For another thing, ice being incompressible, and vector momentum always being conserved, as per the laws of physics, you cannot improve your speed very easily doing hops. Only a hop with a change of a forward component of momentum can give you forward acceleration. Newton was right about that. And typically skaters lose forward momentum on the landing.
If it were not so, we would see all the single skaters accelerating like mad out of their huge jumps. Instead, we see them lucky to maintain their forward velocity.
We already talked about it in some other thread. You are right in everything but one thing, Doris. You don’t describe the whole situation during jumps and hoops. You forget 2 very important things.
1) The most important part of the jump/hoop…
after a skater lands it, then he/she makes a toe push of free leg and THIS increase a speed a lot.
2)
If you make a jump/hoop – you avoid of changing direction using some skating turn. If you use bracket to change skating forward to skating backward – you really need a great technic not to loose speed and you have to be a perfect technician if you gain speed with this turn. While
doing hoops you just change direction without any risk of loosing speed and then make a toe push of free leg at the end to increase speed.
That is the secret of doing jumps and hoops during programs…it is more easy and it helps technically not good couples to keep speed.
Chock & Bates:
Number of bigger jumps: 3 + 5 jumps at the very end of the program
Number of little hoops and toe steps: 25
Shibutani & Shibutani:
Number of bigger jumps: 4 + 2 jumps during Twizzles
Number of little hoops and toe steps: 24
Stepanova & Bukin:
Number of bigger jumps: only 2 jumps during Twizzles
Number of little hoops and toe steps: 15
The best way to gain speed is to stroke properly. If it were not so, hockey players and speed skaters would be hopping around like crazy rather than hiring ice dancers and skaters to teach them how to skate.
This is perfect to imagine!
KKonas said:
Judges like speed and difficulty combined because it's much harder to achieve.
So if other couples will be faster and will have more difficult choreography - they will get higher Skating Skills then Chock & Bates?
Zueva speaks about the fastest couple the world had ever seen (even Superman is not that fast) - so Vika & Nikita will get over 9.50 points?
Kustarova's students were always known for technically very demanding programs and Lena & Ruslan were always fast...so another 9.50 for Skating Skills?
Monko & Khaliavin's programs are already known from Test Skate - their programs are more difficult then Madison & Evan's programs and they are very fast...so another 9.50 for Skating Skills?
And if Bobrova & Soloviev will come back strong and show what they usually show - great speed and very difficult choreo - without Virtue & Moir probably the most difficult choreo....10 for Skating Skills?
Cappellini & Lanotte were always rather slower couple....7.50 for Skating Skills?
Really?
