LADIES LONG PROGRAM Thread

I like Akiko's more.

I never liked Irina artistically. I only loved her athleticism and cheery personality (especially those red cheeks).
She is wonderful and has a really great personality but she hardly connects with the music except for some instances like Schindler's List.

Alena is worse, her posture and overall skating style is not my cup of tea. She has some wonderful moments as well but she is a lesser Irina in my opinion. Judges love her style of skating like Irina so good on her.

She just pales in comparison with who I think will be the greatest female russian skater Adelina Sotnikova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Julia Lipnitskaia.

I think the 3 russian girls will have a very intriguing rivalry very soon, depending on who survives growth spurt and other changes.

Mao is talking about leveling up in the up coming events, so that would be really exciting.

I am so excited for the GP Final, Japanese Nationals, 4 Continents and Worlds!

This year will be really exciting especially with Mao, Akiko, Carolina and Alissa in the mix!

SkateFiguring said:

I need earlier pictures of Mao and Akiko together to verify if Mao has indeed grown taller, accounting for her recent thinness and, perhaps, jump problems.

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I see, but i was just confused, how can Alena be 5'5 when Mao is only 5'4 and Akiko 5'2

I always thought Akiko looked really short on the ice and Alena really tall and now seeing them next to eachother makes you kind of laugh at how short Alena is next to them despite the fact she doesn't belong there which you can notice on the picture because Akiko and Mao stand closer together and a little further away from Alena.

christinaskater said:

I think the 3 russian girls will have a very intriguing rivalry very soon, depending on who survives growth spurt and other changes.

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Russian ladies is looking really interesting, with the three wunderkids.. oh, and Shelepen.. and Leonova skating well too. I think Makarova is kind of out of the picture for now though. Does anyone know what happened to Sofia Biryukova? Is she even skating on the GP circuit? Did she retire?

She just pales in comparison with who I think will be the greatest female russian skater Adelina Sotnikova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Julia Lipnitskaia.

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Really looking forward to seeing these girls and some of the ones still in juniors. They already have so much going for them that I haven't seen in Alena and even Ksenia.

I want to see a grand showdown between Mao Asada and Adelina Sotnikova very soon!

blue_idealist said:

Russian ladies is looking really interesting, with the three wunderkids.. oh, and Shelepen.. and Leonova skating well too. I think Makarova is kind of out of the picture for now though. Does anyone know what happened to Sofia Biryukova? Is she even skating on the GP circuit? Did she retire?

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She will be at the CoR. And she has already won FinTrophy few weeks ago.

Wouldn't it be great if any of the ladies in the long program could pull this off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o3nwmWIxf8&feature=related

It's pretty clear from her GP events that Cynthia Phaneuf needs to consider retiring. She doesn't seem to care that she's singling jumps left and right and has about a 20% success rate with her 3z. Her only reliable jump any more is the 3t, and that won't do at the senior level.

If she successfully defends her Canadian title and goes to Worlds, with her current capabilities, Cynthia is in danger of not making the cut for the FS, and that would be disastrous.

I agree ordinary person, but also I think it would be great if any of the ladies could pull this off as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adbq89r-8pw

Sasha didn't have much height on her jumps, but boy she must've had the fastest "quick twitch" muscles around b/c she could pull off anything! Too bad about her competition nerves though.

That's the one thing I like about Agnes Zawadski & Chrisitina Gao so much, they're the first American Ladies Skaters since Tonya Harding to actually have *height & depth* in their jumps ala the Russian style of jumping (aka Evgeni Plushenko & Irina Slutskaya to name a few). After Tonya left, then came the era of quick small jumps ala Kristi Yamaguchi, Tara Lipinski, and Sasha Cohen. There's were the smallest. We never had big power jumpers after Tonya left, rather small quick twitch jumpers or just average.

But now that has all changed with these two new younguns ~ Agnes & Christina ~ I have HIGH hopes for them! I hope they don't peter out like Yebin Mok, whom was also a gorgeous power jumper with wonderful artistry as well.

Btw, I'm one that does *not* think that Alena skates like Irina Slutskaya. The only thing they have in common is that they're from Russia and look a bit alike. That's where the comparisons end for me. Irina was taller, had FABULOUS jumps (I was a die-hard fan of her jumps) and better presentation. There's a reason why she was a 2-time Olympic Medalist, 2-time World Champion, 4-time Russian National Champion, 4-time GPF Champion (she holds the record with Zhenya btw), 7-time COR Champion, 2000 GWG Champion, and the 1st woman to land a 3L/3R in competion, as well as the 1st woman to land a 3S/3R/2T in competition. And when she was ON, she was the most exciting fabulous skater to watch, you couldn't tear your eyes off her!

Adelina & the rest of the Russian wonderbabies have a long way to go before they can even measure up to the greatest Ladies Russian Figure Skater in history.

Anyhow, that's my take.

ps: still wish Mirai Nagasu (& for that matter Rachael & Agnes) would go to Brian Orser and beg him to take them on as a pupil. After seeing what he's done for Elene G., whom I thought washed up after so many years of seeing nothing, I'm now a fan of Brian, I take back anything bad I said about him in the past. He's one of the greatest coaches of all time, and soooo young...

chuckm said:

It's pretty clear from her GP events that Cynthia Phaneuf needs to consider retiring. She doesn't seem to care that she's singling jumps left and right and has about a 20% success rate with her 3z. Her only reliable jump any more is the 3t, and that won't do at the senior level.

If she successfully defends her Canadian title and goes to Worlds, with her current capabilities, Cynthia is in danger of not making the cut for the FS, and that would be disastrous.

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Yeah, Skate Canada has to be very concerned with the current state of their ladies, more so now than ever! I think this season is shaping up to be Amelie LaCoste's best shot ever at finally winning the Canadian title. Phaneuf's recent efforts have been embarrassing, to say the least.

I think Ashley really *gets* this program/music and it suits her... you can tell she's committed...

Here's another example of Carolina doing a triple triple triple combo which means it's possible, this just shows if more ladies tried to do that and a quadruple salchow in competitions it would be so much more exciting taking figure skating to a higher level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y98pNQBU02I&feature=related

Nadine - I don't think Alena skates like Irina - but, the comparison I drew earlier in the thread had to do with the fact that it did take me time to learn to see what was great in Irina - I could see she could jump but just didn't "get" her and didn't feel much when I watched her; but, reading commentary on this board really helped me see what was great in her skating and although I had many other favorites (too), I really starting enjoying her and rooting for her too - and of course - when I say I didn't "get" her, I'm talking about early on, like around late 1990s early 2000s'. So now, I have a really hard time appreciating Alena's skating (although I do wish her the very best and send congrats on her bronze medal), and was just wondering: am I missing something obvious to others here?? Is there something I can learn to see or is a question more of, let's see how she grows or what she grows into?

Nadine said:

I'm now a fan of Brian, I take back anything bad I said about him in the past. He's one of the greatest coaches of all time, and soooo young...

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Hmm, looks like someone has a crush. Do you know if Brian is single?

Nadine said:

ps: still wish Mirai Nagasu (& for that matter Rachael & Agnes) would go to Brian Orser and beg him to take them on as a pupil. After seeing what he's done for Elene G., whom I thought washed up after so many years of seeing nothing, I'm now a fan of Brian, I take back anything bad I said about him in the past. He's one of the greatest coaches of all time, and soooo young...

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Isn't he pushing 50? (not that I think that is *old* but I wouldn't emphasize his youth either lol)

Mrs. P said:

Absolutely. [Wagner] should have been third in the SP. The fact that those crap programs are getting the points they're getting is absolutely nuts.
I think this sets up Ashley well for Nationals. She has been very clean in both segments and her technique and artistry is greatly improved under Mr. Nicks tutelage. It will be even better if she goes for a 3F-3T.

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...and Wagner herself just now admitted in the post-FS interview on NBC that she's "not so pleased" with her 4th place finish (but is happy with how she skated).

R.D. said:

...and Wagner herself just now admitted in the post-FS interview on NBC that she's "not so pleased" with her 4th place finish (but is happy with how she skated).

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"But it is what it is." *shrugs* I love her... tamed honesty lol