- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
I think Tenley Albright was the catalyst to bringing ballet-like figure skating to the forefront in USA. Beats Henie. JMO.
Joe
The Levels of Individual Elements
- Thread starter Joesitz (RIP)
- Start date
Joe
Is it really much worse than how it used to be? I have the feeling that CoP has really encouraged skaters to pay more attention to spins, and to come up with new and difficult variations if possible. Granted, sometimes you get spins that satisfy all these requirements for getting a high level, but they aren't actuall fast or beautiful. I think that this may be a temporary phase in FS as mature skaters (in FS world, 15 is old & 20 is ancient!) attempt to tack on these extra features to their spins. But I think for the younger skaters growing up under CoP, they are learning these hard spins at a young age and I think that when they get to elite skater levels in a few years, we might see a few more spinning phenoms like Caroline.
I was at a FS session in the rink the other day, after being gone almost year, and it was noticeable how the kids were attempting harder spins at earlier stages of training than even just a year ago.
No, I wouldn't say that. Many spins under the 6.0 were really ugly, IMO. I just think that CoP - like it is today - isn't a panacea either.
They tend to go for the highest level they can actually achieve. Of course they don't always succeed in getting credit for all the features they attempt.
Looking at the protocols for the ladies' short program at 2007 Worlds, only two skaters got credit for a level 4 layback -- the SP winner, and the skater who finished 25th. Everyone else had level 1, 2, or 3.
Some of those may have been trying for level 4 but didn't get credit for all their intended features. Maybe they were intending to increase the speed, for example, but didn't succeed in visibly doing so. Others may have been saving the Biellmann position for the combination spin now that it's only allowed once in the short program, or may not have that position (or the sideways position or another difficult variation) in their repertoire at all. Some may have consciously chosen not to attempt four features in the same spin even though they are capable of all four separately because they know the quality of the spin and thus the GOE tends to be higher when they limit the features.
I'd say we're seeing more interesting variations than we used to, but we're seeing some of the same variations so often that they're no longer unusual and therefore no longer interesting.
And as you say, we saw a lot of ugly positions in the old system as well. And usually forgot about them as soon as they were over because the spins were boring and didn't last long.
Holding one position for 8 revolutions will offer another option for skaters who may have a particularly beautiful or interesting position that they want to showcase instead of including four different variations in the same spin.
I've recently seen a couple of non-elite junior ladies attempting laybacks on the forward outside edge. So that's another option that we may be seeing more of sooner that could allow for some level 4 laybacks with no catchfoots or level 2 laybacks with no position change.
