RE: Korpi: She has lost the flip and lutz, struggles for level 4 on spins. Her chance has passed, she missed the opportunities at worlds, particularly in 2009 & 2011.
I really enjoy her programs and style but we will never ever see her skate back to back clean programs unless she waters her FP and excludes the flip and lutz.
Remember the huge technical she managed at worlds 2006 qualifying? 3toe/3toe, lutz, flip, two 3 loops, 3 salchow step 2 axel, 2 axel..... That kind of content would have had her on the world podium of late, but it is beyond her now. Shame.
I do feel like it's time for her to go pro and earn bags of cash. She would play any Disney lead to perfection.
Of course, I would love to be wrong and see her medal at worlds.
RE: Mao
I always feel like perky programs are going to straddle the fence of being junior. Whilst I didn't feel like this was junior, I did feel it was somewhat beneath her.
You can do free, loose and breezy without being cliché (Makarova's sp last year, Tanja Szewchenko's Forest Gump, Butyrskay's 2000 sp). "I've got rhythm" complete with ponytail flicking, shoulder bouncing and elbow bopping has been done to death. The step sequence is such high quality that she gets away with it IMO. I'm more concerned that she still can't rotate the flip never mind add a 3 toe on the end.
There's no point in getting excited about Lipnitskaia at this point. See Sydney Voguel, Zhang, even Nagasu for details why. If she gets to 18 and can still manage her jumps, I'll definitely be interested. However, she might scam a 2 year career a la Lipinski, Hughes and Meissner before that, if puberty is very kind.
