Thread starter krenseby
- Start date
Ina-bauer into 3A!!!!
I'd say that such a skater would be unbeatable, but right now they are unbeatable seperately (except against each other) LOL! Man, no wonder why Sasha won't commit to coming back now because you have to think both girls are only going to get more consistent..
Honestly, what makes them so great is well Michelle Kwan had consistency, but she wasn't necessarily super fast, nor did she have the highest jumps.. Still, she had lovely presentation (and consistency)
Irina had beautiful high jumps, great speed, and spins (but she wasn't as consistent as Michelle and didn't have the same artistic strengths)
In Mao and Yu-na's case. They both have gorgeous high, lovely jumps, speed, and they are both lovely artistically. They are just complete skaters.
I think so too. It'll be harder for Kim to add a 3Lo combo and a 3A than for Asada to fix her lutz and improve her 3T combo.
Perhaps it has to with her 3Lo. Her starting takeoff position for her 3Lo and 2Lo jumps have similar positions to the landings of the mentioned 3A and 3F jumps. Remember that Asada does a 2A+2Lo+2Lo and a 3F+3Lo, so that "late" check from her landings might be a natural habit formed as a result of her combos.
BTW, Asada's 12.75 points she received for her 3F+3Lo (with the 2nd half time bonus) blew away Kim's 11.5 points. I wonder if that 12.75 is the highest score for a ladies element ever.
In other areas, Asada is more flexible than Kim while Kim seems to be the more natural performer. (Caroline has a few advantages over both of them, but that is another topic.)
From an early age, Mao was used to winning everything in sight. She won the JGPF and Junior Worlds at 14, and the GPF at 15, beating the reigning World Champion in the process.
Last year was a rough one for her. She lost the GPF to Yu-Na Kim and the World Championship to Miki Ando. This year, she's going through a growth spurt, her 3A is no longer as reliable as it used to be, and the judges are dinging her for her flutz and for underrotated loops in her combination jumps. And now she skated her best FS in a long time, and still lost the GPF to Yu-Na Kim.
Mao's confidence has been shaken. Of course she's upset.
Last year was a rough one for her. She lost the GPF to Yu-Na Kim and the World Championship to Miki Ando. This year, she's going through a growth spurt, her 3A is no longer as reliable as it used to be, and the judges are dinging her for her flutz and for underrotated loops in her combination jumps. And now she skated her best FS in a long time, and still lost the GPF to Yu-Na Kim.
Mao's confidence has been shaken. Of course she's upset.
I agree. But that's how we grow:agree:
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- Nov 9, 2007
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- Jun 22, 2007
Yu-na should attempt that in the future.
Nope.
3A itself is difficult enough and practicing it again in the future will easily bring her injury back. Remember her back injury will never be completely cured and I hope to see her healthy for seasons to come.
I do not agree that she's necessarily devastated. The writing has been on the wall ever since Worlds SP last year. She's working really hard to try and make up the difference and sooner or later it will pay off. Yu Na is clearly No1 this season. Her jumping has never looked better and she's a complete package. BUT I don't see what else she can really improve on other than aesthetics. Her turnout is awful and we'll see if this new Ballet tutor can improve it - hard at her age and possibly dangerous as hips are fragile things in skating as it is. Her spins could improve with added flexibility but she's not lacking in that department.
I just think that Mao has much more mileage in terms of improvements to be made from where she is right now to where she could be. She's been growing considerably for 2 years now and has blossomed into a woman so hopefully that's done with. I think her occasional double footing has to do with her longer limbs - she'll get through it. Her programs this year are the best she's ever had (hard to judge the SP when it's never been clean but I think if she ever does skate it well it will look like a totally different program) but there's still SO much room for improvement all round.
If I were Mao I'd go home thinking - Ok I'm not there yet but there's a helluva lot more points I can gain if I do this, this and this. If anyone can do it Mao Asada can. She's never been shy of admitting her shortcomings and working damned hard to improve them.
I just think that Mao has much more mileage in terms of improvements to be made from where she is right now to where she could be. She's been growing considerably for 2 years now and has blossomed into a woman so hopefully that's done with. I think her occasional double footing has to do with her longer limbs - she'll get through it. Her programs this year are the best she's ever had (hard to judge the SP when it's never been clean but I think if she ever does skate it well it will look like a totally different program) but there's still SO much room for improvement all round.
If I were Mao I'd go home thinking - Ok I'm not there yet but there's a helluva lot more points I can gain if I do this, this and this. If anyone can do it Mao Asada can. She's never been shy of admitting her shortcomings and working damned hard to improve them.
I don't know Flo. I think that you are underestimating Yu-na a bit. I think that Yu-na could probably learn the triple axel or a quad, if she really put her mind to learning it... Orser mentioned that last summer they were working on it, and she was fully rotating it, but then she started having her injuries and so they decided to hold off on it. Yu-na herself said that she may yet learn the triple axel. I don't know if her team will take that risk, but I think that she could learn something like that if she really wanted to put her mind to it. If Yu-na learns the triple axel, couldn't we possibly see 8 triples from her then? (Or would she have to leave the salchow out?)
Out of curiosity: do you have a link to the interview or something..? I would like to read this, as I've seen an interview with Brian where he said that they aren't planning to attempt 3A. I wonder which of the interviews was more recent. (The one I read was somewhere around DOI 2007, IIRC).
I think you've really put your finger on it, BelleFilleYuna :agree: . I stopped reading further to quote you, because I believe you have stated the single most important fact about the present era in Ladies' skating. This season, the changes in the rules favor quality of jump execution, more than CoP did in the past. Perhaps that brings us back, a little bit, to older values about figure skating, that emphasized qualitative excellence as well as difficulty embraced. To attempt the most difficult moves, and achieve the highest quality of performance in doing them, that is the ideal. Almost all skaters have to compromise a little short of the ideal, but the goal, at least, is there for them.
No she could do 8 - as could Mao if she switched one of her double axels for a Sal. (I wish!). I'm not saying Yu Na can't learn a new trick but it woud be much harder at her age than it is when you're 10 or 11. Plus I've read that her back problems will never really go away. Once you have an injury like that, the chances of recurring injuries become higher. It's a weak spot for her. I have had similar back injuries over the years from dance. I know that if I'm ever going to get injured again, the likelihood is that it will be my back again. So with 2 years to go until the Olys it's not really worth the risk for Yu Na. She nees to maintain what se has and try and improve something else. Which is I guess what's going on with the new ballet coach.
I don't think they are working on the 3 axel right now.. I'm not sure that it means they will never work on it..
The last interview where Orser mentioned the 3 axel rotating the 3 axel was a year ago. I think he said that they decided to work on it after she was done growing....But maybe now with the chronic back injury, they won't risk it....
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
Mao is fine. She's at the top of her game. She has a tough competitor. She'll face that hurdle.
Joe
Joe
At TEB this year Mao said something like "my 3T and 3S aren't comfortable enough for me to put in my programs yet". (I'm too lazy too lazy to chect the exact words
). It sounded to me like she was working on those jumps, but like with 3A at SC decided to skip them because they weren't rock solid yet.And she put in 3T in LP yesterday. So maybe at Nationals or Worlds she will attempt 3S as well..?
The problem is, the program is so packed already that I have hard time imagining where she could put it. The only solution seems to change 2A-2L-2L to 3L-2L-2L like in Nutcracker, and 3L to 3S. But it's immediately after the spiral, so it would be very challenging.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2006
yeah, maybe her 2A wasn't as good as usuall. But her 3 axel was better than usual. Is it possible for anyone, esp sombody under as much pressure as Mao to skate better? She landed EVERYTHING well. If you want cleaner landing or more energy, then she probably won't do the second 3/3, or the 3A will be stepped out of. that was pretty much Mao at her best. Whoever said that the "asian's" scores were inflated need to check again. The Korean's scores are inflated.
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2007
Both Yuna and Mr.Orser have a tendancy of answering very vaguely to 3A question. like "currently we are not working on it".
As a fan of Yuna, I dare not hope her to challenge 3A again. She was in severe back injury last season, and it seemed Yuna had reported to korean skating federation that she wanted to quit skating. My heart was broken in peices at that time.
But the greedy part of me secretly hope to see her 3A. There is a clip Yuna practicing 3A earlier last year and though she couldn't fully rotate it, it was ginormous!! just huge and talk about ice coverage!!
So I dunno whether she's going to practice 3A again.
More worries than wishful thinking if she restarts it....
I
What's the motivation for her to practice 3A, or even a 3loop? She fell on a 3loop but still managed to get very very close to a 3A, two triple+triple clean Mao Asada.
CoP is distressful. It encourages Yu Na like who do not want to challenge the technical barrier.
Uh, there's plenty of motivation for Yu-na to do a 3 loop. And I think there is some motivation to get a 3 axel because if she gets it, she'll be unbeatable. Seeing as with a 3 loop and a 3 axel, she'll be able to do 8 triples.
But I don't think it's silly for Yu-na's team to be thinking about injuries..
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