Cynthia Phaneuf -- top ten?

[Mathman]

There has been a lot of angst about the slim prospects of the U.S. ladies securing three spots at the Olympic games. But what about host Canada?

With Joannie Rochette pencilled in as a podium contender, that leaves Cynthia to make the top ten.

Cynthia certainly seems to be peaking at the right time, with outstanding efforts at Canadian Nationals and Four Continents. What do you hink of her chances at Worlds?

 

[screech]

I think if she skates how she did at 4CC she could potentially even break top 8. She nailed 5 triples and stepped out of 1 other (I believe) which is pretty good! She had attack and the performance aspect. I think she definitley has a chance to make the top 10 if she skates well.

 

[Tinymavy15]

I don't see Cynthia making the top 10, and frankly Canada does not have great 3rd lady to send even if there was a spot. the team up north is much shallower than in the US.

Isn't there a rule that if Joannie medals canada gets 3 spots? like Johnny last year?

 

[herios]

I don't see Cynthia making the top 10, and frankly Canada does not have great 3rd lady to send even if there was a spot. the team up north is much shallower than in the US.

Isn't there a rule that if Joannie medals canada gets 3 spots? like Johnny last year?

That is true that Canada has no 3rd lady anywhere to count for top 20 in the world, but that not means Phaneuf cannot break into top 10 if she skates as well as at 4CC. Her SP is stunnigly beautiful for examplel.

There is no such rule that a medal secures 3 places next year. Johnny Weir alone couldn't have not earned the 3 spots, US needed another skater to place higher than 11th (in this particular case Carriere who was 10th). The rule is top 2 placements has to be max 13 qualify 3 next year.

 

[fumie_fumie]

I don't see Cynthia making the top 10, and frankly Canada does not have great 3rd lady to send even if there was a spot. the team up north is much shallower than in the US.

Isn't there a rule that if Joannie medals canada gets 3 spots? like Johnny last year?

Amelie Lacoste, not great yet, but decent, hampered by injuries for 4 years. Before sidetracked by the nagging injuries, she was quite a jumper. Now she is slowly getting back on track.

Anyone else on the horizon?

 

[museksk8r]

If 4CC Cynthia shows up, she could finish as high as 6th or 7th, I think. If Canadian Nationals Cynthia shows up, she's out of the top 10. Phaneuf really impressed me at 4CC with all of her improvements. I hope she keeps up that momentum! I think Joannie and Cynthia at their bests can outshine the current US ladies, and apparently, so do the judges. Cynthia with a 5 triple LP (7 triples planned, no triple+triple) at 4CC was only 1.81 points behind Caroline Zhang, who had her best performances of the season, in the final results of 4CC. Imagine if Phanuef actually completed everything she had planned.

 

[screech]

It's true that Canada has more shallow field, however our top girls do outshine the US ladies, so if 3 spots are earned, they are earned, and overall shallowness has nothing to do with it - our 2 top are among the best, whereas the US top are near the best.

I'm not trying to rag on he US fans or ladies, I'm just commenting in response to the post mentioning the shallowness of the Canadian field.

 

[figuristka]

I do think Cynthia Phaneuf can place in the top 10. She is no doubt a top 10 skater, however she will have to perform about the same level she did at 4cc. If she looses confidence and struggles a bit its possible she could place lower but she is a good all around skater with good basic quality to her skating. She and Alissa Czisny are of a similar level to me. Great quality to their skating but they have to land the jumps. Hopefully her good showing at 4cc has given her the confidence she needs, and it seems she can still place quite well with removing her most challenging jump the 3 flip to the 3 toe in the short. As long as the other jumps are landed. She did a clean 3 lutz in both the short and long and i really hope she can repeat that at worlds.
Joannie Rochette i consider right now perhaps the 3rd best lady in the world. She could beat Yu Na Kim, or Mao if they don't skate well, but being top 3 is not secured unless she skates well again as she did at 4cc. Her long has always been good this year. I really hope she can medal. Its been a long time since a Canadian lady has medalled and i think she deserves it.
Comparing Canadian ladies to the US ladies. Right now Canada has their star Joannie rochette. Who will hopefully fulfill the wishes for a Canadian lady to medal again at Worlds or Olympics. Someone like Caroline Kostner for Italy. US have more depth in ladies which will take a few years perhaps to mature , but they don't have a skater who perhaps is at the level of the top 3 or 4 skaters in the world. Alissa could place top 6 i think if she skates quite well, the quality of her skating will help her. Flatt seems to be quite a consistant jumper and has alot in her program but to me the quality isnt there yet as the very top ladies have. She is a bit like the russian skater Alena Leonova who out jumped some of the ladies who placed above her at europeans but perhaps her basic quality was a touch behind. Laura Lepisto remember won Europeans without a 3 lutz or 3 flip landed because of her all around strong skating so like Caroline Kostner can move ahead. The US ladies are not as bad as some Americans think. Just they will have a hard time placing ahead of a Korean, A few japanese skaters and a Canadian.
As i said earlier yes Cynthia could place top 10 , and with her skating abilities she should, but she would have to skate well of course.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Cynthia plus Joannie could get 13 points, and 3 Ladies for Canada. No?

 

[Eurofan]

It looks like Phaneuf has been gaining confidence with every competition. I think it's possible if, as musesk8r said, 4CC Cynthia shows up in L.A.

 

[mylastduchess]

Well to put it out bluntly I don't think she would have gotten as high PCS marks if the 4cc wasn't held in Canada, so having the worlds in LA would naturally bump the U.S. skaters marks a little. So if she skates well she might break the top 10-12
but a top 6-7 finish I think is very unlikely!

 

[Spun Silver]

I'm finding the excitement about Phaneuf a bit hard to understand.

 

[fumie_fumie]

I'm finding the excitement about Phaneuf a bit hard to understand.

I don't know. Compared to constant discussions on US ladies, I would say Phaneuf is quietly slipping under the radar.

 

[Mathman]

I'm finding the excitement about Phaneuf a bit hard to understand.

I think the excitement about Phaneuf is because of her long and inspiring comeback to the top ranks in Canadian skating. IIRC she won the Canadian championship at 15, unseating Jennifer Robinson. It looked like, with a little seasoning, she could be great.

Then disaster struck. I don't know if it was a growth spurt or what, but she lost her jumps and her confidence both together. But step by painful baby-step , she has overcome all the criticism and self doubts and seems again poised to make her mark.

 

[amateur]

I'm finding the excitement about Phaneuf a bit hard to understand.

Well, first there is the opinion that Phaneuf is a breathtakingly beautiful skater (and also a breathtakingly beautiful young woman... but I *am* talking skating skills here..). Clean and strong basics, and an alluring, elegant emotive quality.
I can understand that some will be put off or unengaged by a percieved "something missing", perhaps not seeing much more THAN these basics, and seeing a skater who does not seem to let go and skate with free abandon... This is a skater who reportedly all but completely lost her jumps (growth spurt + injury + devastated confidence), and is fighting for it all back, realizing her potential and love for the sport and I think the majority of those who've been able to follow her in Canada, can see in recent competitions, a fire slowly starting to creep back in there. We are not seeing the best from her yet, granted she can sustain this reacqusition of her jumps.

And yet I, for one, as a fan, do see alot of beauty even in what *is* there in her skating as it is now - though I admit she doesn't seem to deliver her LP yet to anywhere near its potential, skating cautiously - but her SP to me is one of the best - most beautiful - among all the world competitors this year. Last year her programs were completely zzzzzzzzz for me, but gentle slow music was chosen in both with the stated goal of allowing her to skate relaxed, something she badly needed with her fragile confidence. This year I see a step toward choices that encourag her to emote more... I highly doubt the progression will be stalled there. Her team is being quite smart about not going for too much at once, I think.

Also, to Canadian fans anyway, just the prospect of having a second Canadian lady with potential to finish well inside the top 10 at the same Worlds! I don't believe we've seen that in Canada since the days of Chouinard & Preston, early '90s.
And to me it doesn't matter if we have a 3rd lady to be knocking already at the top 10 next world's - The experince of getting to worlds to compete, and being part of a reasonably strong team (not carrying the kind of pressure that Jennifer Robinson's generation faced), and having competition to get that 3rd spot... may all prove to be very beneficial to our Canadian Ladies!

To answer another poster's question about the next teir of skater's at Lacoste's level in Canada: We have our 2 skaters going to junior Worlds who are at or maybe just slightly below Lacoste's level, also Myrain Samson who I think has similar promise if she can keep injury free for a while, and of course... erm, well... Mira Leung...... lest we forget!).

 

[Mathman]

...and of course... erm, well... Mira Leung...... lest we forget!.

I didn't want to be the first to bring up Canada's national whipping girl, but...

I think it would be delicious irony if Cynthia skates so well at Worlds that Canada gets three ladies Olympic spots -- and then Mira rises to the occasion and grabs one of them! :yes:

 

[fumie_fumie]

I think the excitement about Phaneuf is because of her long and inspiring comeback to the top ranks in Canadian skating. IIRC she won the Canadian championship at 15, unseating Jennifer Robinson. It looked like, with a little seasoning, she could be great.

Then disaster struck. I don't know if it was a growth spurt or what, but she lost her jumps and her confidence both together. But step by painful baby-step , she has overcome all the criticism and self doubts and seems again poised to make her mark.

She has had numerous injuries on top of growth spurt. It appears like a lot of Canadians ladies are injury-prone. As for Joannie, this is her first injury-free season in a long while, where she is able to put in 3 hours of on ice training on daily basis. who knows what she would have achieved, if she had been free from these injuries over the past few years.

Phaneuf has come back from injuries and Lacoste, is just recovering from 4 year's worth of various injuries that sidetracked her since 2006.

ETA: Ladies were amazing at 2004 Canadians. Phaneuf, Rochette burst into senior scene with a big bang. Duhamel wasn't too shabby and Robinson was still going strong.

 

[amateur]

I didn't want to be the first to bring up Canada's national whipping girl, but...

I think it would be delicious irony if Cynthia skates so well at Worlds that Canada gets three ladies Olympic spots -- and then Mira rises to the occasion and grabs one of them! :yes:

Mira did a really admirable job in qualifying for the last Olympic team, not only showing up with a new (and much improved) program, but with such high stakes, delivering everything she could do, and with a relaxed and confident smile, to boot (unheard of for a Canadian Ladies #2 skater in those days!).
I've always rooted for her ever since, even though I do share the same bewilderment as everyone else about her flaws and her handling of them, so far.
I know the game is a little different this time around, and her head and heart may be in a different place... but if she wants it, I have faith in her ability to surprise!

BUT... this thread is not about Mira.... there's enough on that elsewhere