JGP Lake Placid: Thoughts and Highlights | Page 2 | Golden Skate

JGP Lake Placid: Thoughts and Highlights

gotoschool

Medalist
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
My first take away is that Alysa Liu's freeskate was excellent technically because she landed a triple axel and quad lutz. In addition, she displayed lovely fluidity and grace through her triple loop with a graceful rocker transition on exit and she displayed a beautiful variety of body and arm extensions and expression attuned to the music through out the performance. Admittedly, there is still room for improvement as the downgrade and fall on the triple axel showed and the need for a bit more speed on entrance to the triple axel, though Elizaveta who has an excellent triple axel also doesn't enter it with much speed. Alysa's performance was impressive enough to induce some to go way overboard in cutting it down, for example, observations on rotations that go against visible evidence and generally underestimating the quality of her skating and expression. In reference to the criticism of Alysa's PCS in the freeskate, Kamila last week received a full 3 points higher in PCS with over 3 points less in tech. While I was impressed with Kamila's performance, I preferred Alysa's performance, so I have a very different view of the scoring. In terms of the criticism of Alysa's jumps, Ted Barton is conscientious about making observations on under-rotations and other than Alysa's triple axel downgrade which he mentioned in instant replay before the call was made, he stated that her jumps were rotated while watching instant replay like the quad lutz which he said was "all the way around, nice and clean."

The next thing I noticed is the consistent improvement in the Korean team with grace under pressure in landing their jumps and in the quality of their expression with Sojeoung Wi skating really well last week and Yeojung Park dong well this week with both winning silver. Yeojung's expression of surprise at her delightful result was another highlight.
 

larat

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 15, 2017
Men
- I don't recall ever seeing Shun Sato before, but he was very impressive here, even with the free skate errors. Not quite at Yuma Kagiyama's level for me artistically, but promising; the Japanese men have had it rough at Junior Worlds the last few seasons, so hopefully this is the year to turn that around.
- Stephen had a really good short program where he looked about the same or even better than last year, but the free skate was rough. Clearly the coaching and physical changes are going to have him skating at a lower level for the next little while. But he eked it out.
- Gleb Lutfullin, I belatedly realized I recognized because Sofia Samodurova is always Instagramming pictures with him; undistinguished short program, the free skate I was very impressed by.
- Ilia Malinin, shows signs of future stardom for the USA. Too bad for him to be third in both programs but miss the podium. I also liked Joseph Klein, the other young American.
- Lower down, Harrison Bain unfortunately cannot jump, but he's got a beautiful sense of style in his other elements and his performance quality.

Ladies
- Alysa Liu makes her debut under a lot of expectations (and, looking at the thumbs-down on the YouTube videos, a lot of people ready to start hating her), and largely delivers. She's got a lot of charisma, both on and off the ice, so whatever deficiencies there undeniably still are in her bladework, her performances are memorable; especially the short, where she's a great fit for Streisand.
- Of the two Koreans who were in podium position after the short, I really like Ji more than Park, artistically; but Park had the better jump technique (except on the Axel), so that won the day. Ji's short program was probably my favourite discovery of the event; the free doesn't suit her nearly as well.
- Tarakanova, our lone Russian, had a mostly good technical skate, but on the performance side she was not delivering very much in either program.
- Bausback managed the highest Canadian lady's placement at a JGP since Sarah Tamura at 2016 JGP Germany, which is certainly an achievement for her. I wish I could be more excited, but she doesn't do anything for me artistically. But she's got the will to make jumps happen even when the circumstances aren't favourable (e.g., that short program triple toe), so credit where it's due.
- Jessica Lin's ultimate Hanyu fan tribute free skate was a lot of fun to watch.
- Emilia Murdoch, the third American, had really remarkable skating skills and overall presentation. If she can sort out the jumps, there's definite potential there; also the case with Azusa Tanaka.
- Victoria, the young Australian, showed real potential, especially in the short program. Good to know there's somebody to pick up whenever Kailani decides to call it a career.
- Pantaree, the Thai skater, was only doing double jumps, but all other aspects of her skating were very nice (and the doubles were good too, for that matter). I especially liked the short program, again.
- Harshita, the plucky Indian skater who barely gets any ice time at home, I was initially not sure what to make of, just because it initially seemed to me like bringing somebody with that low a skill level to the event wasn't fair to them. But she clearly wanted to be there and enjoyed it a lot, so more power to her. I hope she can find more opportunities to train in the future.

Pairs
- The gap between the Russian pairs and everybody else was stark here, especially considering most of the Russians weren't precisely skating clean themselves. Even the Chinese, their nearest rivals in having a consistent pairs program, were way back; Wang/Huang's skate was the stuff of nightmares.
- I continue to be pleased with the progress that McIntosh/Toste are making technically. They're going to be real contenders in the future, assuming Brooke doesn't outgrow Brandon.
- The other Canadian pair, Levesque/Hudon, I unfortunately don't have much hope for; Gabrielle's jumps and throws are just hopeless, however strong their lifts are.
- Isabelle Martins and Ryan Bedard, the young American team, showed some promise.
- I'm not sure, based on their general demeanour, if Hamon and Strekalin's partnership is long for this world.

Roller derby, er, Ice dance
- I dearly hope that in March 2020 we will look back and say that the Lake Placid RD was unequivocally the worst ice dance segment of the competitive season. Because if there's another event in the future worse than that, that will not be a good thing.
- Nguyen/Kolesnik were the clear frontrunners for the win here, and they won by a mile. I'm not a huge fan of the way the music in the RD is arranged, but the FD is very nice.
- Davis/Smolkin took silver, as expected. In their case, I like the RD more (I'm disappointed that Andreeva/Desyatov's withdrawal meant we didn't have two Russian cat-themed RDs at the event).
- Taschlerova/Taschler were not, I don't think, on anybody's radar going into this event, but they did very well. I especially liked the free dance. This is a huge leap upward for them, after not even making the top ten in any of their past JGPs.
- Makita/Gunara, oh so close to that bronze medal (Canada takes the dreaded pewter medal for the second week in a row), but overall this was a good event for them. They put themselves on the map internationally, particularly since their only previous JGP placement last year was undistinguished.
- Yoshida/Nishiyama were already a hit with those of us who watch Canadian summer competitions, and now the rest of the skating world can enjoy them too. I would have had them fifth overall, but all the same, a great international success for them, and especially since they're such a new pairing (and he new to the discipline).
- Galiyanova/Lochhead, sigh, that was a rough pair of programs for them. Their next assignment is in only two weeks, so I hope they can rally and do better there.

Riga Latvia Ice Dance event may be worth
 

Marius

Art on Ice
Final Flight
Joined
Oct 18, 2015
Ladies:
- Liu's jumps aren't of the greatest quality, and she is quite slow on the ice. I found her PCS quite high, even though she has some interesting transitions, she emotes well and she has good posture and a very good use of arms and hands. She has strengths and weaknesses but she is just 13 and has all the time to improve. Some of her jumps were UR for me, but overall she had a great showing here after the Aurora Games, she is proving week after week that she has great mental strength and hopefully she is going to work and better herself in the years to come. Overall I enjoyed her programs but I hope in the next competitions her PCS will not fly high because of the 3As and 4Lz.
- Yeonjeong's jumps were great, and I'm really happy for her 2nd place finish! Overall a solid competition for her, though she has to work on her extension (every move seems unfinished), on her flexibility (the Ina Bauer before the 2A in the SP was a little forced), and on the performance side of her programs.
- Nastya... Her jumps are great. I mean, the 3Lo in the SP was really gorgeous for me, and her 3Lz when landed is one of the best in the world. But her programs this year are not my cup of tea. It is the start of the season and she may improve (last year I had the same thoughts but Moonlight Sonata at Russian Nationals was incredible), but I found them quite boring, interpretation is not her strength and she needs an energy program that could give her the push in PCS she deserves to have (her SS are great, she has speed on the ice, good transitions).
- Seoyeon's SP was very good: reminded me, obviously , of Yuna, but she has her own style and the 2A on the music was great. Good rotational speed in her jumps (though often they appears to be UR), and good presence on the ice, she has potential.
- I loved Mana's programs. Her Choreo was maybe the best of the competition, but I hope she'll have more power on her Free in the next competitions. It has some great moments (even if it is a Swan Lake, and we have seen many, many Swans through the years), and with a little more fire in it, it really could be a beautiful program. Also, some of her jumps were beautiful: I loved the 2A-3T and the 3S in the FS.
Honorable mention: Azusa Tanaka. She was all over the place with her jumps in both the SP and the FS, but her Skating Skills are exceptional and she has a sparkle in her. I really hope she can adjust her jumps in the future, though both the 3F and the 3Lz seemed really off in Lake Placid. Her SS reminded me of the young Marin: deep edges and extreme lightness on the ice. Good luck Azusa!

Men:
- Shun was Shun. The SP was great, the 3A was absolutely easy! In the FS, he is probably the most ambitious junior men atm, but he needs quality to his jumps. Here in Lake Placid there wasn't and I hope that he can gain it throughout this year. He needs the Quads to beat Yuma, which is IMO ahead artistically, but he also needs the quality. His Free was quite a mess but the BV helped him. He also needs to improve on his spins, but overall, what a junior debut, he really is one to watch.
- Stephen, I expected worse after what we saw in the summer. The clean SP was quite a surprise for me, while in the FS he fought from start to finish, the fall on the 3A was very hard. He was lucky to be in 2nd; for me he didn't deserve the podium after the Free. StSq2, problems on the last spin, he needs to solve this problems. With this 2nd place he is in the run for the JGPF but atm I see him very distant from what he was a year ago. Hopefully for him, he will have a good showing at his 2nd JGP and will qualify for the Final, and by December his injury may be completely healed.
- Gleb: great showing in the FS! He is very good, but needs to work on the quality of some of his elements, because Steps and Spins is what kept him away from the silver medal and he lost many points both in the SP and in the FS. Overall though a very good showing, I thought he really deserved to be in 2nd.
- Ilia: those 3Axels were amazing. Again, he needs to work on Spins and Steps because you really need those points to be at the top. In the free he got a total of +1.60 GOE for the last 7 elements and that is obviously too low if he wants to fight for the gold. But he has a good jumping technique, the 3As are gorgeous and he is very young, Work to do but overall a good debut!
Honorable mention: Harrison Bain's gorgeous I-Spin!

Dance:
- Avonley and Vadym deservedly won the competition. Great showing in both the RD and the FD, that are also very different programs. They have a particular charisma and very good elements overall! If they keep this level of quality for the rest of the season they can really fight for the big titles later in the season.
- Diana and Gleb, good showing, they are not Russia's best so here a good 2nd place finish for them. I enjoyed their RD, though they were clearly behind of Nguyen/Kolesnik in terms of quality.

Pairs:
I didn't watch much of the Pairs' event, but I have to say Apollinariia and Dmitry's Twist is incredible! And good speed on the ice. Really great showing by these two!
 

Colonel Green

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Country
Canada
Hopefully for him, he will have a good showing at his 2nd JGP and will qualify for the Final, and by December his injury may be completely healed.
He's not injured, as far as we know, he's just growing and changing technique.
 

Marius

Art on Ice
Final Flight
Joined
Oct 18, 2015
He's not injured, as far as we know, he's just growing and changing technique.
Thank you for the info! After his summer competition I thought he was injured because of the diffulties he had. I'm relieved to know that he hasn't talked about any injuries :)
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 12, 2014
Country
United-States
Liu's 3A is "rotated", but Lutfullin's 3A is "underrotated". This is just Orwellian.

I like your metaphor, but I disagree. I think what it actually shows is that like everything else in figure skating, there's an element of subjectivity in discernment.

There was some talk somewhere about a 90% allowance and an "under 180%" determination. Some judges appear to follow the guidelines, while others appear to be much stricter sticklers.
 

SnowWhite

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 30, 2016
Country
Canada
Tracy Wilson is coaching them, and I believe they said Roman Haganauer choreographed their dances. I think theyre in good hands.

Just a quick note about Utana and Shingo - Tracy is one of their coaches, and was that this comp with them, but I would guess that Andrew Hallam is their main coach, if anyone is (we know TCC likes a team effort). Andrew is the main dance coach at TCC and also works with D'Alessandro/Waddell and McIsaac/Circelli. Joey Russell is also part of their team - haven't seen him listed as a coach for any of the other dance teams.

As for choreo, Romain did the FD for them, and Wing and Lowe did the RD.
 

SnowWhite

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 30, 2016
Country
Canada
Finally finished catching up today, so here goes:

Dance
- I don't love Nguyen/Kolesnik's RD musically, but they perform it well so it still works. The FD I like very much. They really sparkle. Clearly the best of the event, and maybe the best juniors of the season.
- Davis/Smolkin have definitely improved since last year. I'm not in love with their programs (though I certainly don't mind them), but I was really noticing how good they looked in the FD (nice and sharp and smooth)
- Taschlerova/Taschler weren't on my radar coming in, but I really enjoyed them here. The RD is total 'big Broadway' and they do it well, and they show a lot of emotion in the FD. Their skating could be lighter in places, maybe, but they look very promising.
- Makita/Gunara have improved so much since last year. It's a shame that they just missed out on a medal here, but great progress overall. The RD is so cute.
- I don't really have anything to say about Yoshida/Nishiyama that others haven't said already. They're both performers and they look great together for such a new team - very promising.
- Galiyanova/Lochhead were unfortunately a bit of a mess here (well, many teams were, at least in the RD). I like them, so hopefully they can have cleaner skates at their 2nd event.
- Lavrova/Gart were adorable - hopefully she'll recover well

Pairs
- Panfilova/Rylov have absolutely everything, except for the side by side jumps. The FS is gorgeous (she could emote a touch more, as Ted pointed out, but it's already great) and I like the SP too. The elements are just world class. I'd love to see them win JW.
- The other two Russian pairs were great too, just a bit messier. I enjoyed Valeri in A/K's FS quite a bit - seemed like he was really feeling the music. Both of P/P's programs are quite nice.
- McIntosh/Toste still look like babies, but they've definitely been making progress. The 3Tw is brand new for them, and I think they'll get it. The height is good, and the catch in the North York FS was pretty decent. I also saw progress in the skating/presentation side, comparing their FS to last year, though obviously lots of work to do there. Tons of potential, as long as she doesn't outgrow him, and they seem to be in good hands, coaching-wise.
- Levesque/Hudon has gorgeous lifts, but I've just about given up on them because she just doesn't seem to have the jumps, and the throws aren't great either. I'm not really sure how far they can go, when she never lands a 2A. He's clearly a great lifter though.
- Martins/Bedard look like babies even more than M/T, although he's a couple of year older than Brandon. Anyways, they're super cute.

Ladies
- One of the best things about Alysa is her confidence, and not just in terms of landing her stuff. My Dad watched a few of the ladies with me, and he commented that unlike a lot of the others, she didn't look nervous at all and clearly loved skating/performing, which made her skate very enjoyable to watch. And of course, she's got a lot of charm and charisma. I've enjoyed the SP in the past, but I really liked the FS here as well. She's certainly not a perfect skater (and she seems well aware of what she needs to work on), but she's very impressive and was clearly the winner here.
- I didn't really connect to Yeonjeong's skating, but good for her landing all her stuff (that axel technique is a bit scary, but the rest was nice). And her reaction to seeing her score/placement was super sweet
- I have to say, I wasn't terribly impressed with Anastasia here. Obviously the circumstances were difficult with her training mate and coach not being able to come, and good for her for fighting back and landing everything in the FS, but her performances felt really lacklustre. She wasn't expressive in her face last season either, but she seemed quite disconnected from her music here. I liked the SP at test skates, but didn't feel it here, and I really don't like her FS - it just doesn't fit her in my opinion, and a lot of it looked really awkward to me. Hopefully, we'll see her skate with more fire at her 2nd event (if she gets one).
- I liked Mana Kawabe a lot in the FS - her skating seemed smooth and powerful, and the Black Swan seemed like a good fit
- I was really happy to see Emily Bausback skate so well. Not perfect, but she managed the pressure of ending up in the last group very well. She seems to have improved as a competitor, since she was quite solid at both her summer comps and now here. Hopefully it continues. I think she's performing a bit more than last year, but obviously she needs to improve her ice coverage, add transitions, etc.
- Emilia Murdock was a nice surprise. She's clearly someone who loves to perform and she got great speed. Another nice surprise was Lucrezia Gennaro - I liked her SP.
- Azusa Tanaka is someone I hadn't heard of before, and although the jumps were a mess, she totally got me with her FS. Such nice skating skills and musicality.

Men
- In the SP, I was impressed with Shun's technical skills, but I didn't feel the performance to go with the fun music. It's definitely a work in progress, but I saw a bit more of that in the FS, despite the messiness, so that's promising. He's certainly impressive.
- Given how much he's grown (going by the ISU bio, 8 cm since last season), that FS isn't really surprising for Stephen, especially considering the coaching change (and fairly late in the off-season too). The SP was quite impressive - could be a nice program for him. It's harder to judge the FS with the errors, but it has potential too. I definitely saw some improvement on the PCS side of his skating too. He's a bit lucky to stay on the podium, but of course it was very close between 2nd and 4th. And that shows the importance of a strong SP.
- You can tell that Gleb is a Mishin skater, in the good and bad ways. He wasn't that connected to the music in the FS, but something about it was quite nice to watch (of course it was quite impressive technically). Although I'm not sure about the part of the music they chose for the steps - I found the softer music showed off where he's not the most lyrical or elegant.
- Ilia has tons of potential. I found both programs a bit mature for him, but he's no slouch on the performance side. Plenty of polishing to do on the little details, but the jumps are good. Looking forward to seeing him develop.
- Ryan is probably a bit disappointed with some of the jumping errors, but I think he's improved quite noticeably on the skating/performance side. I really enjoyed both programs.
- Joseph Klein was also very impressive. He hasn't got the technical difficulty yet, but he's very talented, and he was so happy to be there.
 

Sugarpova

#EmpressAirlines #SinKatsapologist
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 19, 2015
the highlight was def the Ted Barton banner! what a great idea & execution!:clap::clapper::clapper::bow:

also the australian guy wo looked like MJ! (& I was terribly disappointed that he didnt actually skate to MJ:disapp::biggrin: but James Brown was good enough ofc!) He looked like the epitome of d s c o & I got into a land of nostalgia real quick!:hap10::cool2:
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 12, 2014
Country
United-States
Just a quick note about Utana and Shingo - Tracy is one of their coaches, and was that this comp with them, but I would guess that Andrew Hallam is their main coach, if anyone is (we know TCC likes a team effort). Andrew is the main dance coach at TCC and also works with D'Alessandro/Waddell and McIsaac/Circelli. Joey Russell is also part of their team - haven't seen him listed as a coach for any of the other dance teams.

As for choreo, Romain did the FD for them, and Wing and Lowe did the RD.

Thanks for this. I was going by what was announced at the time. Afterwards, I read the interview of Shingo that El Henry linked ... it was a very good read! In it, he mentioned, I think, six coaches who each work with him for one or more aspects of his skating. It gave me a more detailed, more complete view of how TCC works, and why it works so well. i knew the coaching was collaborative there, and that each coach contributes one or more "specialties," which I think is a brilliant way to teach. It helps explain how Brian Orser can have many top skaters and do them justice.
 

vincerooo

Rinkside
Joined
Jun 19, 2019
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Fang-Yi Lin's performances, especially his short program. He reminds me a bit of junior Shoma with his great knee-bend and innate musicality, which kinda makes up for the jumps, and wow his ina bauers and spreadeagles are beautiful! I really hope he can get a few more of the harder triples, engage his hands more to finish his lines, and be a little less loose with some of his movements. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for him in future competitions.
 
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