Ladies LP

[Sackie]

Just watched Ashley's, Hacker's and Joannie's FS on you tube. Nice that Joannie had a great skate but there were quite a few spots that still need work and she could have a great score. Thought a couple of her spins were a little off today and of course the two errors at the end.

Of Hacker and Ashley I thought Hacker's program was much better then Ashley's. Ashley still looks like a Jr at times and waves her arms around at the oddest times. But just like an attempted Quad in the mens adds to the PCS it seems that in the ladies attempting a 3/3 adds to the PCS. Look at Joannie - her PCS have come up from last year because this year she is going for the 3/3 in both programs.

 

[Tinymavy15]

first of all:

thanks SO MUCH to everybody who did the amazingly good play by play!

Second of all, my thoughts:

Good for Mao! So happy to hear she delivered another perfect skate. Now she just needs a repeat at worlds. To bad yu-na coudl not skate here, mao would have finally beaten her. Same for Joannie. Good job. I have to admire how she really turned her skating around and is now better than ever. I really like her skating, esp the don juan program!

Poor Bebe I am so sad. What a lovely program. I find it so strange that this is the second time in a row she has singled that loop, and that usually is a very strong jump for her. I thought she was gonna skate so well.

Ashley, good job here too. another 3/3! She is gonna be out best hope at worlds. I agree with many of you that Katrina Hacker should be going to worlds. she has a better shot than kimmie or bebe!

Fumie..as expected.

Miki... surprised she went for the quad. She must be considering performing it at worlds and wanted it give it a trial run. too bad it didn't work out. Carmen is a GREAT program for her, she really gets into the character.

more later.

 

[enlight78]

took a look at the protocals. Wrong Edge and Underrotation are really hurting Ashely's score. The world judges will probably hit her just as hard.

 

[silver.blades]

Question: How do the judges tell that Ashley's Lz are Lz and not flips? She dosn't flip the edge, she goes in on an inside and with no long ride in how do they know what's intended? Do they have her program plan infront of them to check? Even if they do, if there isn't even an attempt at the outside edge, shouldn't it just be called a flip?

 

[summervie]

Miki, oh poor Miki.

Miki will be OK. Poor Fumie. (
Returning to Miki, imo, with the Worlds on the horizon this result is quite favorable for her. I think it would be even better (for her) if she had a more disastrouos skate today. She always returns strong after hard falls and at the same time there often 'downs' follow after her 'ups' (I think one day Mathman definitely should provide us with some formula calculating the weight of the very high expectations :yes.
Now, with this third place (not that bad a result, but bad enough to be once again overshadowed by Mao during the hottest part of the season) I would say Miki's chances for the podium in Sweden are quite high.
Miki will be OK. Poor Fumie. (

 

[passion]

Congratulations to Joannie!!!! Only wish I could have actually watch her. She really is a classic, well-rounded, elegant skater. It's so nice to see her conquer her demons and stand with the top skaters in the world.

Congratulations to Mira!!! She's on a roll with consistent 5th place finishes in all her events this year, a personal best. (How come noone cheers on Mira?)

 

[sorcerer]

Saw the broadcast on TV. It sure was a very good competition! And like others already exclaimed, the Korean spectators were so warm!!!

Mao is super-duper, I must say. Personally I don't like the choreo of the upper body, nor her new costume, but I can't help praising her. Hope she breaks 200 in Worlds.

Joannie, this time you made me your new fan. Where were you when I lived for a short time in Montreal?

Miki's re-challenging quad Salchow opened another door to her, IMO. Though she popped it to a double, Miki and Nicolai seemed both very happy to have put this as their new goal. I was VERY happy to hear her comments afterwards that she is "vexed to have popped it, more so than fully rotating and then falling". ...I hope she lands it in the Worlds.
Also, I was surprised that her spins were much improved under such a bad condition of her shoulder.
We couldn't see Mira on Fuji-TV.

 

[rain]

Just finished watching some of the top ladies courtesy of YouTube:

I'm a fan of Rochette so of course I was thrilled for her. Best she's done this season, hands-down. I agree with the poster who said her spins looked a little wonky, and of course there were a couple of jump errors, so she still has potential to take the program higher (which I think is good pre-Worlds). I also thought this was the best expression I've seen her have with this program and she carried it all the way through.

Asada's 3 axel was gorgeous. She has a beautiful light quality across the ice, but I have to agree with those who find her a bit unexpressive (though I do think she's improving). On a shallow note, I hated the top of her dress — didn't think the faux drop shoulder thing did anything for her figure. If she skates like this at worlds, she will be really tough to beat.

Ando looked like she'd have a disaster after the first two jumping passes went awry, but she pulled it back together for a good performance. She's a really powerful skater, much like Slutskaya — unfortunately neither do much for me artistically. I dislike the pumping and the extreme bend at the waist. Ando has, however, improved her artistic expression, IMO.

Na-Young Kim is a skater I had not ever noticed before. Lots of potential here. Still looks very junior and very tentative on spins and footwork with a terrible spiral, but I think she could become a force to be reckoned with.

Hacker I enjoyed. She has lovely back posture and great flexibility. She does need to learn a 3 flip. I would be concerned that she may never be able to develop a 3-3 though, as her jumps are not high or particularly quick in rotation in the air.

Ashley Wagner has great attack and enthusiasm. What struck me watching her skate, however, was that she really lacked an ability to pace the program. It was all at one speed — attack pace — with no tempo or mood changes and it ended up being very wearing by the end.

 

[Wrlmy]

Wow, what a great event! First of all, 4cc should be hosted in only Japan and Korea from now on! Great skaters, great skates, and great crowd!! Mucho better than last year in Colorado.

This has to be Mao's technically greatest skate! But I liked her presentation better at SC and GPF. If she can combine that wonderful presentation and jumps, there's no stopping her! (Well, aside from Yu-na of course). With Yu-na injured, the worlds title is hers. Should both of them falter, I want Joannie to take it! I like her Don Juan program better than last year. It's now officially one of my three favorite programs of hers along with Firebird and Like a prayer.

Tough outing for Ashley. But I hope she will work on her technique before the worlds, and I believe her score will soar up! (Remember Caroline at SA?)

Katrina has really nice qualities to her skating. It also seems like her lutz has become reliable. I believe she would've placed well at the worlds with a skate like that. She has a gorgeous layback! She doesn't sacrifice her back position for a good leg position. Reminds me of Alissa's.

Na-young Kim is the big surprise of the season along with Laura Lepisto. It is a testament to how a clean set of lutzs and flips can get you so far! That said, she is very unpolished at this point. Although she was awarded lv4 for all of her spins and spiral, lots of polishing up would boost her pcs and make her a serious contender.

I actually like Miki's program. It's a shame she hasn't skated clean yet.

 

[BelleFilleYuna]

Rewatching Hacker's LP on Youtube, I have to wonder why she doesn't have Flip in her arsenal. I noticed in slow-mo that her Lutz is actually Flutz which perhaps means she can do the Flip jump.

I must say I'm really massively impressed with Hacker. Watching skaters in real life gives you different perspectives and Hacker was the one who impressed me most. She does everything 'adequately', flexible but doesn't try to just feature to look gumby, expressive but not over the top, relatively fast but skates with different tempo.

As for 'speed', I came to a conclusion that speed is a major factor in judging skating skills. When skaters are slow, there's nothing much to appreciate about, all the pretty little intricate things don't really matter. You think what that girl is doing over there and not SKATE??

It was a good experince for me and I hope it was a precious experience for all the skaters before heading to Worlds.:agree:

 

[Ms.Anthrope]

To bad yu-na coudl not skate here, mao would have finally beaten her.

I'm not sure how you can say that since you have absolutely no idea how YuNa would have skated. :scratch:

I've never been amazed or impressed with Ashley Wagner. Except for the energy & attack she has in her program, I really see a juniorish skater who had a very consistent skating season at the moment. So to say this but her push-push, attack-attack skating style reminds of freight train.

Does Mao really need RA? If seems like she's doing just fine without his coaching. He hasn't done much to help with Mao's flutzing issue, and it was irresponsible of him to not address the issue when he knew that ISU was going to crack down on the edges & UR. I hate to blame a coach for something like this, but from everything I've read about Mao sounds like Mao is such a dedicated skater and she really is such a rare & amazing talent that I think Mao could have worked on it when she went to RA.

I think I'm enjoying YuNa more & more when I watch Mao. Mao seems to sort of shut down & not connect with the music where as YuNa seems to really feel the music from within. That said, Mao's Chopin SP will always be my "heart" program.

So, what does Mao really need to do to overtake YuNa? I was sure that Mao will beat YuNa's LP record with her 3A & combo even though one was downgraded. It seems to me like YuNa can still afford a mistake & outscore Mao's clean LP. Oh, am I the only person who things that Mao can't rely on her 3A since it's unreliable? :banging:

 

[bekalc]

[Originally Posted by Tinymavy15
To bad yu-na coudl not skate here, mao would have finally beaten her.

Don't know about that. Yu-na's total scores at Cup of Russia and at the GPF where higher than that. (And I have to look but I think her long program score might be higher than what Mao got. Mao had a triple toe downgraded)

I think it will be a nail bitter if both girls skate clean, but I think that if Yu-na is on and perfect, she'll come out ahead of Mao because of the flutz issue.

 

[museksk8r]

Don't know about that. Yu-na's total scores at Cup of Russia and at the GPF where higher than that. (And I have to look but I think her long program score might be higher than what Mao got. Mao had a triple toe downgraded)

I think it will be a nail bitter if both girls skate clean, but I think that if Yu-na is on and perfect, she'll come out ahead of Mao because of the flutz issue.

Yeah, I agree, not to mention Mao's inability to skate a clean SP. I could see Yu-Na and Carolina Kostner beating her in the SP as they have consistently done so over the last two seasons of international competition.

 

[astimegoesby]

First of all, I'd like to congratulate all three Canadian ladies! It sounds like they all skated wonderfully during a tough competition and I'm especially happy Cynthia landed most of her triples. She's definitely come a loonng way since last year!

I'm also happy Katrina and Ashley skated so well, and of course, congratulations to Mao on winning the gold!

Big thanks to everyone who shared videos and provided play-by-play! It's a shame this competition won't be broadcast on Canadian TV.

 

[Skye]

Rewatching Hacker's LP on Youtube, I have to wonder why she doesn't have Flip in her arsenal. I noticed in slow-mo that her Lutz is actually Flutz which perhaps means she can do the Flip jump.

The jump mechanism and timing for a flip and a flutz are totally different. In Katrina's case, she seems to have some problem holding on to the outside edge with her lutz, but that doesn't make it a flip.

 

[chuckm]

I don't know why you are saying that Hacker flutzes. The caller seemed particularly harsh on the US girls, yet Hacker didn't get a flutz deduction in the SP or the FS.

Hacker just got the lutz this year, so perhaps her flip is still in the works but not ready for prime time. I was thrilled to see her skate her FS almost completely cleanly (only a small deduction on the 3S). I just wish she would have gotten higher PCS scores.

 

[Mathman]

I can never understand why Bebe has so many fans.

Bebe has so many fans because she is such a nice, thoughtful and upbeat person. In fact, I don't know anyone who doesn't like Bebe.

As as skater, she always gives her all. She has a unique style and a grace under fire that is all her own. She is cheerful, helpful and a friend to other skaters.

It would be so cool, and such a fitting reward, if she could have the skate of her life at Worlds -- just for herself, without worrying about how many places someone is going to have in 2009 or whether Hacker is more deserving than Wagner, or any of the rest of it.

 

[emma]

Bebe has so many fans because she is such a nice, thoughtful and upbeat person. In fact, I don't know anyone who doesn't like Bebe.

As as skater, she always gives her all. She has a unique style and a grace under fire that is all her own. She is cheerful, helpful and a friend to other skaters.

It would be so cool, and such a fitting reward, if she could have the skate of her life at Worlds -- just for herself, without worrying about how many places someone is going to have in 2009 or whether Hacker is more deserving that Wagner, or any of the rest of it.

so, so, SO true - all of it!!!! I wish Bebe all the best at Worlds.

Thanks everyone for the pbp's -- I'm still catching up, but it sounds like this was a great competition, in a great venue with fantastic crowd support!!!

 

[emma]

I just watched Mao - who, for me, is a pure joy to watch, great skate, I love the program too. And then Joannie Rochetter - WOW, so so so darn good to see her shine.

 

[TCTC84]

I actually like Miki's program. It's a shame she hasn't skated clean yet.

She has!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZstAByqI2fk