2025 Grand Prix of France Women's Short Program

[Blades of Passion]

The 3 Japanese Ladies were wonderful. Also appreciated Lorine Schild's artistic sensibility; too bad the ISU spins and footwork hold the potential back so much of what that program could be for her.

Isabeau Levito was there.

 

[CellarDweller]

So, the customers refused to give me any sort of break today, so I missed all the skating.

Luckily, I have time this evening to watch the replay, and with my smart TV, I can now stream Peacock on it, and not have to watch on my phone.
I don't want to take over the thread with a ton of posts, so I'll only comment on the SPs that I really enjoyed.

 

[CellarDweller]

5. Ami NAKAI JPN
SP: "La Strada" by Nino Rota, choreo by David Wilson

3A
3Lz+3T
FSSp4
3Lo
LSp4
StSq3
CCoSp4

SP: 78.00 (1st)
HUUUUGE, that will be near-impossible for anyone to beat heading into the free, but well-deserved! but also #olympicseasoninflation

I love Ami's skating. She has such great skating skills and her jumps are so nice when she lands them, and I love her natural joy throughout. This was a huge statement from her - she is coming for those Olympic spots! I do think this program is a bit juniorish for her. I like a fun program, but even just changing the costume and a few of the choreo moments might help, and I do appreciate how it works with her personality.

Ami was amazing to watch!! That 3A looked so easy, and she had a great flow! It was great to see her skate, and her huge smile after she landed her jumps!

 

[CellarDweller]

7. Lorine SCHILD FRA
SP: "Stairway To Heaven" performed by Beth Hart, choreo by Massimo Scali

3Lz+3T (holds on)
2A
FCSp4
3Lo
CCoSp4
StSq4
LSp4

SP: 62.45 (3rd)

I like the program concept for Lorine, it's a great music choice and a cover I don't mind that much. The jumps are back to looking crazy in the air, and I think the program still need a bit more time to fully develop. She'll go ahead of Lea, but it'll still be close between the two of them going into the free.

Yes, this was a great piece of music to skate to, but I think she needed more energy at the end, to match the music. While the jumps looked crazy in the air, I thought they looked landed gently.

 

[CellarDweller]

11. Isabeau LEVITO USA
SP: "Almost In Your Arms" (from "Houseboat") by Sophia Loren, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans; "Zou Bisou Bisou" by Sophia Loren, Bill Shepherd, Alan Tew, choreo by Yulia Kuznetsova, Otar Japaridze

3F+3T (wonky technique but nearly landed)
2A
FCSp4
3Lo
StSq4
CCoSp3
LSp4

SP: 73.37 (2nd)

I love Isabeau's skating but I despise the second piece of music she uses, I wish she stayed with the first piece only. It is a miracle the French crowd did not revolt at the absolute murder of their culture with that song. The combo technique looks wonky still but everything else is beautiful, that camel spin was incredible and she has such neat lines. She's such a charismatic performer as well, it'll be interesting to see where she ends up in comparison to Rion.

I really enjoyed her performance, unlike you, I enjoy the ending music for this SP. Serious question, has her jumping technique improved?

I'm not saying that she's textbook perfect now, but in the past I've watched her skate, and think she's going to fall on every jump. This program the jumps seemed pretty secure.

or am I just getting used to her form? LOL

 

[CellarDweller]

12. Kaori SAKAMOTO JPN
SP: "Time To Say Goodbye" performed by Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli; choreo by Benoit Richaud

3Lz! (holds on)
FCSp4
2A
3F+3T
CCoSp4
StSq4
LSp4

SP: 76.20 (2nd)

I'm not crying, you're crying! But seriously this is an incredibly moving program from her, and the dress is amazing as well. In a night of great programs, Kaori brought something special. TES-wise, she's behind Ami, who will be the deserved winner of this segment, but Kaori skated like a champion.

Great skate for Kaori! This is (IMO) a majestic piece of music, and Kaori can skate up to it. She did a great job!

 

[lariko]

Nakai defiently won this one. With all the love to Levito and Sakomoto, the difference is way too low for delivering an only 3A in the competition, doing it well and not losing on any gliding and knee-bending. Yeah, she is as likely to fall on it as to land it, but when she lands it, I don't think she should be under-rewarded next to the rest of the field that wasn't delivering anything particularly out of this world amazing. Basically she delivered what I assume is the international dream skate. And got a 2 points lead? Pish-tosh. I am the last person to say that Nakai wuzrobbed, but yeah. She was.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I have been a fan of Kaori since I first saw her at SKAM 2017. She's been amazing all those years. I will miss her also. And I'll never forget her Amelie program which she did in a simple greenish brown dress at SKAM. She was so happy with her skate, she jumped up and down for Joy. She touched my heart!

There is just something about Kaori. Once at a Vegas event I saw her and her coach get into an elevator...I sashayed right into the elevator with them and stood in back....I couldnt think of anything to say so I said, "Mmmmmm....Matrix!" and smiled. They both turned around and gave me big smiles....as they got off the elevator, I said "Good luck!" and they smiled and waved....I wish her the very best in retirement and hope to see her involved in skating....thanks to the Angers PA announcer that made a good attempt at saying her name properly. I wont say anything bad about the UK commentator on Peacock who says "Angers" properly but wont attempt to say Kaori properly.

 

[Joekaz]

There is just something about Kaori. Once at a Vegas event I saw her and her coach get into an elevator...I sashayed right into the elevator with them and stood in back....I couldnt think of anything to say so I said, "Mmmmmm....Matrix!" and smiled. They both turned around and gave me big smiles....as they got off the elevator, I said "Good luck!" and they smiled and waved....I wish her the very best in retirement and hope to see her involved in skating....thanks to the Angers PA announcer that made a good attempt at saying her name properly. I wont say anything bad about the UK commentator on Peacock who says "Angers" properly but wont attempt to say Kaori properly.

The english speaking announcers clearly dont care about other countries. They made the same mistake with Ami. Is it that hard to understand that in Japanese it is always a soft A, never hard? It is clearly overt disrespect for non English speaking countries. No professional announcer could make the same mistakes for so many years.

 

[Azikin]

Yes, this was a great piece of music to skate to, but I think she needed more energy at the end, to match the music. While the jumps looked crazy in the air, I thought they looked landed gently.

A "great piece of music to skate to" would be an original version, this is just another example of completely unnecessary and unlistenable cover...

 

[pesto]

There's no excuse in my opinion.

If you are a professional commentator, a part of your job is to research how to say names. If they use sounds or combinations that are very different to your own language, you might not get them spot on, but at least get as close as you can. The longer an athlete has been around at the top, the more time you've had to learn, so at least get Kaori right!

However, I do think it's obvious that a British commentator will make a bettter stab at French than most other foreign languages. We all learn it at school, so have an idea how it should sound, even if many are still crap at it.

 

[pesto]

Player profiles on the WTA have a sound file of the players saying their own names. ISU should do the same.

 

[lariko]

Player profiles on the WTA have a sound file of the players saying their own names. ISU should do the same.

People may hear it plenty of time but not be able to reproduce it. English has very odd, chewed up vowels, limited consonants etc. Ear hears, mouth and memory can't cope.

Chris is a crappy commentator because he is boring, repetitive and doesn't know a whole lot outside the competition he is looking at, so he can't create an atmosphere of genuine excitement and immersion into the broader world of figure skating, not because he can't say names correctly. He is grating to an extreme. I am hoping for ISU adopting Russian strategy and finding recent skaters with a gift of gab who can shine instead of some guy who mainly does some other sport or every sport. Last year I think they had Kirsten Moore-Towers for one of the competitions and she was excellent.

 

[FlossieH]

People may hear it plenty of time but not be able to reproduce it. English has very odd, chewed up vowels, limited consonants etc. Ear hears, mouth and memory can't cope.

Chris is a crappy commentator because he is boring, repetitive and doesn't know a whole lot outside the competition he is looking at, so he can't create an atmosphere of genuine excitement and immersion into the broader world of figure skating, not because he can't say names correctly. He is grating to an extreme. I am hoping for ISU adopting Russian strategy and finding recent skaters with a gift of gab who can shine instead of some guy who mainly does some other sport or every sport. Last year I think they had Kirsten Moore-Towers for one of the competitions and she was excellent.

Chris is primarily a skating commentator, except that since Eurosport lost the UK broadcasting rights for figure skating he has had to commentate on other sports for them. He is a former figure skater who competed at Euros/Worlds/Olympics. He knows more about skating than you are giving him credit for. I agree that Kirsten Moore-Towers is good, and she and Chris were a good combination at Worlds last year.