- Joined
- Feb 11, 2007
Watched the whole free skating and I was most impressed with Ovcharova and Makarova, for two different reasons. For Ovcharova, I noticed that every single jumping pass in this program had either a step or a spiral right into the jump (except for the triple loop for which it 's the usual 3 turn.) Unfortunately didn't have much flow out of the jumps and the jumps themselves were not very high or do not span over a long distance, but still, it's hard to believe a 13 year old female skater is doing this. She also had a nice circular step sequence, her upper body movement throughout her skating was quite well done, and her reserved smile was so amiable and adorable. I really really enjoyed her skating.
As for Makarova, she's so mature in a very good way, and I don't mean it because of her height. The speed, her body control, her posture, and the way she keeps her cool (maybe "noble" is the adjective I night use to describe her in her skating,) everything appeared to my eyes that of a seasoned senior skater. She had a couple of stepout and overturn on her jump landings but those jumps she nailed without a problem had beautiful landings. I agree with everyone that Murakami deserved much higher PCS than Shelepen, but then I also feel Makarova should have received just as high or even higher than Murakami. With Shelepen getting 44.16 and Murakami 47.92, I feel Makarova's 44.00 is nothing but a poor scoring. JMO, of course, though.
I must say I am a bit disappointed by Shelepen's skating. With a big screen her coarseness stood out more than her jump contents. Her jump landings were almost always shaky, and she always had this long gap between the two consecutive jumps within a combination jump with the leaning upper body and the half-bent knee. But she's only 14, she has plenty of time for improvement. I am looking forward to her steady progress in her skating skills and improvement for her jump landings. About her flip takeoff since it was mentioned above... no wrong edge call in the protocol but with frame-by-frame repeats of the two different camera angles that were shown (one in realtime and one in the slow-mo replay) it still looks like a takeoff on the outside edge. But I personally don't really care, wrong edge doesn't deprive me of the joy of watching figure skating. (Neither do two-footed landing and underrotation as far as the flow out of the jump is smooth.)
By the way the highlight of the junior ladies free skating for me was Ashley in the audience section with a cute tri-color striped ribbon on his head
As for Makarova, she's so mature in a very good way, and I don't mean it because of her height. The speed, her body control, her posture, and the way she keeps her cool (maybe "noble" is the adjective I night use to describe her in her skating,) everything appeared to my eyes that of a seasoned senior skater. She had a couple of stepout and overturn on her jump landings but those jumps she nailed without a problem had beautiful landings. I agree with everyone that Murakami deserved much higher PCS than Shelepen, but then I also feel Makarova should have received just as high or even higher than Murakami. With Shelepen getting 44.16 and Murakami 47.92, I feel Makarova's 44.00 is nothing but a poor scoring. JMO, of course, though.
I must say I am a bit disappointed by Shelepen's skating. With a big screen her coarseness stood out more than her jump contents. Her jump landings were almost always shaky, and she always had this long gap between the two consecutive jumps within a combination jump with the leaning upper body and the half-bent knee. But she's only 14, she has plenty of time for improvement. I am looking forward to her steady progress in her skating skills and improvement for her jump landings. About her flip takeoff since it was mentioned above... no wrong edge call in the protocol but with frame-by-frame repeats of the two different camera angles that were shown (one in realtime and one in the slow-mo replay) it still looks like a takeoff on the outside edge. But I personally don't really care, wrong edge doesn't deprive me of the joy of watching figure skating. (Neither do two-footed landing and underrotation as far as the flow out of the jump is smooth.)
By the way the highlight of the junior ladies free skating for me was Ashley in the audience section with a cute tri-color striped ribbon on his head