Ladies LP

[fourclover]

She popped a jump. She started the motion and even pushed off the ice. How's that not an obvious mistake? It was more than apparent that there was supposed to be a 3sal there. Get over it. I don't know why you need to bring up Mao's 3A-face plant from last year. Everyone knows that.

How can you even compare Yu-na's minor popped 3S towards the end of the program with Mao's major fall on her 3A, her first jump attempt, after which she "lingered" on the ice for what seemed like forever before she resumed? Yu-na's 3S pop was definitely an "obvious" mistake but I don't think it did anything to stop the flow of the overall program like it did Mao's last year.

 

[yelyoh]

Rochette's Firebird program was in her 3rd year as a senior. She made an interesting comment in the CBC fluff piece, saying that up to this year, she had been considering the Firebird season her best, and had been struggling to try to "live up" to the success she had with that, instead being more forward-thinking in trying to create new and better moments.

Interesting. Thanks for that tidbit.

 

[fourclover]

I think the Womens was the only event were the winner didn't have two clean programs.

But then again, nobody in Womens had two clean programs. At least Yu-na, the winner was clean in SP.

 

[Wrlmy]

I almost had a panic attack when the board crashed and wandered in outer universe for hours!

I'm so happy for Yuna. She really deserved her title, and the entire arena was with her whole time. Haven't seen such a great performance followed by crazy reaction since the days of MK/IS.

I'm gutted for Mao, and I initially thought Joannie gave it away to Mao after her performance. Now, I'm confused. It's sort of similar to last year's situation. There's a case for placing the 4th(Yukari/Asada) over the 2nd(Kostner/Rochette), but not neccessarily over the 3rd(Kim/Ando).

Nonetheless, I'm over the moon for Joannie. In fact, this is one podium where the medals mean so much to the medalists. Yuna finally winning, Joannie finally winning her first medal after a long career, and Miki proving herself after being written off.

 

[fourclover]

Did Mao win the SP as well as her LP to win the World title? Does anyone know when the last time a SP winner won the LP to win the title was?

 

[Wrlmy]

Did Mao win the SP as well as her LP to win the World title? Does anyone know when was the last time a SP winner won the LP to win the title was?

IIRC, Irina back in 2005.

 

[i love to skate]

I'm so incredibly happy for Joannie. What a treat to finally be able to watch a Canadian woman on the podium (I was only two when Elizabeth Manley won). If anyone is interested here is a nice article on Joannie's achievement:

http://www.edmontonsun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2009/03/29/8923651-sun.html

I really love the opening paragraph:

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl in Ile Dupas, Que., who put on her first pair of white figure skates and dared dream the little-girl dream that hardly ever comes true for a Canadian".

Yu Na Kim is a wonderful skater and congratulations to Miki Ando for coming back with a medal this year after last years disappointing season. The Olympics are going to be very exciting!

 

[Tinymavy15]

I was shocked that Mao was off the podium. She made the same mistake last season and ended up winning (but of course she cam back with 2 triple triples). I would have had her over Miki easily. I watched the event live and miki was very good, but her speed, spirals and skating skills were nowhere near Mao's.

I have no beef at all with Yu-na winning. Yeah, her scores were way inflated, but she did deserve the title. Great interpritations of the music in both the short and the free, i don't see anything overboard about it, so many skaters ignore the drama and the passion in the music they skate to.

I was proud of the american ladies, but as we knew after the short they were doomed.

 

[bekalc]

Did Mao win the SP as well as her LP to win the World title? Does anyone know when the last time a SP winner won the LP to win the title was?

No Kostner won the short program last year. Mao did a Miki in that she was 2nd.

Actually the last person to win the short program was Irina Slutskaya. She won the long program as well... Kim's the first person to win the short and long program since Irina. (Meissner won the long though)

 

[amateur]

Tinymavy15, how did Joannie come off to you, watching it live?

 

[chuckm]

I was shocked that Mao was off the podium. She made the same mistake last season and ended up winning (but of course she cam back with 2 triple triples). I would have had her over Miki easily. I watched the event live and miki was very good, but her speed, spirals and skating skills were nowhere near Mao's.

I would have had Mao over Rochette as well. Mao has a grace and ease in her skating, even with the fall on the 3A. I thought Joannie's 3 mistakes (hop on the 3rd jump of the 3/2/2, doubled loop, wonky 3z) made her program look just a bit labored and not nearly as good as she is capable of; I felt she was overscored and Mao was underscored.

I was proud of the american ladies, but as we knew after the short they were doomed.

I wouldn't call Rachael's 5th place in her first Worlds "doomed". I thought Lepisto was majorly overscored on her SP and Rachael should have been in the final group, but skating last in the penultimate group was almost as good. I think she might have picked up another .5-1.0 point in PCS if she had skated in the last group.

 

[enlight78]

I almost had a panic attack when the board crashed and wandered in outer universe for hours!

I'm so happy for Yuna. She really deserved her title, and the entire arena was with her whole time. Haven't seen such a great performance followed by crazy reaction since the days of MK/IS.

I'm gutted for Mao, and I initially thought Joannie gave it away to Mao after her performance. Now, I'm confused. It's sort of similar to last year's situation. There's a case for placing the 4th(Yukari/Asada) over the 2nd(Kostner/Rochette), but not neccessarily over the 3rd(Kim/Ando).

Nonetheless, I'm over the moon for Joannie. In fact, this is one podium where the medals mean so much to the medalists. Yuna finally winning, Joannie finally winning her first medal after a long career, and Miki proving herself after being written off.

Yukari had her 3A and 3flip downgraded.
Mao had her 2nd 3A and 2loop downgraded.
If they were fully rotated they both would have silver. Yukari would have came close to taken the gold.
Mike had her 3loop downgraded or she would have had silver.
Lesson learn again. Rotate you jumps fully or you will pay.
Rochette and Kostner deserve their medals because they know how to rotate their jumps and if they feel off they do clean doubles which get no -GOE.

 

[screech]

Button said he thinks Joannie is very, very good but still doesn't understand herself just HOW good she is. I agree. Joannie has that mature, polished, finished look but even now with the great season she's had I don't think she truly understands just how great her skating is. She can put out COP-friendly programs that still look and feel like finished programs with an integrated artistic concept -- a rarity. And hopefully she'll continue to grow in her belief in herself!

Asada: never have "gotten" her and still don't. Know she has legions of supporters and I'm sure she'll come back strong.

I think this year Joannie is finally getting how great she is and getting her confidence back. In a CBC piece she said she wanted to be on the podium and that this year is the first year she felt she deserved to say that. You could tell all season how relaxed she looked on the ice and how she knew she had it in her. Finally.

I also don't 'get' asada. I didn't mind yesterday's performance as much though. The thing that really 'bugs' me is her free leg on her landings... it looks like it's a bit stuck and hangs there so low before she brings it back. I just want to teach her 'up and out'. But I guess it works for her...

I think judges have always done that. It one skater is the clear winner and is skating last (or anyway, after her main rivals), they throw out the 6.0's/high PCSs just to hype the event and please the crowd, and also to avoid the controvery that always surrounds a close contest.

I'm surprised we haven't seen '10s' yet. That's the '6.0'. I wonder if the judges were to tell YuNa what she could have done to improve her PCS more, what advice they could offer her. Probably not much, so why not closer to 10?

I have no beef at all with Yu-na winning. Yeah, her scores were way inflated, but she did deserve the title.

I thought her scores were on par with the other skaters. Yes, high, but not inflated.

 

[PROKOFIEV]

Kim deserves to win , no doubt!! But I feel that scores are too inflated. I do not think she deserves the PCS she got both short and long. I feel that judging was really biased and that judges have already decided that they are going to give her more than 200 scores anyway if she skates decent. That will give a little bit more excitement to Figure skating world which seems to be loosing popularity except in Asia, especially right before Olympic. On the other hand, it is killing the excitement for the sports as well. I mean skaters might already think that there is no way to beat that score so why try. It brings boredom to the sports. At this point, nobody can beat that socre and only way to win is for Yu-Na to make huge mistakes. Only skater who might be able to beat that score is Mao, but she has a major work to do with her lutz and confidence issue.
Mao looked very nervous even before she got on the ice. I have read somewhere that her former coach, Yamada said that she had lost motivations after 4CC. By the way I kind of blame Yamada for not teaching lutz correctly from the beginning. She could have had a beautiful lutz now. Maybe this low point may help her to motivate herself and fight for next season.

 

[LeCygne]

I'm sad Mao didn't podium. I would have had her over Miki for sure. Miki was great, the jumps were amazing, but other than that, the program was just blank. No choreo whatsoever, just jump to jump and some stroking in between.

What was up with the * invalid element next to Yu-Na and Rachael's final combination spin? Neither got any credit for it at all... :scratch:

 

[R.D.]

I was proud of the american ladies, but as we knew after the short they were doomed.

Rachel was fine. Unfortunately, it was Czisny who sank the ship from the get-go

 

[chuckm]

What was up with the * invalid element next to Yu-Na and Rachael's final combination spin? Neither got any credit for it at all... :scratch:

The rules require two different combination spins, and Rachael repeated one she'd already done. That is a failure on the part of her coach, who should have been aware of that. Too bad, because her score would have been over 116 if the spin had counted.

I'm not sure of the reason for Yu-Na's spin being invalid.

 

[fourclover]

On the other hand, it is killing the excitement for the sports as well. I mean skaters might already think that there is no way to beat that score so why try. It brings boredom to the sports.

LOL, obviously you're not an athlete.

 

[DarkestMoon]

How can you even compare Yu-na's minor popped 3S towards the end of the program with Mao's major fall on her 3A, her first jump attempt, after which she "lingered" on the ice for what seemed like forever before she resumed? Yu-na's 3S pop was definitely an "obvious" mistake but I don't think it did anything to stop the flow of the overall program like it did Mao's last year.

I wasn't comparing it. Another poster brought it up and I responded.

I also don't 'get' asada. I didn't mind yesterday's performance as much though. The thing that really 'bugs' me is her free leg on her landings... it looks like it's a bit stuck and hangs there so low before she brings it back. I just want to teach her 'up and out'. But I guess it works for her...

Mao isn't the only one. Yuna has the lazy free leg. The US ladies have it too. Joannie is one of the few that doesn't.

 

[mhu714]

Kim is very deservedly the queen of the ball right now. But, the overall scores were a little high IMHO. I know this new system isn't very old, but to break the record by so much when there were a few obvious errors, including a zero rated spin, just seems wrong (Mathman, help me out here). I've never loved Rochette but she had a great year and so I'm cool with her getting the silver. Miki, however...I always marvel at her tech ability, but her PCS scores might have been the most overmarked I've ever seen. One judge actually gave her a 9 for interpretation! Not to mention tons of 8's. Scandalous. Asada had a bad year for someone with her talent, even with winning GPF. I hope she gets it all together for Vancouver--THEN we'll see a fantastic comp between her and YuNa.

***WARNING*** Rant upcoming. To tell you the truth, after going over all the scores, I think the biggest travesty might be the low PCS scores given to Czisny. I'm sorry, but when she skates a clean program--even with one downgraded jump and one other wrong edge jump, for TWELVE other skaters to place higher in PCS is beyond my comprehension. No way in hell skaters like Meier, Poykio, Flatt, Gedevanishvili, Leonova are above her. Not to mention Kostner, the way she skated last night. IMO only 3 judges scored Alissa correctly (mostly scores in the 7 range). The others gave her 6's and one even gave her all 5's!! If she'd been scored correctly, she would've finished 8th and the US would've had 3 ladies in Vancouver.