You should absolutely watch Wakaba's FS. It is like 1000x better than her SP. It really made me a new fan of hers. She has my favorite ladies' FS this season.
I love her SP , I like it a lot more than her LP.
You should absolutely watch Wakaba's FS. It is like 1000x better than her SP. It really made me a new fan of hers. She has my favorite ladies' FS this season.
She skated great in both programs- she really made me a fan before but this season she should slay. I really enjoy her more than Medvedeva. But it seems Evgenia has been crowned. It is like 2010 again where Yuna was gonna win by a landslide unless she messed up which of course she never did ever. Wakaba is really very popular I think not just in Japan but everywhere if you read this board.
I am afraid she may peak too early tho.
I just posted it didn’t go thru? Wakaba is really fun to watch. It is a huge contest for silver and bronze at every comp this year. I hope she eats Medvedevasomehow.
Edited to ad there was quite a delay of posting-maybe this iPad,
Well what the hell is wrong with meI love her SP , I like it a lot more than her LP.
Well what the hell is wrong with me
I swear it felt like an old 1950's background music of what the future will bring or something awkward like that was playing. I only watched it once and it was live stream so hopefully next time I change my mind.
Her FS is awesome. I had always felt that Wakaba needed music that are strong and energetic to better showcase her power and blade work. She is not an example of the more typical Japanese lady skater like Satoko or Marin who will do well with softer, lyrical pieces. This FS did allow her to emphasize her basic SS in between elements - just look at the lean and speed variation and multidirectional turns! She really should get higher SS than any of the Russians. The basic SS is the primary reasons I prefer watching the Japanese ladies on ice.
She skated great in both programs- she really made me a fan before but this season she should slay. I really enjoy her more than Medvedeva. But it seems Evgenia has been crowned. It is like 2010 again where Yuna was gonna win by a landslide unless she messed up which of course she never did ever. Wakaba is really very popular I think not just in Japan but everywhere if you read this board.
I am afraid she may peak too early tho.
Thanks for ruining that program forever for me :disapp:.
I love love love Wakababy's power, finesse,and style. Her technique is very impressive but I'm a little frustrated with her SP. I still haven't watched the FS because I want to wait until the GP, I like to do that with some of the skaters I like, but I'm praying it showcases everything I see in her in a much better light.
Well, Shae-Lynn sums it up nicely: https://imgflip.com/gif/1xmulu (just a tease, not a spoiler)
I am amazed you haven't seen the program yet... that takes some mad self restraint!
For me Leonova is kinda like Buddy Lazier in IndyCar motor racing. That now old guy once won the Indy-500 in 1996 and now races just for love to race...even if now he races in Indy-500 only and usually finishes on the bottom half....Thank you all -googling didn’t help much with A couple people-it is good to have rink info. I think this is the most competitive ladies season ever. There have never been so many great ladies. As someone said Russian Nationals will be a bloodbath. Personally I prefer Sotskova to Evgenia so far. She really was a surprise. Liza skated better than in a long time but she just isn’t in my top three Russian ladies. I am surprised Leonova still skates- she must just do it for love. I admire her tho. Just so far away from her comrades. Elena is all heart and very expressive I love watching her and Zagitova is getting high pcs. I love Anna P and hope she doesn’t meltdown if she has an off competition but she really is beautiful to watch.
Clearly the battle is between the Russian girls and the two Japanese they decide to send. There should be three it is crazy. I would like to see Wakaba and Miyahara and Honda. Just impossible to think of any of them not at this Olympics plus Mai and Riki.
I was disappointed with Daleman in Finland and she really needs some help to get back to where she was. I don’t like the programs even yet. So sad to see Polina struggle after what she was capable of. Love Kostner for life but she is struggling. Admire her tho she truly loves to skate.
Well I can’t wait to see the ladies so far missing but I hope thenUSA girls have good luck. No Gracie Polina no where near two years ago and Ashley aging as Karen struggles to be consistent. I guess team USA ladies need some miracles. Sigh.
And what about Courtney, Mariah and so on?For 3 years we had threads about "power rankings". The last one was just April 2017. My ranking then was:
1. Medvedeva
2. Zagitova
3. Miyahara
4. Osmond
5. Pogorilaya
6. Honda
7. Kostner
8. Wagner
9. Radionova
10. Chen
If Miyahara, Pogorilaya, and Tsurskaya start to compete my current ranking would be (newcomers in bold):
1. Medvedeva She decided to play it safe keeping familiar jump layout for the season. She has the Kostner level pcs higher than Osmond and much higher than Zagitova
2. Osmond She scored 218 recently with a fall and mistakes. Zagitova won't be able to close pcs gap soon.
3. Zagitova She has the highest BV and FP she skated cleanly many times. She just got 218 with a fall. Clearly Russia's #2.
4. Mihara She seems to be Japan's #1 lady for this season
5. Higuchi She started to receive high pcs and she has one killer of FP. If she can land 3A and be clean she will become Japan's #1 lady. Then they will switch the ranks with Mihara and Wakaba will exert serious pressure on Zagitova and Osmond.
6. Pogorilaya When she is on she is marvelous. But she will be behind Osmond and Japan's #1. I don't see her coming ahead of Zagitova as well.
7. Wagner Realistically she is still the best candidate for USA'a #1 lady. She has the highest pcs potential and she at times can deliver when it matters. But she is not getting younger to be able to overcome technical issues she had.
8. Miyahara Even if she returns to her pre-injury form I don't think she will get back her scores. She had them being Japan's #1 lady. Now that there are 2 serious contenders for that unofficial title her jumps will be likely judged harsher.
9. Sotskova Her test skates and then her recent win in Finlandia with the score of 205 show that she becomes the force to reckon with.
10. Kostner So far she shows sky high pcs, not outstanding but quite solid programs and big issues with jumps. I do not think she can bring back 3Lz and 3-3s but if she can deliver a clean 7 triple program even without backloading she will climb the rankings up to the very top.
Missing from my new list are:
Honda. I think that Japan will be betting on Mihara and Higuchi. Then if Satoko comes back Marin's prospects for this season with only 2 Japanese ladies in the team are not bright.
Radionova. Whatever improvements I saw, they are minor. Sotskova looked better at test skates and very convincing in Finland.
Chen. I don't think she can cure her URs in the eyes of judges. She is very inconsistent. She can only get back to the list if Wagner fails to deliver and then Karen will replace her as USA's #1 lady.
Other big names
Daleman. Finland showed that despite her getting here the worlds' bronze she has not built the reputation for pcs. She had 61 vs. Caro's 72, although her TES was higher.
Tuktamysheva. There are rays of hope here and there. But she has not skated clean FP for quite a while now. She did not score above 200 for quite a while as well losing her match with Sotskova now by 16 points. And what worked 2 seasons ago: many competitions with slow reputation build-up does not seem to work this time as she does not show much of improvement and the competition is much tougher nowadays.
Tsurskaya. In theory she could be in the list. But I just don't see how she will be able to get the momentum. She did not show up at test skates and challengers - that's a bad sign.
Gold. Whatever information is available gives the impression that she is missing this season.
And what about Courtney, Mariah and so on?
For 3 years we had threads about "power rankings". The last one was just April 2017. My ranking then was:
1. Medvedeva
2. Zagitova
3. Miyahara
4. Osmond
5. Pogorilaya
6. Honda
7. Kostner
8. Wagner
9. Radionova
10. Chen
They are not top ladies in my personal ranking system. The only one who is not there and can appear as a "candidate" is Mirai Nagasu after her clear win over Karen Chen at JO. If she goes strong during next week's GP event, if she scores above 200 that will be an indication that she may become US lady #1. It means that she will have to be considered while talking about lady power rankings.
i knew approximate content of the last post even before i opened this thread