2014 Olympics Ladies Short Program

[Panpie]

I saw some of the first group of skaters, then had to leave the house for errands. I missed Yuna Kim and Gracie Gold, but managed to see the final group. I think both Adelina and Yulia are unpolished, especially Yulia. Yulia's juniorish skating really stood out, especially when Carolina followed with such sublime skating. Yulia creates some wow moments with her flexibility, but she is lacks connection with the music and the audience. Hard to tell on TV, but Yulia also seems slow in comparison to others. Would love to know aht people in the arena felt. While I did not see Yuna Kim skate, it is hard to believe Adelina is so close. I would like to see Kim so I could compare the two. While I do not think there is corruption/collusion going on, I do think judges, being human, are influenced by things such as skate order and the reaction of the crowd.

 

[Layfan]

Did someone know about Carolina's change in the combo? This was really a huge surprise!

I didn't! Still so over the moon about her.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Did someone know about Carolina's change in the combo? This was really a huge surprise!

It wasn't in her planned elements for sure, and I heard it was a bit of a disaster in practice. It's like she does the hard things so well (3-3, lutz) but cannot maintain her composure for the easier jumps.

 

[Nater]

Oh, here we go. Seriously, revisionist history much?

No, not revisionist... At least not to an objective viewer. Sotnikova's jumps are all around bigger than Kim's (especially when you factor in the edge jumps, where is clearly weaker than Sotnikova - and Kim doesn't even have a 3Lo).

Everyone knew Sotnikova was a talented athlete with some of if not the best jumps in the ladies field and a great talent for spinner and good skating skills. The issue with her has ALWAYS been her consistency. She's like the Russian Gracie Gold. This is why, even when Tuktamysheva was running the tables on everyone in 2012, all the commentators still referred to Sotnikova as "the better Russian." Her issues have always been about keeping it together under pressure, and learning how to compete at this level.

Not sure why you people are so bitter. Congratulate her. She deserves it as much as Yuna or Kostner.

 

[Blades of Passion]

Did someone know about Carolina's change in the combo? This was really a huge surprise!

I was so happy when she did did that combo. It's sad that the extra difficulty of the combo only gets her 1.2 extra points as compared to 3Toe+3Toe. It's pathetic after how long CoP has been in place that the issue of properly rewarding difficult jump combinations has still not been addressed.

 

[Nater]

Yuuuup, no flutz called on Julia... should be behind Wagner right now. Also, Wagner's 3T was called as <<. I was wondering why she didn't clear 67.

I actually thought Kostner's 3T was UR'ed but looks ratified. To me she had the skate of the night. That was absolute bliss, and what a lovely surprise to see her upgrade her tech content.

The Lutz Julia did in the SP wasn't a flutz. It was fine.

Julia got << on the 3F. Her PCS seems to have gone back to what it was before the Team Competition like I said it would when people were crying night and day in the Team Ladies FS thread...

 

[Nater]

Congrat Carolina! The most beautiful skaters out there.

Although I'm a bit sad that now all your video will be bomb by the queen's serf army.

Julia might not have a good shot at OMG now, but with the inflation I'm so afraid that they will push up her clean skate to get the podium, if Caro is not clean.

Seeing certain poster jumping on Adelina's banwagon now is the most hilarious thing at this Olympic.

I have always said Sotnikova was the better Russian skater and have always thought she was their best chance at a medal. Check my post history.

I've also had similar words to say about Gold in the US, and I've had similar words to say about other skaters.

I'm not sure why fanatics like you have to label the rest of us fanatics to make yourself feel "normal" somehow...

Not everyone goes ****** when the results aren't what they wish them to be.

 

[Nater]

Well her short program at European was better with more controlled and neater jumps, and sharper spins, and scored almost 5 points lower. Of course she got that score only because she is Russian skating at Olympics in Russia. Just like I&K could never hope to get a score almost as high as the pre Olympic PB of V&M and D&W anywhere but Russia; and Boreova & Sloppov would have been 7th or 8th had the Games been outside Russia (which you will see at Worlds when they are suddenly behind both W&P and C&L).

No. You're imagining things.

She did choreo out of her 3F here. That was not there in Euros. That counts as a transition.

She had way more control and speed going in and coming out of her DA than in Euros. She was going way faster into her combo than at Euros. The whole skate was less tentatively skated, with more choreo and expression/interpretation. She was faster than at Euros, visibly.

 

[Ziggy]

People watch sports for entertainment. Part of this sport is judging the presentation. Don't fight it.

Yes and presentation should also be judged based on a skater's skill level and not on how "artistic," "true" or "mature" (insert any other meaningless weasel word) something was or wasn't. Which is what makes figure skating different from ballet, Hot Ice and a Vegas revue.

As for technical merit, overrotating a double by half a turn is harder than simply doing just a double. There's no reason why people should receive some kind of extra penalty for it. Usually the steadiness of the landing is affected in some way to begin with, so doing a 3Flip+3Toe<<, like Ashley did here, isn't usually going to get +GOE anyway. If you PLAN to do a 3Flip+2Toe and do it very strongly and neat and clean, you can get more +GOE. There's simply no reason to give the << jump an additional -GOE penalty.

Reason #1 - The landing isn't correct.
Reason #2 - Execution of jumps skaters are incapable of doing shouldn't be encouraged (Wagner being a good example of that given I've never seen her land a fully rotated 3/3).

A 3Flip+2Toe that would receive 0 GOE means it was lackluster jumping pass and lacked quality.

It means it was executed cleanly but had nothing outstanding about it.

In the replay I recall, Ashley didn't double-foot the landing. She simply landed forward and her free foot swung around, low to the ice.

I guess saying the jump was landed on two feet is a little bit of a stretch. If I remember it right, she landed on one foot but then touched down with the free foot straight away to maintain balance.

 

[Zamboni]

Awe please do not put Ashley in the same category as Kerrigan......Kerrigan always came off as a snotty rich *****

The irony is that Kerrigan wasn't rich at all. Her father sometimes worked 3 blue collar jobs to support her skating. He even drove her to the rink in the morning and I think even worked the zamboni. (Her mother was blind and couldn't do any of those things). It was tragic what happened later.

 

[Ziggy]

I was so happy when she did did that combo. It's sad that the extra difficulty of the combo only gets her 1.2 extra points as compared to 3Toe+3Toe. It's pathetic after how long CoP has been in place that the issue of properly rewarding difficult jump combinations has still not been addressed.

Probably because this would increase the gap between the skaters at the top and the rest even more. So most federations will never support that with their votes.

 

[Mrs. P]

The irony is that Kerrigan wasn't rich at all. Her father sometimes worked 3 blue collar jobs to support her skating. He even drove her to the rink in the morning and I think even worked the zamboni. (Her mother was blind and couldn't do any of those things). It was tragic what happened later.

And neither was Ashley FWIW. Not sayiing you said she was, but just pointing it out. She worked part-time to help pay for her skating expenses until the endorsements started coming in.

 

[MaiKatze]

Can I just say that it is absolutely amazing that Nathalie Weinzierl made the top 10? Similar to Peter Liebers. To be honest I didn't believe in her after the team event, but she delivered. And she jokingly told her coach off in the KnC to not ruin her hair.

 

[amc987]

I am feeling a little bolder now so I'm going to make a prediction.

1. Kim 2. Kostner 3. Lipnitskaya. I think Wagner and Gold will stay in the top 6. I have a feeling Sotnikova won't skate a strong program tomorrow and that some of the Japanese ladies will skate better/ move up. It's just a matter of how far up they can go given their current placements. Suzuki obviously has the best chance to get into the top 5 or 6. If Julia nails her program, she's still in for a medal. In fact, if she's scored like the team competition, Kim and Kostner had better be good to keep their current spots.

EDIT: Please let Carolina, Ashley, and Akiko have amazing skates tomorrow night! How cool would it be if Carolina skated a CLEAN LP and ended up top 2? I am already lighting my candle.

 

[MaiKatze]

I also think that Julia is far from out. I think that she is more likely to medal than Gracie Gold at this point. Remember her FS is her biggest strength and I think she is angry now, she wants that medal! In the end there will be at least one Russian Lady on the podium, that much is for sure.

 

[starrynight]

The Lutz Julia did in the SP wasn't a flutz. It was fine.

Julia got << on the 3F. Her PCS seems to have gone back to what it was before the Team Competition like I said it would when people were crying night and day in the Team Ladies FS thread...

Hmm... it was a ratified flutz. No sane judge could give the team comp PCS when she fell on 3F<<. Oops, sorry. I forgot Mao.

 

[letitgo]

I think the judges were also scared of the skinhead Russian crowd and what they will do if a Russian skater is not on the podium
joking but seriously i wish there was some sort of written form the GOE scores.

 

[HalfTriple]

There was a break between Kim's preceding steps and her flip. Sotnikova got more height (Kim's height was good as well).

I had +1 for Kim's 3F and +2 for Sotnikova's.

That does not compensate the over all low quality. Though Adelina did well, hers is nowhere close to 70 if judged correctly. She is another Julia to the ISU this time.

 

[HalfTriple]

Sotnikova's 2Axel is bigger than Kim's.

also far poorer.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

That does not compensate the over all low quality. Though Adelina did well, hers is nowhere close to 70 if judged correctly. She is another Julia to the ISU this time.

Using the lowest judge's PCS score as the average would have still given her 71+. It's amazing how many experts we have here who can say with such certainty they could judge this competition better than any judge on the panel on the basis of seeing these programs on tv or a computer monitor.