US Junior Ladies | Page 2 | Golden Skate

US Junior Ladies

oleada

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Well, she has struggled with her FS all season. Even in the events she won, I think she didn't win the FS.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I just saw a picture of the Jr. ladies podium on icenetwork and that Agnes girl is an amazon! How tall is she? She looks a foot taller than everyone else and must be around 5'8", amazing she can land those jumps!
 

kate

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
I just saw a picture of the Jr. ladies podium on icenetwork and that Agnes girl is an amazon! How tall is she? She looks a foot taller than everyone else and must be around 5'8", amazing she can land those jumps!

I don't think she's that tall. Podium shots are pretty misleading -- Yasmin, at least, is seriously tiny, and the other two girls were standing 2-3 steps below her.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Agnes Zawadzki has grown quite a bit in the past two years. But fortunately for her, her growth was gradual, not in huge spurts, so her jumping wasn't affected. Agnes isn't quite that tall---I'd say she's about 5'4"-5'5". The tallest Junior skater by far is Marissa Secundy. She's easily 5'8", and towers over everyone, including her coach Zakrajec.

About Kiri Baga: I saw her at the Liberty summer competition, and she was very tiny, with little short legs. I was shocked to see that she had grown at least three inches in the past 6 months, and all in her legs. I think that's the reason why her jumps have suddenly gone south. Kiri's going to go through the same kind of adjustment that Mirai did after her sudden huge growth spurt a year and a half ago.
 

feraina

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
I just saw Nina Jiang's FS at National's. She doubled her 2nd 3S, but otherwise she skated a very good program. She grew a lot artistically/presentation-wise, and a lot less nervous in the FS than in the SP, where she seemed to never settle down. She has a very solid 3T and 3S, and a big 2A. Too bad she singled her 2A in the SP, otherwise she'd be on the podium. She definitely looked more mature than her 12 years there, on center ice in that big stadium. :clap:

Nina has long arms and legs, and moves quickly and lightly over the ice -- reminds me of a young Mirai Nagasu. :) Actually, she also has a lyrical sense of musicality, like a young Caroline Zhang. It's a great combination! She doesn't yet have the harder triples, but at 12 she's doing quite well. I wonder if she will get assigned to a JGP in the fall. She will have turned 13 in time (April). And I guess she will almost surely stay junior next year. She probably won't turn senior until she medals at JGP or JW, so as to be guaranteed of a GP spot. I guess her season is over now. I hope she can work on the harder triples over the summer and make them consistent enough to put into programs. I hear that her 3 loop is getting close.

ETA: oh, my goodness, she gives the cutest interview later on the in IN coverage. She says, "... I wanted to show out there that I have matured, that I have grown up, and I can do what I need to do..." and nods her head authoritatively as she says this. ;) Then she's asked about the Olympics in 4 years, and she says she sees herself there as a competitor...

Shades of how Caroline was promoted when she first came on the junior scene (they're exactly one Olympic cycle apart). Hope it won't end as disappointingly in four years... But I think Nina is better positioned. She has better speed and jump technique than Caroline, and is skating with a more grown-up body at 12 than Caroline was at 12.

ETA2: maybe a cross between a young Caroline and young Mirai is a young Yu-na? :p Now that I think about it, I think it is a young Yu-na that she reminds me the most of. But Yu-na already had all 5 triples by 12. Yu-na really was a prodigy...
 
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feraina

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Agnes Zawadzki has *very* high jumps. It's really impressive how much height she gets, wow! But she looks like reedy waif out there -- I guess she will fill out soon with more womanly curves. I'm curious to see how that will affect her jumping, she's really tall already. But I suppose given that she gets so much height on her jumps, she has more cushion than most girls to weather through her body changes.
 

LeCygne

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
^ I'm excited to see how Nina develops. She seems like a very promising skater. I love her Chicago SP, but I've only seen it from last year... I wish I could watch this year's programs, but I don't have Icenetwork..
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I just saw Nina Jiang's FS at National's. She doubled her 2nd 3S, but otherwise she skated a very good program. She grew a lot artistically/presentation-wise, and a lot less nervous in the FS than in the SP, where she seemed to never settle down. She has a very solid 3T and 3S, and a big 2A. Too bad she singled her 2A in the SP, otherwise she'd be on the podium. She definitely looked more mature than her 12 years there, on center ice in that big stadium. :clap:

Nina has long arms and legs, and moves quickly and lightly over the ice -- reminds me of a young Mirai Nagasu. :) Actually, she also has a lyrical sense of musicality, like a young Caroline Zhang. It's a great combination! She doesn't yet have the harder triples, but at 12 she's doing quite well. I wonder if she will get assigned to a JGP in the fall. She will have turned 13 in time (April). And I guess she will almost surely stay junior next year. She probably won't turn senior until she medals at JGP or JW, so as to be guaranteed of a GP spot. I guess her season is over now. I hope she can work on the harder triples over the summer and make them consistent enough to put into programs. I hear that her 3 loop is getting close.

ETA: oh, my goodness, she gives the cutest interview later on the in IN coverage. She says, "... I wanted to show out there that I have matured, that I have grown up, and I can do what I need to do..." and nods her head authoritatively as she says this. ;) Then she's asked about the Olympics in 4 years, and she says she sees herself there as a competitor...

Shades of how Caroline was promoted when she first came on the junior scene (they're exactly one Olympic cycle apart). Hope it won't end as disappointingly in four years... But I think Nina is better positioned. She has better speed and jump technique than Caroline, and is skating with a more grown-up body at 12 than Caroline was at 12.

ETA2: maybe a cross between a young Caroline and young Mirai is a young Yu-na? :p Now that I think about it, I think it is a young Yu-na that she reminds me the most of. But Yu-na already had all 5 triples by 12. Yu-na really was a prodigy...


Christina Gao who was 5th in senior ladies is a cross between young Caroline and young Mirai and reminds me a lot of junior grand prix Yuna. She had a great 3t-3t and 3lz-2t-2lo and her overall skating reminds me a lot of Yuna. She trains with Yuna in Toronto and Brian Orser is her coach. She has improved so much since last year.
 

feraina

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Christina Gao who was 5th in senior ladies is a cross between young Caroline and young Mirai and reminds me a lot of junior grand prix Yuna. She had a great 3t-3t and 3lz-2t-2lo and her overall skating reminds me a lot of Yuna. She trains with Yuna in Toronto and Brian Orser is her coach. She has improved so much since last year.

Christina Gao skated very well, and is extremely talented, with very good jumps -- Brian Orser has really done wonders with her. I'm very impressed with what Brian has managed to achieve with all his skaters! But at 15, she doesn't really remind me of Yu-na. She doesn't have that ethereal quality, that "it" factor Yu-na had at 14 or even 13. For me, though Nina Jiang doesn't have anything like the jumping ability of Christina Gao, she has much more subtle musicality and performance ability, and to me she definitely has more of that elusive "it" factor. I feel like she should maybe consider switching coaches though. She's had the same coach since the beginning, and she hasn't managed to get past the 3S and 3T in the last three seasons, while her erstwhile competitor that she beat at the juvenile and intermediate levels (both national championships she won) have passed her one by one -- mainly on the strength of harder triples. She has good speed across the ice, and a good spring in the air. I don't see any reason why she can't get all the harder triples, if she had a better jumping coach.
 

LeCygne

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
^ I've seen Shanyn Vallon's website and such, and she's always got updates on Nina. Texas Gulf Coast FSC too.. Seems like Nina is a star back home, and I don't know if she'd leave so easily.

I think Nina has grown a lot over the past year. I read that she's 5'1" which is really tall for a 12-year-old (for skaters at least). Maybe that's why she hasn't gotten her triples as easily.
 

feraina

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Yeah, maybe you are right... I guess as long as being tall at 12 means that she will have stable height from now on, then it's a good thing, because she can learn her harder triples and won't have to relearn them, at least due to additional growth in height. But if being tall at 12 means she's going to continue growing to be really tall, then... Well, in any case, she needs to master her harder triples soon. The later you learn them, the harder it is to make them consistent.
 
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