Liu got the Lutz downgraded for sure, so Meier must have missed another element next to the Flip completely. Spiral sequence gone awry? Some spin not counted?
What a joy to watch Ashley skate!!!!!!!! Sublime, beautiful, classic, words fail me, she's getting better & better as the season progresses IMHO. I would put her in 1st place. Her gorgeous flexible spiral into the 2A at the end was superb! And her opening 3/2 jump was also nice, as well as her solo triple jump, but may be UR? I'm not sure. I did notice that she has a high swinging free leg when she comes out of her 3Z into 2T (is she a lefty?).
Lovely lovely routine by Yukarin Nakano! I absolutely adore the beginning & ending music, reminds me of a music box, which I collect btw. I know she had a bobble on one jump, her 2A was excellent as always, but because of her wrap it's sometimes hard for me to distinguish between her triple jumps & double jumps.
Poor Yukari. She lost her Lutz last season and still doesn't have it back.
I blame the results from 2008 Worlds. Skating your absolute best, as one of the top ranking skaters in the World, and not getting a medal is degrading. That was such a slap in the face to her. I think it did serious damage to her confidence.
I see RUS pushing this girl like they did Irina Slutskaya in the past, and IMHO except for the jumps she is average. I'm a stickler for leg line, which is why I have never appreciated those skaters with which I consider raggedy legs (e.g. this girl, Irina Slutskaya, Fumie Suguri, to name a few). Fall on one jump, otherwise did well.