It was great to see so many short programs on TV this afternoon. I'm sure they'll show Agnes's again this evening. What a smashing performance! And Carolne Zhang...I found myself near tears while watching her. How delicious that she did such a beautiful job at Nationals, where it matters the most. This was a moment when the announcers were especially good, pointing out how hard she had worked to get out of her trough. Scott's enthusiasm about her wonderful performance hit just the right note.
Ashley looked excellent, and Alissa (except for that lamentable axel), but Mirai didn't impress me overly much. The two stars for me were definitely Zhang and Agnes, whose last name I see I'd better learn how to spell! If her solidity continues, she'll be representing my country internationally for awhile to come.
They didn't show Rachael at all, did they? Considering her score, I'm rather relieved that they didn't do that to her.
Angela Wang also made a good srs debut. She didn't make much of the dramatic theme (Crouching Tiger) but she has a good technical foundation and did most of her jumps pretty well, and closed well with a super fast spin (until she got to the Biellmann... darn those slow Biellmanns!). Outscored Joelle, darn it. : )
Aimee B. really didn't have the triples tonight (fell 3x) and seemed stiff and awkward until she switched to doubles, but she kept going for it and turned out to be a good spinner. Bonus points in my book for not dropping her knee before the donut. And really a beautiful final layback combo with good speed on the Biellman.
damn, i got out as it was sunny, not too cold. i thought this afternoon was all ice dance...and rotten in is blocking skating, after the fact...thats why people pushed congress to back off on copywight infringementt. now i'll never see the darn sps. i hiope these gals dont implode in freeskate. usually they show only a few sps. figures....damn!
Good attempt at triple lutz-triple toe from Wang. We're not seeing any of the top girls doing that! Although she didn't land it cleanly here, she did perform a clean one in the warm-up.
I like Aimee's reverse layback, (or whatever it's called). Bit of a rough skate, but not too bad for being a last minute replacement here. I hope she can return next year & be even better.
Me too. McKinzie did pretty well - would have been a 6-triple program but she fell on the flip. I think she may have thought on her feet by adding a 3Lo after doubling & 2-footing one. She needs to work on expressivity but has a lot to build on.
Kiri B didn't really do it for me tonight (I really liked her SP). She has Sasha-flexibility (spiral and Charlotte) without Sasha-grace. Not sure this was a good program for her (sorry, she can't beat Takahashi). ETA: Judges disagree, she goes into second.