Yeah maybe both good and bad means. Daisuke and Yuzuru's FS was brilliant besides T/T got medal for Japan pair for the first time! I'm so happy for Carolina to take the title and Akiko's on the podium,too! Nice podium! But I'm really worried about team Sato (USA and Japan) whose all skaters except Marchei had rough skates...
I love Yuka Sato so much, and I'm so distressed for her team.
As for Alissa, since I didn't yell at Rachael last year, I have the luxury of not having to yell at Alissa this year. I can just feel awful, and I certainly do. I'm sure she didn't expect to do so badly, and she certainly didn't do it on purpose. It's not only agonizing to skate like that in public, it's humiliating, and it takes her coaches and her federation down with her. I'm sure she would have done anything to avoid this. In fact, I wonder whether there was something really wrong with her, whether physical or mental. This isn't just a calf injury.
As for Carolina and Akiko, how delicious to see them do so well. Carolina's program this year is lovely. She might not have been a champion during a time of more technical demands, but she's skating here and now, and she delivered the goods. As for Akiko...wow. Twenty-seven years old, and this is her first year with a triple-triple. Like Shizuka, she rewrites the book on what women skaters can be capable of doing. (Not all women skaters, of course; just the exceptional ones.) I hope she can keep up the good work until Sochi. But meanwhile, she has that wonderful performance at Worlds, and a silver medal.
My heart aches for Mao. But I know she won't give up. Wait till next year!
And Ashley is now in the big time. My thoughts for next year: she and Caroline might be the ones who top the heap in the U.S. next year. For all her problems, Zhang always seemed to be poised under pressure. Before her size changes and weak technique did her in, she was the American skater who did best with international judges. And now she's been repairing her technique. Hmmmm.