And as for Nina, I know a lot of people were worried about her where her summer results weren't so great and where she still trains in Texas under a lesser known coaching team, and where she doesn't have all her triples yet, etc, but I'm still really hopeful for her. She is only 13, her 3t-3t is very close to being ratified, she is capable of a great 3lo, she's been landing 3f in practice, and her 3t, 2a, and 3s jumps are very solid. Further, her basics and speed are very good and the international judges clearly view her skating as high quality based on her impressive PCS scores despite her being one of the youngest competitors at the event.
I like how Nina jumps without hesitation into her more secure jumps, like 2A, 3T and 3S, and even that beautiful 3R in the SP. She gets a lot of height and flow. But I feel like sometimes she jumps too much around instead of a straighter take-off edge, like her 2A and 3T. For now it's ok, but I wonder if later on it will cause her issues if she doesn't correct it.
I was worried about her coaching situation, even though I didn't voice it publicly. When I saw her video from Gardena Spring, I felt like she had stagnated somewhat both in her jumping and presentation -- and I wondered if it was because her coach was just not experienced in taking a skater to a really advanced level. Jump-wise, she was still only doing 3T, 3S, and 2A, which she had been doing for 3 years. And presentation-wise, she had stiff arms, weird hands, and slightly hunched upper body.
That's why I'm really impressed with her JGP debut: she really improved on both technical content, not just the jumps but also the spins and footwork, and her presentation, too. And so that gave me hope that she can still improve greatly under her current coach. There's something to be said about having a supportive family nearby, and a coach that one has long developed trust and rapport with. If one had the best technical coach, and not that kind of emotional/social support, especially as a young child, that may not do much good anyway.
You're right that Yuna was already quite tall (though very thin) at 12. She lucked out, I guess, puberty-wise. A lot of it may have to do with genes, though I think it may also have to do with the training regime that Brian Orser put her under: a lot of cross-training, taking care of her body, and less time on ice. It's interesting that Agafonova hasn't grown at all since last year! She actually looked a bit like she still had some baby fat last year, maybe she'll actually get thinner... Maybe she'll turn into another Sasha Cohen, who stayed with her petite figure into her 20's. I'd be interested to see how Ovcharova turns out this season. She's definitely the most complete and polished among the Russian skaters, but her jumps look iffy, and I think it's rather technique than mental toughness that makes her inconsistent, especially in the LP's. With her strange jumps, it may just be too much to ask for to expect a fully clean LP. We'll have to see...
But both Ovcharova and Agafonova are so much better at presentation than Elizaveta T. Elizaveta has beautiful jumps, as does Shelepen, but their presentation are really sub-par. Elizaveta's skating looks quite awkward to me: she does weird things with her arms and hands, she has many posture breaks, her legs are not extended or turned out, her feet not pointed, her spins/spirals not stretched out nor fast, her footwork sequences not smooth or deep-edged. I am a little puzzled by how big the hype is around her. I hope all that pre-debut hype is not going to automatically get her higher PCS, because I think it wouldn't be fair to the other girls who pay a lot more attention to these aspects.