GP Speculation-2013-2014: THE LADIES | Page 4 | Golden Skate

GP Speculation-2013-2014: THE LADIES

Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Country
Russia
I would think based on results there is no doubt US is stronger than Russia in ladies. Is that a debate?
It is of course so for Senior Ladies.

It was horrible season for Russian Senior Ladies.
Makarova degraded past season an did not restore this season.
Leovova, Biryukova and all three Polinas (Agafonova, Korobeynikova, Shelepen) degraded with respect to past season at beginning of this season and did not restore.
Lipnitskaia, Sotnikova, Tuktamysheva are not so good as they did give hope.
Gosviani? Yes, she progressed, but only to level about degraded Leovova.

Gold turned out be greater than all of them.
Not so stably. Remember Gracie's skating at 4CC, SP at US Nationals, GP Events.
Adelina and Liza were at Euro better than Gracie both at 4CC and Worlds. So result of their competition at WTT and next season is unpredictable.
 

mskater93

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
Gracie's is unpredicatable, too, though - has she worked through those competitive hiccups yet? If she has and starts competing like she practices, look out!
 
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Country
Russia
Let us see previous season.

First list of GP Entries was published by ISU at May 21, 2012.

What do we see?
There are four TBA places (4 for 4 Events except USA and Japan).
All 13 "guaranteed 2 Events" (Top-12 Worlds and returning Miki Ando) have 2 Events.
All who is in Top24 WS or SB have at least one Event.
All (except two mentioned below) who is in both Top24 WS and SB have 2 Events.
All who is in Top24 SB and medalists of JrWorlds have 2 Events.
One Event have only Host Picks (Lacoste, Osmond in Canada, Bingwa Geng in Japan, Lena Marrocco in France etc.) or these skaters who are only in SB24 list or only in WS24 list.

Alissa Czisny has only one Event because she wants so (only one last GP Event because of surgery and long recover).
Why Kiira Korpi has only one Event (she was both in WS and SB Top24) - I don't know.
 

tulosai

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
Let us see previous season.

First list of GP Entries was published by ISU at May 21, 2012.

What do we see?
There are four TBA places (4 for 4 Events except USA and Japan).
All 13 "guaranteed 2 Events" (Top-12 Worlds and returning Miki Ando) have 2 Events.
All who is in Top24 WS or SB have at least one Event.
All (except two mentioned below) who is in both Top24 WS and SB have 2 Events.
All who is in Top24 SB and medalists of JrWorlds have 2 Events.
One Event have only Host Picks (Lacoste, Osmond in Canada, Bingwa Geng in Japan, Lena Marrocco in France etc.) or these skaters who are only in SB24 list or only in WS24 list.

Alissa Czisny has only one Event because she wants so (only one last GP Event because of surgery and long recover).
Why Kiira Korpi has only one Event (she was both in WS and SB Top24) - I don't know.


Mirai Nagasu initially only had 1 event as well despite being on both lists last year.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Let us see previous season.

First list of GP Entries was published by ISU at May 21, 2012.

What do we see?
There are four TBA places (4 for 4 Events except USA and Japan).
All 13 "guaranteed 2 Events" (Top-12 Worlds and returning Miki Ando) have 2 Events.
All who is in Top24 WS or SB have at least one Event.
All (except two mentioned below) who is in both Top24 WS and SB have 2 Events.
All who is in Top24 SB and medalists of JrWorlds have 2 Events.
One Event have only Host Picks (Lacoste, Osmond in Canada, Bingwa Geng in Japan, Lena Marrocco in France etc.) or these skaters who are only in SB24 list or only in WS24 list.

Alissa Czisny has only one Event because she wants so (only one last GP Event because of surgery and long recover).
Why Kiira Korpi has only one Event (she was both in WS and SB Top24) - I don't know.

Miki Ando has already used up her comeback skater provision.
 
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Country
Russia
Miki Ando has already used up her comeback skater provision.
I don't know is it so.
She WD far from beginning of Events and did not compete in the season.
Will ISU treat her as "used comeback" or no - only ISU knows.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Yes, Miki Ando, Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir have used up their one time only two-event returning skater option. Miki and Evan opted for the returning skater and then withdrew from the events they were given. They do not get a second chance, and if they want a GP event, they will have to get a host pick, because they aren't eligible (not on SB list).

Johnny Weir is in pretty much the same boat. He did skate at his first event, but injured himself there, so he withdrew from the second event. He is on the SB list (but quite low) and wouldn't be likely to get an invitation.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
If I had to choose a surprise candidate to challenge the Big 3 in Sochi, it would be Gracie Gold.

As I've written before, a year is a LONG LONG time for a girl at this age to develop artistically and to even improve technically.

The bones are there for a champion; whether she can pull it all together in a year... I, too, have my doubts. But the idea is not preposterous, as some posters seem to believe.

After all, look at how much she improved this year. Who among us predicted a WC top 6 placement for her at the beginning of the year?

I just hope people now don't start pressuring Gracie to now medal in Sochi . We saw what all the hype did to her at times this year. It wore on her and made things even tougher then they needed to be. Let the girl develop at her own pace it seemed to work this year. I think Gracie and her team are realistic about her getting a medal.
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
^^^ No, I agree. She has to develop at a reasonable pace. However, seeing the speed of that development this year, well, I don't think a medal is such a far-fetched notion or the stuff of fantasy.

For sure, it's still a longshot, but it is possible. She seems to be a smart young lady. She must have learned a ton during her first season on the senior circuit. While there were understandable signs of nerves, we didn't see a complete meltdown in the homestretch of the season. She performed admirably at USNats and WC. Surely that will give her confidence as she approaches the upcoming season.

Additionally, I keep bringing up her age. She is at the age when young athletes (and young women, for that matter) begin to know what they want, who they want to be, and how to set goals to make it happen. It is particularly the age at which girls begin to blossom into young women.

I will not be surprised if she is almost unrecognizable from an artistic point of view in a year.

Note: all of the above wisdom was gained through around 2 hours of watching her programs this year on internet feeds and youtube. So take it for what it is worth.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
I should go and look at Gracie's skating back in 2011 when she was a Junior and see how she's developed in the last year. I bet last year at Nationals she looked like a totally different skater then now. I probably would be surprised how much she's improved.
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
None of Osmond, Gold, or Wagner skated their best at Worlds either. Why just speculate on the Russians. Osmond had the worst errors of all by far and still finished ahead of both Russians, tied Sotnikova in PCS with her hot mess of a LP performance and easily bested an almost clean Tuktamysheva in them, so draw your own conclusions. Sotnikova is probably the least capable of all of that group of skating a clean LP or clean competition to boot, so even less reason to speculate on her than the others.

Let's try to be at least a little bit objective. Liza & Adelina didn't have a great competition at Worlds, but Adelina has the 4th highest score of the season & Liza's SB is still 4 points higher than Gracie's and 12 points higher that Kaetlyn's. Next season will be about how well all of the younger girls can handle their nerves, but I wouldn't write the Russian girls off yet.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I'm not writing off the Russian girls. Liza and Adelina have each had a LOT more competition experience than Gracie and Kaetlyn put together. But both Russian girls have had setbacks related to growth and puberty, and perhaps they have found it tough to handle the weight of the expectations placed on them by their federation, with the coming Olympics in their country.

There is pressure on Osmond and Gold as well, but I don't think that either one is expected to win a medal for their country.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Hopefully the Russian fed. is not putting pressure on Sotnikova and Tuktamysheva to win a medal in Sochi, since absolutely nobody that isnt a Russian expects a medal from either one at this point, and it would be putting unreasonable and unrealistic pressure on both.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Putin fully expects the Russian team to deliver. That means Piseev, who has never been diplomatic or soft-spoken in his expectations for the skaters, will be bearing down hard on the coaches, who will in turn demand a lot from their skaters. It's naive to think the Russian ladies will be exempt from those expectations.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Hopefully the Russian fed. is not putting pressure on Sotnikova and Tuktamysheva to win a medal in Sochi, since absolutely nobody that isnt a Russian expects a medal from either one at this point, and it would be putting unreasonable and unrealistic pressure on both.

They should have crushing pressure put on them so they can not only make top 5 in Sochi but try to take over from 2014 2018 and if that extreme pressure makes it possible for them to medal in Sochi then they will not only fulfilling Russia's expectations but their own too! I doubt Liza and Adelina are happy with their disastrous performances in London and huge pressure might help them short and long term and if they break under it then they weren't championships material ever. Right now zijun li and gold are better then them because maybe liza and adelina have not enough pressure or expectation.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
They should have crushing pressure put on them so they can not only make top 5 in Sochi but try to take over from 2014 2018 and if that extreme pressure makes it possible for them to medal in Sochi then they will not only fulfilling Russia's expectations but their own too! I doubt Liza and Adelina are happy with their disastrous performances in London and huge pressure might help them short and long term and if they break under it then they weren't championships material ever. Right now zijun li and gold are better then them because hey have not enough pressure or expectation.

Gracie didn't have expectations or pressure in the past year? :unsure:
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
No I meant that sotnikotva and tuktamisheva may havent had enough pressure put on them to skate to their fullest potential. Maybe they were too relaxed at worlds! Every girl with potential really surpassed them so maybe Liza and Adelina were coasting and not being put under pressure.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
I think Gracie if clean will beat Tuk if she skates clean just because of her superior speed and ice coverage and she could beat Adelina too. If Gracie finds her way as a total skater and not just a jumper she will be a possible World champion in the future.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Be real! Liza and Adelina were expected, at the VERY least, to keep the 3 ladies' places for Sochi. They failed to do that; IMO, they were skating at their fullest potential, only they were extremely nervous because of the pressure. So were Gracie and Kaetlyn. The result was Adelina made mistakes in both SP and FS, Tuktamysheva fell on a spin and singled the axel in the SP, Gracie URd the 3/3 in the SP, and Kaetlyn fell twice in the FS. Pressure can be very disruptive.
 
Top