The Ups and Downs of the Ladies

[Mathman]

Katrina Hacker, U.S.A. She is a lovely lyrical young skater who, however, does not yet have a full repertroire of jumps. She got a lot of attention at U.S. Nationals because she finished ahead of Kimmie Meissner, so there was a controversy about whether she should be sent to Worlds. 4CC was her consolation prize, I guess.

 

[passion]

As for all the Mira talk, there have been things that I've found very disturbing over the years including the mother's overbearance and the consequences on her overall skating technique, her social development, and the kind of person she has become. I've reached a point where I try to block all that out since I have absolutely no bearance on their lives and I try to see the good in Mira.

As for being talented, I'm not so sure. I think she is where she is through sheer determination and hard work which are good values, but I think if she was truly talented she would have the 'x' factor and that is clearly missing. For instance, she has made great strides in carriage and artistry, but it looks learnt. She just doesn't have the aura that Yu Na or Zhang have when they step on the ice. I think that if she was truly talented she would have medaled at some kind of junior or senior grand prix event by now. She has been a senior for several years now and the standings don't reflect a truly gifted person. Zhang, for instance, has medaled at her first year of senior grand prix events.

 

[passion]

Katrina Hacker, U.S.A. She is a lovely lyrical young skater who, however, does not yet have a full repertroire of jumps. She got a lot of attention at U.S. Nationals because she finished ahead of Kimmie Meissner, so there was a controversy about whether she should be sent to Worlds. 4CC was her consolation prize, I guess.

How old is she?

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Actually, she got a lot of attention at Eastern Sectionals and with no toe off jumps. She looked like she gained weight between Sects and 4CC, to me.

But more importantly, she looked much blonder at Sectionals than at 4CC. What color is her hair?

Joe

 

[Mathman]

Here she is in last year's sectionals, with dark brown hair.

Katrina will be 18 in May.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryx0T-5d8Og

 

[sorcerer]

The head turning up when Mira jumps is still there, and that IS an ugly jump technique.

I find the following very characteristic to each skater, I don't hate at all but never liked those characters.
Mao thrusts both arms in front of her before take-off.
Nobunari somewhat squats before take-off.
Caroline Zhang mule-kicks.
Yukari leg-wraps.

On your esthetic scale are they more forgivable than Mira's head turning up?
I expect your answer without any tautology of the word in question.

 

[Wrlmy]

Isn't so-called "mule-kick" quite common among ladies? I don't think high kick is characteristic only to Zhang. I don't find the kick aesthetically pleasant, but I became used to it over years. It almost became a common practice in toe-pick jumps. Indeed, I can think of lots of top skaters with varying degree. Jenny Kirk, Sasha Cohen, Mao Asada, etc.

 

[Mathman]

II expect your answer without any tautology of the word in question.

OK, the MIra debate aside, I've got to give a big to this sentence!

 

[Skye]

I think Leung's head bobbing is somewhat similar to Zhang's mule kick and Nakano's leg wrap. Not pretty to the eye of the beholder, but helps getting the job done for them despite the unorthodox approach. Only in ideal world would every skater have the jump techiniques of Yu-Na Kim.

 

[netnuts]

I think Leung's head bobbing is somewhat similar to Zhang's mule kick and Nakano's leg wrap. Not pretty to the eye of the beholder, but helps getting the job done for them despite the unorthodox approach. Only in ideal world would every skater have the jump techiniques of Yu-Na Kim.

Mira Leung's head bobbing has definitely improved A LOT over the past one or two years. The entrance into each jump has also improved quite a bit, there's no visible bobbing around. Compare the following two clips:

2008 4cc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv4g6moSD5s

2006 Nationals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj62HfrfIfA

2005 Skate America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FetL75tuGT4

Personally, i find the 'bobbing' is kind of amusing but definitely not as offensive as leg wrap.

 

[chuckm]

I find the following very characteristic to each skater, I don't hate at all but never liked those characters.
Mao thrusts both arms in front of her before take-off.
Nobunari somewhat squats before take-off.
Caroline Zhang mule-kicks.
Yukari leg-wraps.

On your esthetic scale are they more forgivable than Mira's head turning up?
I expect your answer without any tautology of the word in question.

Mao arm-thrusts before take-off on her axel, but not her other jumps.
Zhang mule kicks her lutz and flip, but not her other jumps
Yukari leg wraps on some (but not all) jumps

Mira turns her head up on all of her jumps.

All of the skaters you named have other excellent qualities in their skating (3A and/or 3/3s, flow and ease of movement for Mao, grace for Yukari, and flexibility and breathtaking spins for Caroline). All have won medals and high placements in the GP and other competitions.

OTOH, Mira's non-jump elements are ordinary and not outstanding in any way and she has a consistent problem fully rotating jumps, especially the 2A. Mira has been consistently marked down on the PCS, and after 3 years of competing at the Senior level, she has never medaled in a GP. She has never even cracked the top 10 at Worlds.

 

[sorcerer]

Mira turns her head up on all of her jumps.
...
She has never even cracked the top 10 at Worlds.

I agree that the frequence of undesirable movements would be one of the criteria judging skaters downwards in the PCS.
It's very difficult to ameliorate habits, but pointing them out might be constructive for the skaters.
From there, if they still can't fix them (like the leg wrap), well let's look elsewhere and let the marks speak the negative.

Unable to crack the top 10 isn't a dishonor.
There are 'unable to go to Worlds' like Akiko, Nana, Yukina, ....
They might never get a chance.

 

[fourclover]

A BIG AGREE here. I don't know what she was doing in the Final Six let alone getting a 4th place. She skated like a deer in headlights in her SP and LP. She stood up. Nothing was special. I liked the other Korean who has more style. I will watch for her next year.

I think it was a gift for Korea for holding the competition.

Joe

Totally agree. Na-young Kim skated so juniorish. Apparently she's the same age as Yu-na. And if I thought Yu-na didn't have stretch, gees, Na-young Kim didn't have ANY stretch to the point it bothered me to be watching her. No way is she in the top seven or eight.

 

[clarie]

Mira has improved steadily, and appears to be "sneaking" her way up the proverbial ladder. Hard work and a positive attitude can many times make up for natural talent........I give her the benefit of the doubt. She may surprise all her naysayers yet...........

 

[chuckm]

Mira got very lucky at 4CC; there were some strange calls and placements at that event. But that does not necessarily translate to success at Worlds. Mira didn't do any better in the GP this year than she did in previous years, and I'm not sure the caller at Worlds is going to be as generous as the 4CC caller when it comes to Mira's iffy 2A and triple jumps.

 

[janetb]

Mira got very lucky at 4CC; there were some strange calls and placements at that event. But that does not necessarily translate to success at Worlds. Mira didn't do any better in the GP this year than she did in previous years, and I'm not sure the caller at Worlds is going to be as generous as the 4CC caller when it comes to Mira's iffy 2A and triple jumps.

Mira had two 5th place finishes this year on the GP events and placed 4th in the long program at her both her GP events. I'd say that was an improvement.

 

[passion]

Here she is in last year's sectionals, with dark brown hair.

Katrina will be 18 in May.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryx0T-5d8Og

Katrina doesn't look lyrical here!

 

[Mathman]

No, that wasn't her best day. She fell to 6th in Eastern Sectionals with that effort (from 2nd after the short).

That was 2006. In 2007 she won sectionals with a great performance, then shocked everyone at Nationals by finishing 6th.

OT, but isn't this a cute picture of Mirai Nagasu, from the USFSA main page banner?

http://www.usfsa.org/images/figskating_top_2.jpg

 

[chuckm]

Katrina Hacker had a great performance at Regionals this season as well as at Sectionals. When I saw her Regionals performance on IceNetwork, I felt she had a great chance to be a top contender at Nationals. She repeated that great performance at Sectionals, and then at 4CC, too. At Nationals, I thought Katrina let her nerves get to her a bit, but she skated well enough to beat Kimmie and Alissa Czisny.

 

[Kypma]

Mao arm-thrusts before take-off on her axel, but not her other jumps.
Zhang mule kicks her lutz and flip, but not her other jumps
Yukari leg wraps on some (but not all) jumps

Mira turns her head up on all of her jumps.

Well, to be fair, it's pretty much impossible to mule kick on a toe-loop given that that would put one on an inside edge and create a counter-rotation. Caroline Zhang can't really mule-kick on edge jumps...
I haven't looked at the others to carefully, so I'm not trying to be mean to Caroline or anything, but I couldn't resist noticing this.

Kypma