2025 World Championships Women's Short Program

[Bluediamonds09]

Reporter to Alyssa (paraphrasing): You skated against the Russians would it be more interesting to have them here?

Alyssa was non-committal

What can she say? Adelka would beat me by 10 points?

Why did the reporter even ask her that? What was she supposed to say? Nicole schott and loena hendrickx both said their piece about the Russians, and the Russians blasted them in the media for it. This reporter was probably baiting Alysa to get a good soundbite.

 

[Mathman]

Reporter to Alyssa (paraphrasing): You skated against the Russians would it be more interesting to have them here?

Alyssa was non-committal

If I were in charge I would just cancel the event and ship all the medals to Russia, plus next year's Olympics. (I am not in charge, though. Skating91 is. )

 

[bigsisjiejie]

Interesting observation comparing Worlds 2024 with this year. Last year, Kaori was behind the SP leader by roughly 3.5 points and came back in the FS to win it all. This year, she's behind the leader by about the same amount. Never count Kaori out.

Also, last year, Chaeyeon Kim was behind after the SP by about 10 points. Came back in the FS to grab the bronze. This year, she's behind by roughly the same.

I am expecting either Alysa or Isabeau to be on the podium, mostly because the chances of at least one of them skating a blinder FS is pretty good. I doubt both of them will melt down. Amber is on the podium if she can manage a clean program with two good 3A's, one in combo. Chances of that are.....fairly slim.

My biggest wild card: Mone Chiba. She could take the gold or fall off the podium entirely. I like her, but she seems somewhat juniorish next to the other ladies, probably because she's so tiny. But her results this year are very good, and she's a good competitor.

 

[labgoat]

my comment on the ice - it is the same for everyone. a skater competes at many rinks and no two rinks have the same ice conditions - it is part of the sport to adapt to the ice

I can remember coming to my home rink and the ice conditions would be different from day to day and you just had to work with it as is

 

[rabidline]

Reporter to Alyssa (paraphrasing): You skated against the Russians would it be more interesting to have them here?

Alyssa was non-committal

What can she say? Adelka would beat me by 10 points?

Does Alysa even know who Adelka is?

 

[LazyFuzai]

This on the loop
for the rest of the day.
See you all maybe next season.
Wasn't fun at all

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

To those talking about the ice. It's too hard not too soft, b/c it's hockey ice. Also, you adapt.

 

[Seven Sisters]

On a lighter note. Fans enjoy talking about men “menning.” How should we describe what happened here?

 

[labgoat]

 

[Jumping_Bean]

2017 top 6 in ladies would also have been age eligible if the age rules were same as today. So the raise of the age rules does not explain the low qualification score. I think it is because skaters are doing/trying more difficult programs which causes more mistakes.

I mean, if we're looking at the top 6, or even top 10, then there's not too much of a downtrend.
(Top 6: 2017: 69.76 - 2018: 71.61 - 2019: 71.26 - 2021: 70.38 - 2022: 67.77 - 2023: 68.00 - 2024: 66.91 - 2025: 69.18)
(Top 10: 2017: 65.48 - 2018: 64.07 - 2019: 69.50 - 2021: 67.28 - 2022: 64.20 - 2023: 65.52 - 2024: 64.05 - 2025: 67.42)

 

[demarinis5]

I just got home from work and looked at the results. I haven't read through this thread yet. Will have to catch the SP on replay.
It looks like a battle between USA and Japan right now for the medals. I am very happy for Alysa, Mone and Isabeau (the youngsters)
but surprised at Kaori (ur??) and Amber but overall it looks like it will be a good final flight and fight and I expect some
movement in the final placements. Sheesh what is with the low PC's for Wakababy?

 

[labgoat]

On a lighter note. Fans enjoy talking about men “menning.” How should we describe what happened here?

woe-menning?

 

[Skating91]

Kaori could definitely still win if she skates her best. The only skater who I think could beat her if she does is Mone at HER best. I think the other 3 are probably fighting for the other medals.

Liu was heavily underrotated in her one and only short program combo, Levito was underrotated in her combo, and the 3Lz was on a q (of course nothing noted by the tech panel ). If they cannot land a clean combo in the short program, they are going to have big problems landing three combination jump elements in the free skate.

 

[museksk8r]

I'd argue Isabeau had just as much pressure on her, given how much doubt there was around her selection and her status post injury. If she did poorly here, it would be very bad for her going into next season

Hard disagree! The year Levito won Nationals in 2023, she fell in the FS at Worlds and finished 4th. Last year at Worlds, no one thought she had a chance at the podium after her disastrous Nationals and she wins the silver after more accomplished skaters like Hendrickx and Lee have error filled skates. Now at this Worlds, again no one expects her to place well and she’s been mostly absent and able to rest, heal and train in solitude nearly all season with no pressure on her and she places 3rd in the SP, again, after more accomplished skaters have error filled programs.

 

[bigsisjiejie]

2017 top 6 in ladies would also have been age eligible if the age rules were same as today. So the raise of the age rules does not explain the low qualification score. I think it is because skaters are doing/trying more difficult programs which causes more mistakes.

Possibly. Could also be that tech panels are calling more strictly and/or judges are not handing out high PCS like candy anymore.

 

[Joekaz]

How does a completely clean Higuchi have significantly lower PCS than the top 3? I would think maybe being in an earlier group, but Alyssa was before her and got more than a point higher, which is ridiculous. With proper PCS, Higuchi should be leading.

 

[Arigato]

It's not blame to acknowledge that NIH-sized rinks and ice of different hardness will cause some skaters more issues than others.

A skater who doesn't usually cover the full size of the rink anyway (no shade) will not care if there are a few meters missing, but someone like Anna Pezetta, who covers a lot of ice very quickly and has lengthy jump set-ups will. (I mean, she literally almost jumped out of the rink at Jr Worlds.) Hard ice makes it harder to get into the edges on step sequences, while soft ice can make it harder to do toe pick jumps, that's just how it is.

Do you think I don't know all this about rinks? I'll be blunt, if they can't take it - get out of the sport. Tennis players have to play on different surfaces including grass, clay, and hard court. Types of lighting varies, casting shadows as the sun sets, ( light varies when playing indoors vs outdoors), different temperatures and humidity from match to match vary, along with wind conditions. ALL that variation, and yet no one whines. No one.

But someone wants to cry about ice hardness and rink size?

This is a sport, not kindergarten.

 

[discodisco]

All Americand had at least a q on their combos but all were clean.
Chiba got a q...

As usual, the judges "saved" the skaters from the last group (except for Gubanova who had nothing to save).

Samodelkina was criminally underscored when you see what is ahead of her.

Judging has been pretty severe throughout the season, and there being a lot of q's, under rotations and downgrades that I have thought were pretty severe. But the missed under rotations on the Americans combos made my jaw drop. I expect a little bit of inflation for the favorite skaters in terms of GOE and boosting of skating skills, but don't ignore something as blatant as a clear under rotation, that everybody can see on the screen, and a lot of us can tell just by watching live.

 

[Skating91]

Does Alysa even know who Adelka is?

All of them would be well aware of who is winning every tournament in Russia.

If Usain Bolt was winning every event with a 9.5 second 100m sprint, but in some far away land someone who wasn't allowed to compete was winning in 9.0 seconds every event you don't think he would have been paying attention?

 

[cocteautwin]

Wakaba and Mone are both the SP winners in my book.
I also loved Olga's performance (stupid flip). She sparks joys and has such a complex choreo which she executes so well.
Kimmy has really grown on me this season as an all-rounder. I don't love her jumps, bet she's become such a great performer.