Ladies LP Sun Nov. 15th 2:00 PM-4:00 PM | Page 19 | Golden Skate

Ladies LP Sun Nov. 15th 2:00 PM-4:00 PM

figurejennah

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 27, 2009
Hello All! I am writing this in Lake Placid.
I still can't believe that I watched Evan and Yuna live and GOT BOTH OF THEIR AUTOGRAPHS!!! WOO HOO!!! :)

Ok. Let's get to the point.
As I was going through the thread, I realized that many of you question whether Yuna's score was inflated and that whether she deserved to even win.

I attended Yuna's official practice sessions, and on Saturday, she fell twice or so. Everyone was worried that she was either in a bad condition or she couldn't get used to the ice. Luckily she pulled through 007, but she really fell hard during the LP.... :( I guess it was kinda predictable that she was not in her best condition. However, her sp was just incredible... she clearly separated herself from the other skaters. (Not to mention how beautiful she was with her long slim legs and arms... she would smile at the audience during the performance, and it was just breathtakingly pretty!) She is in a class of her own. You just have to see it youself to believe it.

Yes, Rachael did a very good job in her LP, but can her perfect program match with Yuna's clean performance? No, absolutely not.
Rachael is shorter than Yuna (or it seems), and she is much much
slower than Yuna. When she does her triples, she does not go into the jump with as much speed as Yuna, and also the jumping height cannot match with Yuna's either. Moreover, many people criticize Yuna's spiral for her "ugly" foot and leg position, but you really don't feel that way when you see it. Yuna's spiral was by far the most impressive spiral of the competition. It is FAST, and she literally covers the entire ice.... NO ONE at the competition did anything like that, and everyone was clapping and cheering Yuna in amazement. In comparison, Rachael's spiral looked even less flexible and
both Rachael and Suguri's spiral sequences are really slow. (I thought Suguri was gonna stop in the middle of the ice)

In the end, I think the only ways to beat Yuna is 1) Yuna does really really bad and messes up BOTH her sp and LP or 2) A skater who can match with Yuna's speed and jumping height and better flexibility does a clean performance.

Because the audiences witnessed Yuna's incredible SP, no one that I knew or sat with (many of them were old skating fans) doubted Yuna's victory. All I heard was, "Oh she was fantastic last night, it is too bad she fell today."
 
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herro

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 17, 2009
In the end, I think the only ways to beat Yuna is 1) Yuna does really really bad and messes up BOTH her sp and LP or 2) A skater who can match with Yuna's speed and jumping height and better flexibility does a clean performance.

Because the audiences witnessed Yuna's incredible SP, no one that I knew or sat with (many of them were old skating fans) doubted Yuna's victory. All I heard was, "Oh she was fantastic last night, it is too bad she fell today."

Great post figurejennah. I especially agree with your statements above.

I'm so jealous you got their autographs! :laugh:
 

Bennett

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
So far, ladies GP series have been rather underwhelming as a competition. SA may be the most. I hope that things go better at SC, final, and the Olympics. I am hoping that all the top ladies put it together.
 

schiele

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
I wonder how on earth will I watch Yuna's FS? it is the only one that is not up on youtube. :)
 

Daniel5555

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
schiele
I published a link some time ago :) But there is new one and better.
"My program today was just terrible", but she looks funny talking about this. That's Yuna :)
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
For some weird reason, the CoP does not want to acknowledge the difficulty in executing elements in both directions. It interfere's with their scoring system, yet John Curry when auditioning skaters for his shows insisted that the cast be able to spin both ways. So the diffiulty winds up in show skating - not in the Sport. You figure.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Hello All! I am writing this in Lake Placid.
I still can't believe that I watched Evan and Yuna live and GOT BOTH OF THEIR AUTOGRAPHS!!! WOO HOO!!! :)

Ok. Let's get to the point.
As I was going through the thread, I realized that many of you question whether Yuna's score was inflated and that whether she deserved to even win.

I attended Yuna's official practice sessions, and on Saturday, she fell twice or so. Everyone was worried that she was either in a bad condition or she couldn't get used to the ice. Luckily she pulled through 007, but she really fell hard during the LP.... :( I guess it was kinda predictable that she was not in her best condition. However, her sp was just incredible... she clearly separated herself from the other skaters. (Not to mention how beautiful she was with her long slim legs and arms... she would smile at the audience during the performance, and it was just breathtakingly pretty!) She is in a class of her own. You just have to see it youself to believe it.

Yes, Rachael did a very good job in her LP, but can her perfect program match with Yuna's clean performance? No, absolutely not.
Rachael is shorter than Yuna (or it seems), and she is much much
slower than Yuna. When she does her triples, she does not go into the jump with as much speed as Yuna, and also the jumping height cannot match with Yuna's either. Moreover, many people criticize Yuna's spiral for her "ugly" foot and leg position, but you really don't feel that way when you see it. Yuna's spiral was by far the most impressive spiral of the competition. It is FAST, and she literally covers the entire ice.... NO ONE at the competition did anything like that, and everyone was clapping and cheering Yuna with amazement. In comparison, Rachael's spiral looked even less flexible and
both Rachael and Suguri's spiral sequences are really slow. (I thought Suguri was gonna stop in the middle of the ice)

In the end, I think the only ways to beat Yuna is 1) Yuna does really really bad and messes up BOTH her sp and LP or 2) A skater who can match with Yuna's speed and jumping height and better flexibility does a clean performance.

Because the audiences witnessed Yuna's incredible SP, no one that I knew or sat with (many of them were old skating fans) doubted Yuna's victory. All I heard was, "Oh she was fantastic last night, it is too bad she fell today."

Thanks for your report. I agree - Rachael has the worst spiral I can recall seeing from an American lady in years. Her spins looked slow and sloppy to.
Hard to believe she is considered the best in USA right now.
Sasha please show up for Nationals ;) :p
 

Dodhiyel

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
Thank you for your post, figurejennah. :)

CoP has made much of figure skating unwatchable for me, as it has hurt the artistic aspect of the sport so much. Yu-Na is a skater whom I always look forward to watching, because she is able to create beauty on the ice while satisfying the point-accumulating nature of CoP with technical excellence. I believe that she is under tremendous pressure, because she is so good at what she does. No one can score 100% in an academic exam every time, for example, without realizing that there is nowhere to go but down, and the fear can grow and grow. Sometimes it is good to do less well, and find out that it is not the end of the world, after all. The live audience, I think, showed her that she was just as loved and appreciated as she had been the day before :)
 

cornell08

Final Flight
Joined
May 10, 2009
Thanks figurejennah! That was a much needed account :clap:.

Btw, watching Yuna cover her eyes before her scores was kind of cute/funny.
 

fairly4

Medalist
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
i am sorry but i didn't watch it on tv, skate america why- i knew who would come in first in all disciplines.
so i watch part on youtube.
to tell the truth- i was going to nitpick rachel scores to see who/if they cheated for her. But I was impressed she skated well.
the only problem i have is with maybe her lutz takeoff,maybe a warning call. she switch edges, and her triple. double, double i would have downgraded mom thought the triple after that.should have been downgraded also, because she looked tired and her jumps and the rest of program fell flat. But she did skate good, i can see why they gave her that score > me probably a 113.

I have a question in the USA Today paper Tom mentioned a skater reaches maximum potential at the 1 1/2 minute mark and it is down from there.
Does all skaters train for 1 1/2 min and rely rest on leftovers or do some condition their bodies for more than that.
to me is seems that is the problem with rachel she is good for the first minute and half and after that her speed and artistry lacks, if she is conditioned for more than that minute and half maybe she would be more of a threat--

yu-na i hope skates better-but she seemed her concentration left after her first jumping pass. yu- probable a 108-111.
 

amateur

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
For some weird reason, the CoP does not want to acknowledge the difficulty in executing elements in both directions. It interfere's with their scoring system, yet John Curry when auditioning skaters for his shows insisted that the cast be able to spin both ways. So the diffiulty winds up in show skating - not in the Sport. You figure.


I agree, it seems like it should be better rewarded. I like watching those!
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
For some weird reason, the CoP does not want to acknowledge the difficulty in executing elements in both directions. It interfere's with their scoring system, yet John Curry when auditioning skaters for his shows insisted that the cast be able to spin both ways. So the diffiulty winds up in show skating - not in the Sport. You figure.

That's interesting to hear about Curry's skating shows. It shouldn't surprise me. He based his skating on ballet, which believes in symmetry. Curry himself was a master of the spin in both directions, which you'll see in his Olympic long program. The one on YouTube with the British commentator even has a remark about it. Michelle also used to spin in both directions, around 1998 or so. I think it adds to the finesse of the presentation and should be valued...except that then every skater would do the move to death.

And I don't know how to double-quote, but I love Spun Silver's description of the two top skaters in the event:

Rachael is estimable. Yuna is amazing.

Exactly!
 

amateur

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
I only just now watched Rachael's LP -- what a great skte for her! She really showed well for herself in this compeition, her spark is starting to come through in these programs.

Does that spin not being counted mean that she'll be likely to change it? or could she have easily pulled it off without taking such a large step between. Is it too big a risk? I'm not a skater, so don't know - but to me it seems necessary to have some distance between to the 2 halves, if you're changing direction... Can someone in the know, fill me in on that?

I think it's an attractive element (when done competently), and would be a shame to see it go because of rigid COP rules, instead favouring yet another spin to look like all the rest...
 

i love to skate

Medalist
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
I only just now watched Rachael's LP -- what a great skte for her! She really showed well for herself in this compeition, her spark is starting to come through in these programs.

Does that spin not being counted mean that she'll be likely to change it? or could she have easily pulled it off without taking such a large step between. Is it too big a risk? I'm not a skater, so don't know - but to me it seems necessary to have some distance between to the 2 halves, if you're changing direction... Can someone in the know, fill me in on that?

I think it's an attractive element (when done competently), and would be a shame to see it go because of rigid COP rules, instead favouring yet another spin to look like all the rest...

It is fairly easy to fix! Quite simply she just needs to not take such a big step before she goes into the second one. If she practices it I'm sure she will be able to keep the element :thumbsup:
 

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
It would have been awesome if Racheal won. If she had stood up on the triple toe in the short and gotten credit for the spins she would have (or should have). But it was fiar the way it was. yu-na had such a huge lead afer the short (deservedly so) that there was almost no way she was going to lose gold. I have a inclination that will happen at the olympics, maybe to not such asn exent but I doubt that even Yu-na can skate lights out under pressure like that.

Anyway, racheal should be very happy, she seems to have established herself as "the one to beat" at nationals. I cannot image her not making the olympic team, I am predicting Ashley and Racheal.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
That's interesting to hear about Curry's skating shows. It shouldn't surprise me. He based his skating on ballet, which believes in symmetry. Curry himself was a master of the spin in both directions, which you'll see in his Olympic long program.

I have forgotten the details, but there was a funny story about when Lori Nichol skated with Curry's show, and one time she had to trade places with onother girl on the other side because she couldn't do the element in the opposite direction. (Nichol credits her time with Curry with being her inspiration to become a choreographer.)

And I don't know how to double-quote
.
For "multi-quote," click on the icon that looks like a scroll with a big quotation mark at the bottom right of each post that you want to quote. It will turn red. Then hit "reply" and all the posts that you want to quote will be there. :)

--------

Two quick remarks about the live television coverage of the ladies LP. Scott Hamilton mentionaed at least twice, -- once during warm-ups and again before Yu-na Kim's skate, if I remember correctly -- that Kim was keeping her shoulders too far forward on the take-off to her flip. This, he predicted, might cause her problems.

The other thing, about the question, "Can anyone beat Yu-na?" -- Brian Orser should be sufficiently experienced by now to know what to say to such questions. "All we can control is our own skater's preformance, blah, blah..;) "

A truthful answer, like "h**l no, are you blind?" -- that just provides fodder for Internet chat boards. :)
 
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