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Ladies - LP

MikiAndoFan#1

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 30, 2009
Very happy to see Miki go clean, but I think her performance lacked the sparkle it had at Japan Open. Anyway, congratulations! To Akiko and Alena, too!

:love:
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Miki has always got the crowd on her phenominal jumping prowess. Otherwise her performance has always been bland. She is a Tech skater.

Amanda is a beautiful skater who needs more Tech.

Other lady skaters I find to be imposters. I wont name them.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Results:
1 Miki ANDO (JPN) 172.21
2 Akiko SUZUKI (JPN) 162.86
3 Alena LEONOVA (RUS) 148.61
4 Mirai NAGASU (USA) 146.23
5 Bingwa GENG (CHN) 142.48
6 Amanda DOBBS (USA) 132.45
7 Joshi HELGESSON (SWE) 131.40
8 Kristine MUSADEMBA (USA) 119.45
9 Min-Jeong KWAK (KOR) 113.98
10 Diane SZMIETT (CAN) 95.43

Thanks for posting the actual results and numbers.

No surprises here, not at all. I expected Nagasu to struggle in the FS (with the injury and all), and of course Ando was the front-runner all along (her and Suzuki).
 

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Miki's SP should have been first, but it's a moot point now. Congrats to Miki and Akiko. Akiko's PCS is slowly improving. :thumbsup:
 

bigsisjiejie

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
How I saw it from the audience

First group warmup only has four ladies--Qiuying Zhu withdraws “for medical reasons.” Hmm. History repeats itself. At last year’s CoC, the trailing Chinese lady after the short program (Binshu Xu) also withdrew “for medical reasons.” Yeah, uh-huh. Oh well, on to the skating, first group warmup. Min-Jung looks especially tiny out there with “Amazons” Dobbs, Musademba and Szmiett :laugh: Amanda is doubling a lot of jumps—wait! She just landed an honest-to-goodness triple flip. I had to rub my eyes...there may be hope...

Szmiett starts off and is a total disaster. I was embarrassed for her. No triples landed, and I counted only one double (axel). Few transitions and just going through the motions. This wouldn’t even pass muster in a North American novice competition. What is wrong? This is not the same woman that came to CoC last year and did a great free program.

Kwak up next. Great music but maybe too over her head/ability to interpret at this stage in her development. I thought to myself, this is “Mao music!” Really ominously bad start with two falls, then she rallies. I admire her for not giving up and for fighting back and pushing through to the end. She is a good skater and very nice to watch. I think she has a decent competitive future ahead, if she can get into a happy coaching situation. Sad that this wasn’t a better GP debut.

Musademba’s music and program I did not like. I didn’t see much effort at interpreting it from her, either. She gives the impression of a deer caught in headlights. Lots of jump problems: step outs, pops, hand down, and a fall. Very pedestrian skating skills shown tonight, and not a lot of substance between jumps. Not sure if she’s undertrained, or having a really bad case of nerves. From this competition, I don’t see much and certainly don’t see the Second Coming of Debi Thomas (mentioned somewhere on the forum by another poster).

Ah, Dobbs. Very pretty blue dress and Aranjuez. Quick flashback to Michelle Kwan. Back to present. Dobbs has a few bobbles on her jumps, but very nice quality to her skating. She unfortunately left that 3F behind in the warmup. Oh boy, spiral in music at exact point where (flashback again) Michelle put her trademark spiral. Fortunately, Dobbs wisely doesn’t try to copy the Kween measure for measure. Dobbs slows down noticeably towards the end of the program—the footwork looked pretty labored, ends slightly behind music. Possible stamina issues? Rough skate, but with some more work on it, should be a winner for her.

Joshi Helgesson up first in second group. Like her music but not the choreography. She’s also got jump problems and I think some underrotations. But it’s not a bad outing for her. Should be close to Dobbs, though I thought Dobbs would have better PCS marks.

Leonova is using Witches of Eastwick, same as Mirai’s SP. Still don’t like this music for her either. Jumps are sloppy, spins are so-so, she’s trying to make a decent go of it. There is nothing “wow” about her anymore, though she still manages to cobble together enough technical content to do well. I wouldn’t give this stellar marks for performance/ interpretation, though. Judges ended up being more generous on PCS than I would have been.

Geng, big round of cheers from the partisan crowd. Also using Aranjuez, with heavy organ background—ugh. Wow, she is turning out a good program. Not clean, but she’s not holding back or being conservative. Noticed her spins are better than those of a typical Chinese elite singles skater. Crowd is not liking that she is placed behind Leonova, but I think it’s right (except the spread should be a lot closer). Bingwa is probably the best of the current Chinese senior ladies, but whether she can stay ahead of Zijun Li in the next couple of years, is unclear.

Miki Ando just gets straight down to business and starts cranking out jumps like she’s running a checklist. Most of them look good—if there were underrotations, my eyes couldn’t catch them in real time. My notes say there was no 3F in this program...hmm. Pretty much vintage Miki, not much in between the jumps. Didn’t like that the music built to a climax but her meh footwork didn’t go along with it. But it’s obvious this is going into first place for the moment. I’m hoping she wanted to use this first GP as a technical test to see how clean she could get it, then start focusing on the artistic side. I’m liking the music, I’m liking her dress (for a change), but I’m wanting to see better choreography. With the latter, this could be a signature piece for her. I like the potential of this package more than most of what I’ve seen from her in recent years.

Akiko has convinced me that show tunes are good for her. Last year West Side Story, this year Fiddler on the Roof. She really knows how to present. Starts out pretty well, then loses the plot in the middle of the program with 3 jump mistakes in a row. Now she has no prayer of catching Ando. Rallies with the nonjump elements. Not sure how things look to viewers watching screens, but Suzuki has actually been the fastest lady skater tonight. And this has been the most enjoyable program to watch. If she could skate this program cleanly, it would be an incredibly competitive vehicle—she is a superior skater. Not sure if the judges will diss her again with undermarked PCS—whoa! I am amazed that they marked her highest PCS of the night so far, above Ando. :biggrin: Finally, some justice.

Nagasu, final skater. She looks serious and starts out skating tight, as if Frank Carroll had pushed her out on the ice with a cattle prod. Starts out OK with a combo jump (UR?) then a popped axel then it goes fairly downhill at least on the jumps. Oh, no Mirai. These are mental mistakes, not physical ones. Her spins look good as always and her other non-jump elements are nice. Her PCS should be OK but not outstanding tonight. This could be a stunning program but needs a lot more work. BTW, I never noticed before, but is Mirai developing a mule-kick on some of her toe jumps? :eek: It’s pretty obvious that she threw away an opportunity to win gold or at least silver here—history repeats itself. Now I’m wondering if she can stay on the podium—IMO, she should still be placed over Leonova, but I’m sure she’s going to get some downgrades and/or ur’s from the tech panel. Score out and she is off the podium. :disapp: Very hard night for her. Wonder if Frank will have a few choice words for her later.

All in all, not a great ladies competition but there were a few highlights.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
Hate to say it but i'm about done putting my faith in Mirai. Injury or no injury she doesn't seem to have the mental toughness to be a champion. All she had to do to medal was stay on her feet and not be sloppy. This was a weak field and she still didn't win a medal. These LP meltdowns are getting to be a habit. Are we seeing the new Sasha Cohen?
 
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seniorita

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
I just finished watching men and ladies. Mirai has the best dresses of the season in both programs! I really like her program, too bad for her placement but she is really beautiful to watch!
Akiko is such a joy, I love her program and her graceness, her footwork was fantastic!
Miki was really boring, although she had huge jumps, she doesnt pay justice to this music at all, and why she always skates to drama stuff?
Leonova i didnt like her and I see her dropped by federation once the little russians become eligble in seniors, her marks are low. But worthed her bronze in my opinion.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Hate to say it but i'm about done putting my faith in Mirai. Injury or no injury she doesn't seem to have the mental toughness to be a champion. All she had to do to medal was stay on her feet and not be sloppy. This was a weak field and she still didn't win a medal. These LP meltdowns are getting to be a habit. Are we seeing the new Sasha Cohen?

I'll wait until the end of the year before I conclude that about her.

But remember, Nagasu went mistake-free at Olys, and gave a strong performance at Nats- Cohen did neither. Of course, on the flip side Cohen was still able to get on the podium despite her mistakes.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Hate to say it but i'm about done putting my faith in Mirai. Injury or no injury she doesn't seem to have the mental toughness to be a champion. All she had to do to medal was stay on her feet and not be sloppy. This was a weak field and she still didn't win a medal. These LP meltdowns are getting to be a habit. Are we seeing the new Sasha Cohen?

Sasha used to melt from Gold to silver. Or from silver to bronze. Skating in her prime against that field Sasha could have had one of the worst skates of her career and still made the podium.

So no, Mirai has a way to go before she can be the next Sasha.

Any latecomers who missed it here is Mirai's LP:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRSx_kWbaNQ

I agree with seniorita - Mirai's dresses are nice. Now if she can cut down the mistakes :disapp:
 
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kalle

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 28, 2003
Hate to say it but i'm about done putting my faith in Mirai. Injury or no injury she doesn't seem to have the mental toughness to be a champion. All she had to do to medal was stay on her feet and not be sloppy. This was a weak field and she still didn't win a medal. These LP meltdowns are getting to be a habit. Are we seeing the new Sasha Cohen?

I think what Mirai needs the most at this point is a confidence boost.

It was pretty obvious though that she is not in top shape (I am sure another 3 weeks of training will do good before Paris) but if I was Carroll, I would have asked her to go for an "easier" program at this competition..
I mean the 3F looked more or less bad even in practice (as far a it was reported), why not skip them for know and concentrate to do something like 3L/2T/2T, 2A/2T, 3L, 3R/2T, 3T and a 2A.. I would so much love to see her get her first senior medal and I am sure it would help her to overcome a little of the LP demons. When Kostner and Lepisto get high scores with the easier jumps, why not Mirai?
Mabye she is just more of a slow starter and will be perfectly fine at Nationals, I don't know but I badly want her to do well, she is such a lovely skater :love:
 

Krislite

Medalist
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
I wonder why Mirai's last combo 2A+2T was voided? Does anyone know? She had only done a 3Lz+2T+2T and a 3L+2T before hand, so I'm confused. I know the protocols says the second 3F was supposed to be a sequence, but she fell on it so it was counted an a execution of one jump right?

The only thing that seems to make sense is that since she fell on second 3F, which needed to be in combo to be valid since her first 3F was solo, the judges counted it as an intended combo, so that her 2A+2T became her fourth combo, right? I still don't see why they couldn't have voided the second 3F (fallen) and given her the clean 2A+2T instead, though.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
"More complete run-throughs, young lady!"

Anyways, thanks for the live report, bigsisjiejie.

Or maybe Frank had a Bowman flashback and will tell Mirai - "don't change the friggin' jump layout!"
Did adding that ill-fated combination cost her a bronze medal?

Thanks bigsisjiejie for all the Live reports you posted. I enjoyed 'em.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Or maybe Frank had a Bowman flashback and will tell Mirai - "don't change the friggin' jump layout!"
Did adding that ill-fated combination cost her a bronze medal?

Thanks bigsisjiejie for all the Live reports you posted. I enjoyed 'em.

Yes, it did. She was OTP by just 2.38 points. With a Double Axel worth 3.3 plus + GOE she probably would've gotten, she would've been easily on the medal stand.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Here's what Diane Szmiett did in the FS: 3z<↓, 1s, 1f, 2t, 2a, 3t↓, 1a

She landed 0 triples and just two doubles, yet she scored 57.26


At NHK, she did 2z+2t, 3s-hd, 2f-fo, 3t↓, 2a↓, 1a, abort spin.

Diane landed a total of 1 triple and 4 doubles at NHK and was scored 56.43, but scored higher at CoC for much lesser content. Go figure. And her spins and footwork at CoC weren't really any better than they were at NHK.

In any case, what WAS Skate Canada thinking when they allowed Diane to skate in the GP. She was scoring the same low scores in summer competition, so they had to know she was in no shape to compete internationally. I think she's put on a few pounds, just enough to affect her ability to jump. She has a slight double chin, which I don't recall seeing on her last year. She definitely needs to get herself into proper competition shape.
 
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mskater93

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
I wonder why Mirai's last combo 2A+2T was voided? Does anyone know? She had only done a 3Lz+2T+2T and a 3L+2T before hand, so I'm confused. I know the protocols says the second 3F was supposed to be a sequence, but she fell on it so it was counted an a execution of one jump right?
Becaused it was the second 3F and so it was required to be in combination/sequence which made the 2A+2T an invalid jump pass (4th combo/sequence)
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Here's what Diane Szmiett did in the FS: 3z<↓, 1s, 1f, 2t, 2a, 3t↓, 1a

She landed 0 triples and just two doubles, yet she scored 57.26


At NHK, she did 2z+2t, 3s-hd, 2f-fo, 3t↓, 2a↓, 1a, abort spin.

Diane landed a total of 1 triple and 4 doubles at NHK and was scored 56.43, but scored higher at CoC for much lesser content. Go figure. And her spins and footwork at CoC weren't really any better than they were at NHK.

In any case, what WAS Skate Canada thinking when they allowed Diane to skate in the GP. She was scoring the same low scores in summer competition, so they had to know she was in no shape to compete internationally. I think she's put on a few pounds, just enough to affect her ability to jump. She has a slight double chin, which I don't recall seeing on her last year. She definitely needs to get herself into proper competition shape.

Szmiett was 4th at nationals and had pretty good showings at 09 CoC and 10 4CC, so her Grand Prix assignments weren't that surprising, especially where Joannie is not competing on the GP this season.
 
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