Has Osmond skated in any early competitions? I don't recall seeing any video if she has...
I wonder how she's faring in this "sophomore season"
If Gracie lands her jumps she can beat Julia. Gracie has more speed better ice coverage bigger jumps and her spins are not bad either. I just am not impressed with Julia. Besides her flexibility nothing in her skating stands out. Average speed and average jumps that don't jump out at you. She is a tough competitor though and that's the advantage over someone like Gracie who is up and down and a bit nervous as a competitor.
I think Gracie can do it, but she'll need two clean programs to match Julia's technical content and she hasn't been capable of that. She should certainly medal though.
If Gracie lands her jumps she can beat Julia. Gracie has more speed better ice coverage bigger jumps and her spins are not bad either. I just am not impressed with Julia. Besides her flexibility nothing in her skating stands out. Average speed and average jumps that don't jump out at you. She is a tough competitor though and that's the advantage over someone like Gracie who is up and down and a bit nervous as a competitor.
You don't think Julia's spins stand out? Not meaning to pick at you or your general point, but if so you're the first person i've heard say that- even most of her haters say something like 'other than her spins everything sucks'
If you don't think her spins are really good, what do you think she'd have to do to make them better? Honestly not meaning to pick at you- genuinely curious.
Why does she need two clean programs? She can afford to make one or two more mistakes than Lipnitskaya. Her technical content is on par with Lipnitskaya's. Her GOEs on non-spin elements will be higher. Her PCS will definitely be higher than Lipnitskaya since this will be her second senior season plus a good showing in Worlds.
She has room to make more mistakes, just not many.
Why does she need two clean programs? She can afford to make one or two more mistakes than Lipnitskaya. Her technical content is on par with Lipnitskaya's. Her GOEs on non-spin elements will be higher. Her PCS will definitely be higher than Lipnitskaya since this will be her second senior season plus a good showing in Worlds.
She has room to make more mistakes, just not many.
I don't think she is at liberty to make 1 or 2 mistakes more than Lipnitskaya.
Lipnitskaia puts 5 of her jumping passes in the 2nd half, which gives her about a 2-point BV advantage over Gold. Julia also tends to get higher GOE on her spins than Gold. Gold has a PCS advantage. They are both really close, so I wouldn't say Gold will win if she makes a mistake and Julia goes clean (unless it's a really minor mistake).
There will be no Osmond, Leonova. She has already beaten Akiko, and Gracie starting slow and not so strong as I thought she would.
This. I also suspect that if Julia can put some clean programs out there, the PCS gap between these two will be closing. Julia has improved a lot this year, while Gold, if anything, has regressed. Unless she's majorly reworked her programs Julia's LP will be better received than Gracie's IMO. One thing not mentioned though is that if Gold hits the jumps, and judges are fair, she will get better GOEs on them than Julia on hers.