Senior Ladies' Free Skate

[ANW]

am I the only one who thinks Ashley should win?
by the way, Ashley should get 1st place in free skate, Caroline Zhang 2nd Rachel 3rd and Mirai 4th.

 

[sk8addict]

The world team should be Kimmie, Emily, and Ashley. Katrina deserves credit, but she didn't medal and Kimmie's a former World Champion.

That would be a VERY former world champion. She hasn't performed well all season. What makes you think she will be better at worlds. Hacker was good enough to beat Kimmie and that's good enough for me.
I'd say it'd time for Kimmie to go to school fulltime.

 

[london_calling]

What an amazing night. I don't even have words really.

My heart broke for Kimmie. I have never seen her look so sad after a program. She usually takes everything in stride, good and bad skates, but she looked on the verge of tears. All I can do is just seriously hope she figures out what went wrong.

I was thrilled for Rachael. I was so impressed with her at last years Nationals and thought she had so much potential. Now she is the national silver medalist! It's just unreal.

Mirai, Ashley, and Caroline also did great jobs. U.S. ladies skating will be very exciting to watch in the years to come.

 

[krenseby]

am I the only one who thinks Ashley should win?
by the way, Ashley should get 1st place in free skate, Caroline Zhang 2nd Rachel 3rd and Mirai 4th.

Well, don't underestimate the flow factor. I think the judges think that Mirai's flow and smoothness are way better than everyone else's and particularly Caroline's. It's not just the jumps. As for Caroline's artistry, that kinda thing doesn't win points under COP. Skating a beautiful artistic program that touches the soul is just not one of the criteria that judges evaluate so it hasn't helped Caroline with the points.

 

[lerei]

Seasonal Scores

Meissner:
163.23
158.74
154.22
157.56

Hacker:
156.86
153.13
158.28

Liang:
127.42
134.60
164.87

Based on the seasonal scores, I'd be confortable sending Meissner to worlds but I would think that she may need to rest her ankle.

 

[tae04]

I thought Wagner should have at least won the LP too. Flatt was way overmarked, just a bunch of jumps and smiles. Some of these scores are just very suspicious. Zhang was undermarked in both programs. I thought Nagasu's SP was marked way too high.

 

[pista04]

Can I point something out? Earlier in the season I said something about Asada bursting out in tears after her TEB short, when she still was in first. I think I may have taken a tiny bit of heat from a few people. Tonight proves to me again that that is something I really dislike: Kimmie had a reason to cry, she was tearing up....and, she exhibited SUCH sportmanship by trying her best to hold it in. I know I would have beaten her and she cried, it would have dampened my own spirit

 

[krenseby]

Seasonal Scores

Meissner:
163.23
158.74
154.22
157.56

Hacker:
156.86
153.13
158.28

Liang:
127.42
134.60
164.87

Based on the seasonal scores, I'd be confortable sending Meissner to worlds but I would think that she may need to rest her ankle.

Well, whether she can get things in order in the next two months is something I am just not sure about. The USFSA can take their chances of course ;-)

 

[carolinefan177]

am I the only one who thinks Ashley should win?
by the way, Ashley should get 1st place in free skate, Caroline Zhang 2nd Rachel 3rd and Mirai 4th.

Agreed. I think Caro should have gotten second in the free skate. Even though she lacked a 3S. Her spins and spirals are far superior to Flatts IMO. Also, I really don't think her ice coverage was too much of a problem here at nats. The program was so emotional that I didn't care.

 

[cianni]

Kimmie

I feel so bad for Kimmie. She was rock solid for 3wks in practice. She hit all jumps and combos changed the footwork and just was on. I will see her soon and will support her. I dont understand what the problem is at this point she is right on in practice and not in comps. Maybe she needs to train somewhere else with a different coach. I hope she is OK and Im glad they didnt ask her the usually questions , what happened, how did it feel etc. Spare me that .

 

[ANW]

call me wrong, but talking about smoothness, Caroline and Ashley are much better than anyone else tonight.

Well, don't underestimate the flow factor. I think the judges think that Mirai's flow and smoothness are way better than everyone else's and particularly Caroline's. It's not just the jumps. As for Caroline's artistry, that kinda thing doesn't win points under COP. Skating a beautiful artistic program that touches the soul is just not one of the criteria that judges evaluate so it hasn't helped Caroline with the points.

 

[feraina]

am I the only one who thinks Ashley should win?
by the way, Ashley should get 1st place in free skate, Caroline Zhang 2nd Rachel 3rd and Mirai 4th.

I'm not totally sure about over-all placements, since the spread was pretty large in the SP. I do think Ashley definitely should've won overall though, and Mirai should not have beaten Caroline in the LP.

Speaking of lack of speed, Rachael has no speed. Caroline was slow on her 2A's, but she wasn't that slow the rest of the program. Rachael I think was the slowest of the top four ladies. And her program wasn't as polished as Caroline's on the whole, even we were all saying before the scores came up that she still has that junior-ish quality to her skating. I think she was way over-marked. I was totally surprised by her score.

I do think, though, that having the pressure off her back will do Caroline some good next year. Just look how much Mirai wilted after 48 hours of media attention! Caroline had a bull's eye on her back for an entire year now, if not more, and she finally cracked a bit in the SP. Just see how much good it did her to have the pressure taken off for the two days between the SP and the LP! She definitely gave her best program of the season out there tonight.

 

[carolinefan177]

I feel so bad for Kimmie. She was rock solid for 3wks in practice. She hit all jumps and combos changed the footwork and just was on. I will see her soon and will support her. I dont understand what the problem is at this point she is right on in practice and not in comps. Maybe she needs to train somewhere else with a different coach. I hope she is OK and Im glad they didnt ask her the usually questions , what happened, how did it feel etc. Spare me that .

Ditto. My heart shattered. It just shattered.

 

[krenseby]

call me wrong, but talking about smoothness, Caroline and Ashley are much better than anyone else tonight.

Well, ironically the fact that Caroline's choreography is complicated means that she makes more pauses, changes direction, sort of skates to and fro. To some people that seems complicated and elegant, to others disjointed and lacking flow. The second quality is what the judges perceived: they just don't like her style.

 

[bekalc]

Well, I really don't understand the judging anymore. Rachael's LP over Ashley's, Mirai's over Caroline's. I don't know how they came up with these results

Well, Mirai landed 7 triple jumps to Caroline's 6 triple jumps. Plus, as they were saying Mirai's basics are amazing. She has speed, great edges, jumping technique is better than Zhang's. I think that the top three could have gone any way... All the top 4 girls had great spirals. And Mirai is hardly lacking in the spins department.

I thought Mirai was a bit mechanic, but I think that Zhang is a bit the same way in that department...But artistically I like Mirai better.

 

[crazydreamer]

I think they should go with the finishing order, unless Emily petitions, and even then, they should evaluate her carefully. Kimmie has proven this season she can no longer be relied upon, and Bebe and Katrina earned trips to Worlds tonight, which Kimmie did not.

Kimmie qualified for the GPF. She hasn't done THAT bad this season until tonight.

 

[carolinefan177]

Well, Mirai landed 7 triple jumps to Caroline's 6 triple jumps. Plus, as they were saying Mirai's basics are amazing. She has speed, great edges, jumping technique is better than Zhang's. I think that the top three could have gone any way.

Mirai didn't have a 3S, so no, she didn't have 7 triple jumps

 

[cocovica]

thank a lot to all who posted the comments...I really apriciate it! I was not able to watch it on the internet...

and Am really shocked about the result..it's totally unbilievable! am feel sorry for kimmie...if she will not be send to worlds it would be strang..to be 2006 world champ and not to be send...I think that the federation will give her the chance but willl see...

so I did little research and it's interesting...

1 nagasu (14 - can't go to Worlds] - this is really paradox to be the champion and could't go...
2. flatt (15 - can't go...)
3. wagner (16 - can)
4. zhang (14 - can't)
5.liang (19 - can go---)
6. hacker (17 - can go...)
7. kimmie (can go...)

the third spot would be between kimmie and hacker...

am sorry for alissa czissny , I love her skating...how did she end?

 

[sindarin]

The protocols are up.

http://www.usfigureskating.org/content/events/200708/uschamps/protocols/seniorladies-protocols.pdf

 

[pista04]

You flipped Wagner/Flatt's ages, and you calculated Wagner's incorrectly: she's currently 16. (easy mistake; her birthday hasnt passed for 2008 yet)