Distance vs. Height Jump Skills or Weir vs. Voronov

Medusa said:

I think both are very pretty - enormous height is a huge awe-factor, think a Yagudin Triple Axel e.g. Height is probably much more awe-inspiring than distance.

Both should be equal in the judging system. I think both height and distance show a certain control over the jump (if the jump is landed of course).

Personally I prefer the distance, mostly because the distance jumpers often have more flow out of their jumps and that makes especially the combinations more watchable. I still love to see Joubert muscle out a 4-3, but during combinations he often stands still after the first jump and just manages to tack on a Triple while basically not covering any distance at all. It was the same with Yagudin, after every big jump there was a pause in the program, not always suiting the music.

If you watch 3-3 of the current men - you'll see that most of them stand still on the second jump, there is no more speed left. Some guys - Weir, Kozuka, Chan - manage to continue their programs fluently after a 3-3, which I personally find very attractive, it also suits the music better because the standstill after jumps only suits Techno or Hip-Hop in my opinion. And the guys who go for distance instead of height, like those three mentioned above, seem to have more flow.

So I think height and distance should be equally valuable. Perhaps too many standstills and pauses (that sometimes come with big high jumps) should be considered in the PCS, especially if they don't suit the music (e.g. in Joubert's SP or KVDP's LP those pauses don't really matter much, they even suit the music - but if you, let's say, dance to Adagio or Moonlight Sonata those big pauses look just awkward and out of place).

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