Ladies LP

[DarkestMoon]

LOL, obviously you're not an athlete.

Prokofiev has a point. Yuna's scores deserve to be high but I felt like it was a bit inflated. Perhaps, that's why Carolina gave up on her program. She could have skated well to medal but she didn't and it's probably because she felt like what's the point.

 

[enlight78]

Mao won jr worlds in 2005
Yu Na won jr worlds 2006
Mao won GPF 2005,2008
Yu Na won 2006,2007
Mao won 2008 4CC
Yu Na won 2009 4CC
Mao won worlds 2008
Yu Na won worlds 2009
Who will be the first to win an Olympic medal? Mao or will Yu Na break the mold. Or Miki won jr worlds and worlds before both of them.

 

[Medusa]

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

I could think of a few things - like extension? Spiral positions? Spin positions? Heck, Miki Ando suddenly has better spin positions than Kim.

 

[Dipyramidal]

I forgot when Tatiana Tarasova exactly said this to Mao ( after the LP), but Tatiana Tarasova said to Mao, "In order to smile at Olympics you have to suffer now."
I think this will be a learning-step for Mao. You can tell that she was uncomfortable in the LP, and also the music didn't fit her. She's trying to expand her horizons and to incorporate more heavy, affectional music into her skating. Lyrical, soft, and elegant is good, but the judges are looking for a program with explosive-ness, and the wow factor.

 

[Alicja]

Prokofiev has a point. Yuna's scores deserve to be high but I felt like it was a bit inflated. Perhaps, that's why Carolina gave up on her program. She could have skated well to medal but she didn't and it's probably because she felt like what's the point.

What?? These girls are athletes. They are competitive people. They'll always try to do as well as they possibly can that's the way to deliver.

It is sad that Carolina had such a meltdown performance but to blame the score Yu-Na received is weird. I agree it was a hard task to skate next to her but not because of the scores but the level of preformance Yu-Na put out there and the way the crowd reacted to it.

 

[bekalc]

The PCS were up for everyone in the final group not just Yu-na. Miki got 64 in PCS.

 

[demarinis5]

(snip)
***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.

I agree Alissa got screwed on her PCS score in the LP. It seems that if a skater (insert any name here) skates a poor SP both the tech and component scores usually are low but I have noticed that if the same skater delivers a good LP the tech scores improve (as in Alissa's case) but the PCS stay the same.. I don't understand that rationale and it does not seem right to me.

 

[shallwedansu]

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).

That's it! I really thought the results last night were bizarrely similar to last year's fiasco. Last year, I would have had Mao, Yukari, Yu-Na and this year, it should have been Yu-Na, Mao, Miki.

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.

I agree again! Even with the unexpected results, I'm still happy for each of the medalists. Especially, Miki!

I soooo called it in the SP thread. I said Miki would be the dark horse. I saw so much determination in Miki during her SP and I had a feeling it was going to happen again last night and it did! Miki's the comeback girl!

On the other side of the spectrum, I'm devastated for Mao. I don't care how many champions TAT is associated with, but IMO, she is clearly not a right fit for Mao.

If Yu-Na's scores were inflated, then the rest of the scores were inflated as well. The judges started out the competition by handing out higher than usual scores. The final standings needed to reflect the difference in quality between Yu-Na and the rest of the competitors, so her scores were higher than usual as well. Who knows? Maybe this will be a trend in the next season, where judges will reward everything a little higher than we expected. Maybe when we expect a score of 7, it'll be an 8.

 

[figuristka]

I agree Alissa got screwed on her PCS score in the LP. It seems that if a skater (insert any name here) skates a poor SP both the tech and component scores usually are low but I have noticed that if the same skater delivers a good LP the tech scores improve (as in Alissa's case) but the PCS stay the same.. I don't understand that rationale and it does not seem right to me.

Yes her PCS should be higher compared to skaters such as Rachel, Alena, etc Unfortunately, skates who are not in the final group, or close to it have always suffered getting slightly lower. Its a shame but nothing new.

 

[evangeline]

***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.

Alissa skated well, especially given her past record, but she was quite tentative going to almost every jump she did. There wasn't much confidence in that performance, for sure. And really, if Alissa had been scored correctly, she would've been much lower in the short.

But congratulations to Yu-Na! Scores were a bit inflated, but then again, they were inflated pretty much for everyone. Loved her SP though, it was spectacular. Her LP didn't have the same spark, though.

Joannie, I thought, wasn't her best and all the little errors she made sort of added to an overall tentativeness to her performance. But again, congratulations to Joannie for getting her first world medal!

And of course, Miki was marvellous, she was probably the first to really wow the audience, based on the thunderous standing ovation she got! I'm glad she left out the 4S, it really wasn't doing her any favours. I for sure didn't expect Miki to be on the podium, but she really put together 2 great programs this competition.

And Mao not making the podium...definitely didn't see that coming. I think it's the first time she's missed the podium in senior international competition, which is probably devastating for her. I hope it's a wake-up call for Mao to either to get a new full-time coach, or for Tarasova to coach her full time. But I hope Mao comes roaring back next season, and perhaps stick to her 1 3A and 3-3 LP jump layout she had last season.

 

[figuristka]

I knew it would be quite close after Joannie skated, when the marks would come up. So close i couldn't tell who overall would be ahead, but i think one thing that helped Joannie is despite a few errors she still looked relaxed and expressive, she did not give away anything in the performance. Mao to me looked nervous, but i actually enjoyed her Free the most during 4cc, even more than Joannie and Yu Na.

 

[Tinymavy15]

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

I remember when she doubled the loop think "oh, no, not going to medal." When the last lutz wasn't clean, and she has been doing to perfectly all season I was positive she would end up in 4th. She thought so and threw in that extra salchow at the very end, after her usual 2 axel/ 2 axel. I guess that is what did if for her. I do have to say that her use of the music was excellent, comprable to yu-na and the nice touches she puts in...the split jumps, the use of arms....I don't have a beef with her being on the podium, just surprised. I would have had mao in 2nd, joannie in 3rd.

 

[i love to skate]

I remember when she doubled the loop think "oh, no, not going to medal." When the last lutz wasn't clean, and she has been doing to perfectly all season I was positive she would end up in 4th. She thought so and threw in that extra salchow at the very end, after her usual 2 axel/ 2 axel. I guess that is what did if for her. I do have to say that her use of the music was excellent, comprable to yu-na and the nice touches she puts in...the split jumps, the use of arms....I don't have a beef with her being on the podium, just surprised. I would have had mao in 2nd, joannie in 3rd.

She has been doing that second salchow at the end all year. Thanks for your info on her program!

 

[HCOSurfer]

I think this is the 5th year in a row where the reigning world champ didn't make the podium:

2005 - Shizuka placed 9th
2006 - Irina wasn't there
2007 - Kimmie placed 4th
2008 - Miki withdrew
2009 - Mao placed 4th

 

[chiyori]

I'm sorry if this question has already been answered but I am still huh? at Yu-Na's last spin being an invalid element.

Can someone explain why? I see the reason for Flatt but I really don't for Kim.

Btw, good for her for finally capturing the title. I thought her score was over the top, what with a popped/DG 2S and an invalid element, but she would have won overall even if she'd lost the LP to Miki (who I'm totally thrilled for). I thought the scoring was really weird in this whole event anyway... It's obvious they were handing out big scores to get the crowd going. I much preferred last year's strict judging than all these inflated scores.

I'm a crushed for Mao. But I feel this is going to kick up her motivation a few notches for next year so it's not all bad. Can't wait for the gala!

 

[jettasian]

Kim was good, not great. Her mark was VERY VERY VERY INFLATED!

 

[Wrlmy]

I think this is the 5th year in a row where the reigning world champ didn't make the podium:

2005 - Shizuka placed 9th
2006 - Irina wasn't there
2007 - Kimmie placed 4th
2008 - Miki withdrew
2009 - Mao placed 4th

not good at all for Yuna..

 

[Tonichelle]

I am SO OVER THE MOON for Joannie!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't think her bobbles were all that noticable and she never really had a disruption... I missed half of Mao's program because Mt. Redoubt blew and spewed ash over the city and so the stupid news people had to break in an HOUR LATER to tell us that the mountain blew and there was ash over the city. Yeah, they're great in a crisis I didn't think Mao's second half was as good as what she'd done earlier this season, but I can't really judge since I missed most of the program...

I fell asleep during Miki (I'm not feeling well, hence the reason I'm not at church this morning - along with the fact that there's volcanic ash all over the place and I have a skin allergy to it)... guess I'll have to rewatch the competition to really get a feel for it...

Yuna was fab.

 

[amateur]

***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.

Alissa skates with a real visible sense of caution, which is not really detected in any of those who placed above her. Even Phaneuf was quite a bit better than her in this regard, at this competition, as far as I could tell. And I don't find Alissa to be particularly musical, actually, or it least her musicality is buried by her nerves. She has a certain gentleness in her presentation that is lovely and more refined than some of those really unrefined ones that you mention, but she's not really *that* special; I don't find her basic skating or delivery to be up to the level of the spins and spirals, which are technical elements.
All In my opinon. If she were to get some confidence together though, I do think her all components would improve drastically - she does have it in her.

However, her components may perhaps have been scored slightly better in a later flight, who knows; but that is figure skating for you!

 

[JanFUNKY]

Some of my pictures from yesterday. I didn't take any during the competition but I took a lot at the practices and the medal ceremony.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quack99/sets/72157615968683917/