Ladies' Short Program, Fri. 2/10 at 2:50 pm EST

[FlattFan]

Kanako's good speed. Huge 3T-3T.
Flip was good.
Definitely is going in front of everyone.

 

[emma]

I'm really, really happy for Ashley - so love seeing her confidence and being able to do two good short programs (nationals and here) back to back is fantastic!!! Yippy!!!

 

[seniorita]

Wow Ashley! I had said it in GP also, she is a completely new skater, and the programs suit her very much!
I hope Trewn is partying tonight, and is convinced to go to worlds! what a comeback this season!

 

[sequinsgalore]

Kanako MURAKAMI (JPN)

Music: Violin Muse

3T+3T
3F
FSSp
LSp
2A
SlSt
CCoSp

A nice clean performance. She seems happy.

Score: 63.45, new PB and into 3rd

 

[FlattFan]

Did Kanako grow even more? She looks like a lady now. Not a teeny bopper anymore. Very expressive.
I like.

 

[FTnoona]

Kanako did really well. She has a gigantic 3t-3t combo.

 

[Spun Silver]

Oh my goodness. Murakami delivers with passion. Ah, youth. I hope she goes into the lead. That was fearless.

 

[Serious Business]

Murakami skates are more mature program, still not completely refined though. But the massive speed! The jumps! She's on. The first high level skater in this comp to not make a mistake on jumps.

 

[lise]

i'm hoping Cynthia skates great today! Keeping fingers crossed!!

 

[100yen]

Nice one from Ashley!! I'm just excited for her Black Swan program--my favorite of the two this season. Kanako did fantastic...her skating posture still distracts me quite a bit >_< but she's becoming a worldwide crowd favorite--partial standing ovation

 

[FlattFan]

When did Ashley start getting higher PCS than Kanako? Wow, national champ does give a big boost to PCS.

 

[Nadine]

I still can't get over Ashley, barely even watched the Japanese skater that skated after her, I'm in la-la land. :yay:

Finally, she's doing this in front of the world and slowly but gradually earning rep points.

 

[mystichaze]

I thought Kanako should have scored higher technically! Huge combo!

 

[CassAgain]

I expected Kanako to be ahead by 2 or 3 points.

 

[evangeline]

No combo for Haruka.....

I would've placed Kanako a bit higher. Great speed, 3-3, and she really sold it.

 

[sequinsgalore]

Haruka IMAI (JPN)

Music: Song Without Words op. 109 by Felix Mendelssohn

3T - hand down, no combo
2Lo - stepout
FCSp
2A
CiSt
LSp
CCoSp

Sadly, too many mistakes...

Score: 45.19 and into 5th

 

[seniorita]

Murakami was sick yesterday, something like that I read. She looks very thin, grew up a lot! Great skate!!!

 

[Chris_E]

Ashley was great! Exactly what she needed to do here. She's never been scored that high and to be so close to Mao is great. Hopefully she can keep this up in the long, I'm worried with the altitude but I guess everyone will have that challenge as well. She skated like the US Champ and she got the score to show for it. Great job!

 

[Spun Silver]

An off-night for Imai, too bad. But she;s the only Japanese lady who keeps her working leg straight in the layback. :thumbsup:

 

[Nadine]

And I just noticed the twins (i.e. Phaneuf & Zawadzki) are skating right after each other; they're both MONSTER jumpers and look alike imho.

BRAVO, ASHLEY, BRAVO, ONCE AGAIN BRAVO!!!!