Ladies' Free

[skatingfan04]

Great for Joannie...the feed cut out on CBC, so I didn't see the whole program, but it's a shame about the popped loop...the best thing is that if she had popped that loop at this tome last yera, knowing that she had a real shot at winning, she probably would have messed up the next three jumps...what an improvement in her mental focus this year...I also noticed her PCS have come up...she bean Mao there too...I feel bad for Aasada, however...she's one of my favourites, and it was a shame that she self destructed like that...hopefully it was a one time thing.

 

[demarinis5]

Congrats Joannie. She showed us today that she is a contender, my goodness what an incredible athlete she is. Congrats to Caroline for one of the few clean skates today. I thought she should have taken Silver but I guess with her jump downgrades and her low PCS that was not possible. Mao -I liked her program very much but she just was not on today.

 

[Bennett]

I thought that TEB ladies might be boring, but this IS exciting, even though I haven't gotten to see it yet!
Congrat's Joannie!!!! This is beautiful.
Mao; don't worry too much. You don't have to be perfect all the time.
Well done, Caroline!!!

ETA: I am worried how age-inappropriate Mao's dress might be.

 

[Love_Skate]

ETA: I am worried how age-inappropriate Mao's dress might be.

If she were in US, she would be a college student. To me it was not that inappropriate. Probably Mao wanted to break her girlish image this time. I think it worked. She looked gorgeous in a good way.

 

[R.D.]

JOANNIE​

I could not believe it. Shows just how lousy a predicter I am. But great job by Rochette and best of luck in the Finals and possily Worlds.

I forgot about that. two 1sts basically stamps her ticket to the GPF. Well, that's quite an accomplishment, good for her.

 

[Dodhiyel]

....Mao should forget about working on so-called flutz, it has messed up her old technique and confidence tremedously. TT is not a technical coach, I doubt she can help Mao with jump technique.

Alas, this is true. I have never been a fan of Artunian's coaching, but I have to admit that he was wise last season not to try to change her lutz mid-season.

Now it is a new season, but....could the problems be caused by her growth spurt? Or is it a loss of confidence from trying to re-learn a jump she thought she already had? Or could it be it a result of spending less time on jump repetitions and more time on style training?

TT was originally a pairs skater, until her knees went bad. Then she studied ice dancing rules, and became a very successful coach of ice dancing and pairs. Finally she got into coaching single skaters. Her golden reputation has been for polishing the presentation, enhancing it artistically, for the all-important presentation marks under 6.0. Mao's presentation marks have been good in this event; those marks have kept her in the silver. TT is, after all, not noted for being a technical coach of singles. I think that often a skater really needs two coaches, one for technical content, and one for presentation (PCS now). Coaches sometimes have assistants who supply what they cannot.

As far as technical excellence goes, I think the best technical coaches, that is, coaches known for their technical expertise, feel that three things matter most: training, training, and training--seemingly endless repetions, until what is referred to as "muscle memory" takes care of the hardest things.

Whatever the cause, I hope Mao is able to resolve the problems she is having.

 

[bx11]

Mao should stop using those russian footwork.

I remember back when she has those beautiful footwork with her chopin short program back 2 years ago.

She does not have pretty dress, lokk like bikini or lingerie.

 

[ks777]

I am actually glad Mao fell apart today. I really think she needs a full time coach instead of a part time coach who sees her once every few months. She probably started doubting herself before the competition.

 

[R.D.]

If she were in US, she would be a college student. To me it was not that inappropriate. Probably Mao wanted to break her girlish image this time. I think it worked. She looked gorgeous in a good way.

She is 18, legal age I think everywhere except maybe a couple Arab countries (?) . This should be a non-issue.

 

[dutchherder]

I'm alarmed at how Mao looked. Her jumps are just not there. She looks very tentative when she goes into them, even doing a small bounce-check on her leg before she takes off on one of her jumps (can't remember which jump, but she did it in the short program as well). She used to just zoom into her jumps with confidence. I'm also not a fan of the program; it doesn't relate well to the music. I've seen others skate to that music quite well, so I don't think it's the music, it's the program. I think Mao's silver may have been a gift.

Joannie, while not clean, related well to the music and the audience. I've never been a big Joannie fan, but I think I will be by the end of the season!

I noticed something about Caroline's skating today that I've never noticed before, but I believe she's always done it: she sure doesn't do many crossovers. Am I imagining that? If I'm not imagining it-- could that be why she skates so slowly?

 

[enlight78]

Didn't Evan go to TT also? It seems her skaters are doing worse not better.

 

[McWicked]

Please, dont complain about the lovely dress-lingerie Mao was wearin for her LP

 

[R.D.]

It is only Mao's FIRST comp. No need to panic. She still got 2nd. I still consider her one of Two favorites for the World championship (the other being Yuna, of course). She's got NHK- and with a win there she can contend for the Final.

She just had a bad night. Happens to everyone. I think her score of 109 is the lowest I've ever seen for her...she has got to avoid letting that eat into her confidence.

 

[lmarie086]

Ahh I can't wait until these are up on on-demand! So Caroline skated better today overall? At the very least she does seem to recognize why her scores are low-those downgrades are killing her. I hope she works long and hard on that in the time between now and Nationals, but I think first and foremost she needs to rework that 2A. It's scary, and yesterday was only of sign of what's to come if she doesn't stop slowing down into it.

I'll be watching later and make my comments then.

 

[ks777]

It is only Mao's FIRST comp. No need to panic. She still got 2nd. I still consider her one of Two favorites for the World championship (the other being Yuna, of course). She's got NHK- and with a win there she can contend for the Final.

She just had a bad night...and I think her score of 109 is the lowest I've ever seen for her...she has got to avoid letting that eat into her confidence.

a bad night? or bad two nights?

 

[frozenhell]

I am actually glad Mao fell apart today. I really think she needs a full time coach instead of a part time coach who sees her once every few months. She probably started doubting herself before the competition.

Tarasova is Mao's full time coach. She has been training in Russia. I think Mao will go back to her last year's program in world championship. This program just doesn't give her breathing room.

 

[R.D.]

a bad night? or bad two nights?

ok, a bad comp. How is that?

 

[fiercemao]

Didn't Evan go to TT also? It seems her skaters are doing worse not better.

Again TT is not a technical coach. Mao needs to drill on her jump consistency instead of worrying too much about artistry.She is ALREADY superb in artistry. If she can't get jumps down, her PCS will come down no matter how much better she is in artistry department.

Mao has too much to worry about her jumps. She didn't even try 3lutz today. Her 3S is not there, she is apparently starting to lose 3flip+3loop, which is fairly alarming. If her jumps continue to deteriorate, no artistry can save her. She should forget about fixing 'flutz', just go back to what she was comfortable with in past seasons in terms of jump layout.

 

[R.D.]

Tarasova is Mao's full time coach. She has been training in Russia. I think Mao will go back to her last year's program in world championship. This program just doesn't give her breathing room.

I think she should go back. This one was just a snoozer. I mean, I don't like her that much to begin with, but I saw absolutely NOTHING in this program. Nothing.

 

[bekalc]

From what I understand Mao does have a secondary coach Honda. But well, I really am not confident about this arrangment for her.

As for the outfit. I didn't care for it. I won't say it's inappropriate for age, I just don't think that kind of thing is sexy in public.