2007 JGP Final

[Lumi]

Why are we comparing Finlandia vs JGP? Finlandia was a senior event--with (I think, don't quote me on this?) two more elements, and about half a minute more to the FS. Of course she would score higher!

I think they have only one more spin in seniors. And it is ot like junior and senior scores were totally unrelated.

 

[chuckm]

The JGP Final will be skated in Poland, which is not the home country of any of the Finalists. Here are the TOTAL scores (both competitions added together) of the finalists:

302.66 Mirai NAGASU
285.50 Rachael FLATT
278.16 Yuki NISHINO
259.58 Chrissy HUGHES
257.87 Jenni VAHAMAA
256.49 Alexe GILLES
255.78 Svetlana ISSAKOVA
255.14 Kristine MUSADEMBA

It should be an exciting competition.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Looks like an easy win for Nagasu.

Ninshino and Flatt will battle it out for silver and bronze

I don't hope much for the other Ladies but I am hoping for good skates and higher PBs.

Joe

 

[dancemaster]

I think Crone/Poirier are awsome, and have a good chance at taking the title over Samuelson/Bates. I havn't seen their new FD, but have read some very good comments from the earlier summer competition in Lake Placid. Their tango OD from last season was really well done. I enjoyed that more than their FD. Either way, I think it will be really close. I can't think of any other teams that will battle with these two for the title, save the Russian team (I can't recall their names at the moment) that nearly beat Crone/Poirier in Croatia.

I cant believe you think Cronne/Poirier are awesome.i find them very overrated yes they are doing the elements but no way are they dancing.I just finished watching some videos out of Romanian G/P and the young Russian team was far better dances.in fact they had the majority by the judges..
i don't think this will happen but i would like to see
Samuelson/Bates.fight with Maria MONKO / Ilia TKACHENKO for first and second and for third place a fight between this young couples.... Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLIN
Ekaterina RIAZANOVA / John GUERREIRO...............
i also think Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV are very overrated and over market..

 

[Lumi]

Looks like an easy win for Nagasu.

Ninshino and Flatt will battle it out for silver and bronze

I don't hope much for the other Ladies but I am hoping for good skates and higher PBs.

Joe

I still think Jenni Vähämaa could make the podium. Seems like she has gained TONS of consistensy and self-confidence since her JGP events. She made again a clean short with triple lutz and triple flip in national competition of Finland this weekend. She scored 58,10, TES was 32,74. She has modest 20 points over next lady before free skate .

I will report after LP.

 

[chuckm]

You can't use Nationals marks as a measure of how skaters will perform internationally. Nationals marks are always inflated, and it's easier to skate well on home ice before a friendly crowd who is rooting for you. IMO, for that reason (home ice) Finlandia marks are also somewhat inflated (at least for the Finnish skaters).

152.15 52.62 99.53 Laura Lepisto, Finlandia
147.69 59.18 88.51 Laura Lepisto, Skate Canada

139.30 52.34 86.96 Alisa Drei, Finlandia
123.90 44.96 78.94 Alisa Drei, Skate Canada

Laura was first after the SP at Skate Canada, but she let nerves get the best of her in the FS. She doesn't have a reliable lutz and no flip, and she couldn't generate enough points with her limited jump repertoire to stay on the podium (she finished 9th in the FS and 7th overall).

No one will have a home ice advantage at the JGP in Poland, and all the skaters are starting with a fresh slate.

 

[oleada]

I think Lumi knows about inflation in National events. I wouldn't rely on the score either, but what she tried to say is that Jenni has appeared to gain confidence and once again, she's skated a clean short with nicely landed triple flip and triple lutz in combination. She's saying that if Jenni skates clean at the JGP again, she could be on the podium. I agree.

Laura and Alissa had much better skates at Finlandia than at Skate Canada. I don't think Laura landed one clean triple in her LP at Skate Canada. I'm not suprised at all Laura collapsed in the long program. It would have been surprised if she hadn't - first place after the SP in her first major senior event, and ahead of Asada, Rochette and Nakano? Poor girl was terrified. She'll learn from the experience.

 

[Lumi]

I know national scores are inflated, but she skated cleanly. That is always a good singe, especially ehen she didn't land flip cleanly last season and added lutz this season. Why is bothering you some mutch chukm that we are happy to have good young skater in Finland? It is not like Nagasu happened us everyday (more like never).

Anyway, Jenni's final score was 154. She fell on flip and had unclean landings on other jumps. She said she was bit dissapointed with free but keeps on practicing and plas to add a triple-triple in JGF.

 

[bekalc]

I know national scores are inflated, but she skated cleanly. That is always a good singe, especially ehen she didn't land flip cleanly last season and added lutz this season. Why is bothering you some mutch chukm that we are happy to have good young skater in Finland? It is not like Nagasu happened us everyday (more like never).

Anyway, Jenni's final score was 154. She fell on flip and had unclean landings on other jumps. She said she was bit dissapointed with free but keeps on practicing and plas to add a triple-triple in JGF.

I'm thrilled that Finland has a new star, it's nice to see the best skaters divided up a bit. I totally wouldn't be surprised if Jenni medaled, or even won.. Especially given some of Nagasu's jump problems..BUT...

I don't think you can use Finlandia or nationals as a scoring example... Finlandia if I'm correct and her nationals was Senior events and not only is there two more elements in the Senior program, but PC score also tend to go up once you reach Seniors. For example, I recall Mao's PC score dropped a whole point when she went to Junior Worlds (verses her PCS on the Senior Grand Prix)

And then of course national scores can be inflated. I do think that Jenni's increasing ability to land the jumps does bode well for her though.

 

[Lumi]

I am still not saying that her scores in Finlandia and national events are comparable to JGP and I am not saying that those scores were not inflated.

I just thought that some would be interested about updates of her and how is she doing. Not saying anything about her scores promising something for JGPF, just that she often skates clean SP and her LP is getting there. That is mutch more than what you can say about Susanna, Kiira and Laura...

 

[chuckm]

ANY skater from ANY federation is capable of generating a huge score when she skates cleanly. I think Jenni Vahaama is a talented and very promising skater, and I expect her to do well at the JGPF. But I don't think she is more consistently clean than any other skater. She had a clean FS at Finlandia, but not at Nationals, and not at her two JGP events.

I don't think ANY of the current top ladies, including Ando, Kim, Mao Asada, Meissner, Kostner and Nakano, consistently skate clean. But each one has had one or more events where all the pieces fell in place---Ando at Skate America 2006 and the SP at Worlds 2007, Kim at the GPF 2006, Asada in the Worlds 2007 FS, NHK 2006 and the GPF 2005, Meissner at Worlds 2006 and 4CC 2007, Kostner at Worlds 2004, and Nakano at the GPF 2005.

 

[ChrisH]

junior ladies
1. Nagasu
2. Vahamaa
3. Flatt
(4. Nishino)

I don't think one can overlook the quality of the field at Finlandia. That was a big win and I think on par with Nagasu's junior Nationals win. OTOH, Nagasu beat Vahamaa last year at the junior World Championships.

There are some similarites between Flatt and Nishino. Besides this being the first year on the international circuit for both of them, they were also 2nd in juniors and 1st in novice at their national championships.

 

[lovetowatch]

I would love to see the podium that way and JGPF, but Flatt is soooo consistent, she could edge out Jenni, even if Jenni has higher PCS.

 

[skatingfan04]

There is a press release on the Skate Canada web site which outlines the event from a Canadian perspective. The press release says that Joanna Lenko and Mitchell Islam, who were the last quailifiers for the final, will have to withdraw due to medical reasons (Lenko's). I wonder what's going on with them. Its a shame, because they were forced to withdraw from Jr. worlds last season when she got sick. I hope she get's well soon. Does anyone know if this will affect their bye to nationals? They didn't compete sectionals because of the JGP final bye, but does that bye still count if they withdraw?

 

[Saundy]

There is a press release on the Skate Canada web site which outlines the event from a Canadian perspective. The press release says that Joanna Lenko and Mitchell Islam, who were the last quailifiers for the final, will have to withdraw due to medical reasons (Lenko's). I wonder what's going on with them. Its a shame, because they were forced to withdraw from Jr. worlds last season when she got sick. I hope she get's well soon. Does anyone know if this will affect their bye to nationals? They didn't compete sectionals because of the JGP final bye, but does that bye still count if they withdraw?

Yeah I was wondering what was going on with them too. I think she suffers from bad asthma. I do believe that there are medical byes given in a situation like this though.

 

[skatingfan04]

Yeah I was wondering what was going on with them too. I think she suffers from bad asthma. I do believe that there are medical byes given in a situation like this though.

Good. It would be a real loss if this team were not allowed to compete among senior company this season. They're quite entertaining, and I can't wait to see how thay stack up. Hopefully she will be in good health soon.

 

[nadster]

Lenko/Islam have a direct bye to nationals because they qualified for the JGPF in the first place. I do hope she gets better and eagerly await their senior debut at nationals.

As long as they are healthy, they will compete senior at nationals.

 

[skatingfan04]

Lenko/Islam have a direct bye to nationals because they qualified for the JGPF in the first place. I do hope she gets better and eagerly await their senior debut at nationals.

As long as they are healthy, they will compete senior at nationals.

Thank you for the information, nadster. I agree. As I said above, I can't wait to see this team, and Crone/Poirier for that matter, compete in seniors this year. Hopefully CBC will cover enough of the dance event so that we can actually see their performances.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Are there any RESULTS coming in?

 

[oleada]

The competition hasn't started.
It starts Friday, I believe.